12 March 2012

March 12, 2012   Today's Stories

Americans Embrace the Idea of Owning, Carrying Firearms ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thirty years after a powerful gun-control movement swept the U.S., Americans are embracing the idea of owning and carrying firearms with a zeal rarely seen since the days of muskets and militias, says the Christian Science Monitor. A combination of favorable court rulings, grass-roots activism, traditional fears of crime, and modern anxieties about government has led to what may be a tipping point on an issue that just a few years ago was one of the nation's most contentious. Gun rights have now expanded to the point where the fundamental question seems not to be "should we be able to carry guns," but instead is "where can't we carry them?" The answer: not very many places. Hundreds of gun-friendly laws have been enacted by states and localities in the past few years alone. Mississippi, for instance, now allows gun owners who take an extra safety class to carry hidden weapons on college campuses and in courthouses. Ohio has granted people with permits the right to bring concealed weapons into restaurants, bars, and sports arenas. In 2009, three times as many pro-gun laws were passed in the U.S. as antigun measures - a trend that experts say has only accelerated since then. Christian Science Monitor

Budget-Pressed States Cut Inmate Numbers in Solitary Confinement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mississippi, which eliminated its prison solitary-confinement unit, is an example of a growing number of states rethinking the use of long-term isolation and re-evaluating how many inmates require it, how long they should be kept there, and how best to move them out, the New York Times reports. Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Ohio, and Washington state have been reducing the number of prisoners in long-term isolation; others have plans to do so. On Friday, California announced a plan for changes that could result in fewer prisoners in the state's three super-maximum-security units. At least 25,000 prisoners and probably tens of thousands more are in U.S. solitary confinement. Some remain for weeks or months; others for years or even decades. More inmates are in solitary confinement here than in any other democratic nation, says a new United Nations report. A central driver in the recent shift is economics. Segregation units can be two to three times as costly to build and to operate as regular prisons, because of staffing requirements. They are an expense many states can ill afford; Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn plans to close the state's supermax prison for budgetary reasons. New York Times

Would a Revolt Against Plea Bargains Crash the Justice System? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The criminal justice system is "rigged" against jury trials, says Michelle Alexander, author of a book on race and mass incarceratation. Writing in the New York Times, she notes that 90-plus percent of people charged with crimes forfeit their constitutional rights and plead guilty. "The truth is that government officials have deliberately engineered the system to assure that the jury trial system established by the Constitution is seldom used," said Timothy Lynch of the libertarian Cato Institute. Alexander says "politicians champion stiff sentences for nearly all crimes, including mandatory minimum sentences and three-strikes laws; the result is a dramatic power shift from judges to prosecutors." She quotes scholar Angela Davis as saying that, "if the number of people exercising their trial rights suddenly doubled or tripled in some jurisdictions, it would create chaos." Alexander says such chaos would force mass incarceration to the top of the policy agenda, leaving two main options: sharply scale back the number of criminal cases or amend the Constitution. Either would create a crisis and the system would crash. Writes Alexander: "Mass protest would force a public conversation that, to date, we have been content to avoid." New York Times

TX Cites Terrorism Concerns in Denying Public Record Requests ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the annual "Sunshine Week" on open government issues begins, the Austin American-Statesman says that terrorism concerns often are used by authorities to restrict public access to government records. In one 2010 incident a local resident, concerned about perceived inequities among the Birdville, Tx., school district's three high schools, asked to look at blueprints of one school's athletic area. Administrators refused to release the information, which until recently had been posted on its website, because the building plans "detail particular vulnerabilities of the high school's athletic area to a terrorist attack," such as the location of "fire alarms, sprinklers, electrical outlets, entrances, dimension of walls, and switch boxes." Texas appellate judges said that releasing pictures from cameras in a Capitol hallway - sought by journalists trying to track a lobbyist's influence - could give a terrorist sufficient information to thwart the building's security system. In the past two years, the decision has been cited by a half-dozen other state and local agencies to deny similar open records requests. Austin American-Statesman

OK Worst In Prescription Drug Abuse; A Complacent Public? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Addiction costs Oklahoma and its residents an estimated $7.2 billion a year, more than the the state government's budget of $6.7 billion and about $1,900 for every man, woman, and child in the state, reports Oklahoma Watch. "The bottom line is, we're witnessing this crisis, this silent cancer that is just growing." said Darrell Weaver, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. The problem is spreading through every stratum of society: poor, middle-class, wealthy; rural, urban, and suburban. Last year the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Oklahoma had the nation's highest percentage of adolescents and adults who abused prescription drugs over a 12-month period-about 8 percent, or nearly 240,000 people. Part of the problem, Weaver said, is a complacent public. "It seems like they've grown immune to the drug issues," Weaver said. "They think that they've heard it so much, is it really even out there? The scary part is, it's probably affecting more lives in our state than at any time ever in history. Ever." Oklahoma Watch

CA Pot Legalization Movement in Disarray As Ballot Deadline Looms ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few weeks before the deadline for California ballot initiatives, the effort to put a marijuana legalization measure before voters in the general election is in disarray as the federal government cracks down on medical cannabis and activists are divided on their goals, the Los Angeles Times reports. When legalization got 46 percent of the vote in 2010, proponents took heart at the near-miss. They vowed to put a well-funded measure to legalize marijuana on the 2012 ballot, when the presidential election would presumably draw more young voters. Instead, five different camps have filed paperwork for five separate initiatives. One has given up already and the other four are teetering, vying for last-minute funding from a handful of potential donors. Backers need more than $2 million to hire professional petitioners to get the 700,000-plus signatures they need by April 20 to qualify for the ballot. They are getting little aid from medical marijuana dispensaries that have profited from laws that pot activists advocated in earlier years. Los Angeles Times

