California Criminal Defense Lawyers

A new study from the Stanford Criminal Justice Center reports that an offender sentenced to life with a chance of parole will serve about a 20 year term. Also, and perhaps even more notably, the vast majority of people who are sentenced to life in prison and subsequently released on parole, will not reoffend. [Read More...]

As of 1/1/11, California has a new law against online impersonation. SB 1411 makes pretending to be someone else online a misdemeanor offense, with penalties of up to a year in jail and a $100o fine.

Impersonating someone on line could mean a number of things. It could be pretending to be someone else in a live chat session, or setting up a false social media account, such as on facebook or twitter.

It is broadly written and intended to prevent a number of actions, including online harassment, or online fraud.

There is also an open question of whether this law could be applied to prevent legitimate first amendment expressions, such as acts of parody or satire.

via the CSMonitor.

A 53 year old former Santa Ana and Stanton cop is accused of taking private investigators and clients for a ride, all while claiming to be an investigator himself. According to the LA Times, the man claimed to be a licensed investigator, gaining clients and contracting with other investigators only to leave the contractors without payment and the clients often without the services they paid for. [Read More...]

A national report released this week shows incarceration rates for juveniles are falling across the country. California’s juvenile system locked up 10,000 kids in 1996 but only has 1,500 currently incarcerated today. This is a dramatic drop, coinciding with drops in juvenile crimes and a dramatic shift in juvenile justice philosophy. [Read More...]

The California Supreme Court heard a case last week that may have granted some exceptions to the sex offender residential restrictions put in place with Proposition 83, or “Jessica’s Law”. However, they sided with the restrictions, maintaining that anyone released from prison after the enactment of the law are still subject to them. [Read More...]

The Sacramento Bee posted an article this week looking at the effect of crime on local religious institutions. While some state that they are victimized at the same rate as other businesses, others think they are targeted because of vulnerability and maybe a perceived passiveness. [Read More...]