California inmate release plan begins
The state’s controversial plan to reduce its prison population by 6,500 inmates over the next year begins today, with victims and law enforcement groups once again warning it will increase crime.
“We are concerned for the public’s safety,” said Christine Ward, director of the Crime Victims Action Alliance in Sacramento.
State leaders lobby Congress for federal funds
California’s state leaders are in Washington today and Thursday for the first round of visits this year to press the federal government for billions of dollars to help the state’s beleaguered budget.
Stanislaus County victims center narrowly approved
The concept of a one-stop shop for abuse victims for all of Stanislaus County, which could open in a few months, nearly withered Tuesday in the heat of a philosophical argument between county supervisors.
None debated the need for a uniform response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child and elder abuse. But they disagreed on the rationale behind charging a fee that some say has nothing to do with such a service.
Panel: Rethink lifetime supervision for sex offenders
Lawmakers should revise state law to limit the number of sex offenders subject to lifetime supervision, focusing the state’s scarce resources on the highest-risk offenders, a state panel recommended Tuesday.
The move comes after a Des Moines Register probe in July showed Iowa’s experiment with lifetime monitoring of sex offenders would cost at the very minimum about $168 million over the next 20 years.
