Cops & Courts

San Quentin Radio Project: When victims and offenders talk

Tommy Shakur — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:26:06 +0000

Audio available after 5pm.

Over the past nine months, KALW has been working with inmates in San Quentin State Prison to train them in radio production – the tools for telling their own stories. We’re officially launching The San Quentin Radio Project on KALW later this summer. Today, we’ve got a story to share about how a restorative justice program helped one offender move past his crime. Here’s reporter Tommy Shakur Ross of the San Quentin Radio Project.

San Francisco Unified School District employees charged with stealing funds

Ben Trefny — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:53:31 +0000

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is dealing, today, with news that six employees misappropriated $15 million of public funds. A three-year investigation by law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office resulted in charges including grand theft, embezzlement, forgery, and perjury. Jill Tucker has been covering the case for the San Francisco Chronicle. In her cover story this morning, she details how the money was spread between school services, outside non-profits, internal computer systems, salaries, and benefits. I reached Tucker by phone and asked her how $6.7 million were allegedly used on student programs that were not designated by grant funding.

Three strikes, you're in (for life)

Ben Trefny — Wed, 15 May 2013 01:01:00 +0000

Many three-strikes prisoners are getting a second chance in California since the passage of Prop 36. Back in November, 69 percent of Californians voted yes on the proposition to change the Three Strikes Law, which was enacted in 1994. It sentenced offenders with three or more felony convictions to 25 years to life in prison -- and comparatively minor crimes could qualify as the third strike.

When the third strike is no longer a strike

Nancy Mullane — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:56:16 +0000

Nearly 500 inmates serving life sentences have been freed from California prisons since voters passed Proposition 36 last November. The law authorized Superior Court judges throughout the state to free prisoners who had been sentenced to 25 years to life under the state’s original three-strikes law if their third crime, or “strike,” wasn’t serious or violent, and thus, not a third strike.

Youth Radio: New laws aim to help people get jobs after getting arrested

Ashley Williams — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:13:00 +0000

Seventeen year-old Andrew is filling out a job application for a Jamba Juice in Oakland, California. He’s making his way through the basics, filling out his name and contact information. However question five posed a challenge. It was a yes or no checkbox which read, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”