OFFICE OF CITY ATTORNEY LOS ANGELES OFFICE /
OVERVIEW OF THE CITYATTORNEY’S OFFICE
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office consists of three core legal branches: civil liability management, municipal counsel, and criminal and complex litigation.
The City Attorney is Los Angeles’ chief prosecutor, representing the People of the State of California in all criminal misdemeanor cases in the City of Los Angeles. With seven divisions spanning the City, the Office prosecutes a wide range of criminal activity including vehicular crimes, property crimes, domestic violence, child abuse and exploitation, and violent gang crimes.
The initial step in prosecuting misdemeanor offenses consists of a filing decision by a deputy city attorney, who reviews police reports received for filing consideration. The City Attorney’s Office receives these reports either directly from a law enforcement agency, administrative agency, or a referral from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The filing attorney decides whether to file a criminal complaint against an individual, set the matter for a City Attorney Hearing, or reject the case. The cases are prosecuted by a deputy city attorney at one of the seven branch locations or within specialized prosecution units.
Upon disposition of a case by plea or conviction, the defendant is sentenced by the court. However, sentence advocacy is an important role for a prosecutor as part of the criminal justice system. A defendant may be sentenced to jail, fine, or probation and may be ordered to make restitution to the victim. Conditions of probation may include appropriate counseling, force and violence conditions, attendance at an alcohol program or batterer’s treatment program, parenting classes, or other terms of probation that prevent recidivism.
The Office achieves superior results in part because of the strong working relationships its attorneys and staff have developed with all levels of the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.
In 2010, this Office reviewed 93,691 cases and filed 57,204 cases. As a result of this continued commitment and dedication, Los Angeles is a safer place for children and families to live, work, and go to school.
CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAMS
Every day, the Office of the City Attorney confronts the serious problems of child abuse, neglect, exploitation and technologically facilitated crimes against children. Efforts are multifaceted, including specialized vertical prosecution, multi-agency state and federal task force participation, providing support to victims, truancy and gang prevention programs, legislative initiatives, law enforcement training, and community outreach.
CHILD ABUSE PROSECUTION SECTION
The City Attorney’s Office handles all physical, sexual and emotional child abuse and neglect matters primarily though its specialized Child Abuse Prosecution Section in which experienced prosecutors vertically prosecute all cases of violence against children. This section is supported by skilled and dedicated victim advocates who work with the prosecutors to provide support to child victims, witnesses, and their families. Each individual case is assigned from the outset to a team made up of a prosecutor, victim advocate, and an investigator who work together for the duration of that criminal case. Their combined efforts ensure better conviction rates and stricter sentencing, while providing needed resources and aid to victims of child abuse.
The efforts of the Office go beyond prosecution. The Office of the City Attorney advocates for additional support, including financial assistance, for child victims and witnesses through the Los Angeles City Attorney Victim Witness Assistance Program.
CYBER CRIME AND CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION DIVISION
The Cyber Crime and Child Abuse Prevention section was created in 2009 and is responsible for the prosecution of technology facilitated crimes against children as well as a wide variety of child and youth related programs and projects. These include co-chairing the Los Angeles County Cyber Crime Task Force, active participation as an affiliate with the Los Angeles Regional Federal Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Child Abuse legislative and policy issues and the Truancy Prevention Program.
CYBER CRIME TASK FORCE
In partnership with ICAN, the United States Attorney's Office, the FBI, California Department of Justice, Disney, Fox Films, Facebook, UCLA and the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the Cyber Crime Task Force held the second annual county-wide Cyber Crime Symposium to educate the community on cyber crimes, Internet safety, predators, cyber bullying, and piracy. This unique Symposium was held on Friday, September 29, 2010 at the California Endowment for approximately 350 educators, parents, and middle school students.
CYBER CRIME PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
In partnership with ICAN and California State University, Northridge, the section has produced a series of Public Service Announcements aimed at educating parents and the general public regarding cyber crime and the dangers presented to children. Our first endeavor, Family Dinner, is currently showing on numerous local television stations including KABC. We are currently in production on a second in the series on the topic of Cyber bullying.
TRAINING FOR MANDATED REPORTERS OF CHILD ABUSE
The California Penal Code provides that certain employees of schools, health care organizations, and other groups who work with children on a regular basis are mandated reporters of child abuse. This mandate requires that these employees know the legal requirements and understand the specifics of what needs to be reported and when and how the report should take place. City Attorney staff conduct ongoing training for school, health care, law enforcement, and other personnel who are legally mandated reporters of child abuse. The approximately one hour instruction includes laws relating to mandated reporting, how and when to report, what constitutes physical, sexual and emotional child abuse, and exploitation and the legal ramifications of a failure to report.
CYBER CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAM
The Cyber Crime and Child Abuse Prevention section conducts ongoing presentations city and county-wide on Internet safety and cyber-crimes. Interactive presentations are presented for middle and high school students, community members, Boys and Girls Clubs, after school and recreation programs, parents, and school staff. These presentations include information on Internet predators and Megan's Law, cyber bullying, and computer safety instruction. This work is in partnership with and is certified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
OUTREACH PROJECT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN
The City Attorney’s Office has formed a very successful and important partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that has led to community outreach training and a successful PSA poster campaign. Deputy City Attorneys have distributed several thousand of the compelling posters throughout the city and county of Los Angeles since the program began in December, 2009.
SCAN TEAM PARTNERSHIP – MATTEL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
The City Attorney’s Office is a working member of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team at the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. The SCAN team is a working group of professionals in law enforcement, health care and social services field who meet on a weekly basis to review all cases of suspected child abuse and neglect present at the UCLA hospitals. The overall goal of the team is to take a managed approach to reviewing child abuse cases to determine what action was taken, future efforts on the case and to look closely at how we can improve our overall response in future cases.
