California is either about to right decades of inequality between rich and poor defendants by eliminating cash bail, or it’s about to turn over its justice system to robots. The question of what to do about the system that decides whether people should be free while awaiting trial will be...
Sheriff Says She’s Not Enforcing COVID-19 Orders. Puts Fresno in National Spotlight Again.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims is being cheered on social media after she told a local radio host on Tuesday she is not enforcing COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Conservative website Breitbart picked up Mims' comments for an article posted online on Thursday. The story was headlined: "Fresno County Sheriff Won't Enforce...
Report: Racial Disparity in Prisons Narrows Across US
SACRAMENTO — Racial disparities have narrowed across the U.S. criminal justice system over 16 years, though black people are still significantly more likely to be behind bars than white people, new federal figures show. Racial gaps broadly declined in local jails, state prisons, and among people on probation and parole,...
Sacramento’s Latest Reckless Law Will Give Lighter Sentences to 10,000 Repeat Felons
Jerry Dewayne Williams, if popular folklore is to be believed, should be coming up for parole soon. This spring marks the silver anniversary since Williams, better known as the “pizza thief,” received 25-years-to-life for shoplifting a slice of pizza at the Redondo Beach pier. Ever since, he’s been “the patron saint of...