San Diego Jails to House State Inmates: "Very Scary Prospect" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ San Diego County supervisors unanimously approved a plan yesterday to deal with thousands of lower-level criminals by housing them in local jails instead of state prisons and requiring county probation officers to supervise them, but not before questioning the state for forcing the change on them, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Gov. Jerry Brown recommended the state shift responsibility for felons convicted of nonserious, nonviolent and nonsexual crimes to the counties to save money and alleviate prison overcrowding, and the legislature endorsed the plan, which takes effect Saturday. "I enter this whole issue and discussion with a great amount of trepidation," said Supervisor Greg Cox, who added that more than 250 inmates will be released from state prison next month to be monitored in San Diego County. "That to me is a very, very scary prospect." Because the county's jails have room for about 800 additional inmates, the supervisors said San Diego may fare better initially than other counties where the jails are at or near capacity. "I just have this sinking feeling that somewhere down the line somebody is going to be out that shouldn't be out and do something that they shouldn't do," Cox said. |
Civilians Confirm L.A. County Jail Inmate Brutalization Reports ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies brutalized inmates on multiple occasions and their supervisors failed to take complaints of the abuse seriously,say sworn declarations from two chaplains and a Hollywood producer who volunteered in the jails, reports the Los Angeles Times. Two volunteers said they heard deputies yell "stop fighting" as deputies pummeled inmates who appeared to be doing nothing to fight back. The allegations come after Los Angeles Times stories detailing FBI probes into deputy misconduct in the jails. The declarations are expected to be filed in court today as part of a report by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is a court-appointed monitor of jailhouse conditions. It's not uncommon for inmates to make allegations of abuse, but these sworn statements are noteworthy because all three are from independent civilians who say they came forward because they were troubled by what they saw. |
Ohio's Marijuana Megafarms: Have Mexican Cartels Moved In? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As summer turns to fall in the foothills of Appalachia, the annual harvest for Ohio's best marijuana becomes a chase between police and sophisticated growers, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The drug's potency, which has skyrocketed over the years, and its profitability in a region crippled by poverty have made the chase as intense as ever. What makes the high-stakes game different is a new wave of players. Mexican nationals have begun growing large plots of marijuana across southern Ohio hills. Some state authorities, who have tracked marijuana for years, say the groups are financed by the Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to use the state's temperate weather, good soil, and vast rural landscape to grow potent pot without being noticed. Others, including federal prosecutors, aren't so sure. While Mexicans are among those who have been prosecuted for cultivating the drug, federal officials have not been able to link them to major drug organizations. The fact that the new groups have moved in and begun what some are calling marijuana megafarms has been a shock to a region that enjoys a slower pace of life. |
"Microfluidics" Could Cut DNA Analysis Time for Police ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Baltimore Police Department is taking part in a program to develop and test new technology that could significantly cut DNA analysis time, reports the Baltimore Sun. The National Institute of Justice is putting $1 million toward the project. Police will partner with researchers from Yale University and a North Carolina-based company to develop technology that would enable crime lab workers to identify and test smaller samples in a much shorter time. The technology is at least a year away from being usable and won't be implemented for cases during the pilot phase, but officials hope it will be cleared for use if successful. "The problem being solved here is that DNA sequencing, which is the gold standard for crime forensics, is expensive and takes a long time," said Richard West, CEO of Advanced Liquid Logic, which developed the technology. "This device will [] indicate to the crime lab technicians which samples are worthy and which are not worthy of further analysis." The technology uses "microfluidics," which one expert said is an emerging area of research. Mitchell Holland, director of the forensic science program at Pennsylvania State University, said such devices have been produced in the past year in academia and the private sector, as well as in Britain. "I don't know of any [police] lab in the USA that is using microfluidics," Holland said. "It could be that the Baltimore crime lab is one of the first in the country to implement this." |
Florida Police Officer Killer To Be Executed Today After 33 Years ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a long-delayed death penalty case, Manuel Adriano Valle is due to be executed today in Florida, says the St. Petersburg Times. Jeneane Skeen will be watching in the execution chamber. Valle killed her father, Coral Gables police officer Louis Pena, 33 years ago. For decades, she and her family pleaded for justice. They wrote to six governors to sign Valle's death warrant. Gov. Rick Scott finally did 12 weeks ago, his first execution. "We're tired of waiting," Skeen said. "We want my father's justice to be done. He gave his life doing his job." Valle's guilt is not in dispute. There's no international outcry like that over Troy Davis, the man Georgia executed last week who maintained until the end that he was innocent. For the past three months, Valle's state-appointed lawyers have fought to keep their client in prison and spare him the death penalty. They succeeded in delaying the execution twice. It was initially set for Aug. 2, but temporarily stayed to examine the safety of a lethal injection drug. Valle will be the first Florida inmate executed using the sedative pentobarbital. |
