Drug Czar Kerlikowske Interviews to Head Chicago Police ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite calls for the promotion of a new Chicago police superintendent from within the department's ranks, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel could yet do as he did in finding a new schools CEO and go far beyond the city limits for Chicago's next top cop, reports the Chicago News Cooperative. President Barack Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, is among the contenders to become Emanuel's choice for police superintendent after taking office next month. Kerlikowske, whose formal title is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, met last week with Emanuel in Chicago. Kerlikowske served as Seattle's police chief for nine years before joining the Obama administration in early 2009. He was in town again over the weekend for an interview with the police board. At least three current Chicago police officials were among a small group interviewed by the board. While Kerlikowske's knowledge of Chicago may be limited, Emanuel got to know him well when Emanuel was White House chief of staff. Another outsider candidate for the job is Garry McCarthy, director of the Newark, N.J., police. |
White House Issues Plan to Cut Prescription Drug Abuse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Obama administration today issued a national framework for reducing prescription drug diversion and abuse by supporting the expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs, recommending more convenient and environmentally responsible disposal methods to remove unused medications from the home, supporting education for patients and healthcare providers, and reducing the prevalence of pill mills and doctor shopping through enforcement efforts. The administration said the plan resulted from six months of collaboration across the federal government, with agencies including the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and others. In support of the action plan, the Food and Drug Administration today announced that it is requiring an Opioids Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy that will require manufacturers of long-acting and extended-release opioids to provide educational programs to prescribers, as well as materials prescribers can use when counseling patients about the risks and benefits of opioid use. |
As Texas Cuts Prison Funding, Experts Warn of Possible Violence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prison experts are warning that only so much fat can be cut before a relatively peaceful Texas prison system boils up into a dangerous stew of discontent, says the Dallas Morning News. State officials are carving as many dollars as possible from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice budget as they fight to close a $23 billion two-year state shortfall without raising taxes. The department has already slashed $40 million from its current budget. This week, the House Corrections Committee listened to ideas to trim almost $14 million more. Chairman Jerry Madden said he knows the cuts are distasteful to some, but legislators are retaining as many services as they can. Cutting inmate "amenities" such as food, education, and rehabilitation programs is a "very short-sighted idea," said Robert Worley, criminal justice professor at Texas A&M Central Texas and a former prison guard. "You're going to have all kinds of collateral consequences that, I think, will be more costly for the prison system in the long run," he said. Said Brian Olsen of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a former prison guard: "There is a point, when you take away enough, the inmates are going to act out and take it out on correctional staff." |
Paterson, NJ, Lays Off 125 Police Officers--1/4 of Force ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most of the 125 police officers laid off yesterday in Paterson, N.J., traded in their guns and badges for rally posters reading "Support Cops Not Crime" as they took to the streets in protest of the city's decision to shed one fourth of its police force, reports the Bergen Record. The crowd of former patrol officers marched from police headquarters to City Hall, closing streets and turning heads with such booming chants as "911, who're you going to call!" Mayor Jeffery Jones has insisted the layoffs were unavoidable because of orders from the state. However, he said that only about 80 officers would have been let go had the union not "rejected outright" an original layoff plan. Union President Steven Olimpio said there was no such rejection, arguing that the union offered $7.3 million in concessions to save the jobs, but the administration dismissed the offer. Several laid-off officers blamed fiscal mismanagement for the pink slips and warned of a spike in crime that will follow. |
AZ Gov. Brewer Surprisingly Vetoes Guns-on-Campus Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arizona university officials and students are cheering a surprise veto from Gov. Jan Brewer, who yesterday refused to sign into law a bill that would have allowed guns on university and community college campuses, reports the Arizona Republic. Higher education officials had lobbied heavily against the measure, saying it would lead to potentially dangerous situations. Brewer -- typically a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights -- called the bill "poorly written" and said it lacked clarity. The bill would have required community colleges and universities to allow both concealed and openly carried weapons in their public rights of way, which would likely include public roads and adjacent sidewalks. It didn't clearly define "right of way," which Brewer cited as an example of the bill's lack of clarity. The governor also questioned the use of "educational institution" throughout the bill, which she said could be construed to mean applying to K-12 schools, which would conflict with existing state and federal statutes that prohibit weapons on those school grounds. Bill sponsor State Sen. Ron Gould called it a "very rude veto letter." |
CO Makes It Easier For Drug Offenders To Seal Their Records ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It soon will be easier for many Colorado convicted drug offenders to conceal their criminal histories, and - for the first time - dealers and illegal growers will have a shot at sealing their records too, reports the Denver Post. A law passed in March requires drug offenders to complete their sentences and wait between three and 10 years with no new crimes before asking a court to hide their convictions from public view. Law enforcement at the state and local level as well as state-regulated employers in sensitive fields such as medicine and education will still get access to all but some of the lowest-level conviction records. But other employers, out-of-state law enforcement, landlords, professional disciplinary boards and reporters won't. Critics of the move toward giving convicted criminals more privacy call it "deceptive" and say there are legitimate reasons members of the public would want or need access to that information. The law is part of a movement in Colorado and elsewhere to soften the negative effects of a criminal record and help those convicted get back on their feet. |
