Crime
Blog
LA’s New DA: A Case of Buyers’ Remorse?
After just two years in office, more than 1,000,000 disgruntled Californians have signed a petition to recall Gavin Newsom. But in less than two months, many Los Angelenos already have buyers’ remorse with its new district attorney, George Gascón. A “Recall George Gascón” candlelight vigil was recently held in front ...
California
Could Los Angeles Or San Francisco Be The Next Detroit?
Few would have imagined in 1950, when Detroit was the country’s fifth-largest city, the undisputed car capital of the world and one of the most important cities of its era, that it would become synonymous with urban decay. Yet it happened there. Which means it can happen anywhere, even California. ...
Blog
Prop. 20: Will Voters Fix Unintended Consequences in State’s Soft-on-Crime Shift?
Starting with the Legislature’s approval of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s public safety realignment plan in 2011, California has undergone a big change on criminal justice policy. Turning its back on policies like “Three Strikes” that were passed during the 1990’s, voters approved three ballot measures (Props 36, 47, and 57) ...
Crime
Heather Mac Donald: The War on Cops Continues
This podcast with Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal, was recorded from a recent webinar with PRI’s own Steve Hayward doing the Q&A. Heather offers her perspective on the recent riots, the surge in violent crime in our ...
Blog
Prop. 25 – Will Voters Decide to End Cash Bail in California?
With the Presidential debate and the first couple testing positive for COVID-19 dominating the headlines last week, you may have missed a very big story from Yolo County. The Judicial Council, the policymaking body for California’s judicial system, earlier this year adopted a temporary zero cash bail policy in response ...
Blog
Should Dangerous Felons on Parole Have the Right to Vote?
Among the measures on a lengthy statewide ballot this November – there are 11 statewide ballot propositions in addition to numerous local measures across the state – are two curious measures that deal with voting. One measure, Proposition 18, would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if ...
Blog
Coronavirus, Marching In The Streets And California Crime
The sight of criminals running free in our streets gets the blood up. But while the looting and violence, as ugly as they are, will decelerate, there’s a relatively invisible hand of crime that has the potential to cause harm on a long-term basis. At roughly the same time the ...
California
Chaos by the Bay
An odd pattern has emerged in San Francisco as the city responds to the Covid-19 pandemic. The world of the well-off has become tightly restricted by public quarantine orders, and the world of the poor increasingly resembles that of Mad Max—lawless, crime-ridden, and devoid of functioning authority. Over just a few ...
Blog
Is Coronavirus Triggering De-Facto Early Release for Thousands of Offenders?
In recent years, California has undergone a significant change in its approach to criminal justice. As PRI’s Kerry Jackson writes in his book, Living in Fear in California, once California’s prison population reached an all-time high of 160,000 in 2006, “a May 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling . . . ...
Blog
When They Don’t Have to Do the Time, They’ll Do the Crime
When Proposition 47 was passed, no small number of critics said it would lead to increases in property crimes as it downgraded theft to a misdemeanor if the value of the stolen goods or bad checks is less than $950. The threshold had been $450. Five years later, some law ...
LA’s New DA: A Case of Buyers’ Remorse?
After just two years in office, more than 1,000,000 disgruntled Californians have signed a petition to recall Gavin Newsom. But in less than two months, many Los Angelenos already have buyers’ remorse with its new district attorney, George Gascón. A “Recall George Gascón” candlelight vigil was recently held in front ...
Could Los Angeles Or San Francisco Be The Next Detroit?
Few would have imagined in 1950, when Detroit was the country’s fifth-largest city, the undisputed car capital of the world and one of the most important cities of its era, that it would become synonymous with urban decay. Yet it happened there. Which means it can happen anywhere, even California. ...
Prop. 20: Will Voters Fix Unintended Consequences in State’s Soft-on-Crime Shift?
Starting with the Legislature’s approval of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s public safety realignment plan in 2011, California has undergone a big change on criminal justice policy. Turning its back on policies like “Three Strikes” that were passed during the 1990’s, voters approved three ballot measures (Props 36, 47, and 57) ...
Heather Mac Donald: The War on Cops Continues
This podcast with Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal, was recorded from a recent webinar with PRI’s own Steve Hayward doing the Q&A. Heather offers her perspective on the recent riots, the surge in violent crime in our ...
Prop. 25 – Will Voters Decide to End Cash Bail in California?
With the Presidential debate and the first couple testing positive for COVID-19 dominating the headlines last week, you may have missed a very big story from Yolo County. The Judicial Council, the policymaking body for California’s judicial system, earlier this year adopted a temporary zero cash bail policy in response ...
Should Dangerous Felons on Parole Have the Right to Vote?
Among the measures on a lengthy statewide ballot this November – there are 11 statewide ballot propositions in addition to numerous local measures across the state – are two curious measures that deal with voting. One measure, Proposition 18, would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if ...
Coronavirus, Marching In The Streets And California Crime
The sight of criminals running free in our streets gets the blood up. But while the looting and violence, as ugly as they are, will decelerate, there’s a relatively invisible hand of crime that has the potential to cause harm on a long-term basis. At roughly the same time the ...
Chaos by the Bay
An odd pattern has emerged in San Francisco as the city responds to the Covid-19 pandemic. The world of the well-off has become tightly restricted by public quarantine orders, and the world of the poor increasingly resembles that of Mad Max—lawless, crime-ridden, and devoid of functioning authority. Over just a few ...
Is Coronavirus Triggering De-Facto Early Release for Thousands of Offenders?
In recent years, California has undergone a significant change in its approach to criminal justice. As PRI’s Kerry Jackson writes in his book, Living in Fear in California, once California’s prison population reached an all-time high of 160,000 in 2006, “a May 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling . . . ...
When They Don’t Have to Do the Time, They’ll Do the Crime
When Proposition 47 was passed, no small number of critics said it would lead to increases in property crimes as it downgraded theft to a misdemeanor if the value of the stolen goods or bad checks is less than $950. The threshold had been $450. Five years later, some law ...
