As a pediatrician in South L.A., I have cared for many children who were victims of gun violence. Most have recovered, some have lingering psychological trauma and a few have died. When I stop to reflect, it’s always incomprehensible—why are guns a part of children’s lives?
A new bill from Baldwin Park Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio aims to make it easier for domestic violence victims to receive CalWORKs and ensure that caseworkers offer resources to survivors.
Sextortion has a definition — it’s a form of online blackmail in which explicit images are used to extort either money, additional photos or sexual favors from victims — but there is no specific law to prosecute the crime.
A four-category system for intimate partner violence that Susan Holt created with her colleagues at the Los Angeles LGBT Center has become a standard of practice at the non-profit, the largest provider of LGBT medical and mental health services nationwide. But Holt and her colleagues are still working to spread the word about the four categories, which, Holt believes, can be helpful for treating the wider community as well.
A lauded academy for foster teens in San Diego County is only about 60 percent full, and officials say that’s a good thing, because it suggests shifts in local policy meant to keep kids out of the system may be working.
A San Diego program seeks out formerly incarcerated individuals after they are released to connect them with health care, paid for under the ACA with their Medi-Cal card. Generally, health care seems to provide a crucial link to a better life after incarceration. Former inmates participating in the program are more likely to do well in their communities and avoid the cycle of re-arrests.
Interpersonal assault victims, who already faced stigma and a culture that often blames them for their assault, now must contend with a president who himself has been accused of sexual assault. Further, President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have left many California victims who are undocumented afraid to even step foot in a courthouse or police station, for fear that they may be deported.
The historical function of jails was to detain people who are a danger to public safety or a flight risk while awaiting trial. Today, jails confine too many people who are neither, simply because they can’t afford to pay bail. Each year, an estimated 1,000 people die while incarcerated in local jails, and a majority are being held pre-trial.
Mixed-immigration status families here are feverishly planning in the event that they are divided by deportations. The most common of many scenarios is that undocumented parents could be deported, leaving their children who are U.S. citizens behind.
“It really helps and it really works if you’re open minded and willing to allow the process to occur. If you attend it and just sit there with your arms crossed and you’ve got a messed up look up on your face and you’re really not participating in the class, it won’t help you.”