Los Angeles County officials have a powerful tool at their disposal to keep felons from committing more crimes in the future – but they’re not using it.
As the L.A. Times explained in its recent editorial "Stop the revolving jail door," 'split sentencing' has the potential to help offenders and crime victims alike, by “breaking the cycle of offending, being locked up, returning to the streets and offending again.”
Despite the clear benefits of split sentences – which involve shorter jail sentences followed by mandatory supervision for low-level non-violent felons – L.A. County lags behind other California counties. A mere 4 percent of L.A. County sentences are split sentences, according to the L.A. Times. The statewide average – excluding L.A. County – is 32 percent. If L.A. brought its split sentencing rate up to the statewide average, the jail population could decline by between 1,500 and 2,000 inmates, based on a reasonable projection.
Under AB 109, which the state passed in 2011, counties have the power to impose split sentences for low-level felons. But, as the L.A. Times made clear, “Los Angeles County and its courts are squandering the opportunity presented by AB 109 to return corrections and rehabilitation to the criminal justice system. If they can't make use of split sentencing on their own — and so far they have demonstrated that they can't — they will need to be pushed.”
The L.A. Times editorial is further confirmation that officials are neglecting the County’s criminal justice system. The County’s inaction comes with a high price. Taxpayers are paying for unnecessary jail operating expenses and, if the County CEO has his way, will spend more than $1 billion on building and renovating jail facilities. Absent split sentencing, low-level felons are more likely to reoffend, compromising public safety and placing more individuals behind bars.
The ACLU of Southern California, Advancement Project, Coalition to End Sheriff Violence, Community Coalition, Drug Policy Alliance, Integrated Recovery Network, Justice Not Jails, and Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership are paving the way for real alternatives to incarceration in the County jails. As the L.A. Times editorial demonstrates, change is long overdue.
You can join the call for smarter sentencing solutions by contacting your L.A. County Board of Supervisors member today. Encourage your Supervisor to work with law enforcement agencies and departments to take advantage of split sentencing, and improve public safety in our communities.
Esther Lim is ACLU/SC Jails Project Director and Clarissa Woo Hermosillo is ACLU/SC Direct of Policy Advocacy

Today, the Ninth Circuit lifted the stay preventing California from marrying same-sex couples. The ruling comes two days after the U.S. Supreme Court restored marriage for same-sex couples in California, nearly five years after California voters, through Proposition 8, stripped same-sex couples of their freedom to marry. In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Court ruled that opponents of marriage for same-sex couples lacked standing to appeal a decision that struck down Prop. 8. Meanwhile, in the ACLU’s case Windsor v. United States the Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, paving the way for married same-sex couples in California to receive all federal benefits, rights, and responsibilities.
What exactly do these decisions mean for same-sex couples who are either thinking about getting married in California or are already married and living in California?
The American Civil Liberties Union of California – along with Equality California, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights – has produced a handy guide that answers many of the practical questions emerging in the wake of the Court’s rulings. Our guide, Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in California: Frequently Asked Questions, covers topics including the logistics of marrying in California, protection against discrimination, and whether your marriage will be recognized by the federal government and outside of California.
Download the guide (pdf) in English or Spanish, or view it online in English or Spanish.
Here is a brief glimpse at some of the questions the guide answers:
• When can same-sex couples start getting married again in California? • Will same-sex couples throughout the state be able to marry? • What do we have to do to marry in California? • Will domestic partnerships in California continue to exist? • If my partner and I are from another state and marry in California, will our marriage be valid in our home state? • If my partner and I married in another state, will California recognize our marriage? • Will the federal government recognize marriages of same-sex couples in California? • For same-sex couples in bi-national relationships, will getting married in California permit a non-U.S. citizen to gain legal permanent residence in the U.S.? • Can a private business – such as a florist, photographer, or event space – refuse to provide space or a service for me wedding because I am marrying a person of the same sex? • Can my employer deny my same-sex spouse the same employment benefits that different-sex spouses receive?
One note: This guide focuses on the questions facing same-sex couples contemplating marriage in California. There are several guides (and more coming!) that explain in more detail the federal changes that will occur in the wake of today’s Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Windsor. For more information, check After DOMA What It Means to You: ACLU Factsheets.
Melissa Goodman is Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California

