New figures from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show recidivism rates are down for the second year in a row.
In a constant attempt to determine what leads to reoffending, CDCR tracks the rate at which released inmates commit new crimes or violate their parole conditions. Its findings are issued in the department's annual Outcome Evaluation Report.
The 2012 report tracked inmates released in 2007-2008 for three years after their release and found that 63.7 percent returned to prison within three years. That's a slight improvement from the 67.5 percent recidivism rate measured two years ago.
Federal authorities opened the latest front in their war on California's massive medical marijuana industry this week, filing property forfeiture lawsuits in a bid to shut down three dispensaries and sending warning letters to 34 people.
The moves by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles are the latest in an ongoing crackdown on what federal prosecutors say is a flourishing network of illegal cannabis suppliers operating across California under the cover of the state's medical marijuana law. Read more »
Seventy percent of California voters want lighter penalties for personal drug use, according to new polling data from San Francisco-based polling firm Tulchin Research.
The poll was commissioned by proponents of California state Sen. Mark Leno's new bill, SB 1506, which would reduce the penalty for personal drug possession under state law from a felony to a misdemeanor, punishable by no more than one year behind bars, in addition to fines and probation.
Possession of an ounce or less of marijuana was reclassified in 2010 from a misdemeanor to an infraction under then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but personal use of other drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines can still mean up to three years behind bars. Read more »
A Riverside County judge ruled in favor of a medical marijuana dispensary on Tuesday and ordered the city of Rancho Mirage to have a building inspected for code violations and to issue a certificate of occupancy.
Desert Heart Collective, which is owned by four people, opened in 2010 and was later shut down by the city. The owners filed a $2 million lawsuit against Rancho Mirage on Feb. 3, 2011.
Rancho Mirage law prohibits storefront dispensaries "due to the significant negative secondary effects that such dispensaries have been found to create -- such as increased crime," City Attorney Steve Quintanilla said in a written statement. Read more »
A Riverside County judge ruled in favor of a medical marijuana dispensary on Tuesday and ordered the city of Rancho Mirage to have a building inspected for code violations and to issue a certificate of occupancy.
Desert Heart Collective, which is owned by four people, opened in 2010 and was later shut down by the city. The owners filed a $2 million lawsuit against Rancho Mirage on Feb. 3, 2011.
Rancho Mirage law prohibits storefront dispensaries "due to the significant negative secondary effects that such dispensaries have been found to create -- such as increased crime," City Attorney Steve Quintanilla said in a written statement. Read more »
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome. California has been doing the same thing with drug users for decades, while wasting billions of dollars and wrecking lives in the process. Not only have we flooded our courts, jails and prisons with felony offenses for low-level drug users, we have created barriers to getting their lives back on track.
Senate Bill 1506, introduced last week by State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, changes that. SB 1506 would reclassify drug possession for personal use from a felony to a misdemeanor, reducing the potential sentences for these offenses from a maximum of three years imprisonment to a maximum of one year in county jail. Read more »
Today, Sen. Mark Leno introduced SB1506, which reclassifies simple drug possession offenses as misdemeanors, thereby reducing the potential sentences for these offenses from a maximum of three years imprisonment to a maximum of one year in county jail. The bill is co-sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance, ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Read more »
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New figures from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show recidivism rates are down for the second year in a row. 
Seventy percent of California voters want lighter penalties for personal drug use, according to new polling data from San Francisco-based polling firm Tulchin Research.
A Riverside County judge ruled in favor of a medical marijuana dispensary on Tuesday and ordered the city of Rancho Mirage to have a building inspected for code violations and to issue a certificate of occupancy.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome. California has been doing the same thing with drug users for decades, while wasting billions of dollars and wrecking lives in the process. Not only have we flooded our courts, jails and prisons with felony offenses for low-level drug users, we have created barriers to getting their lives back on track.
Today, Sen. Mark Leno introduced SB1506, which reclassifies simple drug possession offenses as misdemeanors, thereby reducing the potential sentences for these offenses from a maximum of three years imprisonment to a maximum of one year in county jail. The bill is co-sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance, ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 
