First Petition

Attorney Paul Magnarella, utilizing the writ of coram nobis, filed his first petition with the Federal District Court in Kansas outlining the judicial errors in Pete O’Neal’s 1970 trial and requesting a new trial. Magnarella argued that California Youth Authority law had expunged O’Neal’s early convictions, thereby making O’Neal ineligible for indictment under the Federal Gun Control Act. He also argued that Judge Arthur J. Stanley’s acceptance of the FBI’s warrantless wiretaps of O’Neal’s telephone and the judge’s refusal to hand over the data from the wiretaps to O’Neal were contrary to the U.S. Constitution. To justify O’Neal’s flight and fugitive status, Magnarella explained that O’Neal fled abroad to avoid threats on his life. Magnarella described how the FBI through its COINTEL program conspired with local police to commit illegal acts designed to eliminate the Black Panther Party.

The Past Is Prologue: Criminal Specialization Continuity in the Delinquent Career

The versatility/specialization debate in criminology has important theoretical, research, and juvenile/criminal justice ramifications. Although offenders are mostly versatile, there is important evidence of specialization, but much of this evidence is derived from highly technical statistical approaches. Drawing on data from a cohort of serious delinquents committed to the California Youth Authority, logistic regression models revealed robust evidence for criminal specialization net the effects of behavioral and demographic controls. Prior homicide was associated with a 1,467% increased likelihood of being currently adjudicated for a homicide offense. Similar prior–current involvement in robbery (294% increased likelihood), aggravated assault (200%), burglary (148%), and drug sales (736%) was found. Logistic regression with odds ratios provides intuitive, valuable estimates of specialization in offending whereby prior involvement in a specific form of delinquency dramatically increases the likelihood of current involvement in the same form of crime.

Profiling Incarcerated Asian and Pacific Islander Youth: Statistics Derived from California Youth Authority Administrative Data

This article provides data about youth in the California Youth Authority (CYA) and compares and contrasts Asian and Pacific Islander (API) youth with other wards with regard to youth characteristics, commitment offenses, incarceration, parole, and discharge. The data shows that although API constituted 5% of the total population in February of 2002, some API ethnicities are vastly overrepresented in the CYA population and have had high levels of gang involvement. At the same time, API wards had the highest percentage with honorable discharges and the lowest percentage with a dishonorable discharge from CYA.

Studying Criminal Career Length Through Early Adulthood Among Serious Offenders

Much of the research on criminal careers has concentrated on the dimensions of prevalence, frequency, specialization, and desistance. One dimension that has not been the focus of research is career length. Knowledge on the distribution of—and correlates associated with—career length is important for matters related to theory and policy. Using data from a sample of parolees from the California Youth Authority, the authors studied the career-length issue and provide important descriptive and etiological information. The authors also present some comparisons across race to determine if race differences emerge in career length and its correlates. Theoretical and empirical directions for future research are also addressed.