January 12, 2012
First Since 1965: Homicides Off Top 15 U.S. Causes of Death List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the first time in almost half a century, homicide has fallen off the list of the nation's top 15 causes of death, replaced by a lung illness that often develops in elderly people who have choked on their food, the Associated Press reports. The 2010 list eflects at least two major trends: Murders are down, and deaths from certain diseases are on the rise as the population ages. Homicide was overtaken at No. 15 by pneumonitis, seen mainly in people 75 and older. It happens when food or vomit goes down the windpipe and causes deadly damage to the lungs.
This is the first time since 1965 that homicide failed to make the list, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was as high as 10th in 1989 and in 1991 through 1993, when the nation saw a surge in youth homicides related to the crack epidemic. Criminologists have debated the reasons for the decline. Among the reasons: Abusive relationships don't end in murder as often as they once did, thanks to increased incarcerations and better support for victims. "We've taken the home out of homicide," said criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University.
Associated Press/Miami Herald
OK Reform Panel Urges Raising Post-Prison Supervision to Cut Crime
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unless the Oklahoma legislature acts, thousands of people will continue being released from prison with no form of supervision, the state's high violent crime rate will remain unchanged, and state spending on prisons will increase by more than $250 million over the next 10 years, says a ""justice reinvestment" report quoted by The Oklahoman.
A 20-member group of officials made recommendations to reduce violent crime statewide 10 percent by 2016 and provide post-prison supervision for all felons while containing growth in prison costs. "By doing nothing, our current path is unsustainable," said House Speaker Kris Steele. Suggestions include requiring supervision for all felony offenders; 51 percent of those leaving prison now have no supervision. It also calls for increasing the availability of substance abuse treatment, and developing community-based mental health care centers. The report recommends spending $110 million from fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2021, with an expected savings of $249 million that would otherwise be spent on the growing prison population.
The Oklahoman
Pepsi Beverages To Pay $3.1 Million in Criminal Records Misuse Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pepsi Beverages Co. will pay $3.1 million to settle federal charges of race discrimination for using criminal background checks to screen out job applicants even if they weren't convicted of a crime, the Associated Press reports. The settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is part of a federal crackdown on hiring policies that can hurt blacks and Hispanics.
The EEOC said the company's policy of not hiring workers with arrest records disproportionately excluded more than 300 black applicants. The policy barred applicants who had been arrested but not convicted and denied employment to others who were convicted of minor offenses. Using arrest and conviction records to deny employment can be illegal if it's irrelevant for the job. A Pepsi Beverages spokesman said a new company policy would take a more "individualized approach" in considering the applicant's criminal history against the particular job being sought.
Associated Press/Washington Post
While States OK Medical Pot, Many Local Governments Are Saying No
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More states are saying yes to medical marijuana, but local governments increasingly are using laws to just say no, not in our backyard, reports the Associated Press. In California, with the most permissive U.S. medical marijuana laws, 185 cities and counties have banned pot dispensaries entirely. In New Jersey, perhaps the most restrictive of 17 states that have legalized marijuana for sick people, some groups planning to sell cannabis are struggling to find local governments willing to let them in.
Dispensaries have been banned in parts of Colorado and have run into opposition in some towns in Maine. Some local politicians argue that pot is still illegal under federal law, that marijuana dispensaries attract crime, and that such businesses are just fronts for drug-dealing, supplying weed to people who aren't sick. Cities and towns may bar dispensaries outright or apply zoning ordinances so strict that they amount to the same thing. The ordinances set minimum distances between such businesses and schools, homes, parks, and houses of worship.
Associated Press/NPR
Judge Blocks Ohio Execution, Cites State's "Self-Inflicted Wound"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Ohio federal judge blocked the execution scheduled for next week of murderer Charles Lorraine yesterday while excoriating the state for failing to follow its own death-penalty protocol, reports the Columbus Dispatch. "Do not lie to the court, do not fail to do what you tell this court you must do, and do not place the court in the position of being required to change course in this litigation after every hearing," said U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost. "It should not be so hard for Ohio to follow procedures that the state itself created. Today's adverse decision [ ] is again a curiously if not inexplicably self-inflicted wound."
It is unclear whether Frost's withering criticism will have an impact beyond stopping the execution of Lorraine, 45, was convicted of murdering an alderly couple in 1986. Attorney General Mike DeWine will appeal Frost's decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Public Defender Allen Bohnert called on Gov. John Kasich to issue a moratorium in light of "federal constitutional problems."
Columbus Dispatch
Why Mexico Isn't Replicating Colombia's Success in The Drug War
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colombia's incredible turnaround and the strategy credited with bringing it about have become not only a rare success story in the drug war, but also its most formidable brand and export, reports The Washington Monthly. The governments of Mexico and several other Central American countries that have been plunged into violent confrontation with drug gangs have tried to replicate their South American peer's strategy. There are two problems. The first is that none of these places, despite years of effort, has seen the kind of transformation that President Ãlvaro Uribe Vélez brought about in Colombia. In fact, so far, the momentum runs in the opposite direction, particularly in Mexico.
The second problem, says the Monthly, is that, in Colombia itself, Uribe's strategy has reached a point of sharply diminishing returns. Having largely defeated sweeping leftist insurgency against the state, and having decapitated a relatively cohesive paramilitary force, Colombia now faces a hydra-headed, apolitical, essentially criminal set of groups vying for turf and control over what's left of the drug trade. None of these groups is as powerful as its precursors, but nor do they seem to be susceptible to the same strategic countermeasures. Violence is starting to drift upward. "If you look at the trend lines on homicides and kidnapping, it looks like a backwards J," says Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America. "They drop really sharply from 2002 to 2006, then there's a stagnation. In 2008 and 2009 several of those measures start to creep back up again."
The Washington Monthly
Court's Eyewitness ID Ruling Expressed "Abundant Faith" In Juries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling on eyewitness identifications expressed an abundant faith in trial juries' capacity to root out questionable eyewitness accounts, says Lyle Denniston on Scotusblog.com. As reported here yesterday, the court, by an 8-1 vote, refused to require a new screening procedure in situations where police have not actually manipulated the identification - intentionally or not. The ruling came amid growing complaints that those who claim to have seen a crime occurring too often get it wrong, resulting in unjustified guilty verdicts because of the high value most jurors place on what they deem to be first-hand observation.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg insisted that the court was adding nothing new to a long-standing practice of allowing jurors, not judges in a mid-trial screening process, to decide whether to believe eyewitness testimony. Jurors, with their roles at least partly limited by the constitutional rights of the suspect, have been trusted to evaluate such testimony, unless their judgment has been influenced by police creation of "suggestive circumstances" surrounding the identification, Ginsburg noted. The court rejected a plea by a New Hampshire man to require such a screening procedure by the judge any time an identification had been made in a "suggestive" setting. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the lone dissenter, would have required that approach, arguing that it was dictated by the court's precedents.
Scotusblog.com
Could Legislative "Fiscal Notes" Be a Key to Criminal Justice Reform?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
States could come up with more effective criminal-justice practices if legislatures drafted proper "fiscal notes" to assess proposals on crime and punishment, the American Civil Liberties Union urges in a new report concluding that "the vast majority of states do not accurately perform these fiscal notes in a way that is useful to legislators."
The group calls for states to calculate both short- and long-term costs and cost savings for criminal justice bills so that legislators "know the true fiscal implications of reform proposals before voting on them." Based on an analysis of state fiscal notes for significant adult sentencing and corrections bills enacted in the last three years - more than 600 bills from 49 states - the report found that states did not write a fiscal note for 40 percent of the bills. Without an official certification that a bill would save money, legislators may have less incentive to vote for it, the ACLU said. Most states failed to examine the fiscal impact beyond a year or two into the future. Fifteen of the 29 states that wrote fiscal notes finding a significant fiscal impact failed to estimate the impact beyond two years.
American Civil Liberties Union
Mississippi Judge Blocks Some Barbour Pardons Over "Notice" Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some Mississippi inmates expecting to be freed from prison on a gubernatorial pardon will remain behind bars, and others others already out could go back, reports the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green blocked the pardons made by outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour, citing issues raised by Attorney General Jim Hood of possible constitutional violations.
