January 19, 2011 Today's Stories -- U.S. Policy Allowed Loughner To Buy Gun Despite Drug Use -- Justice Department Creates Prosecutor Misconduct Unit -- Juvenile Justice Group Criticizes A&E Over "Scared Straight" -- Ex-Police Reporter Runs Homicide Watch Blog In D.C. -- Fortune Society, Delancey Street Show Inmate Re-Entry Promise -- Nearly Half Of Camden, NJ, Police Officers Are Laid Off -- At Federal Event, IL Teen Describes Stalking Experience -- Advice On Dangerous Mental Cases: Watch For Sudden Changes -- Entry To U.S. Too Easy For Terrorists: NYC's Kelly -- How Utah City Got Prescription Drug Problem Under Control -- 2,500% Increase In U.S. Child Porn Cases In A Decade -- Indiana Sentencing, Parole Ideas Make Sense: NY Times You may go to TheCrimeReport.org to search all archived CJN stories. Please e-mail Ted Gest at CJJ with concerns about the editorial content of our news items, to suggest news stories, or with general comments. |
U.S. Policy Allowed Loughner To Buy Gun Despite Drug Use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An old policy memo from the Clinton administration paved the way for accused Arizona gunman Jared Loughner to buy his first firearm, reports the Washington Post. Put in place by then-Attorney General Janet Reno, the policy prohibited the military from reporting certain drug abusers to the FBI, which manages the national list of prohibited gun-buyers. Loughner attempted to enlist in the Army in 2008 but was rejected because he failed a drug-screening process. Within a year, he bought a shotgun from Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson. In November, he went back to the same store and purchased a Glock 19 - the one he is accused of using in the Jan. 8 rampage that killed six and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Federal law since 1968 has prohibited gun sales to anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. Licensed dealers have been required to check the backgrounds of gun-buyers since 1994. The Reno policy told federal agencies not to report people who had voluntarily given drug tests for fear it would deter them from seeking treatment. |
Justice Department Creates Prosecutor Misconduct Unit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Justice Department has created a new internal watchdog office to make sure federal prosecutors face swifter and more consistent punishment if investigators find that they committed misconduct, reports USA Today. The newspaper previously identified 201 criminal cases in which federal courts had found that Justice Department prosecutors had broken laws or ethics rules - violations that put innocent people in jail and set guilty people free. Although each case was so serious that judges overturned convictions or rebuked the prosecutors for misconduct, the Justice Department often took years to investigate what went wrong, and prosecutors faced little risk of being fired. Attorney General Eric Holder said that while most federal prosecutors meet their ethical obligations, the procedures for disciplining those found to commit misconduct "consume too much time, and risk inconsistent resolution." He said the new unit "will help change that by providing consistent, fair, and timely resolution of these cases." The new Professional Misconduct Review Unit will be responsible for disciplining career prosecutors when the department's ethics investigators conclude that they engaged in intentional or reckless misconduct. Until now, those decisions had been made by the prosecutors' supervisors, most often U.S. attorneys. The department has faced criticism for not doing enough to investigate and punish misconduct. |
Juvenile Justice Group Criticizes A&E Over "Scared Straight" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Coalition for Juvenile Justice, a national association of governor-appointed state advisory groups, is critical of the A&E series "Beyond Scared Straight," which began airing last week. The series highlights an intervention that purports to turn children and youth away from delinquent and criminal behavior. In fact, such approaches, the coalition said, have been shown to have the opposite of the desired effect and to increase delinquency. Started years ago with good intentions, 'Scared Straight' approaches have now been well-evaluated and shown to have a damaging rather than positive impact, said David Schmidt, chair of the coalition and president of the New Mexico Council on Crime and Delinquency. Schmidt said that, "research makes it clear that youth exposed to adult inmates, particularly in prison or jail settings, are at heightened risk of emotional harm and anxiety and receive harmful messages that lead to increased potential for them to commit delinquent offenses." The broadcast industry trade press reported that premiere of Beyond Scared Straight was watched by 3.7 million viewers, becoming the most-watched original series premiere in the network's history. Nancy Gannon Hornberger, the coalition's director, said that A&E had not responded to requests to talk about the organization's objections to the series. |
Ex-Police Reporter Runs Homicide Watch Blog In D.C. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Laura Norton Amico, 29, a former police reporter from Santa Rosa, Ca., has carved out a role for herself as Washington, D.C.'s most comprehensive chronicler of the unlawful taking of human life, reports the Washington Post. Since October, she has documented her efforts on a blog called Homicide Watch D.C. Her mission sounds simple: "Mark every death. Remember every victim. Follow every case." It was inspired in part by what she sees as the limitations of traditional crime coverage. "I find it frustrating when I know there is a case, and all I see is the police department's rewritten press release, when cases aren't followed through, when there is no closure," said Amico, who puts in 10-hour days, seven days a week on the site and makes no money from the venture. On Homicide Watch D.C., the story of every slaying is told by marking the location using Google Maps; linking to obituaries, Tweets and Facebook tribute pages; posting copies of suspects' charging documents; and letting friends and families of the victims and defendants vent in the comments section. Amico said she was inspired partly by the site Who Murdered Robert Wone, created by four men to offer "subatomic" coverage of the unsolved killing of Wone, a lawyer for Radio Free Asia who was killed under mysterious circumstances in the home of a college friend in 2006. |
