| FBI to Change Rape Definition; "Dramatic" Numbers Likely ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The FBI says an archaic definition of rape will be changed, a shift that a key police chief says will "dramatically change the numbers," the New York Times reports. Thousands of sexual assaults in the U.S. each year are not reflected in the FBI's yearly crime report that uses a definition of rape that is far narrower than the definitions used by most police departments, says the New York Times. Law enforcement officials and advocates for women say this underreporting misleads the public about the prevalence of rape and results in fewer resources devoted to catching rapists and helping victims. The public has the right to know about the prevalence of crime and violent crime in our communities, and we know that data drives practices, resources, policies and programs," said Carol Tracy of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia, which has campaigned to get the FBI to change its definition of sexual assault. She spoke at a meeting organized by the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C. The FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2010 said there were 84,767 sexual assaults reported to law enforcement, a 5 percent drop from 2009. A PERF survey found almost 80 percent of police departments agreeing that the federal definition of rape used by the Uniform Crime Report was inadequate and should be changed. The FBI's Greg Scarbro agreed that the definition should be revised and that an FBI subcommittee would take up the issue at a meeting on Oct. 18. "With the new definition, it's going to dramatically change the numbers," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, PERF president. |
| 238 Cities Get U.S. Aid for Cops; Oakland Makes Up for Budget Cuts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. Justice Department awarded Oakland a $10.7 million grant that will enable the city to hire 25 police officers for three years, bolstering a force that was stripped of dozens of officers last year because of budget cuts, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Oakland was one of 238 cities to win a Justice Department grant after Police Chief Anthony Batts proposed using the funds to hire officers to work on youth violence, human trafficking, and juvenile delinquency around four middle schools. Batts said the officers are expected to create safe routes to school, monitor parolees near schools, mentor youth and develop four-block safety zones around the schools. The Justice Department based its awards on a combination of factors including specific crime issues, overall crime rate, and a city's economic health. In Northern California, San Jose got $1.7 million to fund three officers and Salinas got $8 million for eight officers. Oakland's 25 officers were the maximum allowed. |
| CA Survey Finds Voters Staunchly Support Death Penalty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As death penalty opponents work to get a ballot measure before California voters next fall to abolish capital punishment, a new Field Poll indicates the initiative would be a tough sell, reports the Sacramento Bee. More than two-thirds of state voters - 68 percent - favor keeping the death penalty, the poll found, with 27 percent favoring abolition and 5 percent expressing no opinion. "We've polled on this for 55 years," Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said. "It's changed a little here and there, but just removing the death penalty as a potential punishment is opposed. That's pretty clear." Death penalty opponents launched an effort in August to replace capital punishment with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, something they said would save the state millions of dollars each year. On that point, the new poll found that more voters - 48 percent - now support imposing a life-without-parole sentence for first-degree murderers than those who favor the death penalty - 40 percent - in such cases. "I think what the public had in mind is the use of the death penalty for very heinous crimes, like multiple cop killings or terrorists," DiCamillo said. |
| "Detention-Industrial Complex" Controls Half of U.S. Detention Beds ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A handful of multinational security companies have been turning crackdowns on immigration into a growing global industry, reports the New York Times. Especially in the U.S., Britain, and and Australia, governments of different stripes have increasingly looked to such companies to expand detention and show voters they are enforcing tougher immigration laws. Some companies are huge - one is among the world's largest private employers. They say they are meeting demand faster and less expensively than the public sector could. The ballooning of privatized detention has been accompanied by scathing inspection reports, lawsuits, and the documentation of widespread abuse and neglect, sometimes lethal. Human rights advocates say detention has not worked as a deterrent nor speeded deportation, and some worry about the creation of a "detention-industrial complex" with a momentum of its own. In the U.S., with almost 400,000 annual detentions in 2010, up from 280,000 in 2005 - private firms control nearly half of all detention beds, compared with 8 percent in state and federal prisons. |