Attorney General Jim Hood argued that Barbour violated the state constitution when the departing governor granted 203 pardons to felons as he left office. That included five inmates, four of them convicted murderers, who have gone free. Green ordered them to report each day to the state Department of Corrections and to her courtroom on Jan. 23. Under the state constitution, the governor has the power to grant pardons, but a legal newspaper notice must be published in the county of conviction 30 days earlier. In many cases, notices failed to run on time. In a few cases, notices never ran. "It's unfortunate that Gov. Barbour didn't read the constitution," Hood said. "It's a shame, and he ought to be ashamed."
Jackson Clarion-Ledger
OR Tests Only 30% of Portland DNA Samples Within 30 Days
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only 30 percent of the DNA samples that Portland police submit to the state crime lab are tested within 30 days, a national benchmark for timely analysis, according to a city audit reported by The Oregonian. The average processing time in 2010 and 2011 for Portland DNA evidence submitted to the lab was 56 days. The audit found there are hundreds, perhaps a thousand, DNA samples that are stored at the bureau's property evidence warehouse that haven't been submitted to the lab.
Crime labs nationally are struggling with DNA testing backlogs, partly because federal and state laws require authorities to collect more DNA samples yet the lab capacity hasn't been able to meet the demand. Oregon, for example, requires DNA samples from all convicted felons. Randall Wampler of the Oregon State Police Forensic Services Division said the city audit failed to take into account how the state lab prioritizes murder and sexual assault cases compared to lower-level property crime cases. "For public understanding, we are getting to those highly sensitive cases much quicker than what this report shows," Wampler said. "Certainly when we get a homicide or a sex assault, it goes up to the top of our priority list and into the DNA queue for processing, whereas a burglary or break-in to a car could sit for two years before we ever get to it."
The Oregonian
Fired TX Crime Lab Scientist: Some Drug Case Analysis Wasn't Done
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A fired former Austin Police Department crime lab scientist has alleged to District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg that some drug cases were processed "without any analysis being conducted at all," reports the Austin American-Statesman. Lehmberg asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to review the charges.
Assistant Police Chief Sean Mannix defends the lab, saying the charges came from an "angry former employee." One crime lab official said a review of two cases indicates no drug testing was performed before a "preliminary report" was emailed to prosecutors. The former employee said that "rush" cases were "analyzed without regard to laboratory protocols." Defense lawyers suggested that the "rush" cases were required to meet prosecutors' accelerated prosecution schedule under the so-called Rocket Docket. Defense lawyer Amber Vazquez Bode said that following protocol is essential in such cases because it ensures accuracy. "It's a pretty big deal if in fact a substance was not crack cocaine and you are sitting in state jail for a year," she said.
Austin American-Statesman
Latest Tabloid Justice Drama: John Edwards' Campaign Finance Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're wondering what crime news is captivating tabloid journalists these days, try the John Edwards campaign finance trial in North Carolina. The Raleigh News & Observer says the National Enquirer is reporting that Edwards is making a "desperate attempt to CHEAT JUSTICE" by marrying former lover Rielle Hunter. The News & Observer could find no evidence of such a marriage.
Now the question is what undisclosed medical condition has made it difficult for the former U.S. presidential candidate to help with trial preparations. A British tabloid not identified by the News & Observer reports that Edwards, 58, collapsed in the arms of a close friend before Christmas, debilitated after a long run by chest pains that turned out to be a panic attack. A meeting with the judge is scheduled tomorrow in Greensboro, N.C., to discuss the trial schedule.
Raleigh News & Observer
This project is set up to let users post and discuss articles that are involved with Criminal Justice. Everyone is free to post their ideas or opinions.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
11 Jan 2012
January 11, 2012
Supreme Court Won't Provide New Eyewitness ID Safeguards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Supreme Court today refused to extend constitutional safeguards against the use of some eyewitness testimony at criminal trials, reports the Associated Press. The court voted 8-1 to reject an appeal from a New Hampshire man, Barion Perry who was convicted of theft. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only dissenter.
Perry argued that courts should be able to exclude eyewitness testimony when identifications are made under suggestive circumstances, even when there is no evidence of manipulation by the police. Judges already have the power to bar testimony when police do something to influence a witness to identify a suspect. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court that in cases with no police misconduct, juries can weigh the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
Associated Press/U.S. Supreme Court
Police Trainer After Deaths: Stop Knocking on Doors in Drug Cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent surge in fatal police shootings is weighing heavily on law enforcement trainers, some of whom are calling for a reassessment of high-risk fugitive and drug raids that have resulted in a number of deadly ambushes, reports USA Today. "It's time to change our thinking," says Pat McCarthy, who advises police agencies. "Cops are exposing themselves to increasing danger many times over, and it's just not necessary." Harvey Hedden of the International Law Enforcement Trainers and Educators Association is urging his 4,000 members to "look at everything" in an effort to avoid potentially dangerous complacency on the streets.
"Police work can be 99% boredom and 1% panic," he said. "Routine can be the most dangerous of all. We need to go back to the basics." Federal and local officials have been troubled by the rise in firearms-related fatalities. Gun-related fatalities last year were up 15 percent from 2010. Last week, a Utah officer was killed and five others were wounded when they tried to serve a drug-related search warrant. McCarthy said the case underscores a need for police to rethink tactics. "The days of knocking down doors in drug cases should be over. Given what's going on now, you have to consider other options," he said. This month, the Justice Department will host a meeting of researchers and law enforcement officials to discuss tactics and training.
USA Today
Texas Teen's Fatal Shooting Points to Confusion Over Fake Guns
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last week in a Brownsville, Tx., middle school, administrators noticed that Jaime Gonzalez Jr., a 15-year-old eighth grader, had a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants, says the New York Times. It was a high-powered BB gun that resembled a black Glock semiautomatic handgun that can be bought on the Internet for $60. School officials announced a lockdown and called 911. In a confrontation, officers shot the boy dead.
The death was only the latest in a series of shootings involving realistic-looking BB guns and pellet guns. In recent years, dozens of police officers in Texas, California, Maryland, Florida, and elsewhere have shot children and adults armed with what they believed were handguns but that were determined later to be BB guns or other types of air pistols. In addition, the gun replicas have killed or injured thousands of children in cases in which the victims were accidentally shot by relatives or friends. The weapon in the Texas case was a Umarex SA177, was a .177-caliber, carbon dioxide-powered gun that shoots steel BBs and that has a metal slide with a plastic frame. "When I looked at that gun, there is no doubt that looking at it from a distance it's absolutely real," said Carl Montoya, the superintendent of the Brownsville Independent School District and a reserve constable in the city.
New York Times
New Owner of Controversial WI Gun Store Vows Changes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The new owner of a Milwaukee gun shop long under fire because of its high number of crime gun sales, including those used to wound police officers, plans to make the store more selective, not selling certain cheap guns and asking buyers tough questions, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The new owner is the brother of the previous owner of Badger Guns, whose license was revoked for breaking federal law.
Badger Guns and its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, were top sellers of crime guns recovered by Milwaukee police for more than a decade, according to police data obtained by the Journal Sentinel. In two years, six Milwaukee police officers were wounded with guns sold by Badger Guns or Badger Outdoors. A study came out this week showing that crime gun sales spiked at Badger Outdoors shortly after Congress passed legislation that made gun store records and trace information largely secret and further handcuffed ATF's ability to regulate gun dealers. "This shows how scrutiny and oversight of gun dealers can affect how guns get in the hands of criminals," said Daniel Webster of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, the study's chief author.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
CA Gov. Brown Again Proposes to Close State Youth Rehab Units
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the second time in a year, California Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed permanently closing the state Division of Juvenile Justice, a move that would make California the first state to eliminate its youth prison system and shift responsibility for the most dangerous young offenders to counties, reports the (San Francisco) Bay Citizen. When Brown first proposed the plan, county prosecutors and probation officers protested, arguing that counties were unprepared to handle murderers and violent sex offenders.
Last week, Brown offered $10 million to help counties prepare for the new inmates. At the same time, he blocked $70 million in cuts to the agency. The proposal to end state-level incarceration of juveniles first gained momentum in 2007 when California lawmakers prohibited counties from sending nonviolent offenders to state facilities. County juvenile halls and programs now care for more than 90 percent of youth offenders, and Brown has been looking to shutter the state system - which costs taxpayers almost $250 million a year - since his first month in office.