TEEN DATING VIOLENCE SHOW
Through a grant from Channel 35 and in partnership with the Los Angeles Domestic Violence Task Force, the City Attorney’s Office co-wrote and co-produced a documentary program on Teen Dating Violence currently being used for training and education on the issue of teen dating violence. The show, “My Life Right Now,” was widely acclaimed. The sequel hosted by Francia Raisa, star of the ABC Family television show “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” is completed and has aired on Channel 35.
TRUANCY PREVENTION PROGRAM
In 2002, the Office of the City Attorney partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to start a unique and powerful program to address the issue of rampant truancy in the City of Los Angeles.
The Truancy Prevention Program strikes at the heart of dropout rates with a simple but powerful tool to fight truancy and absenteeism among students: parents. City Attorney staff educate parents about their legal responsibility to ensure that their children attend class regularly. Another positive side-effect of the Truancy Prevention Program is an increase in state funding for LAUSD, since funding levels by the State are based on daily school attendance.
Since its inception, the Truancy Prevention Program has been highly successful. This anti-gang, anti-truancy program holds parents accountable for their children’s attendance at school. Truancy is widely identified as a precursor to gang involvement and criminal activity. As such, the Truancy Prevention Program fights crime by investing in our young people, empowering parents, and giving families the resources they need to make better choices for their children’s futures.
THE PROBLEM OF TRUANCYIN LOS ANGELES
Truancy directly impacts our community and our quality of life in several ways, including increases in gang membership and juvenile crime, lower academic achievement, the increased victimization of children, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars for our schools. More specifically, truancy is harmful in the following ways:
· Truancy is a precursor to gang membership. A youth is three times more likely to join a gang when he/she has low school attachment, low academic achievement, or learning disabilities. Studies show that youth who have delinquent peers are more likely to join a gang. According to one veteran gang prosecutor, he has “never met a gang member that wasn’t first a truant.”
· Truancy is a stepping stone to delinquent and criminal activity. Forty-four percent of juvenile crime takes place during school hours. Police agencies report that a rise in daytime crime is a result of increased truancy.
· Truancy impacts a child’s success at school. Missing school causes a child to fall further behind, resulting in lower academic achievement. Truants lose not only their opportunity for an education, but also their future earning capacity. There is also a link between truancy and incarceration; among incarcerated inmates, over 80 percent dropped out of school.
· Truancy leads to the victimization of youth. According to a veteran LAPD crime analysis officer, “when you put juveniles back in school, you not only protect the community, you also protect the juveniles themselves.” Juveniles comprise 21 percent of the victims of crimes committed during school hours. Juveniles out of school are subject to sexual assault, drug dealers, and gang activity.
During the 2010-2011 school year, the City Attorney’s Truancy Prosecution and Prevention Program (TPP) conducted the following outreach:
· 18,081 letters were sent to parents to inform them of their legal responsibility to ensure school attendance.
· 2, 288 families were directed to attend a general assembly to learn how to improve school attendance and to learn how to avoid the perils associated with truancy and prosecution.
· 278 families had one on one meetings with TPP staff in order to develop a plan to improve school attendance and to address underlying problems contributing to truancy.
· 43 families were directed to attend a School Attendance Review Board (SARB) as the last step, required by the Education Code, to address truancy prior to prosecution.
· 27 parents were prosecuted for failing to send their kids to school and for failing to avail themselves of all of the help offered in the aforementioned steps.
During the 2010-2011 school year TPP implemented truancy prevention efforts at the following schools:
Adams MS
Bethune MS
Fulton MS
Harte Prep MS
Hollenbeck MS
Le Conte MS
Mann MS
Sepulveda MS
Virgil MS
Wilmington MS
Arleta HS
San Pedro HS
Universtiy HS
Alexander ES
Commonwealth ES
Hooper ES
Truancy has fiscal ramifications. LAUSD is funded based on its students’ attendance. Truancy costs the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal and state funding due to lower daily attendance rates. Businesses have to pay the attendant costs of truancy, such as removing graffiti and increasing security for crimes like vandalism and shoplifting. Furthermore, taxpayers must bear the increased cost for criminals and welfare recipients who do not have the education and skills to support themselves.
SAFE SCHOOL ZONES
Working in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office administers a program designed to monitor and potentially remove criminals convicted of firearm offenses living near schools. When children are unable to concentrate in school because their minds are focused on danger in their neighborhoods, we have failed them. By designating the areas around our schools as ‘Safe School Zones’, we send a powerful message to the community that we will not tolerate crime in and around our schools.
Working closely with members of the LAUSD, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles School Police Department at the Safe Schools Collaborative, the City Attorney’s Office uses California Penal Code § 626 to designate schools, bus stops and all areas within 2,000 feet of the school a violence-free zone.
Only enrolled students or those with official school business will be allowed on school grounds. Principals, school police, local law enforcement, and security may require any individual whose presence or acts interfere with the students’ education to leave immediately or be arrested.
Adopting provisions of the Penal Code section and designating “Safety Zones” around schools establishes specific, progressive penalties for violent offenders with a prior criminal record. The first violation of the “Safe School Zone” carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $500 fine. Second offenses carry a mandatory minimum of 10 days in jail. Three or more offenses carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 days in jail.
Each school in the LAUSD implemented a Safe School plan by posting information designating a list of boundaries, bus stops and other public property within the “Safe School Zone”. The office continues the process of training law enforcement including the LAUSD School Police in the law regarding Safe School Zones.