For those concerned about civil rights, this week's Supreme Court rulings provided an emotional roller coaster. On Tuesday, the Court dealt a crippling blow to the Voting Rights Act, jeopardizing nearly 50 years of progress on voting discrimination. Then, just one day later, the Court overturned part of the indefensible Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), paving the way for married same-sex couples to receive federal benefits, rights, and responsibilities.
How should we reconcile the thrill of DOMA's demise with the Court's tragic decision to gut the Voting Rights Act? This week is a reminder that, while our country has made incredible progress since 1996 -- when Congress passed DOMA, we must also safeguard those gains we have made since 1965 -- when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
The Court's decision to strike down Section 3 of DOMA in the ACLU's case United States v. Windsor represents a huge step forward for LGBT equality -- and (we hope) foreshadows even more progress in the years to come. Justice Antonin Scalia, playing the part of Nostradamus, has even given proponents of the freedom to marry a legal roadmap: He predicted that the same reasoning used to overturn Section 3 as a violation of equal protection could be used against state laws denying the freedom to marry. Scalia wrote in his dissent, using strikethrough, no less:

"DOMA's This state law's principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriagesconstitutionally protected sexual relationships, see Lawrence, and make them unequal. The principal purpose is to impose inequality, not for other reasons like governmental efficiency. Responsibilities, as well as rights, enhance the dignity and integrity of the person. And DOMA this state law contrives to deprive some couples married under the laws of their State enjoying constitutionally protected sexual relationships, but not other couples, of both rights and responsibilities."

Legal challenges to state laws prohibiting same-sex couples to marry are already underway, and I am sure that legal advocates appreciate Scalia's drafting their arguments for them.
What does the Court's decision regarding the Voting Rights Act portend? The Court refrained from striking down the actual "preclearance" requirement, which forces jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination to get federal approval before altering their election laws. Yet, by eliminating the coverage formula -- which determines which jurisdictions must obtain preclearance -- the Court has in effect undone the preclearance requirement.
The Court put the fate of minority voters in Congress's hands, inviting lawmakers to draw a new formula if they want to continue to stave off discriminatory voting practices.
But what can we expect from Congress? In 2006, when Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act, it did so with broad bipartisan support. The reauthorization passed the House and Senate with votes of 390-33 and 98-0, respectively, and was signed by then-President George W. Bush. That, however, was before the right to vote became the politicized and polarizing issue it is today.
And, even if Congress somehow managed to overcome gridlock and craft a new formula, it is unclear that it would stand up in court. The law that the Supreme Court undercut this week was based on nine months of testimony and more than 15,000 pages of evidence. If that wasn't sufficient to convince a majority of justices, what will?
Indeed, in oral arguments, several justices questioned whether the Voting Rights Act remains necessary. Scalia, for example, referred to the law as a "racial entitlement" that continues to win support because lawmakers fear appearing prejudiced. As he explained, "Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes."
This makes me wonder whether the Court cynically killed the Voting Rights Act without having the decency to tell us. This is the tragedy and the challenge. As recent events in Texas demonstrate -- the state's Attorney General has pledged to implement a regressive voter identification law in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling, the same law that the Department of Justice denied preclearance to last year -- oversight remains essential to defend decades of progress on voting rights and prevent racial and language discrimination from infecting our voting system.
So, while we celebrate yesterday's decision on DOMA, we must not forget that much work remains for all who remain committed to liberty and justice for all.
What should we do? We should call on the Department of Justice to aggressively challenge voter suppression efforts through legal action, in an attempt to counteract the loss of preclearance. We should support those organizations that work to protect the right to vote. And, most importantly, we should champion local changes that make it easier for all of us to vote.
Reposted from the Huffington Post