Bay Citizen (CA)
High Court Voids New Orleans Murder Conviction Over Prosecution Failure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Supreme Court yesterday reversed the murder conviction of Juan Smith of New Orleans because prosecutors failed to reveal that the sole eyewitness to the crime had earlier said he could not identify the killer, USA Today reports. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented in an 8-1 ruling. The case illustrates problems of prosecutors' hiding evidence and the guarantee, stemming from a 1963 Supreme Court decision, that the government must turn over evidence favorable to a defendant.
"Evidence impeaching an eyewitness may not be material if the state's other evidence is strong enough to sustain confidence in the verdict," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. "That is not the case here." Smith was charged with killing five people in a 1995 armed robbery of a home. A single eyewitness, Larry Boatner, connected Smith to the killings. On appeal, Smith obtained files that showed that Boatner had told police on the night of the killings that he "could not ID anyone because (he) couldn't see faces." Prosecutors had not turned over a detective's report of that information to Smith before trial.
USA Today
GA Gov. Deal Seeks More Prison Funding, Focus on Drug Treatment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has asked state legislators to treat nonviolent drug addicts as an alternative to sending them to expensive and overcrowded prisons, reports the Associated Press. The annual legislative session begins this week. "While these reforms require an initial investment, they will increase public safety, and ultimately save money by creating a more effective corrections system that rehabilitates people, closing the revolving door," Deal said.
He asked lawmakers to spend more than $15 million to create substance abuse treatment centers in the prison system. He also asked to fund specialized courts designed to offer troubled addicts and veterans an opportunity to stay out of prison if they seek treatment. Deal also wants $35 million to pay for new beds in the prison system for those offenders who are deemed a threat to public safety. "We must make this investment," Deal said. "If we fail to treat the addict's drug addiction, we haven't taken the first step in breaking the cycle of crime - a cycle that destroys lives and wastes taxpayer resources."
Associated Press
CO Ponders "Financial Cooperative" For Medical-Marijuana Industry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colorado's medical-marijuana industry, already subject to the most comprehensive cannabis-business regulations in the U.S., might soon have another national first to its credit: a bank, of sorts, reports the Denver Post. Two state legislators will propose to allow a "financial cooperative" to provide banking services to medical-marijuana businesses. The cooperative would work like a credit union, with membership limited to industry members. It would be free of the kinds of federal insurance requirements that exist with banks and credit unions and that have made those institutions reluctant to work with medical-marijuana businesses.
State Sen. Pat Steadman said the cooperative would plug a hole in state medical-marijuana regulations. "The inability to have a financial institution to do their banking with really hinders regulatory enforcement," Steadman said. "So it's in everybody's interest that these people don't have piles of cash lying around [ ] and, instead, there's a paper trail." The bill is expected to be the major focus of medical-marijuana-related lobbying at the state Capitol during this year's legislative session, which starts today.
Denver Post
Miss. Gov. Barbour's Pardons Stir Controversy As He Leaves Office
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, his last day in office, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour granted pardons to 193 criminals - an unusually high number for the state, and one that is likely to inflame controversy about his pardon practices, the New York Times reports. Barbour's pardons attracted an outcry when he pardoned five people last week who had been convicted of murder and at worked at the governor's mansion while in custody, performing odd jobs.
Recent Mississippi governors issued many fewer pardons. Barbour's actions are "really inexplicable," said Brandon Jones, a former Democratic state representative who had tried to pass legislation that would have added some oversight to the pardoning process. "I think that in some ways he has broken the mold." Having inmates perform tasks like waiting on tables at the governor's mansion is not unique to Mississippi. In Georgia, while inmates work at the mansion, the governor does not have the power to pardon; in Louisiana, the governor can do so only if four out of five members of the state's pardon board agree.
New York Times
Maine Makes Probationers' Records Public; Some Advocates Worry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thirty-six convicted murderers and 24 kidnappers live on probation in Maine communities, says a new database created for the Maine Department of Corrections. The website allows people to search through the database of state's 9,160 adult prisoners and probationers, reports the Bangor Daily News. The goal is to allow victims to track their abusers and to reduce the workload for corrections staff members who typically handle information requests.
Prisoner advocates say the new database is a scary tool that might prevent probationers from integrating into their communities. The database can paint a frightening picture, says the newspaper. The Bangor area has 1,888 convicts on probation. Of them, there are 370 drug offenders, 36 arsonists, 202 sex offenders, 20 people convicted of manslaughter, four kidnappers and one man who was convicted of criminally using explosives. "Knowing offenders are running around might change the way people think about where they live," said Judy Plummer, Maine Department of Corrections director of special programs. "This puts an awareness out there that people released from prison are out there." Prisoner advocates worry about how the new database will affect the lives of people who are now on the right path.
Bangor Daily News
Detroit Police In Compliance With 80% of Federally-Mandated Reforms
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Detroit Police Department said it is 80 percent compliant on implementing policies developed as part of federally mandated reforms, the Detroit Free Press reports. Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. provided an update yesterday during a Community Command Accountability Meeting on reforms the department agreed in 2003 to implement, including curbing excessive force.
Godbee said the progress is significant compared with two years ago, when the department was only 29 percent compliant with implementing policies. Federal monitor Robert Warshaw said, "This is an important milestone." Officials reviewed areas where the department has not been in compliance. Among those, the monitor found that detainees on suicide watch were not being constantly monitored and there was confusion about when constant monitoring is necessary. Officials said training has been conducted, but Godbee said the response has to be swift.
Detroit Free Press
L..A. County Jailers More Likely to Use Force Against Mentally Ill Inmates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Los Angeles County jailers are more likely to use force against mentally ill inmates than other prisoners, says a Sheriff's Department report quoted by the Los Angeles Times that acknowledges the lockups need specially trained staff to reduce the violence. About one third of the 582 deputy use-of-force cases in the jails last year involved inmates with mental health histories. About 15 percent of the 15,000 inmates are classified as mentally ill.
The numbers provide a more detailed picture of the confrontations between deputies and inmates, an issue that has sparked intense scrutiny over the last few months and prompted a heated debate yesterday between Sheriff Lee Baca and some L.A. County supervisors. Federal authorities are investigating specific allegations of deputy misconduct and excessive force and last year even smuggled a cellphone into the jail as part of the probe. The disproportionate number of mentally ill inmates involved in altercations with deputies is a new element in the jail controversy.
Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court Won't Provide New Eyewitness ID Safeguards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Supreme Court today refused to extend constitutional safeguards against the use of some eyewitness testimony at criminal trials, reports the Associated Press. The court voted 8-1 to reject an appeal from a New Hampshire man, Barion Perry who was convicted of theft. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only dissenter.
Perry argued that courts should be able to exclude eyewitness testimony when identifications are made under suggestive circumstances, even when there is no evidence of manipulation by the police. Judges already have the power to bar testimony when police do something to influence a witness to identify a suspect. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court that in cases with no police misconduct, juries can weigh the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
Associated Press/U.S. Supreme Court
Police Trainer After Deaths: Stop Knocking on Doors in Drug Cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent surge in fatal police shootings is weighing heavily on law enforcement trainers, some of whom are calling for a reassessment of high-risk fugitive and drug raids that have resulted in a number of deadly ambushes, reports USA Today. "It's time to change our thinking," says Pat McCarthy, who advises police agencies. "Cops are exposing themselves to increasing danger many times over, and it's just not necessary." Harvey Hedden of the International Law Enforcement Trainers and Educators Association is urging his 4,000 members to "look at everything" in an effort to avoid potentially dangerous complacency on the streets.
"Police work can be 99% boredom and 1% panic," he said. "Routine can be the most dangerous of all. We need to go back to the basics." Federal and local officials have been troubled by the rise in firearms-related fatalities. Gun-related fatalities last year were up 15 percent from 2010. Last week, a Utah officer was killed and five others were wounded when they tried to serve a drug-related search warrant. McCarthy said the case underscores a need for police to rethink tactics. "The days of knocking down doors in drug cases should be over. Given what's going on now, you have to consider other options," he said. This month, the Justice Department will host a meeting of researchers and law enforcement officials to discuss tactics and training.
