This toolkit will assist your League in identifying high priority criminal justice projects specific to your local communities in California. It includes resources for education, advocacy and voter service. Our committee is eager to support you in this work: criminaljustice [at] lwvc.org.

Start Here

We have an inclusive, open approach to organizing -- calling people into this work rather than creating barriers to participation -- so if you are new to these issues, begin by educating yourself. Learn from people who are most impacted by the criminal justice system. Be a good community member, by finding out who is already active, what they’re prioritizing, and why. Support their work.

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the League and the LWVUS DEI Lens. We hope your League is using the League of Women Voters "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Guide." We strongly encourage members, committees, and Leagues commit to explicit learning and internal evaluation plans (see section 2 in the guide).

• Suggested Reading on Criminal Justice

• Definition of Criminal Justice Terms

• Terms / Statements to Avoid

Essential Connections

1. Members of the League in California are strongly encouraged to join the California Criminal Justice Reform GoogleGroup. This is a peer-to-peer forum to discuss League positions, advocacy, education, voter service, resources, events, concurrence and studies.
2. We have a monthly Criminal Justice call the fourth Tuesday every other month at either noon or 5:30 Pacific (join the GoogleGroup above for more information).

Seven Local Projects for Your League

The most important item for any League, and often the starting point of local education and advocacy, is the LWV California Criminal Justice Position. LWV California used a process called “concurrence” to establish this position. It was designed to be comprehensive but flexible. Learning about it, and discussing how it is relevant in your community, is highly recommended.

Here are our top recommendations of projects your local League can undertake in for education, advocacy and voter service for criminal justice:

1. Use of Force: Protect & Monitor Local Implementation of AB392

• ACLU information
• LWV Pasadena Area sample letter
• Find the policy for your area or make a formal request for public records

2. Observer Corps

This is an excellent way to learn about criminal justice if you’re new to the issue. First step: find out if your local League has an Observer Corps. If they do, join! To help you understand Observer Corps more, you can:

1. Sign up for an online training from LWV San Francisco
2. Join the national League Observer Corps Facebook Group
3. Review the LWVUS "Observing Your Government Guide"
4. View our training January 31, 2023 at noon "Know Your Rights: California Public Meetings." The First Amendment Coalition’s open-government experts provided in-depth training on your rights to access public meetings in California. The presentation focuses on the Ralph M. Brown Act’s open-meeting requirements for local legislative bodies, including recent law changes that affect teleconferencing and decorum rules.

Does your League not have an observer corps? We'd love to train you to observe state, national or even global meetings. For example, you could observe the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) board (meeting info in the right column, scroll down to "Upcoming Board Meetings" and "Upcoming Subcommittee Meetings"). Members also can join the very active United Nations Observer Corps, follow the LWVUS United Nations Facebook Page, and join their LWVUS United Nations GoogleGroup.

3. Transparency & Accountability: Protect & Monitor Local Implementation of AB748 and SB1421

State legislation AB748 requires release of video and audio recordings of critical incidents. SB1421 requires disclosure of records and information related to certain high-profile categories of officer misconduct: officer-involved shootings, certain uses of force, sustained findings of sexual assault, and sustained findings of certain types of dishonesty. How is your local community handling these requests? Is there a backlog? What do your local Public Defenders, journalists, and community members think of the local implementation?

• First Amendment Coalition Police Transparency Guide includes a legal compendium, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and sample letters.
• ACLU information
• Check out our workshop (recording, slides, materials, and more) with LWV United States and the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) titled "Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement."

4. Bias: Protect & Monitor Local Implementation of AB953

The state Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) board provides recommendations that law enforcement can incorporate to enhance their policies, procedures, and trainings on topics that intersect with bias and racial and identity profiling. This report provides the Board’s recommendations for next steps for all stakeholders – advocacy groups, community members, law enforcement, and policymakers – who can collectively advance the goals of RIPA. Is your community aware of these recommendations? Are they being implemented well?

• Fourth Annual RIPA Report (2021) with fact sheets, best practices, etc
• Short ~11 minute introductory CA DOJ video you can share with members and the public or a ~4 minute introductory KPBS video
• We recommend having your Observer Corps watch the board (and subcommittee) meetings. There are dozens of recordings or you can watch upcoming meetings live (see right hand side of page).
• Review the stop practices of your police and sheriff’s departments using the RIPA 2021 Best Practices.

5. Issue Forums

In some cases, local Leagues create their own GoogleGroup to coordinate criminal law related activities for their local community, where all local members are invited to participate (and sometimes even non-members).

Consider hosting a forum, webinar, or creating a FAQ to print and share online. Write an Op Ed. Host a book club. We are sharing information here prepared and/or vetted by the LWV California for use by your local League:

• RaceCounts.org is an education tool allowing you to see key criminal justice data organized by race. This is eye opening and may help your League prioritize which communities to partner with to address bias.
• CA Death Penalty Coalition as presented by https://www.safecalifornia.org/
• Interview government officials or bodies about their role in criminal justice. For inspiration, take a look at the LWV San Francisco Department of Police Accountability interview.

6. Voter Service

7. California Legislative Action

Your League, members, and community can support state advocacy for criminal justice reform. When in session, based on our positions, we review bills before the State Legislature and take action in support of or in opposition.

1. IMPORTANT: Sign up to receive Action Alerts. See current Action Alerts you can take action on. Check out our Bill Status Report. Please do not take action as a League on bills not currently prioritized. Not sure what that means? Contact us! criminaljustice (at) lwvc.org.

2. There are extensive training materials about the state legislative process, as well as training and tools for taking action in the League. All are on the LWVC Advocacy Dashboard. Here are the self-study advocacy materials from LWV California.

3. We're recruiting Legislative Analysts for Criminal Justice. Let us know your interest by emailing criminaljustice [at] LWVC.org.

Criminal Justice Position Resources

We hope that our California Criminal Justice position, supporting materials from across the country, and our committee members will assist your League in identifying key reform areas specific to your local community. We conducted extensive research which includes state and local positions, policy best practices (policing practices, pre-trial procedures, sentencing, incarceration, re-entry, and general information), and peripheral state and national positions.

• Background Information
• LWV-US Clearinghouse of studies and research -- Index of state and local Criminal Justice positions (Only shows submitted positions, if your Criminal Justice position/study is missing, please get your League to submit it following instructions here: How to Submit a Study or Position - Clearinghouse)
• State Leagues with positions on Juvenile Justice
• State Leagues with positions on Criminal Justice
• LWV California Criminal Justice Position. LWV California used called “concurrence” to establish their Criminal Justice position, but it may be more flexible than the policy your League uses (we highly recommend adopting California's).
• LWV California Criminal Justice Action Policy - coming soon! An action policy brings together existing League positions that apply to criminal justice. The policy makes it easy to see all the State and National positions needed to help analyze proposed legislation or ordinances and use them for advocacy.

National Action on Police Violence

Based on the LWVUS call for congressional action on police violence, we are developing resources for local action.

• Sign up for LWVUS action alerts to take national action

Stay in Touch, Get Help

Please contact us by joining the Criminal Justice Reform Google Group or emailing us at criminaljustice [at] lwvc.org. We are eager to help! Reminder: we have a monthly Zoom during which all members from across the state collaborate.