blog post Video: A Conversation with California Attorney General Rob Bonta By Stephanie Barton May 31, 2023 PPIC president and CEO Tani Cantil-Sakauye talks with Attorney General Bonta about key issues he has taken on during his two years in office as well as his priorities looking ahead.
Report Recidivism of Felony Offenders in California By Mia Bird, Justin Goss, Viet Nguyen Jun 19, 2019 California’s recent corrections reforms aimed to reduce persistently high recidivism rates. In the years following public safety realignment in 2011, have rearrest and reconviction rates for felony offenders changed?
Report Realignment and Recidivism in California By Mia Bird, Ryken Grattet, Viet Nguyen Dec 11, 2017 California has experienced significant changes in its criminal justice landscape since the 2011 implementation of public safety realignment—which shifted the management of lower-level offenders from the state prison and parole system to county jail and probation systems. The prison population has dropped dramatically, and though jail populations rose, overall incarceration levels have declined.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Pandemic Policymaking and Changed Outcomes in Criminal Courts By Heather Harris, Stephanie Barton Apr 12, 2023 Remote hearings are the major policy to endure from pandemic interventions introduced by California criminal courts. When remote hearings were in place, misdemeanor convictions fell—and courts tended to hand out probation or fines for these crimes, especially among white, Latino, and Black defendants.
blog post Toward Understanding Racial Disparities in Arrests By Magnus Lofstrom, Brandon Martin Dec 4, 2018 The number of arrests made in California per year has dropped dramatically since its peak in 1990, but African Americans continue to be significantly overrepresented among those arrested. New work by PPIC tracks these changes.
Fact Sheet Crime Trends in California By Magnus Lofstrom, Brandon Martin Oct 17, 2023 Violent crime in California has ticked up in recent years, with a pronounced increase in incidents involving guns since 2019. Property crime has also risen steadily statewide, and rates now stand slightly above pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Report Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Arrests in California By Deepak Premkumar, Thomas Sloan, Magnus Lofstrom, Joseph Hayes Feb 7, 2023 At the onset of COVID-19, California’s criminal justice system was affected by shelter-in-place orders and other public health measures, along with law enforcement directives intended to minimize exposure to the virus. We found that pandemic arrest trends mirror mobility patterns, particularly early on. But other factors, such as a shift in policing strategies, also played a role.
event Pandemic Policymaking and Changed Outcomes in Criminal Courts Apr 18, 2023 California’s criminal courts quickly adopted policies to address COVID-19; but uneven adoption around the state affected who might face those policies. On April 18, PPIC researcher Heather Harris will present findings from a report examining how policies such as remote hearings contributed to differences in criminal convictions and sentencing, and discuss how these outcomes may influence whether such hearings will continue.
blog post A Large Proportion of Crime Goes Unsolved in California By Magnus Lofstrom May 11, 2023 California’s clearance rates—the shares of reported crimes for which police make an arrest and refer the arrestee to prosecution—are better than those nationwide. Still, statewide less than half of violent crimes and only one in ten property crimes are cleared.
