Justice

The sandwich baggie brimming with buds is gradually becoming a thing of the past in California. In its place, an era of name-brand marijuana is emerging.Celebrities—including actress Whoopi Goldberg, rapper Snoop Dogg, rocker Melissa Etheridge and the family of reggae legend Bob Marley—are branding their own herb. Law firms have sprouted to help marijuana sellers […]

“I made the worst mistake of my life.” “I had a drug and alcohol problem.” “I was just a kid with low self esteem and felt hopeless.” Those are the words people convicted of felonies in California wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown in recent years, asking him to pardon their crimes. Their clemency applications describe […]

Desde que Maribel Solache comenzó a enseñar su propia versión de clases de manejo en español hace dos años —que se imparten en todo el Condado de San Diego— éstas han estado llenas. Ella calcula que ha ayudado a cerca de 3000 estudiantes a obtener sus licencias. Pero últimamente, la aprehensión ha sofocado el entusiasmo.”Más […]

Ever since Maribel Solache began teaching her own version of driver’s ed in Spanish two years ago, the classes—held around San Diego County —have been jammed. She estimates she’s helped some 3,000 students earn their licenses. But lately, apprehension has smothered that enthusiasm. En espanol: Para leer este articulo en espanol click aqui. “More people […]

The scene that greeted Raymond Aguilar in his old Stockton neighborhood on his release from prison four months ago was too familiar: boarded-up windows, liquor stores, prostitutes and gang members walking the streets. Twenty-five years had passed since his conviction for second-degree murder, and nothing had changed.   “Not a lot of money is being spent on the community,” […]

In civil liberties circles, she is known by the pseudonym of Elizabeth James—a retiree from the phone company who was contemplating a cross-country trip with her machinist husband. The two had worked for decades, raising two children and caring for her developmentally disabled sister, who lived in a home the couple had bought and remodeled […]

The reaction has been swift, viral and unrelenting. Shortly after Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky sentenced ex-Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to only six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, the victim’s emotional 12-page court statement drew 13 million readers online, and a cyber-petition demanding the judge’s removal garnered well over a million signatures. […]

How much information should be available to the public in cases of severe child abuse? California lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown have been at odds over that question for the last two years. Legislators recently rejected a proposal to limit public access to reports on abuse so extreme that children nearly die. […]

After a decades-long decline in violent and property crime, early indications from cities across California point to a significant increase in lawbreaking. In California’s 68 largest cities, violent crime jumped 11 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Among major U.S. cities, three California cities saw the largest […]