Fortune Society, Delancey Street Show Inmate Re-Entry Promise ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This year, nearly three-quarters of a million people will be released from prison, a record high. New York Times blogger Tina Rosenberg criticizes typical prisoner re-entry practices, saying that they "echo the typical follies of our criminal justice system: our politicians usually believe that voters only want the emotional satisfactions of meting out maximum punishment, even if these policies lead to even more crime." Rosenberg says most New York state released prisoners get $40, a bus ticket, and the considerable stigma that follows an ex-offender. Rosenberg describes the work of the Fortune Society, which helps about 4,000 newly released prisoners each year with job training and placement, drug treatment, classes in cooking and anger management and being a father, and G.E.D. studies. Some 300 ex-inmates can get housing in a Fortune building in West Harlem known as the Castle, which turns away at least 10 people for every one it accepts. "We get several thousand letters a year," says Fortune president JoAnne Page. Rosenberg also discusses the San Francisco-based Delancey Street prisoner re-entry program, which has established similar communities in Los Angeles, New Mexico, North Carolina and upstate New York. Carol Kizziah, who manages Delancey's efforts to apply its lessons elsewhere, says that the organization estimates that 75 percent of its graduates go on to productive lives. |
Nearly Half Of Camden, NJ, Police Officers Are Laid Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Following through on threats once considered unthinkable, the mayor of Camden, N.J., yesterday laid off almost half the city's Police Department, nearly a third of its firefighters, and more than 100 other workers, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I cannot stress enough that Camden's fiscal realities are not made up," Mayor Dana Redd said, citing a $26.5 million deficit in the city that has been called one of the nation's most violent. "We are operating in a culture of disbelief, that on the ninth hour some truckload of cash is going to pull up in the city of Camden." Redd criticized the unions that represent the 168 police officers and 67 firefighters who were laid off, saying their leadership had refused to submit "meaningful" contractual concessions, stoked fear during negotiations, and never let members vote on cost-saving ideas. Police officers lined a street with a row of boots they would no longer need. Firefighters, some with family members in tow, applauded. "The [police] chief's favorite saying is, 'We're going to put as many boots on the street as possible,' " said Bob Thomas, laid off after 10 years as a police officer and now unsure how he can afford care for his developmentally disabled son. "Here's your boots. They're on the street, and there's no one in them." In a sign of how poor the city of 79,000 is, Camden residents who saw the boots stopped to see if they were being given away. |
At Federal Event, IL Teen Describes Stalking Experience ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For four years, Hannah Perryman of Illinois peered out her window and saw a neighborhood girl who once had assaulted her pacing up and down her street, with an eye on her house, reports the Chicago Tribune. Perryman, now 17 and a star softball pitcher, spent a large chunk of her teenage years trapped - unsure what the girl who stalked her would do. Worst of all, police couldn't help. The neighbor wasn't breaking any laws. The Perrymans shared their story with Illinois lawmakers, who in 2009 were working to strengthen protections for victims of stalking. Hannah Perryman and her mother have taken their experience to Washington. The pair, with a Streamwood, Il., police detective and social worker, spoke yesterday on a U.S. Justice Department panel in observance of National Stalking Awareness Month. It's the culmination of years of angst, with the goal of bringing a frightening issue to the limelight to help victims of stalkers, Perryman said. In 2008, Perryman and her family were doing yardwork when the neighbor rode her bicycle near their home and threatened Perryman. Prosecutors needed a second threat to bring stalking charges. New Illinois laws that went into effect last year allow victims to secure an order of protection against someone whom they are not domestically or romantically linked to. Perryman, a high school junior, plans to study criminology at the University of Missouri St. Louis. |
Advice On Dangerous Mental Cases: Watch For Sudden Changes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The New York Times takes its turn analyzing why it's so difficult to get mental treatment for someone like Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner. Moving a person who is resistant into treatment is an emotional, sometimes exhausting process that may not lead to changes in behavior. Mental health resources are scarce, laws make it difficult to commit an adult involuntarily, and even after receiving treatment, many patients stop taking their medication or seeing a therapist, believing that they are no longer ill. New York Times |
