Criminal Justice Publications
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Status Check: The "Three Strikes and You're Out" Law - A Preliminary Assessment
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January 6, 1995 - On March 7, 1994, Governor Wilson signed into law AB 971 (Ch 12194, Jones)-referred to as the ''Three Strikes and You're Out" criminal sentencing measure. In November, the voters reaffirmed the measure by overwhelmingly approving Proposition 184, an initiative that is essentially identical to Chapter 12.
Status Check: Accommodating Prison Population Growth
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January 6, 1995 - The California Department of Corrections (CDC) projects that the state prison population will grow by almost 70 percent in the next five years. Much of this growth will be driven by enactment of the "Three Strikes and You're Out" legislation. Building new state prisons to accommodate this growth will be both challenging and costly. In this report, we discuss (1) the CDC's inmate population projections and new prison needs, (2) the current status of funding for prison construction and renovation, and (3) the state budget implications of accommodating growth in the state's prison population.
The “Three Strikes and You’re Out” Law—A Preliminary Assessment
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January 6, 1995 - The “Three Strikes and You’re Out” Law—A Preliminary Assessment
Accommodating Prison Population Growth
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January 6, 1995 - Accommodating Prison Population Growth
Proposition 172—How Did it Affect Spending for Public Safety
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June 9, 1994 - On November 2, 1993, California voters enacted Proposition 172, which established a permanent statewide half-cent sales tax for support of local public safety functions in cities and counties. This Policy Brief reviews how counties—the primary beneficiaries of Proposition 172—have budgeted these new funds in 1993-94 and assesses the impact of public safety several maintenance of effort requirements on county budgets.
Trial Court Fundings Issues
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April 1, 1994 - The Trial Court Realignment and Efficiency Act of 1991 modified the Trial Court Funidng Program and significantly changed the state-local funding relationship for support of the trial courts. The Governor's Budget proposes to significantly increase state support and fund trial court operations so that state expenditures are dsiplayed by function instead of by block grant amounts. We identify a number of issues with the Governor's proposal.
Analysis of the 1989 Budget of the State Bar of California
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April 1, 1994 - Analysis of the 1989 Budget of the State Bar of California
The State of California’s Probation System
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March 1, 1994 - In this analysis, we examine the state of Califonia's probation system.
Analysis of the 1994-95 Budget Bill, Judiciary and Criminal Justice Chapter
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February 22, 1994 - Analysis of the 1994-95 Budget Bill, Judiciary and Criminal Justice Chapter
Creating A New Retirement Benefits Plan for Judges
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February 8, 1994 - We recommend that the Legislature enact legislation to establish a new, actuarially sound, retirement program for judges taking office in the future in order to reduce long-run state costs for judges' retirement. The legislation should incorporate the retirement plan developed by the Select Committee on Judicial Retirement, with modifications to further reduce state costs, as detailed in this report.
Crime in California
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January 1, 1994 - In recent years, the Legislature and Governor have enacted numerous laws to respond to the public's concerns with crime in California, including measures to stiffen penalties for existing criminal offenses, define new criminal offenses, construct new correctional facilities, and provide financial assistance to law enforcement. Despite these responses, however, recent polls indicate that fear of crime remains a top concern of Californians. In an effort to put the current discussion of crime in California in perspective, we have prepared this report to answer several key questions.
Trial Court Funding
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March 1, 1993 - The Trial Court Realignment and Efficiency Act of 1991 modified the Trial Court Funding Program, enacted by Ch 945/88 (SB 612, Presley), and significantly changed state-local funding relationship for support of the trial courts. However, the Trial Court Funding Program has generally not met the Legislature's expectations or purposes described in statute. In addition, state funding for the program has become more complex and has not increased as intended by the Legislature. We address these and other trial court funding issues in the Analysis of the 1993-94 Budget Bill and recommend that the Legislature assess the progress of the Trial Court Funding Program and determine what changes to the program are necessary to meet the Legislature's purposes.
California’s Growing Prison Population—The Current Situation
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January 5, 1993 - The California Department of Corrections (CDC) is one of the largest and fastest-growing departments in state government. The department spends about 90 percent of its budget—2.5 billion in 1992-93—on the operation of the state's prison system. As of December 1992, there were 109,141 inmates in state prison (almost double the system's design capacity). In this report, we assess the CDC's recent projections of the prison inmate population and discuss their fiscal implications.
Trial Court Funding "Realignment"
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February 1, 1992 - In this analysis, we (1) review the short-term implementation issues surrounding Chapter 90 and the related measures, and (2) identify a number of policy issues that the Legislature will need to address as it considers providing additional support for the trial courts for the budget year and beyond.
Criminal Justice Staff
- Anita Lee
- (916) 319-8321
- Courts, Department of Justice, Gambling
- Caitlin O'Neil
- (916) 319-8351
- State Prisons, County Jails, Sentencing
- Jared Sippel
- (916) 319-8335
- Emergency Services and Business Regulation
- Orlando Sanchez Zavala
- (916) 319-8307
- Correctional Health Care, Rehabilitation Programs, Juvenile Justice, Community Corrections
- Drew Soderborg
- (916) 319-8346
- Deputy Legislative Analyst: Public Safety and Business Regulation