The justice system traditionally uses a simple metric to determine whether an individual continues...
Voting After Prison: The Movement in CA and Beyond to End Voter Disenfranchisement
In just two states, Maine and Vermont, people with past felonies can immediately vote upon release...
5 Things to Know as California Starts Screening Children for Toxic Stress
Starting this year, routine pediatric visits for millions of California children could involve...
Nearly 3,400 People With Mental Illness Could Be Safely Diverted From LA County Jail, Says New Report
Approximately 61 percent of the mental health population locked inside Los Angeles County’s...
Controversial Company That Profited From the “Troubled Teen” Industry Now Has Millions from the Feds to Open a Lock-up for Immigrant Kids in Los Angeles
It seems that past allegations of abuse notwithstanding, the feds saw VisionQuest as an ideal...
Op-Ed: DA Lacey Continues to Praise Diversion Over Jail for the Mentally Ill, But Her Prosecutors’ Actions Tell a Different Story
Jackie Lacey’s talk about treatment not cells for the mentally ill is meaningless until she and...
Threatened With $4 Billion in Lost Profit, GEO Group Sues California Over Private Prison Ban
Two days before California’s private prison ban bill, AB 32, took effect on Jan. 1...
A Quick Look At WitnessLA’s Most-Read Stories of 2019 as We Welcome 2020!
As we closed out 2019, we spent some time examining exactly which stories, series, and topics rose...
A New Year’s Eve Message From WitnessLA
This has been a full, complicated, and always interesting year in the world of justice in Los...
In a Surprise Move, Supervisors Name Ray Leyva, Former Sheriff’s Department 2nd in Command, As Interim LA Probation Chief
In an unexpected move, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has named former LASD...
New Screenings for Childhood Trauma Raise Hopes, Challenges
California health officials are gearing up for the launch of a statewide screening effort that aims...
New Year, New Laws: 10 Important Justice Bills Going Into Effect in January
Next Wednesday, California’s new police use-of-force reform bill, a private prison ban, and a...
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, & Happy Nearly New Year to All
To provide you with a little extra seasonal joy, here's Ireland's Glen Hansard with some of his...
Report: Juvenile Incarceration Rates Have Plummeted, but Thousands More Kids Could Be Kept Out of Lockup
Between 2000 and 2019, the rate of youth incarceration dropped approximately 60 percent, and...
Probation Chiefs’ Association Hopes to Raise the Age of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction in CA
Next year, the organization known as the Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) has big...
$25 Million for Federal Gun Violence Research in Congress’s $1.4 Billion Spending Plan
Last year, Congress clarified that the CDC could conduct research on gun violence, as long as it...
LA County Sheriff’s Sergeant Accused of “Unlawful” Campaign of Harassment Against Justice Advocate & Film Producer Scott Budnick
On Sunday, December 15, civil rights attorney Ron Kaye sent a letter to Los Angeles County Sheriff...
Youth Reports of Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Lockups on the Decline
In 2012, 9.5 percent of youth — nearly one out of every 10 kids — in juvenile...