Currently, prosecutors in both the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems have too much discretion in pressing charges, determining what sentences are sought, and negotiating plea deals. Trial by jury is a key tenant of the American criminal justice system, but heightened prosecutorial power significantly reduces the power and frequency of a trial by peers. Attempts at sentencing reform must address largely unchecked prosecutorial discretion.
“More than two-thirds of California’s top county prosecutors are asking Gov. Jerry Brown to veto bills on his desk that have been cheered by prison reform advocates. One bill would bar 14- and 15-year-olds from being prosecuted as adults, while the other would narrow the scope of California’s felony murder rule, which holds murder accomplices just as accountable as those who committed the killing.“
San Francisco Chronicle
September 21, 2018
Read More"Felony-murder laws allow prosecutors to file murder charges against participants in fatal crimes without having to show that they intended to kill. Unlike such laws in other states, the appeals court said, the California law “takes an abstract approach to evaluating a crime’s dangerousness,” looking at the definition of the crime rather than the facts of the individual case."
San Francisco Chronicle
August 6, 2018
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