any system that incarcerates people at the rate that we do in our country and our state -- the implications that this has had in minority communities, 70 people -- 70% of the people that we incarcerate -- this is a system based on punitive measures. this indicates that we have to fix the system and that is why i am here today. we have to fix this. >> john ray is a direct question. if you are presented with evidence that the police officers have committed perjury, or if you have this attorney in your office who has hidden evidence in the pursuit of a conviction, will you take action against this? >> we are aware that we're looking at many cases -- with the first homicide -- homicide conviction for this case that was over 20 years old at the office was working on for over one year. and we have the prosecutorial problems in this case. it appears that this was possibly prompted by the police. we believe that this evidence was material, and we decided to read prosecute the case. we have an integrity and it today, and we're looking at a series of cases and convictions. the answer is that i will h

california incarcerates people for minor possession. >> ridiculous overspending and overcrowding crisis is the drug sentencing and other run away sentencing. >> the brown administration said they will comply with the order but governor brown used the ruling to push the realignment plan. they say county jail is not enough. >> that invites repetitive and continuing to do the same thing or worse behavior. >> corrections officials have two weeks to turn in the plan. 18 other states are closely watching and fearing a similar order. abc 7 news. >> and a 15 year old girl in oakland is under arrest for bringing a loaded gun to school. a male student is under arrest for having a dagger on it. cecilia vega is live with the story tonight. >> dan, this stems from a fight that broke out this afternoon. a fight that school officials say could be gang related. the fight broke out between two male students. one of those boys was found carrying the dagger. he never threatened to use it. they found it and they noticed a 15 year old female student hooneding her backpack to a friend. they searched the back

we are not using them to arrest and incarcerate people with health problems and to insure that we have sufficient resources in the public health system to take care of their concerns. thank you. [applause] >> alright. [reading names] big evening. in the tenderloin clubhouse's director. i am also a resident of district 6. i want to thank honored guests for being here tonight to hear from people. in district 6, we have two clubhouses for boys and girls clubs of san francisco, the tenderloin clubhouse, and the treasure island club house. we serve between both clubhouses 1500 kids a year from all ethnicities. i thought it would be really important to hear from the young people, and if there are some other teams or children in the audience, could you please stand up? [applause] >> hello. i'm troy. i go to boys and girls club, and i am part of keystone, vice president, and i'm also youth leader for the tenderloin clubhouse. growing up in the tenderloin, i see a lot of homelessness, violence, and drug use, and i have a lot of friends and family members that died of violence and drug use, and

everyone is standing everyone standing together and it was the same spirit here where they had incarcerated people where they threw them into a practice field like this you know people have to sort of prove their own deal with finding food and keeping warm and. and from that people went back to their house houses went back to their communities and and spread out around them and i was trying to let the legacy of that whole experience it was a last. antiwar demonstration but it's it was the beginning of the end for the war. both plots and backers say they haven't seen the magnitude of protests and pressure brought to bear on government since meeting despite america's decade long war in afghanistan and eight year presence in iraq but i don't know whether it has to do with an all volunteer army were people not being. drafted into the service nowadays there are less people affected by those wars that were affected by the previous wars in afghanistan. i don't know but you just you're not getting the numbers. that we used to get for those kind of. forty years ago the protesters filled the stats are going

engage the city and county in supporting us and looking at ways to move away from the over incarceration of people and look at ways to reform their behavior. the efforts we have undertaken when george was appointed to the position -- jeff asked him to come to the public defender's office to have a question and answer session, which he did, and i attended with him. we are told that was the first time that had ever happened, and we reciprocated by asking jeff to meet with the district attorneys in our office. we have begun a dialogue that both sides think is very healthy. we have identified a number of issues that we think require further exploration, so we are creating working group's staff by the people from the d.a.'s office and the public defender's office to look at improving things like discovery, which is an important issue, making sure that we have reciprocal discovery and that it is transparent and complete. looking at workers from collaborative courts, looking at solutions besides incarceration, dealing with mental health and behavioral health issues, rather than using the jails as a solut

it back to the politicians who push the was and the policies that we need to build more people being incarcerated more people being force rated prisons so it's almost a money wandering of tax dollars they're making contributions to judges and politicians it's sort of like a closed circuit you're making contributions to people who are breaking the laws and then you're making contributions to people who are forced into law with the number of prisons out goes the number of prisoners the u.s. has around two point three million people behind bars more than any other nation you've seen prison populations pretty consistently over the last three decades move up a couple percent a year and say you know unfortunate as a citizen that that's not the most exciting statistic however when you look at it from a business model perspective for the private operators it's clearly good news the good news for the prison business turned into a nightmare for thousands of under-age victims of the two judges in pennsylvania there is an immense sense in private industry obviously to make money that's where private industry