How Houston Authorities Use "Touch DNA" To Solve Property Crimes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Harris County, Tx., Institute of Forensic Sciences aids law enforcement in solving property crimes by testing evidence for "touch DNA" - microscopic skin cells containing DNA that naturally rub off when an object, like a car steering wheel, is touched, says the Houston Chronicle. The technology can be used even if the suspect is wearing gloves because there's a high likelihood the skin cells were transferred onto the gloves when the perpetrator was slipping them on. "It was a pretty incredible tool for us to have to identify some of these suspects," said Sgt. Terry Wilson of the Harris County Sheriff's Office auto-theft division. "These (burglary of a motor vehicle) cases are some of the hardest cases for law enforcement to solve because there's almost never any eyewitnesses. There's very rarely any good evidence left behind, fingerprint evidence and things like that, and once we started recovering some of this DNA, it was pretty exciting there for a while." Since 2008, the institute made more than 3,000 matches to crime suspects in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System database, or CODIS, a national database used to store DNA profiles. Of those, about 75 percent were for property crime cases. Houston Chronicle

Recovering Stolen Laptops: Victims May Get Justice or Frustration ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A stolen laptop sent its owner a hopeful message just hours after it was spirited out of his Minneapolis home. The message included the exact spot where the laptop had been taken and, conveniently, a photo covertly shot by the MacBook's webcam of the man now using the computer, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Anti-theft software on the laptop kicked into gear when the owner reported his computer stolen. Now the police would simply go get it back, thought the man, a Web developer. Instead, he watched online as his laptop traveled to the University of Ghana, in Africa. It sent photos and locations at every stop along the way. In the real word, where real police officers want hard evidence, some victims find justice, others frustration. A police spokesman said someone in the owners position in this case should go to the neighborhood where they're getting reports of their phone or laptop and then call 911. Police have recovered phones this way recently, said Sgt. William Palmer. Charges usually don't get filed, he added. "They couldn't prove who stole it or anything," he said. Minneapolis Star Tribune

D.C. Sex Offender Monitoring Called Lax; No Checks on 660 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two-thirds of Washington, D.C.'s nearly 1,000 sex offenders have not been actively monitored, leaving area residents more vulnerable to future sex crimes, says the Washington Examiner. D.C. officials do not conduct compliance checks at the residences of about 660 sex offenders, including convicted rapists, child molesters, and purveyors of kiddie porn. The Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency said it did residence checks on 327 offenders in January and February. Arrest warrantes were issued for seven absconders, said spokesman Len Sipes. Meanwhile, four offenders gave the address of the police department as their home address; neither police nor the offender supervision agency say know where the four men are. Sex offenders who live out of state can falsely claim residency in D.C. and escape being monitored and listed back in their own state. Washington Examiner

Charlotte Sexual Assault Cold-Case Unit Clears 132 Cases in 6 Years ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since it was set up six years ago, the Charlotte police department's Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit has reviewed 860 cases and solved or cleared 132 of them, most through the use of DNA, the Charlotte Observer reports. Twenty-nine men have been arrested and charged with sexual assaults, some dating back to the 1980s. Among them were six serial rapists. The police department has 2,500 unsolved sexual assault cases and 500 unsolved homicides. Each year, about 100 sexual assaults and homicides are added to the unsolved list. The police department has a new $485,777 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that will give higher priority to unsolved sex crimes and homicides. For Sgt. Darrell Price, who heads the unit, solving decades-old sex crimes has been the most rewarding work of his 30-year career. "Women who have been raped don't ever forget it," he said. "Seldom does a day go by that they don't think about what happened. It's amazing to see the looks on their faces when we tell them we've solved the case. [ ] They thought nobody cared." Charlotte Observer

Views Differ on Impact of Ruling on Maryland Gun-Carry Law ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last week's federal judge's ruling striking down Maryland's handgun-carry regulation as unconstitutionally restrictive caused consternation or celebration among residents, depending on which side of the debate they stand, says the Baltimore Sun. Gun advocates called it overdue, saying that it would bring Maryland policies in line with most of the nation and have a deterrent effect on crime. Some gun opponents predicted a boost in criminal activity and shootouts in the streets, because the court order would make it markedly easier to carry a gun legally. Each side points to stacks of research backing its position and debunking the other's, but the credibility of much of that literature is in question, say academics who have studied the impact of gun-carry laws on crime. The truth, they say, lies somewhere in the middle. There could be an uptick in aggravated assaults, say studies from Yale and Stanford law schools, or even a slight decrease in murders, says an economist who also is a commentator for Fox News. More likely than not, most said, there will be no discernible change at all. Baltimore Sun

Critics: NYPD Spying on Muslims Risks Loss of Sources, Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Police investigators, prosecutors, and mayors nationwide say the New York Police Department is putting its chances of getting good tips from Muslim sources at risk by conducting clandestine surveillance of Muslims in the city and across the Northeast, the Associated Press reports. The AP's sources cite their experience in serving communities that are home to large Muslim communities and other minority populations that have become isolated by events. "It only takes one perceived mistake, whether it's a mistake or not, where the confidence of the community will be temporarily shattered or damaged," said former FBI agent Ted Wasky. Others said the New York police secret spying and its defense against suggestions it might be a mistake is a misguided approach that will hinder the department's efforts to uncover potential attacks for years, if not decades. That critique has been forcefully rejected by the police department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has praised the department's tactics as ones that have kept the city safe in the decade since the Sept. 11 attacks. Associated Press/The Oklahoman