California’s Civil Grand Juries and Prison Conditions 2007-17

Richardson-Oakes, Anne and Adeleye, Nkem and Killingley, J. (2020) California’s Civil Grand Juries and Prison Conditions 2007-17. San Diego Law Review, 57 (3). pp. 609-674. ISSN 0036-4037

Preview	Text san diego paper.pdf - Published Version Download (934kB)
	Text San Diego Grand Jury paper2.docx - Submitted Version Download (106kB)

Official URL: https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol57/iss3/3/

Abstract

In this paper we evaluate the potential for California’s so-called civil grand juries to detect substandard prison conditions and maltreatment of inmates and make recommendations for improvement. We describe relevant reports by grand juries between 2007-17 and evaluate the effectiveness of these in improving conditions in a representative sample of counties. We conclude that the civil grand jury is a potentially effective tool for oversight but its effectiveness is hampered by competing duties, variable investigative methodologies, and lack of clear objectives for performance of their statutory duties.

Item Type:	Article
Dates:	Date Event 23 November 2019 Accepted 28 October 2020 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	civil grand juries, prison reform, Californian prison conditions, inmate mistreatment
Subjects:	CAH16 - law > CAH16-01 - law > CAH16-01-01 - law
Divisions:	Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Law, Social and Criminal Justice
Depositing User:	Anne Richardson Oakes
Date Deposited:	10 Dec 2019 16:10
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2022 14:08
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/8517