Until the early 1970s, most schools in the United States expelled pregnant and parenting female students, or excluded them from traditional classes. Many school districts had official “known or shows” policies, which excluded pregnant students once their pregnancy became visible…
The city of Harbor Gateway recently began construction on what will be Los Angeles County’s smallest park. According to the Los Angeles Times, “[a]t one-fifth of an acre, the pocket park will barely have room for two jungle gyms, some…
For students who are regularly truant and at risk of dropping out of high school, ‘scared straight’ tactics utilizing law enforcement and the judicial system have been the norm. But new research shows working to identify and address the underlying…
California was the fifth state to enact Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) laws by doing so in 1996. [1] The California SVP statute allows for detainment of sexual offenders who have been determined mentally ill and dangerous.[2] However, the act left…
Capital punishment still technically exists in California, but the state has not executed anyone in over seven years. [1] Although there is not an official, de jure moratorium, court rulings concerning the state’s lethal injection protocols, the shortage of qualified…
President Obama has made clear the nation’s need and priority to develop and implement alternative energy resources. The President said it in hundreds of campaign speeches and multiple State of the Union addresses. If his call sounds too familiar, that’s…
Love it or hate it, affirmative action is once again knocking at the door of the Supreme Court, and the stakes could not be higher. It is likely that the two cases responsible for the recent hullabaloo will decide the…
California Health and Safety Code, Section 11376.5 is a new law in California which aims to prevent deaths from drug overdose. The new law was enacted through Assembly Bill 472 on September 17, 2012, and became effective on January 1,…
In 2006, then governor Arnold Schwarzanegger signed into law the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (“the Act”), which was aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) Emissions in California to their 1990 levels.[1] The Act tasks the California Air…
The Supreme Court agreed in December 2012 to hear two landmark gay-marriage cases.[1] In one, lower courts overturned Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. In the other, lower courts overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), which barred…
California’s Three Strikes law definitely affected this state since its implementation in 1994. It deterred crime, harshly punished repeat offenders, and caused recidivism rates to go down. But almost two decades later the true effectiveness of the Three Strikes law…