USA Today
Texas Teen's Fatal Shooting Points to Confusion Over Fake Guns
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last week in a Brownsville, Tx., middle school, administrators noticed that Jaime Gonzalez Jr., a 15-year-old eighth grader, had a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants, says the New York Times. It was a high-powered BB gun that resembled a black Glock semiautomatic handgun that can be bought on the Internet for $60. School officials announced a lockdown and called 911. In a confrontation, officers shot the boy dead.
The death was only the latest in a series of shootings involving realistic-looking BB guns and pellet guns. In recent years, dozens of police officers in Texas, California, Maryland, Florida, and elsewhere have shot children and adults armed with what they believed were handguns but that were determined later to be BB guns or other types of air pistols. In addition, the gun replicas have killed or injured thousands of children in cases in which the victims were accidentally shot by relatives or friends. The weapon in the Texas case was a Umarex SA177, was a .177-caliber, carbon dioxide-powered gun that shoots steel BBs and that has a metal slide with a plastic frame. "When I looked at that gun, there is no doubt that looking at it from a distance it's absolutely real," said Carl Montoya, the superintendent of the Brownsville Independent School District and a reserve constable in the city.
New York Times
New Owner of Controversial WI Gun Store Vows Changes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The new owner of a Milwaukee gun shop long under fire because of its high number of crime gun sales, including those used to wound police officers, plans to make the store more selective, not selling certain cheap guns and asking buyers tough questions, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The new owner is the brother of the previous owner of Badger Guns, whose license was revoked for breaking federal law.
Badger Guns and its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, were top sellers of crime guns recovered by Milwaukee police for more than a decade, according to police data obtained by the Journal Sentinel. In two years, six Milwaukee police officers were wounded with guns sold by Badger Guns or Badger Outdoors. A study came out this week showing that crime gun sales spiked at Badger Outdoors shortly after Congress passed legislation that made gun store records and trace information largely secret and further handcuffed ATF's ability to regulate gun dealers. "This shows how scrutiny and oversight of gun dealers can affect how guns get in the hands of criminals," said Daniel Webster of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, the study's chief author.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
CA Gov. Brown Again Proposes to Close State Youth Rehab Units
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the second time in a year, California Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed permanently closing the state Division of Juvenile Justice, a move that would make California the first state to eliminate its youth prison system and shift responsibility for the most dangerous young offenders to counties, reports the (San Francisco) Bay Citizen. When Brown first proposed the plan, county prosecutors and probation officers protested, arguing that counties were unprepared to handle murderers and violent sex offenders.
Last week, Brown offered $10 million to help counties prepare for the new inmates. At the same time, he blocked $70 million in cuts to the agency. The proposal to end state-level incarceration of juveniles first gained momentum in 2007 when California lawmakers prohibited counties from sending nonviolent offenders to state facilities. County juvenile halls and programs now care for more than 90 percent of youth offenders, and Brown has been looking to shutter the state system - which costs taxpayers almost $250 million a year - since his first month in office.
Bay Citizen (CA)
High Court Voids New Orleans Murder Conviction Over Prosecution Failure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Supreme Court yesterday reversed the murder conviction of Juan Smith of New Orleans because prosecutors failed to reveal that the sole eyewitness to the crime had earlier said he could not identify the killer, USA Today reports. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented in an 8-1 ruling. The case illustrates problems of prosecutors' hiding evidence and the guarantee, stemming from a 1963 Supreme Court decision, that the government must turn over evidence favorable to a defendant.
"Evidence impeaching an eyewitness may not be material if the state's other evidence is strong enough to sustain confidence in the verdict," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. "That is not the case here." Smith was charged with killing five people in a 1995 armed robbery of a home. A single eyewitness, Larry Boatner, connected Smith to the killings. On appeal, Smith obtained files that showed that Boatner had told police on the night of the killings that he "could not ID anyone because (he) couldn't see faces." Prosecutors had not turned over a detective's report of that information to Smith before trial.
USA Today
GA Gov. Deal Seeks More Prison Funding, Focus on Drug Treatment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has asked state legislators to treat nonviolent drug addicts as an alternative to sending them to expensive and overcrowded prisons, reports the Associated Press. The annual legislative session begins this week. "While these reforms require an initial investment, they will increase public safety, and ultimately save money by creating a more effective corrections system that rehabilitates people, closing the revolving door," Deal said.
He asked lawmakers to spend more than $15 million to create substance abuse treatment centers in the prison system. He also asked to fund specialized courts designed to offer troubled addicts and veterans an opportunity to stay out of prison if they seek treatment. Deal also wants $35 million to pay for new beds in the prison system for those offenders who are deemed a threat to public safety. "We must make this investment," Deal said. "If we fail to treat the addict's drug addiction, we haven't taken the first step in breaking the cycle of crime - a cycle that destroys lives and wastes taxpayer resources."
Associated Press
CO Ponders "Financial Cooperative" For Medical-Marijuana Industry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colorado's medical-marijuana industry, already subject to the most comprehensive cannabis-business regulations in the U.S., might soon have another national first to its credit: a bank, of sorts, reports the Denver Post. Two state legislators will propose to allow a "financial cooperative" to provide banking services to medical-marijuana businesses. The cooperative would work like a credit union, with membership limited to industry members. It would be free of the kinds of federal insurance requirements that exist with banks and credit unions and that have made those institutions reluctant to work with medical-marijuana businesses.
State Sen. Pat Steadman said the cooperative would plug a hole in state medical-marijuana regulations. "The inability to have a financial institution to do their banking with really hinders regulatory enforcement," Steadman said. "So it's in everybody's interest that these people don't have piles of cash lying around [ ] and, instead, there's a paper trail." The bill is expected to be the major focus of medical-marijuana-related lobbying at the state Capitol during this year's legislative session, which starts today.
Denver Post
Miss. Gov. Barbour's Pardons Stir Controversy As He Leaves Office
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, his last day in office, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour granted pardons to 193 criminals - an unusually high number for the state, and one that is likely to inflame controversy about his pardon practices, the New York Times reports. Barbour's pardons attracted an outcry when he pardoned five people last week who had been convicted of murder and at worked at the governor's mansion while in custody, performing odd jobs.
Recent Mississippi governors issued many fewer pardons. Barbour's actions are "really inexplicable," said Brandon Jones, a former Democratic state representative who had tried to pass legislation that would have added some oversight to the pardoning process. "I think that in some ways he has broken the mold." Having inmates perform tasks like waiting on tables at the governor's mansion is not unique to Mississippi. In Georgia, while inmates work at the mansion, the governor does not have the power to pardon; in Louisiana, the governor can do so only if four out of five members of the state's pardon board agree.
New York Times
Maine Makes Probationers' Records Public; Some Advocates Worry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thirty-six convicted murderers and 24 kidnappers live on probation in Maine communities, says a new database created for the Maine Department of Corrections. The website allows people to search through the database of state's 9,160 adult prisoners and probationers, reports the Bangor Daily News. The goal is to allow victims to track their abusers and to reduce the workload for corrections staff members who typically handle information requests.
Prisoner advocates say the new database is a scary tool that might prevent probationers from integrating into their communities. The database can paint a frightening picture, says the newspaper. The Bangor area has 1,888 convicts on probation. Of them, there are 370 drug offenders, 36 arsonists, 202 sex offenders, 20 people convicted of manslaughter, four kidnappers and one man who was convicted of criminally using explosives. "Knowing offenders are running around might change the way people think about where they live," said Judy Plummer, Maine Department of Corrections director of special programs. "This puts an awareness out there that people released from prison are out there." Prisoner advocates worry about how the new database will affect the lives of people who are now on the right path.
Bangor Daily News
Detroit Police In Compliance With 80% of Federally-Mandated Reforms
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Detroit Police Department said it is 80 percent compliant on implementing policies developed as part of federally mandated reforms, the Detroit Free Press reports. Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. provided an update yesterday during a Community Command Accountability Meeting on reforms the department agreed in 2003 to implement, including curbing excessive force.