Entry To U.S. Too Easy For Terrorists: NYC's Kelly ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New York City remains a prime target for terrorists nearly 10 years after the attack on the World Trade Center, but the New York Police Department is constantly refining its efforts against terrorism and has thwarted a dozen plots against the city since Sept. 11, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports. With increased terrorist activity abroad, especially in Europe, Kelly said he was concerned that the U.S. government was giving easy access to "people who seek to do us harm." He cited ways he said terrorists could slip into America undetected: A visa waiver program allows travelers from 36 countries to come here without ever appearing at an American embassy or consulate; U.S. borders remain unsecured in many areas; and the government is so clogged with requests from political asylum-seekers that it gives a pass to potential terrorists. Kelly, 69, has been commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg since 2002. He spoke to an elite audience of donors to the nonprofit Police Foundation, which raises $100 million a year to support the city's police. Using slides and charts, Kelly ran through statistics that mostly showed crime in New York on the decline, even though the department has 6,000 fewer officers than it did in 2001. The city experienced an increase in several categories of violent crime last year, including homicides, which were up 13 percent. Still, New York, with 532 homicides, had the lowest rate among the nation's large urban areas (about six for every 100,000 residents). Kelly defended his department against claims from civil liberties groups who say the department manipulates crime statistics to paint a rosier picture of the city. Kelly said crimes were "occasionally" misclassified but that mostly the reporting was accurate. |
How Utah City Got Prescription Drug Problem Under Control ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 2006, prescription drug fraud was spiraling out of control in Logan, Utah, says the Salt Lake Tribune. Pharmacies were reporting forged prescriptions. Patients were shopping for doctors in search of multiple prescriptions. Authorities couldn't effectively prosecute people in their 20s and 30s dealing in painkillers and muscle relaxants such as Soma and Ultram. The problem prompted a partnership between the Cache/Rich Drug Task Force and prosecutors who began charging unscheduled prescription drug fraud under a different statute. The tactic paid off: A review of state court records indicated that, since 2006, more unscheduled drug fraud cases have been prosecuted in Logan's 1st District Court than anywhere else. "When we started it five or six years ago, it was out of control, but now we have it plateaued," said Logan police Detective Rob Italasano. "We have taken an aggressive stance on all medications and not just controlled substances, where other jurisdictions may not even know about it." |
2,500% Increase In U.S. Child Porn Cases In A Decade ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Six years out of high school, Daniel Boynton of Virginia ruined his life for a perverted thrill: Downloading pictures of children being molested, reports the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. He knew what he was doing was wrong and illegal. He knew he was risking his rising Navy career. But he couldn't stop. Like many child porn addicts, he organized his collection like a librarian arranges books, and his fetish grew more bizarre as time passed. He now is serving 12½ years in federal prison. Boynton's case is iconic of the growing number of child pornography cases in state and federal courts. The majority of offenders are white males, of all ages, with no criminal history or previous evidence of pedophilia. Researchers and therapists say the lure of child pornography, which grips addicts as intensely as crack cocaine, targets no one kind of people. Offenders' educational and occupational backgrounds vary widely: They are convenience store workers and college professors, enlisted sailors and naval officers, police officers, the homeless, and even the FBI's own. Child pornography was the fastest-growing crime over the past six years in Virginia - up 218 percent from 2003 to 2009. Nationally, the picture is more startling: a 2,500 percent increase in arrests in 10 years, according to the FBI. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made 12,000 child exploitation arrests since the agency was formed in 2003. |
Indiana Sentencing, Parole Ideas Make Sense: NY Times ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Out-of-control prison costs are a good place for states to cut budgets, says the New York Times in an editorial. The expenses of housing more than one million state prison inmates has quadrupled in the last decade from about $12 billion a year to more $52 billion a year, squeezing budgets for programs like education. The Times commends Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for proposed reforms governing sentencing and parole. Judges would be allowed to fit sentences to crimes and have the flexibility to impose shorter sentences for nonviolent offenses. A poorly structured parole system would be reorganized to focus on offenders who present a risk to public safety. Addicts would be given drug treatment to make them less likely to be rearrested. Towns would get incentives to handle low-level offenders instead of sending them into more costly state prisons. Daniels devoted a year to building a political consensus behind these ideas, beginning with a study from the Council of State Governments Justice Center, which has helped several states revise their corrections strategies. |
This project is set up to let users post and discuss articles that are involved with Criminal Justice. Everyone is free to post their ideas or opinions.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Articles for 19 January 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment