“JustLeadershipUSA opposes SB10 and has worked tirelessly with partners throughout California to urge the State Legislature not to pass the bill. We urge Governor Brown not to sign the bill. Signing into law a bill that only further entrenches racialized harm, ensures that California, the most incarcerated land in the world, will maintain that shameful position. To sign the bill is to miss a critical opportunity to dismantle the structural racism and socioeconomic discrimination that is so deeply baked into our criminal justice system.
The California State Legislature has passed Senate Bill 10 (primary sponsor, Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys), a dangerous bill that deceives the public about the fundamental point of ending cash bail and will further incarcerate Black and brown Californians. Advocates have made clear to legislators that this proposal will entrench algorithmic risk assessment technology thereby mutating structural race and wealth-based bias. We have experienced this proposal as an adaptation that undermines the momentum of a strong national movement to decarcerate jails and prisons, overhaul the pretrial system and end cash bail. Furthermore, the bill gives law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges ultimate authority to jail people arbitrarily.
That this bill was passed without incorporating meaningful input and that amendments were withheld from the public, reveals that the California State legislature has acted in ways that are neither democratic nor in the best interest of their constituencies. Still, we are proud that grassroots organizations across the state, civil rights organizations, and the movement to end cash bail – united to mount a fervent opposition.
JLUSA believes that in California and across the country it is possible to end race- and wealth-based jailing of people awaiting trial by ending cash bail without using racist risk assessment technology. JLUSA will continue to fight the unjust pretrial system including cash bail, corrupt law enforcement and judges, and racist and economically biased algorithmic risk assessment technology. Accordingly, pretrial overhauls that are not pointedly calibrated to reinforce the presumption of innocence for all, ensure due process rights, and require a system of individualized hearings, are unlikely to yield fairer trials. To the contrary, they are likely to perpetuate injustice under the cover of so-called reforms that in fact exist in name only. Californians deserve fairer trials that can only happen if the State prioritizes people fighting their cases from home, and not from a cage.”
In our 10th anniversary year, JustLeadershipUSA’s work of educating, elevating, and empowering justice-impacted leaders continues and is growing even stronger!
We are preparing for our very special 10th anniversary gala in New York City on October 21st, and we would love for you to be there with us.
This is going to be a very special time to look back on the past decade of JLUSA’s important work, the 1,600+ leaders we have helped get to the next level in their work, and even more importantly, we will look ahead to the next 10 years and beyond!
We can’t do this without you. We need your support to help us continue to do this work now and into the future. By purchasing a $50 streaming ticket, you are saying to the amazing leaders in our network who represent the 70+ million Americans who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system, “I see you, and I support you!”
Please plan now to join us in person or give a one-time $100 gift or set up a recurring $10 monthly donation to celebrate JLUSA’s 10th anniversary year, and together we will build a fair and just U.S. Thank you!
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JustLeadershipUSA is a non-partisan organization. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed belong solely to the individual author or speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the organization.