drug policy alliance points out california incarcerates people for minor possession. >> ridiculous overnding and that is part of the prison overcrowding crisis is the drug sentencing and other run away sentencing inflation of the prior decade. >>reporter: brown administration says it will comply with the order but governor brown himself used the ruling to push his realeanment plan which transfers about 30,000 prison investigators local jails. but republicans are blocking the tax extension to pay for it saying county jail is not enough fov of a deterrent. >> that invites repetitive, continue to do the same thing or escalating do worse behavio behavior. >>reporter: correction officials here have two week to turn in a plan. 18 other states were closely watching fearing a similar order. in sacramento, abc 7 news. >>> until contra costa county now building inspectors are trying to save their jobs. the county says 14 inspect divorce to be laid off at the end of the month because the money is just not there to keep them on. inspectors disagree there is enough money to save these 14 jobs which

the united states far outranks any other country in the amount of people we incarcerate. 000, about 750 people. closest to us is russia that has 575. south africa, 325. can you talk about the philosophy in the united states to send more people to jail? guest: the building be in our prison systems has taken place over the last 30 years. part of that corresponds with the war on drugs. because of the very punitive penalties that have been instituted both at the federal level and in states across the country -- for, in many circumstances, very low level drug offenses, we've had a significant increase. it is now over half a million incarcerated for drug offenses. the increased sentences and penalties for drug offenses has a lot to do with the significant growth in the prison population. up until the early 1980's, the rate of incarceration was pretty flat and certainly was not as high as it is now. host: are they convicted under federal laws for drug use? guest: both. most people in prison for drug offenses are held in state facilities but about half of the federal bureau of pri

because they are starting to see the connection between services and opportunities for people after incarceration. and the outcomes, which are positive. in the same vein, my office, we have funding to provide legal services for people with criminal records. unfortunately, the san francisco public defender is unique in this state. there are a few other models, but it is unfortunately not in every county, but there is a clean slate project, and that is not a foregone conclusion. the other thing is i and my bad attitude, i probably lost over the good laws that do exist. one challenge where i hope we see a lot of movement is dismantling the structural barriers people have and space from accessing what laws do exist, so that would be another one. from the very least, providing these legal services around the state. also, just a simple "know your rights" campaign. there are people who are lawyers who probably do not know the laws and what protections are a fortune in the realm of employment law but also what remedies are available in the realm of reentry/criminal law. >> thank you very much. we have a

the discussion comes at a time when there is an unprecedented amount of people incarcerated. e individuals are returning from prison at the rate of 600,000 per year. in california, that rate is 115,000 per year. in california, over 1 million people have a conviction record, and one in five individuals have an arrest or criminal conviction. so we have to ask ourselves -- is criminal record reform an urgent priority for california? and if so, what is being done? and how can we go further? let's hear what our distinguished panel has to say. our first panelist is dr. steven richardson, a renowned author and professor of criminal justice at the university of wisconsin oshkosh. i have to say that dr. richards probably will not authorize this, but i am going to make a plug for the book he has written. i want to say he has written the book "convict criminology." another book called "behind bars." and "beyond bars." so check it out on amazon. we also have with us the policy co-director of the national employment law project. and eliza hirsch is the supervising attorney in the clean sla

innocent and that they should be sent somewhere i mean operating from so completely innocent people incarcerated for years and you need no trial and no hope i don't really know no country room greeting cards and reading thanks for the united states has made me to problem. nine states which involved in rounding up and he's innocent people sitting up a process that was from the very beginning corrupt there's a reason why they're in problemo and not on the us mainland and not in our own country and that reason was to hide them and keep them outside of the law just like you have caribbean islands in creation money laundering the united states was engaging the people wondering but let's move on and talk about your media partners one of which is the guardian with whom you are now involved in a speech but you chose them as your primary english language partner for distributing that we can these cables and now guardian journalists a publicist book on wiki leaks you say is an attack on you how would you describe throwing that the gods is the guardian stance on whistleblowing and media freedom in general

innocent and they should be sent something i'm not going to want so you completely innocent people incarcerated for years and years and years and no trial and no hope really no no country will create a house and. states if united states has made them it's probably. not his face was involved in rounding up and he's innocent people setting up a process that was from the very beginning corrupt there's a reason why their income problemo and not on the u.s. mainland and not in our country. and that reason was to hide them and keep an outsider war just like you have caribbean island from cajun money laundering united states was engaging people wondering ok let's move on and talk about your media partners one of which is the guardian with whom you are now involved in a dispute but you chose them as your primary english language partner for distributing the weeklies cables and now guardian journalists a publicist on wiki leaks which you say is an attack on you how would you describe following that the gods is the guardian stance on whistleblowing and media freedom in general you know they are publishin