Godbee said the progress is significant compared with two years ago, when the department was only 29 percent compliant with implementing policies. Federal monitor Robert Warshaw said, "This is an important milestone." Officials reviewed areas where the department has not been in compliance. Among those, the monitor found that detainees on suicide watch were not being constantly monitored and there was confusion about when constant monitoring is necessary. Officials said training has been conducted, but Godbee said the response has to be swift.
Detroit Free Press
L..A. County Jailers More Likely to Use Force Against Mentally Ill Inmates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Los Angeles County jailers are more likely to use force against mentally ill inmates than other prisoners, says a Sheriff's Department report quoted by the Los Angeles Times that acknowledges the lockups need specially trained staff to reduce the violence. About one third of the 582 deputy use-of-force cases in the jails last year involved inmates with mental health histories. About 15 percent of the 15,000 inmates are classified as mentally ill.
The numbers provide a more detailed picture of the confrontations between deputies and inmates, an issue that has sparked intense scrutiny over the last few months and prompted a heated debate yesterday between Sheriff Lee Baca and some L.A. County supervisors. Federal authorities are investigating specific allegations of deputy misconduct and excessive force and last year even smuggled a cellphone into the jail as part of the probe. The disproportionate number of mentally ill inmates involved in altercations with deputies is a new element in the jail controversy.
Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
10 Jan 2012
January 10, 2012
Crime Records Should Have Expiration Dates, Criminologists Say
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A stunning number of young people are arrested for crimes, and those crimes can haunt them for the rest of their lives, criminologists Alfred Blumstein and Kiminori Nakamura write in the New York Times. An article in the journal Pediatrics says that by age 23, 30 percent of Americans have been arrested, compared with 22 percent in 1967. The ubiquity of criminal-background checks and the efficiency of information technology in maintaining those records and making them widely available, have meant that millions continue to pay a price long after the crime.
The risk of recidivism drops steadily with time, but there is still the question of how long is long enough. By looking at data for more than 88,000 people who had their first arrest in New York State in 1980, and tracking their subsequent criminal histories over the next 25 years, we estimate the "redemption time" - the time it takes for an individual's likelihood of being arrested to be close to that of individuals with no criminal records - to be about 10 to 13 years. A big problem is state and local rules that restrict employment or licensing for the rest of the individual's life in some occupations. We propose that the "forever rules" be replaced by rules that provide for the expiration of a criminal record.
New York Times
CA Inmates In Shift Have More Serious Mental Ills Than Expected
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As California shifts supervision of thousands of newly released state prisoners to local probation agencies, ex-convicts are arriving with incomplete medical records and more serious mental illnesses than anticipated, the Los Angeles Times reports. Mental health officials are scrambling to provide appropriate and often costly treatment. "At the start, every day [ ] there was a crisis," said Dr. Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. "There was somebody we didn't know what to do with."
In some cases, released inmates have had to be immediately transferred to hospitals or residential centers for psychiatric care. A new state law aimed at reducing prison crowding requires that certain nonviolent convicts serve their time in county lockups rather than state prisons. It also makes counties - rather than the state parole agency - responsible for supervising such inmates after their release. Mental illness and drug addiction are common in California prisons, where more than half of inmates report a recent mental health problem and two-thirds report a drug abuse problem.
Los Angeles Times
Baltimore Schools Chief Cites "Seismic Shift" In Youth Crime Drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Violence against juveniles has declined significantly in Baltimore in recent years as juvenile arrests have dropped and student graduations increased - a trend that the city schools chief said stills lags behind perceptions of the city's youths, reports the Baltimore Sun. "The fact that these things are coming together is [ ] not an illusion," said schools CEO Andrés Alonso. "It's huge for the city."
Amid the continued decline in gun violence, which helped the city fall below 200 homicides last year for the first time since the 1970s, has been a sustained reduction in violence involving juveniles. Forty-two juveniles were shot or killed in 2011, down 67 percent from 2007 when 128 were shot or killed. Between 2000 and 2006, an average of 141 juveniles were shot or killed each year. Officials attribute the drop to closer working relationships among agencies that interact with city youths, including police, the school system, juvenile services and the health department. Agencies work to identify at-risk youths and try to surround them with services to keep them out of trouble and off the streets. Alonso said the changes are part of a "seismic shift" that he believes has not been fully appreciated.
Baltimore Sun
500 People Wrongly Imprisoned In Denver In 7 Years
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More than 500 people were wrongly imprisoned in Denver's jails over seven years, with some spending weeks incarcerated or pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit before authorities realized they nabbed the wrong person, says a federal court filing quoted by the Denver Post. Civil-rights lawyers suing the city and county of Denver assert the documented mistaken-identity arrests "are the tip of the iceberg" and are an undercount of the problem's true magnitude.
In one case a black man spent nine days in jail after he was arrested on a warrant for a white man. In another, authorities arrested an 18- year-old when they were searching for a man 30 years older. City officials say the documented mistakes make up a small fraction of the more than 33,000 inmates detained last year. They say they strive to avoid detaining the wrong suspects but concede that mistakes do happen. "The best we can do is set up processes so these get addressed immediately, and that's what we've done," said Denver police Lt. Matt Murray. The wrongful arrests occurred for a variety of reasons. Often those wrongly held had the same names as criminals, but authorities failed to check their dates of birth. Some were wrongly arrested because their identities had been stolen. In other cases, the last name matched but not the first or middle.
Denver Post
MN Homicide Research Center Works with FBI On Weapons Study
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Minneapolis-based Center for Homicide Research is assisting the FBI in a sharp-edge weapons homicide project, says St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Ruben Rosario. The joint research project with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime at Quantico, Va., involves looking at the relationship between victim and offender in edged-weapon homicides. "We are trying to determine any correlations between victim and offender by the number and placement of the wounds to the victim," said Timothy Keel, an FBI major-case specialist. "The CHR has a large database and has conducted many research projects, which will allow us to conduct a more effective and cost efficient research project."
The Minneapolis center, which Dallas Drake and his late domestic partner founded in 1999, began with a listing of 65 gay homicide cases in Minnesota since 1969. Its files now hold 3,082 cases nationwide and counting, with up to 230 distinct variables on each homicide. Drake has learned that gay homicides - estimated to account for about 3 percent of all homicides - are in some respects profoundly different from heterosexual homicides. Drake initially thought that a majority would be hate crimes committed by strangers. He was wrong.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Restrictions Drive Sex Offenders to Live in Motels, Trailer Parks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laws that restrict sex offenders residences have driven them to cluster in roadside motels or trailer parks, criminologists and corrections officials tell USA Today. Such sex offender enclaves came to light after the killing of Aliahna Lemmon, 9, before Christmas in Indiana. The suspect was not an offender but lived in a trailer park where sex offenders in Fort Wayne clustered. Prosecutors say Michael Plumadore, 39, repeatedly hit Aliahna in the head with a brick before dismembering her with a hacksaw.
Plumadore, who had caring for Aliahna while her mother recovered from the flu, pleaded not guilty. Aliahna's mother had moved her family to the trailer park to care for her ailing father, a convicted child molester. Some cities, including Riverside and San Bernadino, Ca., have passed or are considering laws that break up the clusters because of concerns they have become magnets for crime. Experts say the new laws may make problems worse by forcing sex offenders into homelessness or isolating them from social services and jobs. "The larger the buffer zone and the more densely populated the area is, the more difficult it is for them to find housing," said Jill Levenson, an associate professor of psychology at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl., who specializes in sex crime policy. A study in Orange County, Fl., found 99 percent of residential housing off-limits to sex offenders.
USA Today
30 States Have "Castle Doctrine" Laws, NRA Wants More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Sarah Dawn McKinley, of Blanchard, Ok., shot and killed a burglar breaking into her home on New Year's Eve, she was spared prosecution by the state's "castle doctrine" law, which protects people who defend themselves against intruders. Oklahoma has one of the nation's most expansive castle doctrine laws - the law includes those defending themselves in either a home or place of business, says Stateline.org. The National Rifle Association says that at least 30 states have some form of legislation protecting people from prosecution when they feel threatened by intruders to their property.
