Resources

Displaying 1-12 of 21 results found

• Report

  Understanding Proposition 36

  Why Prop. 36 Fails Californians: Escalating Costs, Deepening Disparities, and Ineffective Solutions
  Ballot Propositions

  Justice System
• Data Hit

  Crime in California Remains Well Below Historical Peaks

  Contrary to national trends, crime rates in California remain well below the peaks of the past five decades.
  Justice System
• Data Hit

  Shoplifting in California Is Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

  Despite recent increases, shoplifting remains below pre-pandemic levels in the state.
  Justice System
• Data Hit

  Keeping California Communities Safe Starts with Understanding Crime Rates

  Everyone wants to live in safe communities, and data show California continues to experience crime rates well below historical peaks. The property crime rate — the number of property crimes per 100,000 residents — was 2,178 per 100,000 in 2021, far below the peak of 6,881 in 1980. The violent crime rate was 466 per … Continued
  Justice System
• Report

  Despite Reforms, Racial Disparities in California’s Prisons Remain Large

  California adopted a series of justice system reforms in the 2010s that substantially reduced mass incarceration. Did these reforms also help to reduce long standing racial disparities in state prisons — disparities that reflect the disproportionate incarceration of Black and Latinx residents as well as other Californians of color? This report answers this question by examining changes in state-level incarceration during the 2010s for both men and women through the lens of race and ethnicity. While incarceration declined nearly across the board, by the end of the 2010s men and women of color generally continued to be incarcerated at higher rates than white men and women, and racial disparities generally widened.
  Justice System
• Report

  Understanding Proposition 25

  Across California and the United States, the push for bail reform has gained momentum with increasing awareness and research showing the disproportionate impact the money bail system has on people of color and low-income households. Enter Proposition 25 that will appear on the November 3, 2020 statewide ballot and asks California voters to decide whether a 2018 state law that effectively ends money bail should take effect. If voters approve Prop. 25, judges will be able to utilize risk-based assessment tools – examining population links between rearrest or reconviction and individual factors such as age, gender, or criminal record – to determine if individuals detained for certain crimes can be released before a court appearance rather than posting money bail.
  Ballot Propositions

  Justice System
• Report

  Criminal Justice Reform Is Working in California

  Over many years, California lawmakers and voters adopted a series of harsh, one-size-fits-all sentencing laws that prioritized punishment over rehabilitation, led to severe overcrowding in state prisons, and disproportionately impacted Black and Latinx Californians – consequences that many families still feel today. California began reconsidering its “tough on crime” approach a little over a decade ago as prison overcrowding reached crisis proportions and the state faced lawsuits filed on behalf of incarcerated adults. Ultimately, a federal court in 2009 ordered California to reduce overcrowding to no more than 137.5% of the prison system’s capacity – an order that remains in effect today.
  Ballot Propositions

  Justice System
• Report

  California Spending on Law Enforcement, the Legal System & Incarceration

  Recent acts of police brutality against Black Americans and greater public outcry over the continued abuse and deaths of people across Black communities have amplified calls for defunding, abolishing, and reimagining local policing. This also comes with growing understanding that police violence has disproportionately fatal consequences for Black men and women, and Black transgender women in particular.The calls to action involve significantly transforming the mission and structure of local law enforcement, divesting from local law enforcement in its current forms, and reinvesting the freed-up funding into community-building capacities that would also seek to end racial profiling and police brutality against Black people and other people of color.
  COVID-19

  Justice System
• Data Hit

  California’s Prisons Remain Overcrowded During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  As policymakers consider the state’s fiscal outlook, as well as the health of all Californians, it’s important to know that California spends more than $13 billion per year from the General Fund on state corrections. The cost per incarcerated adult at the state level is around $90,000 per year. Crisis or not, policymakers can better protect the health of incarcerated adults – over 70% of whom are Black or Latinx – and of prison staff by further reducing overcrowding and focusing on services that are proven to create safer communities.
  COVID-19

  Justice System
• Fact Sheet

  Many Californians in Prisons and Jails Have Mental Health Needs

  Prisons and jails have been turned into “America’s…new mental hospitals,” even though it is clear that correctional facilities are highly inappropriate places to house and treat people with mental illness. In this fact sheet learn why California must continue to improve health care for people who are incarcerated and why reforms are also needed to address the connections between mental health and the criminal justice system so that Californians who need mental health treatment receive the appropriate care in a timely manner rather than being confined in state prisons or county jails.
  Health & Safety Net

  Justice System
• Report

  First Look: A Budget Center Analysis of the 2019-20 May Revision

  This “First Look” analysis examines Governor Newsom’s revised state budget proposal for 2019-20, the state fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2019, and highlights the ways it could impact low- and middle-income Californians.
  California Budget

  Child Care & Preschool

  Education

  Health & Safety Net

  Justice System

  Poverty & Inequality

  Taxes & Revenue
• Fact Sheet

  Examining California’s Spending on Corrections

  This Fact Sheet shows that the number of state prisoners receiving mental health treatment has grown in recent years, rising from 32,535 in April 2013 to 38,561 in December 2017. Reforms are needed so that Californians who require mental health treatment get the care they need instead of ending up in prisons or local jails.
  Health & Safety Net

  Justice System