Santa Cruz 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.

Image caption: With just two courthouses, Santa Cruz County has one of the smaller court systems in the Bay Area.
The Superior Court—Explained

One of 58 superior court systems in the state, here's how the Santa Cruz County courts work.

Image caption: The Santa Cruz civil grand jury meets in County Government Center
The Grand Jury—Explained

Santa Cruz’s civil grand jury promotes accountability in local government.

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 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.

California Local Pin Marker From Santa Cruz Sentinel...

07/10/2024
Responding to a July 11 welfare check, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies discovered a cockfighting ring and over 200 mutilated roosters.

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.

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 Santa Cruz Sentinel...

07/03/2024
The Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury released a report finding a lack of tracking of occupancy of local affordable housing units.

The Pajaronian logo From The Pajaronian...

07/02/2024
Image for display with article titled Neighborhood Court Program Seeks Volunteers

A Santa Cruz County justice program that places reconciliation over punishment has helped more than 240 people keep criminal convictions off their record since its inception in 2020, with just one case of recidivism.

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.

California Local Pin Marker From Santa Cruz Sentinel...

06/18/2024
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to award the county jail health services contract to a new provider, a move not related to the recent Civil Grand Jury report according to Sheriff Jim Hart.

The Pajaronian logo From The Pajaronian...

06/14/2024
Image for display with article titled Prison in Paradise; Santa Cruz County Jail Criticized in Annual Grand Jury Review

Lack of staff and programs, improper usage of facilities, and mistreatment of inmates, including the mentally ill, were all found during the report.

California Local Pin Marker From Lookout Local...

06/11/2024
The Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury released a report critical of mental health services provided at the county jail.

California Local Pin Marker From EdSource...

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

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

05/24/2024
California lawmakers voted to offer an official apology for the state’s role in supporting slavery and moved several reparations bills but let others die.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

05/16/2024
Pending legislation would lift requirements for California’s doctors to report all domestic abuse cases to police. The Assembly’s three physicians had different opinions.

The Pajaronian logo From The Pajaronian...

05/07/2024
Image for display with article titled Sheriff’s Fentanyl Crisis Response Team Uses Education, Enforcement

After 133 people died in Santa Cruz County in 2023 after overdosing on Fentanyl, the Sheriff’s Office has launched a new way to address the problem, with a special focus on the people who deal the dangerous drug.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

05/04/2024
At many universities across the country, graduation for the Class of 2024 will feel more like making it through airport security than a procession through a free-flowing campus green or a cheering stadium crowd.

California Local Pin Marker From SF Gate...

04/19/2024
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged three East Bay police officers with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of 26-year-old Mario Gonzalez.
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