Police departments are understaffed and recruiting has become more difficult. In recent years, the number of communities using community responders to handle non-violent situations has skyrocketed.
Police officials claim the seizures and forfeitures are used to take down drug and criminal networks, but critics say the laws disproportionately impact poor people and make it too easy for property to be taken without evidence.
A majority of voters believe the state is headed in the wrong direction and are concerned about rising crime rates and the homelessness crisis. Newsom is up for re-election in the Nov. 2022 midterms.
Though the sterilization law was overturned in 1979, it wasn’t until 2014 that prison sterilizations were banned. Now the state is paying reparations to victims in amounts between $10,000 and $25,000.
Residents had to fund the legal defense against the civil lawsuit that was filed against Auditor Roger Reynolds for bribery and corruption. Taxpayers will not be responsible for the criminal legal fees.
With a high influx of COVID-related jobless claims, hackers found it easy to scam state unemployment benefit systems. But tracking down the illegitimate payments is a slow and frustrating process.
They include $64 million to increase police numbers, reduce juvenile crime and revive a gun-tracking task force. The Connecticut governor also wants police to be able to check gun permits for those who openly carry firearms.
The California county’s budget office reported that the jail requires an extra $1.5 million to cover the increased costs of food – a 26 percent rise in budget allocation – despite a reduction in overall jail population.
A group of incarcerated individuals in York County, Pa., are making civil liberties complaints about their access to legal support and health protections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Virginia’s first Hispanic American attorney general calls for respect for the law and differences of opinion, and cutting back on how much cable news we watch.
Deputies from the Alabama county’s sheriff’s office often fasten monitors on about 25 people weekly and many of those haven’t been convicted of anything. Some say the monitors are financially and emotionally burdensome.
State prisons quickly adjusted policies and procedures when the coronavirus pandemic hit to ensure the health and safety of the incarcerated individuals and staff. If these pandemic changes become permanent, states could save $2.7 billion annually.
The state legalized the use of recreational marijuana in 2016 and agreed to create a pathway to clear or reduce past weed-related convictions. At least 34,000 marijuana records have still not been processed by court.
To curb the introduction of drugs into the prison system, the state has hired a Florida-based firm to scan inmate mail, check it for contraband and then send digital copies of the mail to each prison.
An appeals court in Boston will determine if the Maine governor violated an inmate’s 14th Amendment rights when she ordered the Department of Corrections to seize COVID-19-induced unemployment benefits.
The state’s Corrections Department says it has stopped placing women in solitary confinement and now caps all stays at a maximum of 30 days. Advocates are excited by the news, but uncertain if the policy is true.
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