| Police Checks on Possible Illegal Immigrants Upheld In Alabama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An federal judge's ruling raises the possibility that, after being repeatedly rejected by courts across the U.S., a controversial policy that police check the immigration status of people who might be illegal immigrants could be enforced for the first time, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Several states have passed anti-illegal immigration bills, starting with Arizona, but each law has been put on hold by courts. Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn rejected some parts of Alabama's far-reaching bill against illegal immigration, but she upheld the section of the law dealing with residency-status checks during routine stops. For law enforcement, which has repeatedly opposed such laws, the ruling is raising questions about how such a mandate can be enforced - and whether it will lead to lawsuits over allegations of civil-rights violations. "It would be impossible to call it a victory for either side," says University of Alabama law Prof. Paul Horowitz. The overall ruling, which is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, shows that "the state can parallel federal law but can't innovate immigration law." |
| ICE Stages Largest Operation To Nab Dangerous Criminals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced detentions nationwide of nearly 3,000 foreign nationals with criminal convictions in the largest operation of its kind since the agency was created in 2003, reports the Miami Herald. It is the first time ICE carried out a large operation nationwide in which all those arrested have criminal convictions. The operation was aimed at convincing immigrant communities and activists that policy has changed - and that from now on priority will be given to detaining and deporting only criminals and not undocumented immigrants without criminal records. Last month, high-ranking Obama administration officials promised that undocumented immigrants discovered by local police or ICE agents would be considered "low-priority" cases and would not necessarily be deported, although they could be detained. The officials said three categories of foreign nationals are now subject to deportation: those who have criminal records, undocumented immigrants arrested upon crossing the border, and those who have been previously deported and have returned illegally. ICE said that more than 1,000 of the 2,901 detained in raids yesterday are highly dangerous criminals while 42 others are gang members and 151 have been convicted of sexual crimes. The operation, called Cross Check, involved more than 1,900 ICE agents, as well as officers from state and city police agencies in all 50 states |
| Dead Man Appeals Homicide Conviction From the Grave ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A convicted Spokane, Wa., killer who committed suicide four days after he was sentenced to life in prison is appealing his case from the grave at taxpayers' expense, reports the Seattle Times. Christopher Devlin, 57, a long-haul truck driver, was convicted a year ago of killing a man who had been set to testify against him in an assault trial, and was sentenced to life in prison. More than a year ago, he was found dead of an overdose in his jail cell. Despite his death, Devlin's attorneys and his sister, who had herself appointed trustee of his estate, are moving ahead with the appeal in hopes of clearing his name. They insist the state should pay for it because Devlin was broke when he died. For nearly a century, convictions like Devlin's were automatically dismissed in Washington and most states if the defendant died before exhausting all of his appeals. Gregory Link, an attorney for Devlin, contends that a recent decision by the state Supreme Court should clear the way for the appeal to move forward. Because Devlin's estate is insolvent, Link said, the appeal should be funded by the state. Spokane prosecutor Mark Lindsey disagrees |
| CA Inmate Realignment Plan Faces Funding, Inconsistency Worries ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Skeptics are worried about funding and inconsistency in the "realignment" plan that may send tens of thousands of state prisoners to county jails, says NPR. "The program is funded for exactly nine months," said Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. "What happens after nine months, we don't know." Says Gov. Jerry Brown: "I'm not leaving Sacramento until we get a constitutional guarantee to protect law enforcement and the whole realignment process so that you get the funding you need to make the thing work." Sara Norman of the Prison Law Office says keeping low-level offenders closer to their homes, communities, jobs, and families is a good thing, but she fears it won't be done right. "If that programming isn't there, if substance-abuse treatment, job retraining, things like that, are not available to them, it could be a big mess," she said. Norman notes that more than 20 California county jails that have court-ordered capacity limits because of overcrowding. Barry Krisberg of the University of California Berkeley Law School says with a lack of state oversight in the plan, there will be disparity in how realignment is implemented. "With a state with 58 counties and the diversity of California," he said, "what we're going to see is 58 varieties of realignment." |
