Abstract: Under California’s Racial Justice Act (RJA)—codified in Penal Code section 745—the state may not seek or obtain a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin. There are four pathways to establishing an RJA violation. Two of the pathways proscribe discriminatory or biased conduct or language inside or outside the courtroom by specified criminal legal system actors, including judges, attorneys, law enforcement officers, and expe

Abstract: Lawyers and academics frequently cooperate to shape public policy and outcomes in specific cases, including in the area of racial justice. However, too frequently, lawyers and academics operate in silos—working towards the same goal of racial justice, but in different arenas. Lawyers are bound to their clients, foremost, and to advocacy before the court—often so much so that they might lose sight of broader challenges, achievements, and theories in racial justice. B

Abstract: Racial disparities within the criminal justice system continue to be a pressing issue, especially after the recent passage of California’s Racial Justice Act, which allows for a broader set of legal challenges based on racially disparate treatment. In this article, we analyze data for almost four million stops by California’s fifteen largest law enforcement agencies in 2019, examining the extent to which people of color experience searches, enforcement, intrusivenes