San Francisco’s hard-fought ban on plastic bags is scheduled to expand in October, yet despite the political momentum behind the battle against litter and landfill bulk, not all businesses are taking this news well.
Category: Law & Justice
Posted inHuman Trafficking, Immigration, Labor, Law & Justice, Public Safety
Without long-term support, human trafficking survivors at risk of re-exploitation
Some who flee captive labor conditions end up with low-wage jobs, insecure housing
People trafficked into the country receive temporary government and nonprofit social service benefits after rescue or flight from captivity: shelter, health care, counseling, employment and legal help. But once these benefits term out, counter-trafficking specialists worry that victims, who generally have little work experience and weak social and family networks, could fall back into labor conditions as exploitative as the ones they fled. As a victim of international labor trafficking, Lili Samad received government help to stay in the U.S. But she is among hundreds of trafficking survivors each year who end up, months after getting help trying to build a new life, living in marginal housing and working in low-wage jobs.
Posted inCity Hall, Labor, Law & Justice, Public Safety
San Francisco police chief to be nation’s highest paid, for overseeing 14th-largest force
By the end of September, when he receives a scheduled raise, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr will be the highest paid police chief in any major American city. A review of the police departments in the 60 largest cities in California and 24 of the largest police forces across the country found that Suhr’s annual salary of over $307,450 will push Suhr’s pay just beyond that of the Los Angeles chief.
Posted inCity Hall, Law & Justice, News, Open Government, Public Safety, Social Justice, Social Services
Despite political nature, Mirkarimi case in San Francisco brings spotlight to domestic violence
In a hearing room in City Hall last week, reporters scrambled to get play-by-play reaction from followers of suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, sporting blue-and-white “Stand With Ross” stickers, and organized opponents, with purple signs saying, “There’s no excuse for domestic violence.” The complex game of personality, politics and procedure has for the most part eclipsed larger policy questions about the city’s approach to handling thousands of cases of domestic violence each year. But as the city’s Ethics Commission continues to debate whether Mirkarimi is fit to hold his elected position, advocates for victims say the hearings are helping generate awareness about the wider problem of domestic violence, and the needed response from social service agencies and law enforcement.
Posted inLaw & Justice, Public Safety, Social Services, Technology
State, tech companies forge alliances to combat sex trafficking
Last year, California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined attorneys general across the country in declaring war against Backpage.com, a free classified website run by Village Voice Media. The officials threatened legal action if the site didn’t stop running ads for adult services, some of which have been linked to underage sex trafficking. But while Harris took a confrontational tone with Backpage – which has since balked at shutting down its adult pages – a more cooperative dynamic has emerged this year between the attorney general and online companies.
Posted inImmigration, Law & Justice
ACLU sues federal immigration agency to halt shackling immigrants in court
Detainees file into San Francisco immigration court linked together like a chain gang, bound at their wrists, waists and ankles. A metal chain or seatbelt-style restraint is wrapped around the detainees’ waists and connected to their wrists with a link to the detainee in front of them. The detainees often must sit four to a bench and remain bound to each other throughout the court proceedings. While sitting bound, they are limited in movements, and the restraints prevent simple tasks, such as taking notes during the proceeding.
Posted inCity Hall, Government & Politics, Law & Justice, News, Politics
How California ranks in investigation of states’ integrity
For better or worse, there’s only one California. With the largest population, third-largest area and by far the most campaign spending, it has been both mocked and admired for its independence, its powerful citizen initiative process, its far-reaching political reforms, its Hollywood actors-turned-governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan, and its sometimes-wacky ideas of governance.
Posted inHuman Trafficking, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
Citizen petition claims more than 800,000 signatures for anti-trafficking ballot measure
A nearly three-year effort to put a strong anti-human-trafficking law before voters succeeded this week, organizers said, when they counted 873,000 signatures on their petition to put the proposed Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act on the November state ballot. The citizen-led campaign to strengthen criminal penalties against people who traffic teenagers, children and immigrant laborers on the streets of California cities, and over the Internet, has been working on the issue since 2009, when some Fremont residents started a grassroots organizing effort.
Posted inEducation, Human Trafficking, Law & Justice, Public Safety
Weak state law, lack of police savvy frustrate attorneys who prosecute traffickers
This special report appeared in the Spring 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
While California prosecutors mostly agree that the state’s human trafficking laws need strengthening, they also suggest that failure to recognize the crime itself remains a greater impediment in the fight. State law is still relatively new. Assembly Bill 22 of 2005 created penalties specifically for human traffickers. But some attorneys say it has not been much help.
Posted inElections, Human Trafficking, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Justice
California voter initiative would strengthen penalties for traffickers
This special report appeared in the Spring 2012 print edition of the San Francisco Public Press.
A California group dedicated to stopping human trafficking is hoping to take its fight directly to voters this fall. In January, the nonprofit advocacy group California Against Slavery began circulating petitions to get a measure on the November 2012 ballot to strengthen the state’s human trafficking laws. The measure is called the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act, and the campaign has mobilized hundreds of people around the state to collect the 800,000 valid signatures required for the measure to make the ballot.