Racial Justice Act Resources

The Law

• Racial Justice Act (AB 2542 (2020)), as implemented in Penal Code 745
• RJA Retroactivity, through the Racial Justice for All Act, AB 256 (2022)), with FAQs by OSPD
• Transparency of Prosecutorial Data: Penal Code 13370, as introduced through the Justice Data Accountability and Transparency Act (AB 2418 (2022))

Community Resources

• Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, with an RJA4All Guide
• League of Women Voters of California, which has information about community implementation, including a community webinar
• Silicon Valley De-Bug, which organizes a Participatory Defense Network
• University of San Francisco Law School’s Racial Justice Clinic, which is the clearing house for requests for help for potential RJA retroactive cases

Resources for Defenders

• Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) Indigent Defense Improvement Division (IDID), which provides trainings and resources for indigent defense counsel, including through a Racial Justice Act SharePoint and listserv and support for the implementation of a Racial Justice for All Implementation Grant

RJA Data Resources

• Burns Institute, State of Disparities: California
• California Department of Justice Survey of Government Data, California Prosecutorial & Judicial Race Data Survey
• Judicial Council Report on Criminal Dispositions, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
• Measures for Justice
• Paper Prisons Initiative, with forthcoming RJA data tool
• Proving Actionable Racial Disparity Under the California Racial Justice Act by Colleen V. Chien, W. David Ball, William A. Sundstrom :: SSRN
• Public Policy Institute of California, reports on Racial Disparities in Law Enforcement Stops, Racial Disparities in Traffic Stops, and others
• Racial Identity and Profiling Report (RIPA) data
• Some Prosecutorial Data Dashboards Outside of California: Chicago/Cook County, Manhattan, Philadelphia
• Stanford Open Policing Project
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Projects: “Racial Disparities in California Criminal Justice,” Factsheets
  • Explanation of the CORI Data
  • Racial Disparities in Resisting Arrest
  • Racial Disparities in Gun Possession

Acknowledgments

The ACLU would like to recognize the following partners, among others, in the implementation of California’s Racial Justice Act, and in particular in securing access to, and conducting analysis of, prosecutorial information to ensure the law’s effectiveness.

• Berkeley Law Criminal Law and Justice Center
• Braun Hagey and Borden LLP
• Center for Policing Equity (CPE)
• Chicanxs Unidxs de Orange County
• Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Habeas Corpus Resource Center
• Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) Indigent Defense Improvement Division (IDID)
• Peace and Justice Law Center
• Public Defenders and Indigent Defense Providers
• RJA Implementation Coalition
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Sociology