Santa Clara County Local News: Crime & Justice


All Local Crime & Justice News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: The California mental health crisis is tied to both homelessness and rising crime.
UPDATE: California’s Mental Health Crisis: How We Got Here

How the California mental health crisis emerged out of the state’s history of deinstitutionalization and laws designed to protect the mentally ill, as well as the communities around them.

Image caption: The California Supreme Court has defined the state’s legal and political agenda for more than 170 years.
How the California Supreme Court Blazes Legal Trails

The California Supreme Court has kept the state at the forefront of legal issues surrounding abortion, the death penalty and same-sex marriage, starting in its earliest days in the Gold Rush era.

Image caption: The cycle of crime and homelessness is escalating, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Homelessness and Crime in California: Even More Complex Than You Think

The links between homelessness and crime are complex, and the idea that unhoused individuals present a danger to their community seems to be exaggerated.

Image caption: Access to abortion in California is limited in many areas, though state laws protect a woman’s right to choose.
Abortion Rights in California, Explained

California has historically been ahead of the rest of the country in expanding the legal right to abortion services. Here’s what state laws say today, and how we got here.

Image caption: California cities switch to more inclusive, district-based elections system.
Voting Rights...the Final Frontier

Pushed by activists, cities move from at-large elections to district races.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/17/2024
California State Hospitals can bill patients for the care they receive during confinement. The charges often run in the tens of thousands of dollars, putting vulnerable people in debt for years.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/17/2024
California failed to ban private detention centers. Now, it’s focusing on their working conditions, for immigrants who toil for $1 a day.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/16/2024
California courts have long upheld below-minimum wage pay for prison inmates working a wide range of jobs. A 2024 ballot measure that would ban forced labor could alter those decisions.

California Local Pin Marker From Palo Alto Online...

07/11/2024
A lawsuit filed by a group of Palo Alto Police Officers claiming harassment over certain images in a Black Lives Matter mural has been dismissed.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/10/2024
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, California’s Democratic leaders moved fast to shore up reproductive rights: They persuaded voters to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution, approved a dozen bills strengthening abortion protections and passed a law in May to enable Arizona doctors to temporarily provide abortion services for their patients in California.

San Jose Spotlight logo From San Jose Spotlight...

07/09/2024
Image for display with article titled San Jose Officials Support Retail Theft Crackdown Reform

San Jose’s top political leader supports harsher penalties for drug dealers as voters consider new measures to hold thieves and drug suppliers accountable.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/09/2024
In three rulings the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a body blow to the federal bureaucracy. From healthcare to climate to workers’ rights, California’s rules often go farther.

San Jose Spotlight logo From San Jose Spotlight...

07/08/2024
Image for display with article titled Santa Clara County Water Agency Could Start Fining the Homeless

Those living along the waterways could soon be fined or face jail time, due to a policy being considered by the largest water agency in Santa Clara County.

California Local Pin Marker From The Mercury News...

07/07/2024
On July 5, the San Jose Police Department announced a new citywide online crime dashboard, updated monthly.

California Local Pin Marker From The Mercury News...

07/05/2024
Patelco Credit Union restored some online services but is still working to unlock customer access to accounts following a crippling ransomeware attack on July 3.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/03/2024
Assemblymember James Gallagher speaks during the floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on June 13, 2024. Photo by Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters

California Local Pin Marker From The Mercury News...

07/02/2024
Patelco Credit Union systems were crippled in a ransomware attack and unable to resume banking operations.

California Local Pin Marker From The Sacramento Bee...

06/28/2024
The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case found that the fining and arresting of homeless people does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

06/28/2024
The ruling by the conservative court majority means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.

San Jose Spotlight logo From San Jose Spotlight...

06/20/2024
Image for display with article titled Former Santa Clara County Sheriff Loses Another Appeal

The California Supreme Court won’t hear former Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith’s appeal of a case that disqualified her from holding public office.

San Jose Spotlight logo From San Jose Spotlight...

06/20/2024
Image for display with article titled Santa Clara County Approves ‘Less Invasive’ House Arrest Monitors

Santa Clara County courthouses are trading in ankle monitors for less conspicuous surveillance of people who are on probation or awaiting trial.

San Jose Inside logo From San Jose Inside...

06/14/2024
Image for display with article titled DA Rosen Awards $60,000 in Grants for Programs That Help Disadvantaged Youth

The grants come from the district attorney’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, which is money seized from gangs, drug traffickers and criminal organizations, with the goal of helping to repair some of the harm caused by those criminal enterprises.

California Local Pin Marker From EdSource...

06/05/2024
EdSource reports that police are dispatched thousands of times per school day across California.

Gilroy Dispatch logo From Gilroy Dispatch...

05/30/2024
Image for display with article titled San Benito County Jail Escapee Captured in San Jose

Daniel Lopez Zavala, who escaped from the San Benito County Jail on May 28, was arrested in San Jose Wednesday night following a regional manhunt, authorities said. 

California Local Pin Marker From Daily Post...

05/30/2024
City of Los Altos native Saskia Lagergren was hired as the new chief of police.
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