In April, we discussed Senate Bill 1391. If signed into law, SB 1391 would amend Proposition 57, repealing the authority of a district attorney to make a motion to transfer a minor from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction in a case in which a minor is alleged to have committed a specified…
Continue reading ›In 2014, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a K-3 suspension ban for “disruption and defiance” infractions. Friday of last week, the California Legislature voted in favor of Senate Bill 607, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, to expand the ban to include suspensions through the 8th grade, EdSource reports. Sen. Skinner had initially hoped that…
Continue reading ›People who are charged with a crime have the right to stand trial, in a timely manner. Amendment VI of the U.S. Constitution – Rights of Accused in Criminal Prosecutions – states that: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the…
Continue reading ›The California Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) reports that 70% of youth paroled from its institutions were re-arrested within two years. Recidivism rates of that magnitude are a severe cause of concern for many juvenile justice advocates and lawmakers, such as Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond). In an attempt to mitigate the risk of re-offending, Assemblymember…
Continue reading ›Keeping young people away from the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice system is of the utmost importance. People who get into trouble with the law at a young age are at significant risk of having run-ins in the future. Young people – more often than not – do not understand that their choices can…
Continue reading ›People who serve time in California correctional facilities, whether they be adult or juvenile, often learn all the wrong lessons from their cellmates. It is not uncommon for people convicted of crimes to get out of jail and go on to commit more severe offenses. Of course, learning about new ways to break the law…
Continue reading ›This month, California’s Board of Education approved a final version of its state accountability plan known as the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA. The law, passed in 2015, governs the United States K–12 public education policy. The LA School Report points out that ESSA requires each state had to determine a method of evaluating…
Continue reading ›Last summer, we discussed several bills being considered by the California State Senate, including Senate Bill 439 (SB-439). As is the case with most legislation we focus on, SB 439 centers on juvenile justice, explicitly keeping most youngsters under the age of 12 out of courtrooms and into alternative programs for discipline. SB 439 made…
Continue reading ›The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Northern California, San Diego, and the National Center for Youth Law are suing over the unfair practices used by the Riverside County Youth Accountability Team Program (YAT). According to the ACLU, YAT was created in 2001 to target at-risk youths for intervention. On the surface, such a…
Continue reading ›Just over a year ago we covered a subject that is of particular importance to adolescents caught in the juvenile justice system and their families, Senate Bill 190 (SB-190). At the time, the piece of legislation which, if passed, would prohibit the collection of fees in the juvenile-justice system across the state, was before the…
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