Criminal Law

Grinding Justice: Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesnít Work

Stung

Men don’t have to agree to sex in order to get busted in a prostitution sting. They just have to seem interested.

SF Weekly Letters

A Lack of Conviction

As D.A. Kamala Harris campaigns to be attorney general, her success rate in felony trials has dropped below that of any big-city prosecutor in California.

Shoot First: Mehserle Likely Only Bay Area Cop Ever Charged With Murder for On-Duty Killing

Just like Johannes Mehserle, we can't give you a straight answer -- but the former BART police officer appears to be the first Bay Area cop to ever find himself charged with murder following a job-related shooting. Jim Chanin, a veteran Berkeley attorney who has prosecuted more than 20 police shooti ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

First Offender Prostitution Program Punishes Victimless Crime

Gus Fallay Beats Bribery Rap, Wants Old Job Back at SF Department of Building Inspection

District Attorney Files Criminal Charges Against Supervisor Ed Jew

Open-air Crack Market

Stained Rep

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Let It Bleed

Prosecutors' reluctance to charge murder suspects in S.F. leaves alleged killers on the street, flush with bravado

Legal Pirouette

Marin County DA Ed Berberian switches his office's position, agreeing to Catholic Church demands to withhold sex-abuse documents from the press

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Week of February 2, 2005

Zipped Up

S.F. Archbishop William Levada doesn't want the public to know about decades of alleged sexual misconduct by his clerics. But why are district attorneys in San Mateo, Marin, and San Francisco helping him keep secrets?

Case Study: Ludrate Burton

A jailhouse "snitch" fingered Burton for murder

Innocence Arrested

Albert Johnson was exonerated for a crime he didn't commit, but not before spending over a decade in prison. Why guiltless people get jailed -- and how to stop it.

Kamala's Karma

She's smart, she's experienced, and she's running for DA. But she's Willie Brown's ex-girlfriend, and her opponents are trying to crucify her for that.

Prosecutors' Patience Wears Thin With Levada, Mahony

The Dilemma of Sara Jane Olson

With an October trial in the offing, prosecutors had every intention of proving that Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson was a domestic terrorist who helped plant bombs under police cars 26 years ago.

Smoke and Smearers

Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

The Prosecution Rests ... and Rests

After nearly 2 1/2 years, the embezzlement case against a Fire Department supervisor has still gone nowhere, and no end is in sight

Girl Problems

The juvenile justice system is ignoring delinquent girls -- and creating a social time bomb

Officer Down

Steve Landi was a hero at 101 California and a cop to his bones. Why is the SFPD trying so hard to get rid of him?

"Fairfield Wives" Saga Continues

Mormon doctor's conviction for sexual penetration with foreign object upheld; allegation of juror misconduct headed for court

For Pete's Sake

Why giant corporations like PG&E bankrolled a juvenile crime initiative

Benign Neglect

There's a pot of money available to investigate real estate fraud, but Terence Hallinan isn't using it

Cothran

Cothran

Cothran

Letters

Cothran

Policing the Vice Squad

Investigations launched into money collected from massage parlor workers

Cothran

Wages of Vice

Police find a way to make money by busting massage parlors

Cothran

The Housing Authority's Dirty Dozen

Twelve convicted drug dealers and other major felons have recently been employed by the San Francisco Housing Authority. But are there even more criminals on the public payroll?

The Great Bank Thievery

The city and state say the Bank of America stole hundreds of millions -- even billions -- of dollars from the government. But didn't San Francisco finance officials know what was going on? And shouldn't B of A executives be under criminal investigation?

The Grid

Duck! You're in Wine Country

Why do police in bucolic Santa Rosa kill more citizens per capita than cops in crime-ridden cities like San Francisco and New York?

The Grid

Waste Case History

Where Crime Pays

Is the DA's Office bungling the biggest pollution case in Bay Area history?

Where do Bad Children Go?

S.F. officials are tilting toward more community-based rehab for youthful offenders -- if they can put the lid on internal bickering that's given new meaning to the term "juvenile justice"

The DA's Svengali

Earlier this year, the District Attorney's Office was flirting with farce. Then Terence Hallinan called in David Millstein.

Deadbeat Heaven

Parents who refuse to pay child support don't have much to worry about in California. Or, for that matter, San Francisco.

Payback

Liberals mount a comeback in the juvenile justice system

Hallinan's Right Cross

The narrow bandwidth of San Francisco politics makes most elections a contest between liberals. The DA's race, which pitted prosecutor Bill Fazio against centrist Arlo Smith and progressive Terence Hallinan, promised to change all that. But when Fazio zig