Criminal Justice

The ACLU of Northern California strives to achieve a criminal justice system that operates fairly, with transparency and accountability, treating all who come into contact with it equally and respectfully regardless of race or wealth. 

We seek to increase public safety and reduce overincarceration by reserving arrest and prosecution for only the most serious and violent crimes; prioritizing restoration of harm and alternative solutions to the criminalization of non-violent and victimless behavior; and reducing recidivism with evidence-based rehabilitation and reentry programs. 

Sentencing Reform: Balance the Budget, Balance Our Priorities
To balance the state budget, we need to balance our priorities. California is slashing funds for education and health care, while billions in prison spending remain untouched. If we stop sending people to prison for low level non-violent offenses, CA can free up hundreds of millions of dollars, and redirect these funds into education and social services, where the needs are greatest. The ACLU of California, along with the Drug Policy Alliance, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, proposes two simple sentencing reforms to balance the scales of justice as we balance the budget.
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Breaking California's Prison Habit
In May, in Brown v. Plata, the U.S. Supreme Court spoke definitively: California must stop imprisoning so many people. The High Court concluded that California’s prison system is so bloated that it poses extreme risks to prisoners and to staff, and that reducing the number of people in state prisons is the only way to end grossly inadequate health care and “needless suffering and death.” The Court invoked the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
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The ACLU's 12-Step Plan to End California's Addiction to Incarceration
The Golden State has a problem. An addiction problem. California is addicted to incarceration. We've hit rock bottom, and it's time for an intervention. To help the state break the addiction, yesterday the ACLU of California sent a 12-step plan to every county in the state, as part of a larger ACLU comprehensive public safety realignment report. The report urges a fundamental shift in criminal justice policies toward smart on crime alternatives to incarceration.
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Revised Budget Reaffirms Realignment, Leaves Out Sentencing Reform
The revised California budget is out and sentencing reform is, well, left out. In his revised budget Gov. Brown recommitted to his criminal justice realignment plan, but didn't include any sentencing reforms that would help ensure that the plan is effective and affordable. Realignment reserves state prison for people with the most serious offenses and redirects people with low-level offenses to local control. This is a step in the right direction but it leaves a key piece of the puzzle missing: we should convert minor offenses from felonies to misdemeanors so that the punishment and its associated taxpayer cost fit the crime.
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Prop 19 Was Only The Beginning
California voters came out in droves to support Proposition 19 this November. More than 4.1 million people voted for Prop. 19, which would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for personal use and allow cities and counties to tax and regulate commercial sales. That’s more votes than Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina garnered. Though the measure didn’t pass, the degree of support marks an undeniable leap forward in the movement to end marijuana prohibition. In the end, Prop. 19 achieved a higher percentage of "yes" votes (46%) than any state-level legalization measure on the ballot over the past decade. 
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Video - Immigration Detainers: What They Are and How to Challenge Them
This video discusses immigration detainers in the context of the expansion of ICE partnerships with state and local law enforcement, limitations on immigration detainers, challenges to immigration detainers, and a current lawsuit in Sonoma County, California.
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Gang Injunctions Fact Sheet
Gang injunctions are civil court orders that attempt to address crime by using a lower legal standard than required by the criminal justice system, resulting in serious civil liberties violations. Law enforcement use them as a tool to label people gang members and restrict their activities in a defined area. Gang injunctions make otherwise legal, everyday activities--such as riding the bus with a friend or picking a spouse up from work late at night--illegal for people they target.
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