We need to incorporate that age-old concept of redemption into the work that we do in the criminal justice system in California.

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

Eighty-two percent of prisoners in the United States are high-school dropouts. A high-school dropout between the ages of 30 and 34 is two-thirds more likely to be in jail, or to have been in jail, or to be dead.

These days, children can text on their cell phone all night long, and no one else is seeing that phone. You don't know who is calling that child.

Generally speaking, the public appetite for criminal justice policy is just tough talk.

With the advent of DNA, we know that people have been convicted and sentenced to death who later proved not to be guilty of the crime.

Don't give up - our country needs you now more than ever. This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country: Our ideals are at stake, and we all have to fight for who we are. We are all, and should be treated as, equals, but the disparity in terms of income and inequality, for women and women of color, is significant.