Over the last 20 years, youth violence dropped precipitously (and unexpectedly) in California. Law...
Fed Up With Probation’s Ongoing Failure to Spend Juvenile Justice $ Millions on Proven Programs for LA County’s Kids, the Supes Make a Radical Move
On Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new...
Celebrating Cesar Chávez
"Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak...
Johns Hopkins Report Offers First Ever Look at Pregnancy in Prison Stats
Since 1980 the incarceration of women in the U.S. has far outpaced that of men, skyrocketing by...
For Foster Youth in Crisis, Advocates Seek Another Option Besides 911
By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Report Foster parents often have trouble getting prompt...
Op-Ed: Predictive Algorithms in the Justice System Must Have Aggressive Oversight
EDITOR’S NOTE: Risk assessment systems have been praised as a means of reducing the...
California’s Child Welfare Reform Threatened by Slow Pace of Caregiver Approval and Group Homes
Implementation struggles have caused the price of California’s child welfare reform to soar by an...
LA Sheriff Villanueva Abruptly Fires the LASD’s Second-In-Command, Respected Undersheriff Ray Leyva
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has unexpectedly parted ways with his well-regarded...
Op-Ed: 30-Year Veteran LA Probation Officer Says Department Reform Is Urgent—And Must Be Youth Focused
Several dozen probation officers cheered in support of an individual who called black and Latino...
Op-ED: 1872 Law Gives Police a License to Kill
By Dan Walters, CALmatters Penal Code Section 196, enacted in 1872 when California was the...
California Looks to Lead Nation in Unraveling Childhood Trauma
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kaiser Health News Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could...
Supervisor Hilda Solis Says Secret Deputy Cliques Have Plagued the LA County Sheriff’s Department For Decades
The result is "a hostile environment at the station that leads to deputies fearing their fellow...
Report Reveals Millions of Kids Go to School With Campus Police, But No Counselors, Nurses, or Social Workers
According to the School Social Work Association of America, schools should have a counselor-student...
Automating the Expungement Process to Free Californians From Their “Paper Prisons”
Approximately two million Californians are eligible to have old arrests and certain crimes cleared...
Amendment on the Way for Bill to Shield From Criminalization Sex Workers Who Report Violent Crimes
Last week, WitnessLA wrote about SB 233, a new bill from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco)...
LA Board Supervisors to Vote on Motion Questioning Legality of Sheriff’s Controversial Practice of “Unilaterally” Reinstating Fired Deputies
At around 2:30 p.m. at the Tuesday, March 5, meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of...
LA County Supervisors Take Sheriff Alex Villanueva to Court Over Mandoyan Case
The County of Los Angeles and the LA County Board of Supervisors have filed what is called a...
Bad Numbers: Inspector General Says “Little to No Confidence” in LA Probation’s Stats Claiming Soaring Assaults By Kids
On Wednesday, February 27, the Los Angeles Times published an article describing a sharp increase...