Now that the Police Study is in motion, the Criminal Justice Committee will be focusing on many of the other issues concerning Criminal Justice. Kay Ragan shared her report on the use of Solitary Confinement and how its use in the US is way beyond the bounds of that suggested at the UN and other international organizations. Particularly when it is being used when dealing with prisoners having mental problems, it just exacerbates the problem. We will be looking to see how it is being used in our county jails.
The AB 392 bill regarding Use of Force was passed in August 2019. Now a law, it changed the Peace Officers use of force to be ‘only when necessary to save human life’ from the previous ‘when reasonable’. Yet not all of its requirements have been put into practice. We are beginning to follow local Police Departments and how well they are complying with the law.
Our committee will continue to follow the committee’s goal to research all aspects of Criminal Justice even while the Police Study Committee focuses on Policing Practices. The Study committee will report their work back to the Criminal Justice committee and the Board regularly.
The October meeting will be on Wednesday, October 13 at 12pm on Zoom. You can access it by going to the League websitecalendar.