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. USA Today

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. Texas Tribune

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. South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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. The Crime Report

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. New York Times

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. Huffington Post

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. Baltimore Sun

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." Minneapolis Star Tribune

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. Los Angeles Times

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." Bergen Record

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. Newport News Daily Press