Monterey County Crime & Justice Digest

A California Republican state senator finds his crime bills getting a warmer welcome this year. Democrats say they’re just responding to their voters.

Wickey Two Hands was supposed to be the first person tried for camping in Fresno. Instead, after the city and county poured resources into his case, it was dismissed at the last minute.

Almost everyone gets nervous during a traffic stop, but people with disabilities also worry about whether an officer understands their condition or could misinterpret their symptoms.

After controversial sweeps in Kern County and a CalMatters investigation, the federal government will train agents on when they can stop and arrest people.

Contrary to its public narrative, the agency cast a wide net in its California immigration raid, setting the stage for a legal battle over how the government carries out mass deportations.

Californians accused of crimes have the right to an appointed defense attorney if they can’t afford to hire their own. In that way they are just like criminal defendants in every other state — protected, at least in theory, by the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel.

Read on for more information about the new chief of police for Pacific Grove, Casey Day.

Ruby Marichalar couldn’t get an in-person meeting after California’s crime victim compensation fund denied her claim. She wasn’t the only one.

Los Angeles Assemblymember Rick Zbur says he wants to narrow the standards for justifiable homicide. Critics say he wants to make self-defense illegal.

The Fremont city council has revised a new city camping ordinance, removing what had become a controversial clause — first reported on by CalMatters — that could have punished those  “aiding and abetting” encampments.

This appears to be the first such injunction since the U.S. Supreme Court let cities crack down on homeless encampments in California and beyond.

Read on to learn more about the lawsuit filed against the Texas company that built the battery storage plant which caught fire in Moss Landing.

California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, a new law that stiffened penalties for certain drug and theft charges, and pledged to provide “mass treatment” for those facing drug charges.

But since the law took effect, some counties have been scrambling to implement the measure without new funding or, according to people involved in enforcing the law, sufficient resources.

Read on to learn more about the package of 15 bills proposed by the California Legislative Black Caucus to correct the discrimination and harm to descendants of the enslaved in California.

After a 2022 CalMatters series documenting long waits and low payouts for workers who claim their employers have shorted them on wages, California lawmakers have now proposed bills to try to ease the backlogs.

Californians rejected the anti-slavery ballot measure Proposition 6, which would have forbid forced prison labor. Reparations advocates want to try again in 2026.

A California appeals court rules a baker can’t refuse to sell a generic cake to a lesbian couple. It’s part of a series of cases shaping the debate over free speech and anti-discrimination laws.

Interviews suggest some people swept up in Trump’s immigration crackdown are dedicated to their families and communities — not hardened criminals.

The unusual move is alarming activists who worry they could be in the ordinance’s crosshairs.

One of President Trump’s first executive orders threatened to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. California is one of them.

State prisoners have long been a part of California’s firefighting force. Hundreds of them now are deployed in Los Angeles County.

After two reparations bills stalled in the final day of session last year, reparation advocates are campaigned at the state Capitol to drum up support for the same measures.

While cities in California continue to pass ordinances to combat illegal sideshows, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several laws that go into effect this year statewide to give municipalities more legal tools to address them. 

California legislators want to limit deportation actions at schools, but they can’t ban immigration officials.

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS ARE proving that they play a vital role when it comes to public safety in California. The California Reentry Institute, directed by Collette Carroll to help potential parolees, has graduated more than 230 incarcerated individuals in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.

Californians accused of certain drug and retail theft crimes may already be facing stiffer penalties under an initiative voters passed this year, alongside related bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law. 

California recorded historically high numbers of deaths in county jails for the past six years. Now, counties expect to house more prisoners as Prop. 36 takes effect.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Racial Justice Act into law in September 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd. For the first time, defendants can put bias from any brush with the criminal legal system — from arrest to sentencing — on the stand.

California wants to protect witnesses in workplace investigations from deportation, but the Biden administration program for undocumented employees is at risk with Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

With proponents of Proposition 36 raising nearly $15 million so far — about three times as much as its opponents — and 71% of likely voters in support, it appears the statewide ballot measure will pass in November.
And that’s exactly what immigrant rights advocates are worried about.

Supporters of a proposition to ban forced labor in California prisons believe they have a strong message centered on rehabilitation. But as Election Day nears, polls show it’s a toss-up or trailing.

The state Labor Commissioner sometimes struggles to get back pay to workers when it reaches wage theft settlements. It tries social media, TV and hotlines. But money owed to employees is still sitting in state accounts.