Justice

When the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to disgorge tens of thousands of inmates from its overcrowded prison system in 2011, Justice Antonin Scalia warned in his dissent of "the terrible things sure to happen as a consequence" including the "inevitable murders, robberies, and rapes to be committed by the released inmates." But researchers who've looked at how how often those released from the state's prisons and jails in the ruling's aftermath say such fears have not come to pass.

Two California Democrats took rival approaches to reduce police shootings. Yet as mothers—one African American, the other Latina—both lawmakers have had remarkably similar experiences in one respect: They instructed their teenage sons to cautiously navigate encounters with police, and they ultimately felt the police did not treat their sons fairly.

For more than a year, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber has been working on a bill meant to curb police shootings by limiting when police can use deadly force. The San Diego Democrat persevered through political setbacks and failed attempts at compromise before landing on a version that now appears likely to become law. A sharecropper’s daughter […]

For more than a year, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber has been working on a bill meant to curb police shootings by limiting when police can use deadly force. She persevered through political setbacks and failed attempts at compromise before landing on a version that now appears likely to become law.

As the Capitol passes the halfway point for making new laws this year, the progressive policies that are advancing amount to less of a torrent than a trickle.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking California's shrinking juvenile detention system away from the adult corrections bureaucracy and shifting it into the system for social services.

Some legislators shouted. Others choked back tears. But after an hour and a half of speeches, the California Assembly passed what would be the nation's strictest use-of-force standards in the country by an overwhelming margin.

A historic deal to reduce police shootings will give California one of the nation's highest lethal force standards. Key will be defining 'necessary force.'

Force of Law host Laurel Rosenhall moderated a panel in Sacramento on police misconduct and transparency in California.