Research & Publications

Question: Who are the most powerful elected officials most voters have never voted for? Answer: Your district attorney & sheriff. They speak for you, but what are they saying on these issues? Download this voter toolkit and vote on June 3.

Our new policy paper, Metadata: Piecing Together a Privacy Solution, examines how outdated laws and new technologies combine to put personal privacy at risk and proposes a way forward to ensure that sensitive data of any type gets the protection it deserves.

Our new policy paper, Losing the Spotlight: A Study of California’s Shine the Light Law, takes a close look at California’s landmark transparency law, why its important and whether current law is doing enough to protect our personal information.

In the name of public safety, Black children in Oakland are being arrested at vastly disproportionate rates. This derails their opportunities for educational success while failing to ensure our children’s safety. From Report Card to Criminal Record: The Impact of Policing Oakland Youth describes the various and overlapping law enforcement agencies which police Oakland’s children.

"The Hidden Death Tax" is a comprehensive report on the costs of California’s death penalty, analyzing for the first time records of actual costs in California death penalty trials. The report demonstrates that while California tax payers spend well over $100 million every year on the death penalty, it is unclear just how much money is being spent. At the post-conviction level, California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year seeking execution of the people currently on death row, or $175,000 per inmate per year. The largest single expense is the extra cost of simply housing people on death row, $90,000 per year per inmate more than housing in the general prison population. Executing all of the people currently on death row or waiting for them to die there will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if all of the inmates on death row were sentenced to die of disease, injury or old age.

"Death by Geography" reviews the death-sentencing practices, public safety records, and spending practices of the 24 most populous California counties. The report reveals that while the vast majority of California counties have largely abandoned execution in favor of simply sentencing people to die in prison, just 10 counties continue to aggressively pursue executions, accounting for nearly 85 percent of death sentences since 2000.