Rizio and Nelson California Law Blog

Methamphetamine Statistics

Methamphetamines, also known as “meth” or “crystal meth”, are drugs that are quickly growing in popularity in the state of California. Among the biggest users of this drug are young women, ages 12 to 25. This should not be surprising, since the affects of meth use include increased energy levels, elevated mood, and appetite suppression. Our society has conditioned our young women to believe...

Prostitution

Prostitution convictions often result in a criminal record and a social stigma that can decrease your ability to find a job, home, and hurts your personal reputation and relationships. Convictions can also result in prison sentences. A prostitution defense is different from other types of defense, even other types of sex crimes. A defense team must conduct extensive and thorough witness interviews...

Pandering

The most commonly used definition of pandering is “the act of recruiting a prostitute, finding a place of business for a prostitute or soliciting customers for a prostitute.” In some states, this definition is broadened to include the sale or distribution of textual or visual material explicitly designed to appeal to the recipient’s sexual interests. In most cases, a pandering charge...

Home Invasion Legal Issues

Desperate times sometimes result in drastic actions.  Desperate times, desperate measures. That’s how the saying goes, and most of the time, we say it lightly. However, it is a sign of these difficult economic times when we see in the papers and on the news more and more crimes of theft, robbery, and home invasion. With unemployment rates still high, the chances are that many people will...

Common California Employment Law Questions

Does California require employers to allow rest breaks?Yes.  California employees are guaranteed a ten minute rest period for each four hour period that they work.  This is covered by the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders.  Whenever possible the break should be half way through a shift. If it’s not provided, you are entitled to an extra hour of pay for that day. What happens if my break...

CA Gun Laws – More Confusion

According to an article posted recently on pe.com of the Press-Enterprise, new federal gun laws allow visitors to bring firearms into national parks. However, the federal law left it up to each individual state to apply the new law. The author, John Asbury, writes, “…how the new federal law will be applied in California is unclear, according to the state attorney general’s office.”...

Juvenile Facilities are Downsizing Too

According to a February 22 article on the Department of Justice Website, the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility has been closed. The article states, “At its peak, it housed approximately 2,000 youth, nearly a fifth of the 10,000 youth committed to state custody.” Gordon Hinkle and Bill Sessa write, “Closure of the facility in Chino, which had been the state’s largest for juvenile...

Terrorism – The Importance Of A Solid Defence

The United States of America is aggressively pursuing prosecution of anyone they suspect is involved in terrorist activity. The punishments are harsh, with some states employing the death penalty in severe cases (the Timothy McVeigh case, for example). Even pranksters can find themselves in front of a jury for making criminal threats and face up to $250,000 USD and five years in a federal correctional...

PVDMI

With the focus of reducing California’s recidivism rate, and the mandate that the prison population be reduced, a risk assessment system is used to determine if a criminal should be released on parole, or be returned to prison. It’s called the Parole Violation Decision Making Instrument, or PVDMI. According to an article in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)...