MI Chief, Others Charged With Misspending Forfeiture Proceeds ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The former police chief of Romulus, Mi., Michael St. Andre, and five officers from a special investigative division allegedly spent more than $100,000 in forfeited drug money to buy booze, marijuana, prostitutes, lavish trips, and a tanning salon for the ex-chief's wife, reports the Detroit News. Prosecutor Kym Worthy said the officers falsified reports and misused city funds to deposit cash into personal bank accounts. More allegedly was spent on a rehearsal dinner for an informant and on false payments to informants. The officers also are accused of filing fake reports and double-dipping by charging the city for items such as uniform expenditures while pulling money from the drug forfeiture funds. The investigation started after a police official asked Michigan State Police to investigate the department's use of drug forfeiture funds. The charges stemmed from the probe of what Worthy called "a culture of corruption and greed at its core." |
U.S. Prisoner Re-Entry Council Talks Grants, "Myth Busters" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A federal interdepartmental council on prisoner re-entry held its second meeting yesterday, discussing $83 million in funding for programs under the Second Chance Act and the latest in a series of "Reentry Myth Busters," fact sheets intended to educate employers and others about the impact of federal laws on those who are formerly incarcerated and seeking jobs, housing, and federal assistance or benefits. The new Myth Busters focus on veterans' benefits, voting rights, criminal background checks, taxes, and Medicaid eligibility. Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson said 131 grants were awarded, chosen from 1,000 applications. Prisoner re-entry could get less federal aid in the fiscal year that begins next week. A House committee voted to provide $70 million, but a Senate committee voted to zero out the program. Advocates are urging Congress to continue funding. Attorney General Eric Holder urged using "every tool at our disposal to tear down the unnecessary barriers to economic opportunities and independence so that formerly incarcerated individuals can serve as productive members of their communities." |
Presidential Clemency Acceptance Record Drops To 3 Percent ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The president's power to reduce sentences and grant pardons is used infrequently, and backlogs responding to clemency petitions are common, says a Justice Department inspector general report quoted by the New York Times. More than one in five of 95,000 clemency petitions have been granted since 1900, but that rate has dropped in recent years, with just 3 percent of clemency requests--177 of 5,806 cases--being granted. The clemency-petition backlog rose 92 percent from 2005 to 2010, from 2,459 petitions to 4,714. Since the end of the 2010 fiscal year, the Obama administration reduced the backlog substantially by denying nearly 4,000 petitions while granting 17 pardons. The first nine of those were granted last December. "They are stellar at rejecting applications," said P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political scientist at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Il. Focusing on processing times and averages "completely missed the point," said Margaret Colgate Love, U.S. pardon attorney in the 1990s. The essential question, she said, is the quality of review. Love, who represents applicants for presidential pardons and sentence commutations, said "the pardon process is not serving the president" by giving the information he needs to make good decisions. |
ICE Chief in South Florida Charged in Child-Porn Case ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The South Florida head of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who spent decades busting criminals, will be in federal court today facing an indictment that accuses him of child-porn offenses on the Internet, the Miami Herald reports. Anthony Mangione, 50, was arrested yesterday on charges of possessing and distributing digital images of child porn on his computer. Mangione was placed on paid leave in April after sheriff's deputies and FBI agents began investigating four images of child porn he allegedly received on his home computer via an AOL e-mail account. The investigation grew significantly over the summer, leading to the alleged discovery of more images of child porn on his computer. The Justice Department probe took months to complete as investigators conducted a forensic analysis of his computer and other electronic equipment to determine whether Mangione sent, received or distributed illegal digital images of children. ICE has aggressively targeted child pornography, with Mangione frequently speaking out against "predators'' who illegally share images through their computers. |
