What’s going on with justice issues in California in 2025?
California passed several bills in 2024 aimed at retail theft and voters approved Proposition 36 in November, a measure to reclassify some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies. The state continues to explore the size of its prison population and policies for rehabilitation. In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom, legislators, justice leaders and advocates will outline their plans for the state’s 2025 agenda for courts, prisons and law enforcement. This page will be updated as new proposals are introduced.
CalMatters justice team:
- Editor Adam Ashton, adam@calmatters.org
- Justice Reporter Nigel Duara, nigel@calmatters.org
- Justice Reporter Cayla Mihalovich, cayla@calmatters.org
Quick Facts
- Prison: There are about 94,000 inmates in prison, down from 124,000 in January 2020.
- Guns: California’s is among the lowest states in the deaths by gun, just more than half the US average.
- Opioids: Opioid overdoses increased 121% between 2019 and 2021.
- Race: Blacks and Latinos represent about 38% of the population but drivers accounted for 55% of police stops
Justice Bills
In Focus
Here are all of the justice-related bills considered this session with the highlighted bills identified by CalMatters as among the most significant in 2024.
Key Players
Legislative Leaders
These are the key legislative leaders on justice issues as identified by CalMatters.
Non-Legislator leaders
These are the people who have been most active on justice legislation based on their testimony in a hearing or the number of positions they have taken on related bills.