| Chicago to Analyze Youth Shootings In Two Key Neighborhoods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A trial program to analyze and reduce youth shootings in two of Chicago most violent neighborhoods was endorsed by a City Council committee, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Chicago Youth Shooting Review would look at all shootings, fatal or otherwise, involving people under 21 in the 11th District on the city's West Side and the 4th District on the Southeast Side, said Commissioner Evelyn Diaz, who runs the city's Family and Support Services Department. The effort "could make our neighborhoods safer and improve the quality of life for all Chicagoans, especially for Chicago's school-age young people," Diaz said. Youth shootings in Chicago have been a growing concern in recent years. They have attracted national media attention. Last Sunday, 15-year-old Antonio Johnson, a sophomore at Marshall High School, died after being shot on the front porch of his West Side home as he stood there with his mother. The project, modeled after one in Milwaukee that helped halve homicides in focus areas, would share police data among several government and non-profit agencies to come up with new police and public-health tactics to reduce crime. |
| Domestic Violence Accounts For Nearly 1/3 of Wisconsin Homicides ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Although deaths decreased in 2010, there was an average of one killing a week in Wisconsin related to domestic violence, accounting for 29 percent of homicides, says a Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence report quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Domestic violence is the most urgent public safety concern in Milwaukee today," said Kent Lovern of the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office. Last year, police began working with advocates from Sojourner Family Peace Center and prosecutors stationed at six of the seven Milwaukee police districts to reach out to families dealing with domestic violence, so that help can be provided before a situation becomes deadly, he said. There were 1,700 referrals in 2010, but that number is expected to quadruple this year, he said. Mayor Tom Barrett said, "We have to do a better job of engaging men in the issue of domestic violence because this is a man's problem primarily. We have to teach children that violence is never an appropriate response and that boys should never hit a girl." The city has a variety of initiatives to address the issue. The Homicide Review Commission is beginning to review domestic violence homicides to learn what services families need before situations grow fatal. |
| Ohio Will Allow Guns In Bars, Restaurants, Malls, Hotels ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Under an Ohio law effective tomorrow, people licensed to carry a concealed weapon are now allowed to bring a gun onto liquor-permit premises, such as carry-outs, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, shopping malls, and museums - places where the weapons had been forbidden, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. The law removes the requirements that permit-holders, while driving, keep their guns in a holster, locked caseor unlocked in plain sight. Licensed concealed-weapons holders must drink no alcohol - period - and keep their guns out of businesses that post signs banning weapons. "An undischarged concealed weapon never hurt anybody in history. And using a gun is not allowed under this bill," said state Sen. Bill. Seitz. "All we're saying is they can have a piece of equipment on their body." Seitz said lawmakers had been batting around the idea for several years, yet numerous other states already have enacted similar laws allowing guns in liquor establishments. "And they didn't unleash a new era of wild, wild West violence," as some people had feared, Seitz said. |
| Memphis Police Citations Drop Sharply After Pay Cut ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Memphis recorded a dramatic drop in the number of citations issued in July by Memphis police officers, the month after 4.6 percent pay cuts were approved, says the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Officers issued 18,341 citations, summonses, and ordinance violations in July, down from 29,092 in July 2010 and 34,149 in July 2009. A similar decrease was recorded in August. Police Director Toney Armstrong alerted department chiefs to watch out for a possible work slowdown by officers. The note copied an anonymous online comment at a local news site saying officers were conducting a slowdown. "The director has not been directly contacted by any group of officers or any agency representing them regarding a work slowdown, stoppage or job action of any kind," said police spokeswoman Sgt. Karen Rudolph. Mike Williams, vice president of the Memphis Police Association, the union that represents police officers, said: "There is definitely not a concerted effort I know about. That's not something we would endorse or condone." City administrator George Little said, "If the intent is to deprive the city of revenue, it makes it that much more difficult to restore the pay they want restored. |
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