FBI May Keep Acquitted Suspects On Terror Watch List ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The FBI may include people on the government's terrorist watch list even if they have been acquitted of terrorism-related offenses or the charges are dropped, reports the New York Times. Files released by the bureau under the Freedom of Information Act lay out for the first time in public the legal standard that officials must meet to add a name to the list. The database has about 420,000 names, including 8,000 Americans. About 16,000 people, including about 500 Americans, are barred from flying. Timothy Healy of the FBI Terrorist Screening Center said the files show that the government was balancing civil liberties with a careful, multilayered process for vetting who goes on it. Still, some of the procedures were criticized by civil liberties advocates like the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which made the request for the files. They include a December 2010 memo to FBI field offices showing that even a not-guilty verdict may not always be enough to get someone off the list, if agents still have "reasonable suspicion" that the person might have ties to terrorism. |
U.S. Provides Pot to 4 Patients "For Compassionate Reasons" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the past three decades, the U.S. government has been providing a handful of patients with some of the highest grade marijuana around. The program grew out of a 1976 court settlement that created the country's first legal pot smoker, reports the Associated Press. Advocates for legalizing marijuana or treating it as a medicine say the program is a contradiction in the 40-year "war on drugs" - maintaining the federal ban on pot while at the same time supplying it. Officials say the program no longer accepting new patients, and public health authorities have concluded that there was no scientific value to it, At one point, 14 people were getting government pot. There are four left. The government has only continued to supply the marijuana "for compassionate reasons," said the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Marijuana is getting a new look from states considering calls to repeal decades-old marijuana prohibition laws. There are 16 states with medical marijuana programs. In the three West Coast states, advocates are readying tax-and-sell or other legalization programs. |
AL "Church or Jail" Program Delayed After ACLU Objects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Bay Minette, Al., alternative to incarceration program that asks first-time, nonviolent offenders to choose between church or jail, was slated to start this week but is being delayed for legal review, Mayor Jamie Tillery tells ABCNews.com. "The city will ask the Alabama Attorney General to review the program as well," Tillery said. The Restore Our Community program, called Operation ROC, aimed to offer those convicted of first-time misdemeanors the opportunity to attend church once a week for a year and answer questions about the services, or go to jail and pay a fine. While Tillery said the first-time misdemeanor offenders would be offered a "menu of options," including community service, the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in to say church should not be among them. "The First Amendment still prohibits the government from becoming entangled in core religious exercise, which includes attending church," said ACLU attorney Heather Weaver. |
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
28 Sept 2011
27 Sept 2011
Court Journalists Using Social Media To Get Readers, Sources ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Journalists usually learn more about a story than they can possibly get published or on the air. For some who cover courts, social media is the solution. Speaking yesterday at the Society of Professional Journalists-Radio Television Digital News Association convention in New Orleans, Rebecca Baker of the Journal News in New York's Lower Hudson Valley said her co-authored blog, Completely Legal, helps her expand her coverage and connect with sources. "It benefits readers with more information that they can't get in the paper," said Baker. "It helps me develop stronger and better sources, and it enables me to give everyone a better sense of what it's like to cover courts." The Wichita Eagle's Ron Sylvester is a big proponent of new media technologies and was an early adopter of Twitter to cover trials. He's pushing the multimedia envelope with dozens of short videos on his blog, What the Judge Ate for Breakfast. "Common Law is a video series that shows what goes on in the courtroom every day," Sylvester said. "It's a way of engaging sources and the audience." Social media has allowed Rummana Hussian of the Chicago Sun-Times to connect to surprising new audiences, something she discovered when tweeting from a trial involving the Mumbai bombing. "In one day, I got more than 300 followers from Mumbai and Pakistan," she said. John Ensslin of the Bergen, N.J., Record says reporters should not worry about the number of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or blog hits. "The reason you do this is not to become the Huffington Post," said Ensslin. "The reason is there will be a small community paying close attention to your work - they're called sources." |
Newspapers Remain a Prime Source of Crime News: Pew Survey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crime is one of the most popular subjects for Americans to seek local information, ranking 4th of 16 categories, says a new survey by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project. The survey, released yesterday, said that 66 percent of Americans seek local crime information, and newspapers remain a main source of it. Crime outranked topics like taxes, housing, schools, and traffic but was somewhat lower than the weather, politics, and "breaking news" (which can include crime). The Internet was identified as a main source of information about restaurants and other local businesses. The survey found generally that people use a variety of platforms to get information, including newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet. For the 79 percent of Americans who are online, the Internet is the first or second most relied-upon source for 15 of the 16 local topics examined. One basic conclusion: "Most Americans, including more tech-savvy adults under age 40, also use a blend of both new and traditional sources to get their information." |
