Archive

Sacramento County is an important jurisdiction for reform of the laws and policies that produce mass incarceration. The county incarcerates roughly 10,000 people between county jails and state prisons. The DA, Sheriff’s Department, Probation Department, and courts consume 64 percent of the County General Fund, yet the county’s crime rate — though slightly higher than the state and federal average ... Read More

California and the United States as a whole incarcerate more people than anywhere else in the world, in both absolute and per capita terms1 District attorneys (DAs) in California can have a powerful role in curbing mass incarceration and hold tremendous discretion within the criminal legal system, but they have historically been subject to limited accountability. This report outlines the practices... Read More

California District Attorneys (DAs) have historically used their legal discretion to prioritize aggressive “tough-on-crime” prosecution, which has caused incarceration rates to skyrocket and destroyed lives Even though they are elected officials, DAs are often not held accountable for these practices, in part, because their role is not well understood, and much of their work is hidden from the pub... Read More

The plight of people who are unhoused has reached horrific proportions in California, but instead of embarking on a resurgence of affordable housing, communities have instead instituted policies and regulations that target unhoused people by harassing, citing, segregating, banishing, and even imprisoning them. Read More

California district attorneys (DAs) have historically played a central role in driving incarceration. Although they are elected officials, DAs have not typically been held accountable by the public for policies and practices that perpetuate racial disparities and criminalize poverty, mental illness, and other social issues. This 2021 report outlines the policies and practices of the Orange County ... Read More

Representing the more than 1,200 people in custody at the Tulare County Jails, ACLU NorCal filed a motion for final approval of the settlement agreement in Criswell v. Boudreaux, an ongoing class action lawsuit against Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux for his failure to institute safety measures and policies to protect incarcerated people from COVID-19. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU NorCal) submitted a California Public Records Act Request (PRA) to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office to demand documentation of the sheriff’s response to the developing Covid-19 outbreak at the Bob Wiley Detention Facility. ACLU NorCal and co-counsel Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP represent plaintiffs in Criswell v. Boudreaux, an ongoing class action lawsuit agai... Read More

Rap lyrics are protected free speech under the First Amendment. But all too often in trial after trial of Black men, prosecutors introduce this form of artistic expression to secure convictions for serious crimes carrying long prison sentences. Simply put, rap is unfairly seen in the courts, not as an art form, but as inherently incriminating evidence. Read More

A disturbing trend has emerged in California—police officers are stationed in schools and are replacing educators as disciplinarians for minor offenses and student behavior issues. Further, on-campus policing often results in over-criminalizing students—mostly low-income students of color—and pushes affected students out of the educational environment and into the school-to-prison pipeline. This i... Read More

The California Supreme Court denied the state of California’s request for review of a Court of Appeal ruling in Stiavetti v. Clendenin, handing down a major victory for the thousands of people who languish in California county jails every year because they have been deemed incompetent to stand trial without adequate treatment for their psychiatric or intellectual disabilities. Read More