Criminal Justice

WhatMatters

Can California find solutions to homelessness in Texas?

When you’re facing an intractable crisis like homelessness, you’ll try to find answers anywhere.  Despite a recent history of quarreling governors, California officials are looking at Texas. And maybe for good reason: While California’s homeless population grew by 43% (and 439 out of every 100,000 residents are homeless), Texas’ homeless population shrunk by nearly a […]

By Lynn La • June 28, 2023

WhatMatters

Case isn’t closed on California’s police killings law

From CalMatters politics intern Rya Jetha:  In the aftermath of the police killings of Stephon Clark in Sacramento and George Floyd in Minneapolis, California passed a law requiring the Attorney General’s office to investigate every fatal use of force by police officers against unarmed people. The 2021 law was meant to take power away from […]

By Lynn La • June 14, 2023

Justice

California defendants are more likely to go free when they meet lawyers early

Californians accused of crimes spend an average of five days waiting to see a lawyer. Shortening that time can help them keep their jobs, and spend less time in jail.

By Nigel Duara • June 9, 2023

WhatMatters

Gavin Newsom wants constitutional amendment on guns

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Thursday he will crusade for a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on gun control — and if he wanted more national attention, he certainly got it as  supporters praised and critics slammed his bold ambition. As CalMatters colleagues Ben Christopher and Alexei Koseff explain, the amendment is pretty straightforward: It […]

By Lynn La • June 9, 2023

Politics

Will America embrace Newsom’s gun plan? 5 things to know about his bid to change the US Constitution

Gavin Newsom’s proposed US constitutional amendment includes four popular gun control policies, but it faces an extraordinarily difficult path to succeeding.

By Ben Christopher and Alexei Koseff • June 8, 2023

Commentary

How can Gavin Newsom reform California prisons but still allow solitary confinement?

As California reimagines its prison system, a reformer who spent years imprisoned in isolation questions why Gov. Gavin Newsom's agenda has largely sidestepped the issue of solitary confinement.

By Kevin McCarthy • June 7, 2023

Justice

Gavin Newsom wants Ron DeSantis charged with ‘kidnapping’ migrants. Is that possible?

‘You small, pathetic man,’ Gavin Newsom wrote in a Twitter post suggesting he’d pursue criminal charges against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over recent migrant flights to Sacramento.

By Nigel Duara, Anabel Sosa and Jeanne Kuang • June 6, 2023

Reader Reactions

California attorney general should resolve lagging police cases before pursuing bid for governor

The California Justice Department is struggling to complete dozens of investigations into police shootings required under a 2020 law. A mother of one victim questions the intent of the law and what Bonta's handling of it means for his rumored aspirations for higher office.

By Guest Commentary • June 2, 2023

Justice

This California town was already dying. Then the state moved to close its prison

California is unwinding the prison-building boom of the 1980s and 1990s. The cuts are falling on small towns that banked on government jobs to anchor their communities.

By Nigel Duara • May 30, 2023

Justice

California promised a fair review of her son’s death by police. Now she’s asking them to drop it

A 2021 state law took investigations into California police shootings out of the hands of local cops. Now, some families say the new system is agonizing in its own way.

By Nigel Duara • May 17, 2023