705 Laid-Off NJ Cops Can't Find Work; Union President Warns of Riots ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 705 New Jersey police officers laid off since January have been unable to find work in law enforcement again, says survey by the State Policemen's Benevolent Association, the state's largest police union, reports the Newark Star-Ledger. The survey includes all officers, not just those represented by the union. Like the thousands of other New Jerseyans laid off in the crippling economy, the officers have struggled to pay their bills, taking on part-time work like truck driving, plumbing and private security, said association president Anthony Wieners. Municipalities forced to lay off officers are still financially strapped, he said. "There's nobody hiring, and if they are, it's very sporadic." This month, Trenton laid off 105 of its city police officers, a third of the force. Police forces in other economically depressed large cities have suffered a similar fate. In Camden, more than half of the 93 total officers laid off earlier this year haven't found new jobs in law enforcement, said the local police union president John Williamson. Last month, Williamson sounded an alarming tone by warning of possible riots in the streets if more officers were not rehired. Williamson said he stands by those words today. "This is not fear mongering," he said. "Based on my observations and history in the U.S. and in the world, where people feel desperate and impoverished, they tend to let out their frustrations." |
Charlotte To Spend $1.83 Million For 1,600 "Safer" Tasers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Charlotte will spend $1.83 million on new Tasers police say have important safety features designed to prevent officers from seriously injuring or killing suspects, the Charlotte Observer reports. Police Chief Rodney Monroe two months ago suspended the use of Tasers after the death of a suspect who was stunned by police at a light-rail station. Monroe believes Tasers are an important tool. Council members voted to buy 1,600 of a new model, the Taser X2, from Arizona-based Taser International. Monroe says a safeguard that puts a five-second limit on each electric charge will make the new Tasers safer. "That five-second limit is critical," he said. "No matter how long the officer may hold the trigger down, five seconds is as long as it will cycle itself." In 2008, Darryl Turner, 17, died after a police officer shocked him with a Taser. The officer violated policy when he shocked Turner for about 37 seconds. The officer held the trigger until Turner fell to the floor. A federal jury awarded $10 million to Turner's family from Taser International, which has appealed. Another safety feature of the new Taser is that an officer can trigger a visible and audible warning with the Taser. "That pre-warning stops so many people," Monroe said. |
Mexican Newspaper Employee Killed After Posts on Crime Website ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The killing of a Mexican woman in retaliation for posts on an anti-crime website has stunned chat users and employees at the newspaper where she worked in the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo, reports the Associated Press. Press freedom groups condemned the killing of Maria Elizabeth Macias, whose decapitated body and head were found Saturday next to a message citing posts she wrote on "Nuevo Laredo en Vivo," a website used by Laredo residents to denounce crime and warn each other about drug cartel gunfights and roadblocks. "If we want to regain our peace and our freedom, we always have to fight on, I wouldn't ask anybody to take up arms, clearly, but with our reports, we can do them damage," said one poster logged on as "anon9113," who quickly added a note of distrust, "don't become friends with anybody on here [ ] we have to be careful with something as simple as giving out personal information." Macias was the newspaper's advertising supervisor. An editor said the killing apparently was not related to Macias' job. The newspaper, in the face of intimidation and threats by drug gangs, stopped reporting on drug violence two years ago. "We were taken by surprise, because [ ] we don't even do crime reporting," said the editor. "We don't have a crime reporter." |
Jackson Doctor Defense: Pop Star Was to Blame for Death ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the trial of the Houston cardiologist accused of causing Michael Jackson's overdose death gets underway, the doctor's attorneys are preparing to argue that the blame should be pointed at the other person who was in the room: the King of Pop himself, reports the Los Angeles Times. Jackson may have injected the lethal dose, or drunk it, attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray have suggested. It may have been out of financial desperation, pressure to perform or anxiety about his career comeback. Blaming the patient for his or her own death is a common defense in the small but growing number of cases of doctors charged in connection with overdose deaths, where a patient's desperate search for drugs collides with a physician's responsibilities. "There's a fundamental human theme that occurs in all of these cases, that is how much the defense can paint the addict as this powerful driving force, in some sense bent on killing himself," said UCLA law Prof. Peter Arenella. "If the jury starts viewing the victim in that light, it's easy for them to acquit the doctor of any serious criminal charge." Murray, 58, faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter, injecting Jackson with the dangerous surgical anesthetic propofol at the entertainer's rented mansion and leaving his bedside. |