British Media Don't Cover Local Court Cases, Police Tweet Them ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A local British police force is tweeting the results of court cases because of the media's failure to cover them, the BBC reports. Police officials said the updates on a micro-blogging site were the first ever "tweet-a-thon" from a justice center. Police didn't say if they would repeat the experiment. Among the first cases the force tweeted about were a woman accused of stealing flour and cucumber from a shop and a 58-year-old man who admitted a charge of drinking and driving. Said a police official: "We've seen over recent years a bit of a decline in court reporting, particularly through local newspapers as they've faced their own financial constraints. "That's tended to result in the general public not knowing what happens in court and what the outcomes at courts are. And this is our opportunity to raise that interest again and to show people there is a vast amount of police business going through courts and people are being dealt with and sentenced and punished for what they've done." Assistant Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said, "We hope that the 'tweet-a-thon' [ ] will give people a flavour for the range of offenders we deal with, an insight into the court system and, importantly, peace of mind that justice is being done." |
As Crown Victoria Fades, Austin Police Want to Stock Up with 176 More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before the face of police cars changes forever, Austin police are hoping to buy one more group of Crown Victorias this year, says the Austin American-Statesman. Police are asking the city for $4.5 million to buy 176 Crown Victorias before Ford discontinues the iconic patrol car. Austin patrol officers have driven the Fords for more than 20 years, and buying anything different would mean having to buy new parts and equipment that would fit the other models. "One of the reasons why we want to order now is because the two companies that are making new cars for police (Ford and Chevy) are keeping price points closed, and we don't know how much a replacement car could cost," said Assistant Police Chief Sean Mannix. Another concern is that the new police cars that companies are promoting are only prototypes and have not been extensively tested, he said. It is necessary for police to have the same model, he said, because the department stocks up on parts, such as computer mounts and light bars. Because the Crown Victoria has not changed much in the past two decades, parts can be used interchangeably on different model years. |
"48 Hours Mystery" Commissions Mock Jury in Casey Anthony Case ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With flashy editing and ominous music, the very show-bizzy "48 Hours Mystery" last weekend recounted the story of Casey Anthony three weeks before jury selection in her trial begins, says the Orlando Sentinel's Hal Boedeker. The program offered little new information. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. In the most controversial segment, "48 Hours Mystery" commissioned a focus group - or mock jury - to weigh Anthony's guilt. CBS News had defense consultant Richard Gabriel run the group, which undermines the whole point of an egregious exercise, Boedeker says. The majority said they would acquit Anthony of first-degree murder, but most also said they would convict her of involuntary manslaughter. The columnist asks, "Why is a news organization trying a case? Or doing something that suggests it is helping one side in a murder case?" The focus-group outcome, however, heartened former defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden: "That makes me hopeful that maybe the people of Orlando are not being led around as much as I thought by the local news media." |
30 Federal Judges Decry Lack of Retroactivity In Crack Penalty Law ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many in the federal judiciary are rebelling against the application of a new law addressing the sentences for people convicted of selling crack cocaine, says the New York Times. The Fair Sentencing Act or 2010 narrowed the vast gap between penalties for crimes involving crack and powder cocaine. The law seems to reduce sentences only for offenses committed after it went into effect in August. The usual rule is that laws do not apply retroactively unless Congress says so, and here Congress said nothing. That seems to mean that hundreds and perhaps thousands of defendants who committed crack-related crimes before August will still face very harsh sentences. About 30 federal trial judges have protested that result. The only appeals court to directly address the question so far, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, said only Congress could apply the new standards to old cases. "We have sympathy," Judge Terence Evans wrote, "for the two defendants here, who lost on a temporal roll of the cosmic dice and were sentenced under a structure which has now been recognized as unfair." |
Time to Rethink Adam Walsh Act: Denver Post ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ States are struggling both financially and philosophically to comply with well-intended federal legislation to create a national sex-offender registry, says the Denver Post. It's unclear whether more than a handful of states will meet a July deadline to enact the mandates of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. States that don't comply - and Colorado seems poised to be one of them - could see federal grant reductions that will hurt their ability to fund victim assistance and other court programs. It's time to rethink the law, says the newspaper. The legislation, passed in 2006, is named for Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old abducted in Florida in 1981 and later found dead. The law's aim is absolutely laudable, to create a uniform national tracking and registry system so sex offenders can't cross state lines to avoid detection. So far, just four states are in full compliance. In 2008, Colorado's Sex Offender Management Board advised against complying with the act. The panel cited conflicts between the state's system, which has been well-vetted and tailor-made for Colorado, and the expense of conversion. For instance, juveniles who commit sex crimes have the opportunity in Colorado, through good behavior and counseling, to be removed from the registry. The Adam Walsh act would do away with that rule. |
Chicago Sun-Times Wins Pulitzer for Chicago Violence Series ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chicago Sun-Times has won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, with a series of stories that told readers "why they won't stop shooting in Chicago." The prize was awarded to reporters Frank Main, Mark Konkol and photographer John J. Kim. Main, Konkol and Kim won for their painstaking, heartbreaking documentation of violence in Chicago neighborhoods, and the devastating impact of the increasingly widespread "no-snitch code." The Sun-Times team spent a year probing the lives of victims, criminals and detectives. The series involved in a bloody weekend of gun violence -- April 18-20, 2008 -- when 40 people were shot, seven of them fatally. Two years later, not a single person was convicted as a result of that weekend's shootings, partly because survivors refused to cooperate with police. Photographer Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times won a Pulitzer "for her intimate story of innocent victims trapped in the city's crossfire of deadly gang violence." |
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.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Articles for 19 April 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment