Author: Darren O'Loughlin

Police Conduct Reports in California Three dozen news outlets across California collaborated on an investigative research project that resulted in the publishing a series of local news articles about “criminal cops;” police officers who have been convicted of crimes. The

New Propositions That Could Undo Some Pending California Justice Reforms Two propositions have qualified for the 2020 ballot in California, both of which aim to undo certain provisions of recently passed criminal justice reform laws. One proposition seeks to undo

White Collar Crime Podcasts: Five You Should Try As the long days of summer disappear, your commute seems just a little longer in the dark, and the mood shifts toward home-body, I’ll suggest adding some white-collar crime podcasts to your

Deadly Force Law in California A new law signed by Governor Newsom last Monday strengthens the standard by which police can use deadly force in California. The new guidelines are among the toughest, if not the toughest, in the country.

Restorative Justice Program for Crime Offenders in California With the new California state budget, the legislature allocated $5 million to fund an experimental “restorative justice” reform initiative. The criminal justice pilot program will be implemented in San Joaquin County over

California Crime Rate Continues to Drop Crime rates for 2018 are in from the California Department of Justice. The report shows violent crime cases, property crime, and juvenile crime fell in almost all regions across California. This continues the general

Proposition 63 Goes into Effect in California July 1, 2019 is upon us, and that is the date major portions of Proposition 63 that will affect every-day residents of California go into effect. Proposition 63, also known as Background Checks

Facial Recognition Tech: Challenges for Criminal Defense & Civil Liberties The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco broke modern surveillance ground a couple of weeks ago by banning facial recognition technology from use by city departments, including law enforcement. The

What is Honest Services Fraud? With the current news cycle covering the “college admissions scandal” a somewhat obscure term has been introduced into our collective water cooler chat in recent months: honest services fraud. Let’s take a look at what

Supreme Court Restrains Property Seizure: Civil Forfeiture In a unanimous decision the justices of the United States Supreme Court have set some boundaries around the practice of “civil forfeiture” by state and local law enforcement.  While the ruling provides some