Thank you for all your calls, letters and action at the State Capitol!!!
Governor Brown signed these bills
for youth and community justice!!
AB 90 – Weber – Gang Databases Accountability, Accuracy and Oversight – SIGNED
Moratorium on use of shared gang databases until issues exposed by state audit are addressed; blocks federal law enforcement access to shared gang databases for immigration enforcement; moves oversight of CalGang and shared databases that feed into it away from law enforcement to State Department of Justice.
AB 1308 – Stone – Fair Sentencing – SIGNED
Extends relief of extreme sentencing through a “youthful offender parole hearing” won with the passing of SB 260 and SB 261 to youth up to age 25.
SB 190 – Mitchell – Eliminates Court and Detention Fees – SIGNED
Ends billing of families for time youth are in juvenile hall, camps, as well as mandatory court fees. SB 190 will stop the assessment of fees for youth under 18 for detention (WIC 903), probation supervision (WIC 903.2), electronic monitoring (WIC 903.2), representation by counsel / defender fees (WIC 903.1), and drug testing (WIC 729.9). SB 190 does not eliminate fees for diversion programs, counseling, etc.
SB 394 – Lara – End Youth LWOP – Youth Under 18 Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Prison -SIGNED
Builds on SB 9 and ends LWOP for Youth (Under18); brings California in line with US Supreme Court ruling in Montgomery – “Youth LWOP is cruel and unusual.” Montgomery v. Louisiana, (2016), US Supreme Court case in which the Court held that its previous ruling in Miller v. Alabama, (2012), that a mandatory LWOP sentence should not apply to persons convicted of murder committed as youth under 18 should be applied retroactively. This decision potentially affects up to 2,300 cases nationwide. Montgomery is one in a series since 2005 that have mitigated the harshness of sentencing of juveniles and persons who committed crimes as juveniles. It is based in part on scientific evidence showing that juvenile brains are not fully developed, and therefore youth cannot be held to the same equivalent to those of adults. Roper v. Simmons (2005), the US Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote established that the death penalty for children under 18 was unconstitutional. In Graham v. Florida (2010), the US Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to impose mandatory life sentence without parole on prisoners who committed non-murder crimes as juveniles. Two years later, in Miller v. Alabama (2012), the Court by a 5-4 vote decided that mandatory LWOP sentences should not apply to persons who committed the crime as youth under 18.
SB 395 – Lara – Youth Protections Against Police Interrogation Without Counsel – SIGNED
Miranda rights for youth 15 and under – guaranteed opportunity to consult with an attorney before police interrogation.
SB 620 – Bradford – Fairer Sentencing – SIGNED
Eliminates mandatory gun enhancements in California courts and returns discretion to judges.
VICTORY: CA PASSES YOUTH JUSTICE BILLS!