Fl. Gov. Scott Tries to Silence Ex-Prisons Chief's Testimony ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed Buss had a lot to say in the short time he ran Florida's prisons, and even though he was fired, he's still talking, says the St. Petersburg Times. That may help explain why his former boss, Gov. Rick Scott, was so insistent that Buss not testify under oath in a lawsuit against the state over the privatization of dozens of state prisons. Buss lost his $145,000-a-year job in August after clashing with the governor's office. He was around long enough to make skeptical statements about a privatization venture that was hatched by the Legislature, discussed only fleetingly in public and imposed on his former agency without ever seeking his expert opinion. The Florida Police Benevolent Association, the union for correctional officers whose jobs are endangered by privatization, wanted to put Buss under oath in its lawsuit seeking to have the outsourcing declared illegal. Scott and his lawyers sought to silence Buss, saying an important principle was at stake. "It's a common principle that high-ranking people in government don't testify," Scott said. "And the problem is that if they change that, what's going to happen is you're going to have people that won't want to take these jobs because what's happened is they'll always be in depositions or testifying?" |
DEA Bath Salt Ban Due Soon; "It Makes You Absolutely Crazy" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christine Lunsford, 35, of Wilmington started injecting a new drug this spring, a white powder she said caused her to attack her boyfriend with a knife, reports the Wilmington News Journal. Lunsford legally purchased "bath salts," a powerful designer drug made of up to three stimulants, at a tobacco store. She abused the drug for four months -- winding up in a hospital in a psychotic state twice -- before she finally quit four months ago. "It makes you absolutely crazy, like a walking paranoid schizophrenic," she said. Federal and state authorities are now racing to ban the drug (already banned in 29 states), which is sending abusers like Lunsford to emergency rooms across the U.S. in startling numbers. Christiana Care and Bayhealth, which each oversee two hospitals, are treating about one person a day for adverse reactions. An emergency, one-year nationwide ban by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will go into effect next month. In Delaware, prosecutors and police chiefs are drafting a bill that would permanently ban the drug here. Bath salts abusers can stay awake for days. The drug makes them agitated, delusional, paranoid, violent and gives some people an unusual amount of strength |
NY Times: Feds Should Investigate NYC Low-Level Pot Arrests ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The New York Times editorializes that the city's police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, was "too little, too late" with his memo telling officers not to arrest people caught with small amounts of marijuana unless it is in plain view. Last year, more than 50,000 people were arrested for such pot offenses, most of the minorities. The newspaper believes that the U.S. Justice Department and state legislators should investigate the legality of hundreds of thousands of arrests since the mid-1990s. Since 1996, the city has taken more than 536,000 people into custody for the lowest-level marijuana charge, says Harry Levine of Queens College. He believes that a significant majority of those arrested last year had never been convicted of any crime. Young African-Americans and Hispanics, who are disproportionately singled-out in street stops, make up a high percentage of people arrested for marijuana possession, despite federal data showing that whites are more likely to consume marijuana. This policing practice has damaged young lives and deserves deeper scrutiny by federal and state monitors, says the Times |
More Jail or Inmate Treatment: CA Counties Must Decide ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In less than two weeks, Sacramento County will start assuming responsibility for thousands of inmates and parolees now watched over by California state officials. The Sacramento Bee says the pending shift has touched off a debate in the county over how to spend millions of dollars also coming from the state - whether to create more jail beds or fund treatment programs aimed at keeping convicts from offending again. The state budget now makes counties responsible for lower-level offenders released from prison or sentenced under new requirements. Counties will get offenders convicted of crimes called the "triple-nons": nonserious, nonviolent and nonsexual. Sacramento County expects to receive about 200 parolees and newly sentenced offenders next month. When the transition is complete in four years, the county can expect responsibility for 2,300 additional inmates and parolees. Chief Deputy Jamie Lewis of the Sheriff's Department said the number of offenders "scares me." Criminologist Edward Latessa of the University of Cincinnati says treatment is more effective than punishment at keeping offenders from committing new crimes. He said punishment alone doesn't work. Said Don Meyer, the county's chief probation officer, "This county has been successful at locking people up. This county has not been successful at stopping the problem (of crime)." |