In New Hampshire last year, legislators overrode Governor John Lynch's veto when he objected to a castle doctrine bill that allows anyone to defend themselves if they are in their "dwelling, its curtilage, or anywhere he or she has the right to be." Lynch said the new provisions would increase "deadly violence," but the legislature disagreed. The year 2011 was a successful one for the castle doctrine, with states enacting new laws and, as in New Hampshire, expanding earlier ones. The national Association of Prosecuting Attorneys argues that the right of self-defense and defense of property are well established in common law and don't need to be legislated. Still, the NRA is advocating for castle doctrine laws in the 20 states without them.
Stateline.org
Experts Recommending Reforms to Oklahoma Offender Supervision
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is growing evidence that Oklahoma isn't supervising enough offenders and that the supervision in place isn't working effectively, said John Estus, spokesman for House Speaker Kris Steele, tells The Oklahoman. "The question about supervision has to be bigger than just one form," Estus said. "You have to look at everything and find out what's working and what's not. You don't want one form of supervision to drag down another if that one form isn't doing well."
At least one in 92 adult Oklahomans is under state correctional probation or parole, says the Pew Center on the States. Thousands more are on probation either through a private entity or a district attorney's office. They all pay - usually $40 a month - to be supervised, but how much they're supervised, who supervises them and how success is defined differs greatly. Those disparities led a group of lawmakers and criminal justice experts in Oklahoma to research court-mandated supervision and determine how the state should move forward. The group will release policy recommendations to the legislature tomorrow.
The Oklahoman
Congress Members Seek Criminal Probe In IL Anti-Terror Spending
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Il.) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Il.) have requested a federal criminal probe into the missing records, equipment and money from Project Shield, a $45-million Cook County homeland security program, says the Chicago Sun-Times. A six-month probe by the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cites numerous abuses including equipment that did not work, unallowable costs, and unaccountable inventory items.
"This program may have been looted by Cook County officials and the prime and secondary contractors involved," Kirk said. "We don't have specific criminal activity that the IG found, but there's a lot of smoke there. And so we think the FBI should go in and find the fire." Funding for Project Shield happened in three phases. IBM was the prime contractor for the first two phases and Johnson Controls of Milwaukee was the contractor for Phase 3. IBM declined to comment and Johnson Controls could not be reached for comment. "When you waste Homeland Security money you are less safe," said Quigley, a critic of the program when he was a Cook County commissioner. All 128 suburbs in Cook County were supposed to have two police squad cars equipped to beam live video back to a central command. Fixed mounted cameras were to be placed in communities as well.
Chicago Sun-Times
S.F. Sheriff Mirkarimi Sworn In Amid Wife-Abuse Investigation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ross Mirkarimi was sworn in as San Francisco's 35th sheriff Sunday and acknowledged the legal and political challenge he faces amid a police investigation into allegations that he abused his wife, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Eliana Lopez, his wife, stood with her arm around her husband when he took the oath of office, and said, "I don't have any complaint against my husband."
Allegations surfaced Thursday that Mirkarimi, 50, was under police investigation for an alleged domestic violence incident involving Lopez on New Year's Eve. Officers obtained a search warrant to get a video camera and phone that allegedly show bruising on Lopez's arm that she reportedly received during the domestic violence and text messages discussing the episode. Police investigators handed their case to the district attorney's office Friday; if Mirkarimi is convicted, he would be prohibited from serving as sheriff.
San Francisco Chronicle
TX Judge Scales Back Sweeping Gag Order In Capital Murder Trial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Texas judge scaled back a sweeping gag order she had imposed on news coverage of a capital murder trial, leaving in place bans against reporters interviewing the families of victims or defendants and photographing jurors until after the trial, reports the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Before a hearing to let the Star-Telegram challenge the order, Judge Elizabeth Berry issued a revised list of courtroom restrictions that maintained bans on some interviews about the case with attorneys, district attorney officials, and witnesses until the end of the trial of Kwame Rockwell.
"We're gratified the judge decided to revise the order she issued Friday, which we felt was clearly unconstitutional in the limits it placed upon us," Star-Telegram Executive Editor Jim Witt said. "One of our jobs is to be the eyes and ears for the public, to tell them what is going on in their courtrooms. The original order was too restrictive for us to do that." Among the judge's concerns: a "defiance" of her order to use a pool camera by the broadcast media, a Star-Telegram article that included comments from the mother of the defendant, media presence in prohibited areas of the courtroom, and media efforts to contact people in the courtroom who appear to be family members of the victims and could be called as witnesses.
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
CA Legislator: Brain Tumor Was Factor In Neiman Marcus Shoplifting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Powerful California state Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi says a brain tumor contributed to her shoplifting $2,500 in clothing from a Neiman Marcus store, McClatchy Newspapers report. Hayashi's attorney, Douglas Rappaport, said a brain tumor impaired her decision making but that it is being treated with medication and it no longer affects her. Medical experts said it would be very rare for a brain tumor that does not require surgery to influence behavior so significantly.
"My gut feeling, as a constituent, is that it's a BS excuse in order to get out of her crime," said Brian Morrison, president of the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce. Hayashi, 45, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor shoplifting. She was sentenced to three years of probation and nearly $200 in fines, but reduction of the charge from a felony makes her eligible to continue as a lawmaker. Hayashi said yesterday she had "unintentionally walked out of a store" with unpaid merchandise. "My medical condition may have complicated the situation," Hayashi said. "However, I want to be clear that I take full responsibility for my actions."
McClatchy Newspapers
Crime Records Should Have Expiration Dates, Criminologists Say
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A stunning number of young people are arrested for crimes, and those crimes can haunt them for the rest of their lives, criminologists Alfred Blumstein and Kiminori Nakamura write in the New York Times. An article in the journal Pediatrics says that by age 23, 30 percent of Americans have been arrested, compared with 22 percent in 1967. The ubiquity of criminal-background checks and the efficiency of information technology in maintaining those records and making them widely available, have meant that millions continue to pay a price long after the crime.
The risk of recidivism drops steadily with time, but there is still the question of how long is long enough. By looking at data for more than 88,000 people who had their first arrest in New York State in 1980, and tracking their subsequent criminal histories over the next 25 years, we estimate the "redemption time" - the time it takes for an individual's likelihood of being arrested to be close to that of individuals with no criminal records - to be about 10 to 13 years. A big problem is state and local rules that restrict employment or licensing for the rest of the individual's life in some occupations. We propose that the "forever rules" be replaced by rules that provide for the expiration of a criminal record.
New York Times
CA Inmates In Shift Have More Serious Mental Ills Than Expected
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As California shifts supervision of thousands of newly released state prisoners to local probation agencies, ex-convicts are arriving with incomplete medical records and more serious mental illnesses than anticipated, the Los Angeles Times reports. Mental health officials are scrambling to provide appropriate and often costly treatment. "At the start, every day [ ] there was a crisis," said Dr. Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. "There was somebody we didn't know what to do with."
In some cases, released inmates have had to be immediately transferred to hospitals or residential centers for psychiatric care. A new state law aimed at reducing prison crowding requires that certain nonviolent convicts serve their time in county lockups rather than state prisons. It also makes counties - rather than the state parole agency - responsible for supervising such inmates after their release. Mental illness and drug addiction are common in California prisons, where more than half of inmates report a recent mental health problem and two-thirds report a drug abuse problem.
Los Angeles Times
Baltimore Schools Chief Cites "Seismic Shift" In Youth Crime Drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Violence against juveniles has declined significantly in Baltimore in recent years as juvenile arrests have dropped and student graduations increased - a trend that the city schools chief said stills lags behind perceptions of the city's youths, reports the Baltimore Sun. "The fact that these things are coming together is [ ] not an illusion," said schools CEO Andrés Alonso. "It's huge for the city."
Amid the continued decline in gun violence, which helped the city fall below 200 homicides last year for the first time since the 1970s, has been a sustained reduction in violence involving juveniles. Forty-two juveniles were shot or killed in 2011, down 67 percent from 2007 when 128 were shot or killed. Between 2000 and 2006, an average of 141 juveniles were shot or killed each year. Officials attribute the drop to closer working relationships among agencies that interact with city youths, including police, the school system, juvenile services and the health department. Agencies work to identify at-risk youths and try to surround them with services to keep them out of trouble and off the streets. Alonso said the changes are part of a "seismic shift" that he believes has not been fully appreciated.
