On October 1, 2011, California experienced a major change to its criminal justice system. After the Supreme Court ordered the state to drastically reduce its prison population, the Legislature decided to shift responsibility for a wide variety of offenders to the local level. KALW’s criminal...
Last week, we ran an interview with Scott Kernan, who was until recently, second in command at the California Department of Correcitons and Rehabilitation. Kernan has been at the center of some of the biggest developments in the prison system over the past few years: he was central to the...
One of the more important and most overlooked races going on in San Francisco right now is the campaign to be the city’s next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now...
The Bay Area’s Occupy movement continues, today, with tents set up in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza and protesters in Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza. Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, who became a rallying figure after being critically injured by a projectile Tuesday night in Oakland, has been...
As you may have noticed from the piles of candidate flyers that arrive in your mailbox every day, or the swarms of politicians hovering around Muni stops and social protests, it’s election season.
SHARMIN BOCK: Hi there, I'm Sharmin Bock, I'm running for DA. Good morning, I'm Sharmin Bock, I'm...
On October 14 young men from rival Richmond neighborhoods showed up unexpectedly at the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) at Richmond City Hall. They got into a fistfight that ended after one young man’s nose was broken.
This past week media coverage of the incident dubbed it a “bloody...
One of the more important and most overlooked races going on in San Francisco right now is the campaign to be the city’s next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now...
One of the more important and most overlooked races going on in San Francisco right now is the campaign to be the city’s next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now...
When Rafael Losno was growing up, he attended Catholic school in Oakland. He spoke three languages. He played sports and had a girlfriend. And he felt a deep loyalty to the place where he grew up, San Francisco's Mission District.
On June 5, 1981, a fight broke out between Losno, two friends...
KALW Interviews
The past 13 months have been difficult for California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Last year, a new lethal injection facility was built in San Quentin. The state spent just over $800,000 building it in response to the allegation that it’s method of lethal injection was...
This morning, outside San Francisco's City Hall, a campaign launched to gather enough signatures to place an initiative on the ballot in November 2012 that would replace the death penalty with life without parole.
This coming week SAFE California (“Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for...
Alert / Breaking News
Police officers raided and cleared out the two-week-old Occupy Oakland encampment in front of City Hall this morning between 4 and 5am. KALW News' Ali Winston was on the scene, and checked in with this latest news.
Follow our continuing coverage of Occupy Oakland at our criminal justice blog,...
One of the more important and most overlooked races going on in San Francisco right now is the campaign to be the city’s next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now...
One of the more important and most overlooked races going on in San Francisco right now is the campaign to be the city's next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now...
KALW Interviews
An estimated 30 million people or more live as slaves today – working against their will for someone else. And every year, some 17,500 are trafficked into the United States. Many of these people don’t have allies, but here in the Bay Area, there’s one non-profit that’s standing with them.
Not For...
Child prostitution goes on in America every day and every night – despite the efforts of federal, state and local authorities. For more than a year now, Youth Radio has been investigating child sex trafficking in Oakland. It's a system of exploitation that's ensnaring girls across America.
The FBI...
KALW Investigates
In East Oakland, the street economy ranges from selling CDs out of your car to braiding hair at bus stops. But the underground marketplace can be a slippery slope to illegal activity, like selling guns, drugs, and sex.
Decades ago, several motels opened up shop in the East Oakland neighborhood of...
KALW Interviews
In the last 25 years, women have been the fastest growing prison population in the United States and in California. Between the ‘70s and the 2000s, the number of female inmates in state prisons serving a sentence of over a year has grown by 757%.
Between 1985 and 2007, the number of women in prison...
Last week, Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts announced his resignation from the department, citing what he said was excessive bureaucracy.
ANTHONY BATTS: No chief wants to be in a position where he or she is being held accountable but doesn’t have the power to make a dramatic impact.
It was a move...
San Francisco hasn't had a new sheriff since 1979, when Sheriff Mike Hennessey was first elected to the post. Now, following Hennessey's decision to retire, there are three men looking to take his place: Chris Cunnie, Ross Mirkarimi, and Paul Miyamoto. As the race progresses, San Franciscans are...
Misisipi Mike
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