Magnus Lofstrom is policy director of criminal justice and a senior fellow at PPIC, and a visiting professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Focusing on crime rates and recidivism, his recent work examines criminal justice reforms in California. His research also spans issues in immigration, education, and entrepreneurship. His research has been published in numerous academic books and journals, including Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Human Resources, Demography, Criminology & Public Policy, and Journal of Population Economics. He serves on the editorial board of Industrial Relations and was a member of then–California State Controller John Chiang’s Council of Economic Advisors. Prior to joining PPIC, he was a faculty member at the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of California, Irvine. He received his PhD in economics from the University of California, San Diego.

Brandon Martin is a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California. He studies criminal justice and public safety, with recent work examining the need for jail construction in California and the changes in state and local correctional populations. He has previous research experience in the area of legislative committees, including legislative and oversight responsibilities and the electoral considerations of committee assignments. He holds an MA in political science from the University of California, Davis and a BA in political science from Michigan State University.

Kevin McCarty represents the 7th Assembly District, which includes Sacramento, West Sacramento and parts of unincorporated Sacramento County, in the California State Assembly. He serves as chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, which oversees the largest component of California’s multi-billion-dollar budget. As chair, he made historic investments in public education, including expanding access to preschool for low- and middle-income families, providing greater career technical education programs, and increasing student enrollment at public colleges and universities. His other legislative priorities include addressing housing affordability, fighting climate change, championing criminal justice reform, curbing gun violence, tackling the opioid crisis, and advocating for the middle class. He began his public service career as a Sacramento housing and redevelopment commissioner and he served on the Sacramento City Council from 2004 to 2014. As a councilmember, he created innovative youth programs and wrote common-sense gun laws, tackled sub-standard rental housing, and crafted clean air policies. He created Sacramento’s Little Saigon district, the city’s Whistleblower Hotline program, and the Independent Auditor department. He attended American River College, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University, Long Beach and a master’s degree in public policy and administration from California State University, Sacramento.

Abdul D. Pridgen is chief of the San Leandro Police Department. Throughout his career, he has put systems in place to increase the public’s confidence in the police, reduce crime, and assure that policing for safety, not incarceration, is each officer’s focus. Prior to his appointment in 2021, he led the Seaside, California, Police Department, where his department priorities were procedural justice, transparency, and winning the community’s trust. Before serving in Seaside, he honorably retired from the Fort Worth Police Department after almost 26 years of service. He was promoted through the ranks and was appointed as second-in-command in 2009, becoming the first and only Black assistant chief. He was known for his effectiveness at employing evidence to drive organizational change and for his principled approach, promoting ethical policing and fostering a culture of answerability. He is a senior advisor for Measures for Justice, a member of the executive committee for Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, on the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Monterey County, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, and president of the Institute for Transparent and Accountable Policing. Before entering law enforcement, he was a sailor in the armed forces, serving in Desert Storm. He was honorably discharged and retired from the US Navy Reserve as a chief petty officer. He holds a BS in criminal justice and an MA in public administration. He is a graduate of the Southern Police Institute, FBI National Academy, FBI National Executive Institute, and Harvard Kennedy School, Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Adrienna Wong is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, where her work focuses on police practices and economic justice. Before she joined the ACLU of Southern California in 2014, she was an Arthur Liman Fellow at the ACLU of Texas, where she documented abuses in prisons and immigration detention centers and was involved in litigation to hold private prison contractors accountable. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Yale Law School. She clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for Judge A. Wallace Tashima, and on the District Court for the Central District of California for Judge Margaret Morrow.