Baltimore Sun
500 People Wrongly Imprisoned In Denver In 7 Years
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More than 500 people were wrongly imprisoned in Denver's jails over seven years, with some spending weeks incarcerated or pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit before authorities realized they nabbed the wrong person, says a federal court filing quoted by the Denver Post. Civil-rights lawyers suing the city and county of Denver assert the documented mistaken-identity arrests "are the tip of the iceberg" and are an undercount of the problem's true magnitude.
In one case a black man spent nine days in jail after he was arrested on a warrant for a white man. In another, authorities arrested an 18- year-old when they were searching for a man 30 years older. City officials say the documented mistakes make up a small fraction of the more than 33,000 inmates detained last year. They say they strive to avoid detaining the wrong suspects but concede that mistakes do happen. "The best we can do is set up processes so these get addressed immediately, and that's what we've done," said Denver police Lt. Matt Murray. The wrongful arrests occurred for a variety of reasons. Often those wrongly held had the same names as criminals, but authorities failed to check their dates of birth. Some were wrongly arrested because their identities had been stolen. In other cases, the last name matched but not the first or middle.
Denver Post
MN Homicide Research Center Works with FBI On Weapons Study
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Minneapolis-based Center for Homicide Research is assisting the FBI in a sharp-edge weapons homicide project, says St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Ruben Rosario. The joint research project with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime at Quantico, Va., involves looking at the relationship between victim and offender in edged-weapon homicides. "We are trying to determine any correlations between victim and offender by the number and placement of the wounds to the victim," said Timothy Keel, an FBI major-case specialist. "The CHR has a large database and has conducted many research projects, which will allow us to conduct a more effective and cost efficient research project."
The Minneapolis center, which Dallas Drake and his late domestic partner founded in 1999, began with a listing of 65 gay homicide cases in Minnesota since 1969. Its files now hold 3,082 cases nationwide and counting, with up to 230 distinct variables on each homicide. Drake has learned that gay homicides - estimated to account for about 3 percent of all homicides - are in some respects profoundly different from heterosexual homicides. Drake initially thought that a majority would be hate crimes committed by strangers. He was wrong.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Restrictions Drive Sex Offenders to Live in Motels, Trailer Parks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laws that restrict sex offenders residences have driven them to cluster in roadside motels or trailer parks, criminologists and corrections officials tell USA Today. Such sex offender enclaves came to light after the killing of Aliahna Lemmon, 9, before Christmas in Indiana. The suspect was not an offender but lived in a trailer park where sex offenders in Fort Wayne clustered. Prosecutors say Michael Plumadore, 39, repeatedly hit Aliahna in the head with a brick before dismembering her with a hacksaw.
Plumadore, who had caring for Aliahna while her mother recovered from the flu, pleaded not guilty. Aliahna's mother had moved her family to the trailer park to care for her ailing father, a convicted child molester. Some cities, including Riverside and San Bernadino, Ca., have passed or are considering laws that break up the clusters because of concerns they have become magnets for crime. Experts say the new laws may make problems worse by forcing sex offenders into homelessness or isolating them from social services and jobs. "The larger the buffer zone and the more densely populated the area is, the more difficult it is for them to find housing," said Jill Levenson, an associate professor of psychology at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl., who specializes in sex crime policy. A study in Orange County, Fl., found 99 percent of residential housing off-limits to sex offenders.
USA Today
30 States Have "Castle Doctrine" Laws, NRA Wants More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Sarah Dawn McKinley, of Blanchard, Ok., shot and killed a burglar breaking into her home on New Year's Eve, she was spared prosecution by the state's "castle doctrine" law, which protects people who defend themselves against intruders. Oklahoma has one of the nation's most expansive castle doctrine laws - the law includes those defending themselves in either a home or place of business, says Stateline.org. The National Rifle Association says that at least 30 states have some form of legislation protecting people from prosecution when they feel threatened by intruders to their property.
In New Hampshire last year, legislators overrode Governor John Lynch's veto when he objected to a castle doctrine bill that allows anyone to defend themselves if they are in their "dwelling, its curtilage, or anywhere he or she has the right to be." Lynch said the new provisions would increase "deadly violence," but the legislature disagreed. The year 2011 was a successful one for the castle doctrine, with states enacting new laws and, as in New Hampshire, expanding earlier ones. The national Association of Prosecuting Attorneys argues that the right of self-defense and defense of property are well established in common law and don't need to be legislated. Still, the NRA is advocating for castle doctrine laws in the 20 states without them.
Stateline.org
Experts Recommending Reforms to Oklahoma Offender Supervision
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is growing evidence that Oklahoma isn't supervising enough offenders and that the supervision in place isn't working effectively, said John Estus, spokesman for House Speaker Kris Steele, tells The Oklahoman. "The question about supervision has to be bigger than just one form," Estus said. "You have to look at everything and find out what's working and what's not. You don't want one form of supervision to drag down another if that one form isn't doing well."
At least one in 92 adult Oklahomans is under state correctional probation or parole, says the Pew Center on the States. Thousands more are on probation either through a private entity or a district attorney's office. They all pay - usually $40 a month - to be supervised, but how much they're supervised, who supervises them and how success is defined differs greatly. Those disparities led a group of lawmakers and criminal justice experts in Oklahoma to research court-mandated supervision and determine how the state should move forward. The group will release policy recommendations to the legislature tomorrow.
The Oklahoman
Congress Members Seek Criminal Probe In IL Anti-Terror Spending
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Il.) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Il.) have requested a federal criminal probe into the missing records, equipment and money from Project Shield, a $45-million Cook County homeland security program, says the Chicago Sun-Times. A six-month probe by the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cites numerous abuses including equipment that did not work, unallowable costs, and unaccountable inventory items.
"This program may have been looted by Cook County officials and the prime and secondary contractors involved," Kirk said. "We don't have specific criminal activity that the IG found, but there's a lot of smoke there. And so we think the FBI should go in and find the fire." Funding for Project Shield happened in three phases. IBM was the prime contractor for the first two phases and Johnson Controls of Milwaukee was the contractor for Phase 3. IBM declined to comment and Johnson Controls could not be reached for comment. "When you waste Homeland Security money you are less safe," said Quigley, a critic of the program when he was a Cook County commissioner. All 128 suburbs in Cook County were supposed to have two police squad cars equipped to beam live video back to a central command. Fixed mounted cameras were to be placed in communities as well.
Chicago Sun-Times
S.F. Sheriff Mirkarimi Sworn In Amid Wife-Abuse Investigation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ross Mirkarimi was sworn in as San Francisco's 35th sheriff Sunday and acknowledged the legal and political challenge he faces amid a police investigation into allegations that he abused his wife, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Eliana Lopez, his wife, stood with her arm around her husband when he took the oath of office, and said, "I don't have any complaint against my husband."
Allegations surfaced Thursday that Mirkarimi, 50, was under police investigation for an alleged domestic violence incident involving Lopez on New Year's Eve. Officers obtained a search warrant to get a video camera and phone that allegedly show bruising on Lopez's arm that she reportedly received during the domestic violence and text messages discussing the episode. Police investigators handed their case to the district attorney's office Friday; if Mirkarimi is convicted, he would be prohibited from serving as sheriff.
San Francisco Chronicle
TX Judge Scales Back Sweeping Gag Order In Capital Murder Trial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Texas judge scaled back a sweeping gag order she had imposed on news coverage of a capital murder trial, leaving in place bans against reporters interviewing the families of victims or defendants and photographing jurors until after the trial, reports the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Before a hearing to let the Star-Telegram challenge the order, Judge Elizabeth Berry issued a revised list of courtroom restrictions that maintained bans on some interviews about the case with attorneys, district attorney officials, and witnesses until the end of the trial of Kwame Rockwell.
"We're gratified the judge decided to revise the order she issued Friday, which we felt was clearly unconstitutional in the limits it placed upon us," Star-Telegram Executive Editor Jim Witt said. "One of our jobs is to be the eyes and ears for the public, to tell them what is going on in their courtrooms. The original order was too restrictive for us to do that." Among the judge's concerns: a "defiance" of her order to use a pool camera by the broadcast media, a Star-Telegram article that included comments from the mother of the defendant, media presence in prohibited areas of the courtroom, and media efforts to contact people in the courtroom who appear to be family members of the victims and could be called as witnesses.
