Landmark Calif. Sentencing Law Back Before Voters
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Californians who a decade ago voted in a landslide for a "Three Strikes" measure imposing long prison terms on career criminals are being asked to scale back that law by those who say it has unjustly snared small-time offenders.
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WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court appeared poised Monday to alter the system used for sentencing 64,000 federal criminal defendants a year, but justices clashed over whether changes would create greater inequity.    Judges, not juries, consider factors that can add years to defendants' prison sentences, under the government's 17-year-old system which has been challenged as unconstitutional...
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By Andrew Edwards, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.  Sep.
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A bitter campaign ends with voters divided and lawyers waiting in the wings. The world holds its breath. People vote early at the Kern County elections office in Bakersfield, Calif.
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WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court returned for another term Monday and wasted no time getting down to business, appearing poised to alter the system used for sentencing 64,000 federal criminal defendants a year.    But justices clashed over whether any changes they make would create greater inequity in the federal system...
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Passage of the $3 billion stem cell research initiative, Proposition 71, could help California repeat one of the most celebrated chapters in its business history if one of its most eminent supporters is right.
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By Alan Lowenthal  Since I began in the California Legislature eight years ago I have noticed a new tactic being employed by advocates for the business community. It basically goes something like this; pass it and we will sue.
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to his Austrian hometown Sunday for the first time since severing official ties with the city two years ago after a flap over the death penalty.
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STOCKTON, Calif.  - Declaring that past criticism  of California's juvenile prisons was justified, Gov. Arnold  Schwarzenegger settled a lawsuit on Tuesday aimed at improving  conditions for the state's 3,600 youth offenders.
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When state legislators passed a law last month requiring that 17-year-olds be tried as adults, they hoped the reduced cost of providing for adult prisoners rather than juveniles would save the state about $3.6 million.
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GALT, Calif.  - California's prisons are putting a  new emphasis on rehabilitation, but it may take years to reduce  the high level of repeat offenders, the state's top prison  official said on Wednesday.
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The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new  term on Monday that will decide important cases on federal  sentencing rules, the death penalty for juveniles and the  medical use of marijuana.
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The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday that will decide important cases on federal sentencing rules, the death penalty for juveniles and the medical use of marijuana.
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California's "ganja guru" will not have to go to jail but still plans to appeal felony marijuana convictions with the aim of renewing a courtroom fight over state and federal laws that are sharply at odds.
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California voters appeared to be giving overwhelming approval Tuesday to a measure that establishes a state-sponsored stem cell research facility that would include the use of embryonic stem cells.
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California officials are unveiling a proposed bill that would make it a crime to drop off hospital patients on the street.
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back a plea for mercy for a man convicted of murdering two women in 1981 over a drug deal, clearing the way for California's first execution in three years.