This November, a voter’s initiative on the California ballot, Proposition 36, seeks to reform the state’s three strikes law. The law allows life sentences for repeat offenders, regardless of the severity of their crimes. Advocates of the initiative say sentencing reform will save taxpayers millions, while opponents argue that the law keeps communities safe. See […]
Monica Lam
Video producer
Monica Lam is a documentary film and television producer who has traveled on five continents producing, reporting, and shooting for the NewsHour, Frontline, Frontline/WORLD and other PBS programs as well as Swiss television and MSNBC. She has won an Emmy for her work and was cinematographer of an Oscar-nominated short documentary. Monica has written for the Daily Californian, San Francisco Chronicle, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Hyphen magazine and was the founding editor of Berkeley Patch, a daily hyperlocal news site. She studied urban planning at Stanford University and received her masters in journalism from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Calif. prisons see populations drop under realignment
Last October, California began a massive overhaul of its prison system under Gov. Jerry Brown’s Public Safety Realignment Act. Under pressure from the courts to improve inmate health care and reduce prison overcrowding, the state has transferred responsibility for thousands of non-violent felons to county jails and local law enforcement. The plan aims to reduce […]
Posted inNational Security
VIDEO: After 9/11, Suspicions Fall on Some Shoppers
A report from the Center for Investigative Reporting and NPR’s Daniel Zwerdling and about efforts to spot terrorist activity at the Mall of America near Minneapolis, where security officials stop 1,200 people each year.