Indiana Lawyer Sues Cities for Not Allowing Public Gun Carrying ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Indiana lawyer Guy Relford has become the unofficial enforcer of a new state law that took away communities' right to enact and enforce their own gun ordinances, says the Indianapolis Star. Relford, known as "the gun lawyer," has checked with dozens of communities to make sure they're complying with the law that went into effect July 1. He's filing lawsuits against the ones that aren't. Though Relford is getting support from gun enthusiasts state, his tactics are drawing criticism. Mayor Thomas McDermott of Hammond--one of Relford's lawsuit targets--wrote the suits off as a money grab. "Guy is basically trying to get easy money from cities around the state," McDermott said. The new legislation prevents communities from banning guns in public places, including government buildings that do not house courtrooms. Supporters say the measure was necessary because local ordinances varied, making it confusing for people who carry a weapon to travel across the state. Lhe law's critics say that having fewer restrictions on guns could lead to more violence. Though more than 40 other states also ban local gun ordinances, Indiana's ban bothers Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Indiana's gun laws are too weak, he said, so forcing communities to adhere to those laws instead of their own could be dangerous. |
New York Police Review Response to Wall Street Protesters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When members of the loose protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street began a march in New York City last Saturday, the participants seemed relatively harmless, even as they were breaking the law by marching in the street without a permit. The New York Times says that to the city's police department, the protesters represented an example of lawlessness like that at other anticapitalist protests like the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. On Saturday, police efforts to maintain crowd control suddenly escalated: protesters were corralled by police officers who put up orange mesh netting; the police forcibly arrested some participants; and a deputy inspector used pepper spray on four women who were on the sidewalk, behind the orange netting. The police's actions suggested the flip side of a force trained to fight terrorism b ut that may appear less nimble in dealing with the likes of the Wall Street protesters. Police commanders have been discussing the riots in London this summer, and strategizing how they would stop a similar situation in New York, said Roy Richter, the president of the union that represents officers of captain and higher rank. The protest on Saturday appeared to have resulted in the largest number of arrests since the demonstrations surrounding the Republican National Convention in 2004. |
Sunday, September 25, 2011
23 Sept 2011
State Pols Rush to Pass Laws Named for Caylee and Other Victims ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At least 25 states have introduced or pledged to introduce versions of what has been dubbed Caylee's Law, after a toddler found dead in Florida, reports USA Today. In at least 12 of those states, legislation has been introduced, but it has not yet become law anywhere. The bills are the latest effort to establish laws in the wake of high-profile crimes involving a young victim. "Is it a good way to draft law? No, it's not," says Frank Baumgartner, a political science professor. "It's kind of a reflection of what you can call an overreaction or a disproportionate attention to a problem that's probably always been there." Forty-four states have passed some version of Jessica's Law, a measure establishing long mandatory sentences and life-long electronic monitoring for offenders, named after Jessica Lunsford, who was raped and murdered by a previously convicted sex offender in 2005. The 1994 murder of Megan Kanka in New Jersey led to Megan's Law, requiring law enforcement agencies to make information about sex offenders public. It became federal law in 1996. Another academic, Arnold Shober, says politicians like to pass laws named after child victims, because they pull on people's heart strings and the public is much more likely to support the legislation. |
| After Senator Complains, TX Ends Traditional Last Meal for Condemned ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Texas state legislator has put the kabosh on the long-standing tradition of allowing death row inmates one last special meal of their choosing before they enter the execution chamber ends today, reports the Texas Tribune. Sen. John Whitemire (D-Houston) wrote a letter to corrections officials calling for and immediate end to the practice he called an "extremely inappropriate" privilege. Hours later, Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, announced, "Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit." Whitmire's letter to the TDCJ came in response to the last meal provided Wednesday night to Lawrence Brewer, a white supremacist who was convicted for his role in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., a black man. According to the Houston Chronicle, Brewer requested but did not eat a feast of a final meal: two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a large bowl of fried okra, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream, and a pound of barbecue with a half loaf of white bread. |
| Florida Commission Seeks Standards for Police Interrogations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Florida Innocence Commission wants a uniform statewide approach to police interrogations in order to help prevent coerced confessions and wrongful convictions, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Not all police agencies have policies on recording interrogations. The commission, formed last year by the state Supreme Court to examine wrongful convictions, is studying best practices to determine if a policy can be adopted statewide later this year. The purpose of the study is to help keep innocent people from being convicted, officials said. Earlier this year, the commission studied how police question eyewitnesses. Afterward, its recommendations helped the Florida Department of Law Enforcement develop a statewide policy. Of the 13 wrongful convictions in Florida's history cleared by DNA evidence, two were because of false confessions, according to the Innocence Project of Florida. "People having a hard time will confess to a crime they didn't commit," said Seth Miller, executive director of the nonprofit Innocence Project of Florida. "The person being interrogated is someone who is vulnerable in some way and prone to do whatever they can to end the interrogation." Juveniles and mentally ill people are known to give in to interrogations that can go on for hours or days, experts said. |
