KQED Public Radio’s “Forum” hit the airwaves this morning with a conversation with Robert Okin, the former chief of psychiatry at San Francisco General Hospital, who recently published a new book on homelessness and mental illness. He said the common belief that the homeless choose to reside on the streets, from his experience profiling them, is false.
Category: Law & Justice
Posted inHousing, Law & Justice, Public Safety
S.F. Board Watch: Supervisors Approve Plan to Protect Tenants Against Displacement
The first substantive plan to protect tenants against displacement passed in San Francisco Tuesday. Supervisor John Avalos secured unanimously approval for the new rules, but some of his colleagues expressed misgivings about rushing into changes that could lead to unintended consequences for landlords.
Posted inCity Hall, Homelessness, Law & Justice, News, Public Safety
S.F. Board Watch: Supervisors Question High Cost of Jailhouse Calls
The cost of a call from jail could come down, if the Board of Supervisors has its way. At San Francisco’s jails, inmates must pay an initial fee of between $1.25 and $3.95 for each phone call and are charged between 10 and 69 cents a minute, depending on whether it is local or out-of-state. Under a contract with an outside company, the Sheriff’s Department receives 65 percent of the money, for a fund to provide inmate services and supplies. The contract is expected to generate more than $3 million in revenue over its four-year term, but the supervisors are talking about renegotiating.
In other news: Concerns over sex offenders at Bayview Homeless Shelter, city money to stop nonprofit displacement and the soda tax expected to appear on next year’s November ballot.
Posted inCity Hall, Community, Law & Justice
S.F. BOARD WATCH: Supervisors Grapple With Half-Billion Dollar Price of New Jail
San Francisco supervisors are still debating whether to commit the hundreds of millions of dollars it would take to build a replacement for the jail at 850 Bryant St., despite warnings that it could collapse during the next major earthquake. At least one supervisor, though, has come around to supporting it.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Law & Justice, LGBTQ+, Neighborhoods
Gay Rights, San Francisco and the Media
The coverage following the two Supreme Court rulings for same-sex marriage reflects the jubilant celebration of gay rights advocates, eclipsing dissenting opinions on the Supreme Court decision.
Posted inDomestic Violence, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
Domestic Violence Case that Spurred San Francisco Reforms Comes to a Close
The high-profile murder of Claire Joyce Tempongko more than 12 years ago showed just how ineffective the city was at dealing with domestic violence cases, spurring an investigation of the city’s enforcement of domestic violence policy. Now the state Supreme Court has reinstated the second-degree murder conviction of her ex-boyfriend.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
City makes move to increase awareness of domestic violence
Supervisor Eric Mar Monday unveiled new efforts to raise awareness about domestic violence. Working with the Department on the Status of Women, Mar focused on working through the city’s workforce to educate the public and to help those city employees who are victims themselves.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Q&A: The Role That Culture Plays in the Response to Domestic Violence
Orchid Pusey, interim director of the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco, says cultural differences can have a big influence on the attitudes and responses to domestic violence. She talked with San Francisco Public Press reporter Ruth Tam about the challenges facing service providers in the city. This story appeared as part of a special report on domestic violence in the Fall 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
Posted inCity Hall, Domestic Violence, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Mirkarimi Case Brought Spotlight to Domestic Violence in San Francisco
As the city’s Ethics Commission debated whether Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was fit to hold his elected position this past June, the complex game of personality, politics and procedure eclipsed larger policy questions about the city’s approach to handling thousands of cases of domestic violence each year. But advocates for victims said the hearings generated wider awareness of the problem of domestic violence.
Posted inCity Hall, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
Poor Record Keeping Hinders Analysis of Domestic Violence Policing Practices
As statistics go from tick marks to laptops, police struggle to make sense of trends
The San Francisco Police Department cannot precisely measure the number of domestic violence cases it handled before 2011, because investigators in the Special Victims Unit hand-tallied monthly records, and used changing and inconsistently understood categories of crimes. This story appeared as part of a special report on domestic violence in the Fall 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.