There are endless ways people start intentional and accidental fires. Automobile accidents, playing with matches, handling fireworks without exercising safety precautions, discarding cigarettes, overloading electrical outlets, oven fires, and furnace fires are just some examples. What are Arson Charges? Arson is the deliberate act of setting a fire to…
On Tuesday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a landmark criminal justice bill into law making California the first state to abolish cash bail in criminal cases. Judges now have the discretion to decide who is released on their own recognizance or who must remain in custody pending trial following an…
Shoplifting, also known as boosting, is the concealment of a store item on a person, in pockets, under clothes, under handbags or other bags and leaving the store without paying for it. Shoplifting is a crime in California. Criminal penalties include a fine, jail time, and a criminal record. The…
Since 1989, 200 people have had their convictions overturned in California because they were wrong. In a major study conducted by UC Berkeley School of Law, researchers found that: California leads the nation in exonerations as defined by the National Registry of Exonerations with 120, surpassing Illinois (110), Texas (100),…
This is the fifth post in a continuing series about the use of DNA profiling by law enforcement in California. The focus in this segment is the DNA collection of criminal suspects or people arrested and charged for a crime but not found guilty or have not pled guilty to…
This is the third post in a series on the use of DNA profiling by law enforcement in California. The focus here is on the DNA collection of juvenile offenders.Sometimes referred to as “Section 602 proceedings,” after the California law governing delinquency proceedings, juvenile court is not a part of…
This is a second post in a series on DNA profiling in California. DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling is the process of determining an individual’s DNA characteristics. DNA tests can be performed using a sample of a person’s blood, hair, skin, amniotic fluid, or other tissue to create a unique…
Back in 1989, DNA fingerprinting, commonly known as DNA profiling, was hailed as the 20th century’s most important breakthrough in forensic science. Law enforcement was eager to use the technology to identify and prosecute people accused of committing crimes. Law enforcement has been less eager, however, to exonerate innocent people…
California’s domestic violence laws cover several sections of the Penal Code. At the heart of these laws is a familial or intimate relationship between the parties. The parties can be spouses, former spouses, cohabitants, former cohabitants, or be in an active dating relationship. Many times, the parties share children or…
In mid-June 2018, in a small town in Maryland, the police used a facial recognition program to identify and track down a robbery suspect. Investigators fed an Instagram photo of the suspect into the state’s vast facial recognition system and a match was made. Within minutes the Instagram photo was…