| It's Complicated: Experts Mull Reasons Behind NYC's Historic Crime Drop ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What accounts for New York City's stunning crime drop? More than 20 leading criminologists gathered at John Jay College in New York this week to figure out why the city has led the declining crime rates nationwide over the past two decades, reports The Crime Report. The answer, says Franklin Zimring, chair of the Criminal Justice Research Program at the University of California, is complicated. "Something spectacular has gone on in this city," said Zimring, author of "The City That Became Safe: New York's Lessons for Urban Crime and its Control." Zimring said he concluded that the ballyhooed "broken windows" explanation didn't hold water. Similarly, the effect of putting more cops on the street is unclear. He said two factors had the greatest impact crime rates: the NYPD's strategy of concentrating huge numbers of cops in high-crime neighborhoods, and the effort to close down public (street-corner) drug markets in the city. |
| Cop-to-Cop Leaks Hamper NYPD's Ticket-Fixing Investigation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leaks to officers by police investigators is hampering the ticket-fixing probe in New York, reports the New York Times. A police union official was captured on a wiretap telling a union colleague who was under scrutiny in the case that he had received a call from someone in the Internal Affairs Bureau, and that the caller had warned him that the investigators were on the way, a source said. The timing of the call suggested that someone had leaked information within minutes of a meeting last September by 50 internal affairs investigators. Investigators suspect that the call was just one of roughly half a dozen instances during the three-year ticket inquiry in which officers believed to be assigned to Internal Affairs leaked information about the case to police union officials, all of them officers, who were under scrutiny, several people with knowledge of the events said. The suspected leaks may be the most damning of the departmental weaknesses unearthed to date in the ticket-fixing investigation. The leak accusations seem to lend support to the argument, long put forward by many current and former prosecutors and police officials as well as academics, corruption experts and politicians, that the Police Department is incapable of policing itself. |
| HuffPost Columnist Calls for Uniformity in Cyber Crime Reporting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is time to standardize the reporting of cyber crime to give a more realistic estimation of its breadth and costs, said Franz-Stefan Gady in the Huffington Post. According to Norton's recent annual report, 431 million adults worldwide were victims of cyber crime last year at a cost of $114 billion. Yet Gady says, "We actually lack comprehensive data in assessing the true scale and scope of cyber crime. This is because we primarily rely on businesses to voluntarily self-report incidences of attacks and intrusions without any means to verify their statements. To turn the tide in the fight against cyber crime, we first need to know its true impact on the world economy." There are dozens of public and private cyber security data distribution forums in existence already, but the number, scope and diversity make for a complex environment where sharing information is very difficult. What is needed is the equivalent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Contro, an umbrella organization coordinating the different activities of forums that could conduct broad analysis. In the United States, the National Security Telecommunication Advisory Committee provides a good model, Gady writes. |
| Lawyers Turning to Social Media to Screen Potential Jurors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Judges routinely remind jurors to steer clear of social media sites and traditional news outlets when deliberating a case, but lawyers are increasingly turning to Facebook, Twitter and similar websites to help them make decisions during jury selection, reports the Baltimore Sun. Defense lawyers in the 2009 public corruption trial of Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon performed Internet searches on prospective jurors as they were being questioned. A Texas prosecutor reportedly equipped his staff with iPads so they could research jurors using courthouse wi-fi. And several companies already make jury selection "apps" to help track the information. A New Jersey appellate court ruled last year that such behavior was permissible if both sides have access to the technology - an unpublished opinion that seems to open the door for other courts to follow suit. There is a trove of personal information about many individuals available online, including such things as political views. |
| MN Reports Increased Treatment of Robbery as a Federal Crime ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Officials in Minnesota and across the country are more frequently using the Hobbs Act, a federal law that prohibits the obstruction or delay of commerce, to pursue violent offenders who have robbed bars, coffee shops and even McDonald's restaurants, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The act was passed in 1946 to address organized crime and labor racketeering, said U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones. Now, it has new life in a new way: getting career criminals who commit violent crimes off the streets for a longer time. "We are not creatively using it. We are aggressively using it," he said. Jones acknowledged that the law, which carries a 20-year prison term, could be applied to almost any commercial robbery that interferes with commerce. But local, state and federal officials are using it after analyzing the facts of the crime and the accused offender. Does the offender have a long criminal history? Was the crime in a public place that heightened fear and anxiety? Is public safety better served by bringing a longer federal prison term to bear? An ATF official in St. Paul added, "As offenders get away with more, the violence escalates. So there is a deterrent factor in going to federal prison outside Minnesota for longer sentences." |
