By William Safford

On June 19, 2014, a federal court of appeals struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance which criminalized vehicle dwelling.  The court held that the law, which banned the use of a vehicle as “living quarters”, was unconstitutionally vague and subject to arbitrary, discriminatory enforcement.  This may seem like a Los Angeles problem, but to those immersed in Peninsula politics, it sounds eerily familiar.

Unconstitutional vagueness is a funny concept.  It sounds like a linguistic problem – tighten up the language and the law will be fine.  Yet, this decision recognizes that laws cannot be fundamentally unclear.  If you and I cannot tell what is illegal, and neither can the police, then how can enforcement ever be reasonable?  The answer, said the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, is that it cannot.  If the police arbitrarily decide who to enforce against, then there is no equality of justice, and the law becomes reminiscent of “English feudal poor laws designed to prevent the physical movement and economic ascension of the lower class.”

Why is this a Palo Alto issue?  Because the Palo Alto vehicle habitation ordinance (VHO) is identical in every important way.  Both laws criminalize living in a car, but leave important questions wide open.  The Palo Alto law attempts to define “human habitation” as “the use of a vehicle for a dwelling place, including but not limited to, sleeping, eating or resting”, but if anything, this just makes things less clear. Continue reading →

Steeda McGruder, the inspiring organizer and leader of Sisters That Been There, was included in the recent comprehensive New York Times multimedia report entitled, “Women Inmates Separate But Not Equal.” The piece also features our friend Piper Kerman, who besides authoring Orange is the New Black, is also a tremendous visionary in the movement to end mass incarceration. Steeda first came to De-Bug with her own vision about creating support systems for women coming home from prison three years ago. She has since made that dream into a successful program called Sisters That Been There. Check out the piece by clicking here or the image!

Stop the Ban coalition members Aram James and Edie Keating discuss issues with judicial candidate Annrae Angel (in center)

On May 18th, the Stop the Ban Coalition (STB) — a broad coalition of groups opposed to criminalizing the homeless — held a judicial candidate forum in Palo Alto, CA. Annrae Angel was the only candidate to attend, and she along with candidate Julianne Sylva submitted written responses presented by coalition member Aram James. The forum, and written correspondence, is precedent setting in that it serves as the first time judicial candidates were asked to respond to the homeless community and advocates. Click here to read candidate responses to questions…

Jonathan Rapping, Founder of Gideon’s Promise, recently sent us a piece he wrote for the Texas Law Review. The writing is a compelling canvassing and analysis of the criminal justice system, as well as a call to action on the significant role public defenders must play in order to stop mass incarceration. 

I. Introduction

Anthony Lewis was a masterful storyteller.  He used his skills to raise public awareness about some of our nation’s most important constitutional principles and to show how Supreme Court pronouncements translate into the realization of ideals that are fundamental to our democracy.  Nowhere is Lewis’s talent and influence more evident than in his work, Gideon’s Trumpet, the David-and-Goliath story behind one of the nation’s most important criminal procedure cases, Gideon v. Wainwright,[1] which ruled that any defendant in a criminal trial should be given a lawyer to defend him.[2]  This book, and a subsequent Hollywood movie based on it,[3] taught the public about the Court’s attempt to address a basic unfairness in our criminal justice system.  At a time when America was struggling to deal with a history of injustice in so many realms, Gideon’s Trumpet shined a light on one of the country’s most oppressive institutions, and it gave us hope that we could correct its deficiencies. Continue reading →

Our friends at the Prison Policy Initiative have just put out a new briefing called “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie.”   It asks and answers a fundamental question: How many people are locked up and where? The image aggregates the disparate systems of confinement in the United States and is a compelling (and disturbing) data canvasing of systems, charges, and reach of the incarceration machinery. (Click image to go the full depiction.)

Family law attorney, human rights advocate, and ACJP volunteer Robin Yeamans was interviewed on Legal Victories Blog Talk. Check out the link here or click on image:

http://legalvictories.blogspot.com/2014/01/robin-yeamans-family-law-attorney-human.html