| Half of 'Waistband' Shooting Victims of LA Deputies Were Unarmed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Almost half the people shot at by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after reaching toward their waistbands turned out to be unarmed, reports the Los Angeles Times. "Waistband shootings" are particularly controversial because the justification for the shootings can conceivably be fabricated after the fact, according to a new report by the county monitor, that analyzed six years of shooting data. The monitor was careful to point out that the report wasn't indicating that deputies were being dishonest, simply that those shootings left the department vulnerable to criticism. Merrick Bobb, who was hired as a special counsel to county supervisors after a 1992 report exposed serious problems in the department, also found an increase in shootings in which deputies didn't see an actual gun before firing. In those cases, the suspects may have had a weapon but never brandished it. Those shootings jumped from nine in 2009 to 15 last year, according to the report. Last year also saw the highest proportion of people shot by deputies who turned out to be unarmed altogether. |
| Backers Press Congress to Find Funds for Second Chance Law ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Advocates of the federal Second Chance Act, which provides funds for services that help former inmates re-enter society successfully, are fighting to save the program after a vote last week by a Senate subcommittee to allocate no money for it in the next federal fiscal year. "Second Chance funding remains a high priority for state governments, which need these resources to help address recidivism rates and corrections costs," said Michael Thompson of the Council of State Governments Justice Center. "Our members are working closely with Capitol Hill to make sure reentry efforts continue to increase public safety." Another supporter, Mark O'Brien of the Legal Action Center, said that cutting back on Second Chance funding would "not only hurt families and communities but also increase the pressure law enforcement and corrections costs place on state and federal discretionary budgets." Washington insiders said that as congressional budget-cutters struggle to make deficit-reduction targets, the Second Chance Act is caught in a squeeze between the priorities of Senate Democrats and House Republicans. A House subcommittee headed by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) voted to eliminate funding for the popular COPS community-oriented policing program but supported Second Chance. The Senate panel, chaired by Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), is backing COPS but not Second Chance. It's possible that a final compromise will save both programs, but possibly at less funding than they have now. |
| NJ Chiefs Use Everything But Bake Sales to Cut Budget Corners ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Police chiefs in northern New Jersey are using creative measures in light of budget cuts, reports the Bergen Record. One police chief is organizing a fashion show to save a community policing program. Another hired special officers at $16 an hour to do desk work that had been done by his regulars at more than three times the pay. "I never thought when I went to the police academy that I'd be hosting a fashion show, but we need to do whatever we can," said Mahwah Chief James Batelli, who has held several fund-raisers already, including one last year with a dinner and raffle for a Mercedes-Benz that raised $18,000 to fund bullying seminars and Internet safety programs. Other example: Ramsey police now buys ammunition in bulk with other towns. Cresskill has shopped around for cheaper janitorial services. Leonia outsourced communications to Bergen County, and several departments have changed scheduling to avoid overtime. Many departments are simply enduring the hard times."There's no alternative except to prioritize what your services are going to be," said Chief Arthur O'Keefe of Englewood, who said his department cut its drug abuse resistance education program, reduced its juvenile bureau and often takes officers off patrol to work municipal court security. "You end up robbing Peter to pay Paul." |
| After Murders, VA Sheriff to Expedite Service of Protection Orders ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Following a quadruple homicide last month that was believed to have been rooted in a domestic dispute, a Virginia sheriff has ordered higher priority for serving orders of protection, reports the Newport News Daily Press. On Aug. 19, a deputy arrived at a crime scene when he arrived at John Moses Ragin's town house carrying a protective order issued by a judge the day before. The stabbed bodies of his wife and children had just been discovered. Ragin faces four counts of first-degree murder. Many people doubt a protective order could have done anything to save Crystal Ragin and her three children. Still, the Ragin case has raised questions about whether deputies waited too long - about 24 hours - to serve an order designed to protect people from imminent physical harm. The Sheriff's Office now says it will expedite the process to serve as many as possible on the days they are filed. |
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