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
CA Legislator: Brain Tumor Was Factor In Neiman Marcus Shoplifting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Powerful California state Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi says a brain tumor contributed to her shoplifting $2,500 in clothing from a Neiman Marcus store, McClatchy Newspapers report. Hayashi's attorney, Douglas Rappaport, said a brain tumor impaired her decision making but that it is being treated with medication and it no longer affects her. Medical experts said it would be very rare for a brain tumor that does not require surgery to influence behavior so significantly.
"My gut feeling, as a constituent, is that it's a BS excuse in order to get out of her crime," said Brian Morrison, president of the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce. Hayashi, 45, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor shoplifting. She was sentenced to three years of probation and nearly $200 in fines, but reduction of the charge from a felony makes her eligible to continue as a lawmaker. Hayashi said yesterday she had "unintentionally walked out of a store" with unpaid merchandise. "My medical condition may have complicated the situation," Hayashi said. "However, I want to be clear that I take full responsibility for my actions."
McClatchy Newspapers
Monday, January 9, 2012
9 Jan 2012
January 9, 2012
Why Anti-Gun Vigils Are Unlikely to Expand Federal Gun Controls
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In ceremonies from New York to Seattle, candlelight vigils are being held in 30 cities to remember the thousands who are murdered in the U.S. each year, most with guns. For gun-control advocates, it will be a day to "light a candle against the darkness of gun violence" and to demand that Congress tighten gun laws, McClatchy Newspapers report. Congress did nothing of the sort after the Tucson massacre a year ago, and the odds are good that nothing will happen this year.
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), a gun-control proponent who gets failing grades from the National Rifle Association, said it's just a matter of political reality. He wants Congress to repeal a 2010 law that allows loaded guns in national parks. "The problem is the NRA's got a majority in the House and Senate - that's the reality of it," said Dicks. John Velleco of the Virginia-based Gun Owners of America said Congress should instead loosen existing gun-control laws to make it easier for citizens to defend themselves with firearms. "I think the vigils completely miss the point because they're assuming that more gun-control laws will lead to fewer crimes, but we find that the opposite is true," he said. "The more gun-control laws you have, the easier it is for criminals to commit crimes." The vigils come after a particularly bloody holiday season.
McClatchy Newspapers
Caring for Dangerous Mentally Ill: Issue Year After Giffords Shooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson a year ago highlighted the issue of getting care for people with untreated mental illness who are dangerous. It hasn't settled the question of how to do so most effectively and fairly, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Jared Loughner, 23, awaits trial while a federal judge decides whether authorities can forcibly administer medication for his schizophrenia.
In Wisconsin, a committee is recommending changes to the state's commitment laws, including ways to reduce the number of patients who are brought into hospitals by police and to clarify laws to allow parents more control over the care of their children. "This is such an urgent issue," said Lucinda Roy, a professor at Virginia Tech and adviser to Seung-Hui Cho, who ignored a court order for psychiatric treatment and killed 32 students and faculty members in 2007 before killing himself. The Journal Sentinel is sponsoring a forum this week on ways to identify better those who are dangerous because of their mental illness and to get them help before they do harm to themselves or others. The forum follows the newspaper's series on the subject.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
St. Louis Police Fire Guns At High Rate; Little Outside Oversight
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Louis officers fire their guns at a higher rate than those in many other metropolitan forces, says a St. Louis Post-Dispatch analysis. Unlike many other departments, St. Louis has no third party checking the process. An initiative to bring prosecutors on board was decided as the Post-Dispatch made inquiries for its story but has not yet been formalized. All investigative records pertaining to the officers' actions are sealed.
A report the department commissioned in 2009 found serious fault in how deadly force was used and investigated. Of 117 police uses of deadly force in the last five years, 113 were cleared. "There's a cloak of secrecy with these things," said Gonzalo Fernandez, the attorney for one man who was shot. "The repercussion is it allows an environment of abuse to continue." In the five years ending in 2010, St. Louis officers fired up to three times more often, per reported violent crime, than those protecting other, similar-sized populations. There is no national database of shots fired by police, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal compiled data from 16 departments in the most populated cities. St. Louis, not on the list, easily topped all of them in shots fired per violent crime.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Armed Pharmacy Robberies Up 79% in 5 Years; Long Island Worried
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pharmacies around the U.S. have been shaken by a rash of bold robberies by gun-wielding criminals hunting for narcotic painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, and other controlled medications, either to quench their own addictions or to sell, says the New York Times. Nowhere has the face of the epidemic been more frightful than on Long Island, where a pair of pharmacy robberies 30 miles apart resulted in six deaths. The killings have sharply elevated tensions - some pharmacies now display signs making it clear that they do not carry oxycodone - and set off a scramble for better security.
The Drug Enforcement Administration says there were 688 armed pharmacy robberies involving controlled substances in 2010, a 79 percent increase from 2006. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has called for better drugstore security and promoted longer sentences for pharmacy thefts. In September, a Long Island Pharmacy Crimes Task Force was created among law enforcement agencies and pharmacies to share security ideas. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, maintains RxPatrol, a clearinghouse that tracks pharmacy crimes and offers security tips. Purdue also posts rewards for information that helps in the capture of drugstore robbers.
New York Times
Secure Communities Mandatory for Local Law Enforcement: ICE Memo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two years after the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program was implemented, federal officials determined that choices available to local law enforcement agencies that wished to decline or limit their participation would be "streamlined" or "eliminated," making the information-sharing program mandatory, according to a memo recently made public and quoted by the Los Angeles Times. Launched in 2008, Secure Communities was promoted to local and state leaders as a way to focus immigration enforcement efforts on "serious convicted criminals."
The program, which involves the FBI sharing fingerprints collected from county jails with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has come under fire because a large percentage of immigrants caught up in the system were never convicted of a crime or were low-level offenders. Federal officials initially said there were ways for state and local officials to drop out of the program. In a 9-page memo dated Oct. 2, 2010, a legal advisor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said at that time that "choices available to law enforcement agencies who have thus far decided to decline or limit their participation in current information-sharing processes will be streamlined and aspects eliminated. In that way, the process, in essence, becomes 'mandatory' in 2013."
Los Angeles Times
Preliminary Data Estimate VA Wrongful Conviction Rate At 6%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A first peek into Virginia's post-conviction DNA project data shows a potential wrongful conviction rate of 6 percent in the decade and a half before DNA testing was widely available, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The preliminary figure from the Urban Institute, which is studying the results, roughly matches the exoneration rate found in 2005, when testing in a small sample of cases cleared two men of rapes and prompted Virginia's groundbreaking project.
The 6-year-old effort aimed at clearing innocent people was made possible by a trove of biological evidence samples discovered in Virginia Department of Forensic Science files dating from 1973 through 1988. John Roman of the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center said researchers reviewing 638 Virginia cases have identified 37 "that might support exoneration and that certainly support further investigation." Roman hopes the study will indicate how many people were wrongfully convicted of serious crimes from 1973 through 1988. "I don't know how far we can go down that road," he said, "but this is probably the best attempt to get at that number that anybody's ever had. The Justice Department made a really substantial investment in this."
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Civil Libertarians Oppose Expanding New York DNA Databank
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People convicted of felonies and 36 misdemeanors are required to provide DNA in New York state. Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to include all misdemeanor convictions, an additional 200 crimes, reports Gannett News Service. Law-enforcement organizations are supporting the measure as a means of obtaining more leads, nabbing more criminals and preventing future crimes, as well as uncovering wrongful convictions.
Supporters argue that it is common for people to escalate from committing misdemeanors to felonies. Civil libertarians believe the change would infringe on people's rights and they don't think there is enough oversight and quality control in the system. The New York Civil Liberties Union is concerned the state doesn't have the "existing rigor and capacity in our regulatory oversight to ensure these samples are collected, processed, analyzed in a way that prevents error, fraud and abuse from entering into the process."
Gannett News Service/WGRZ
"Mind Boggling" L.A. Crime Decline Needs an Explanation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Los Angeles is in the midst of a crime drop so steep and profound it has experts scratching their heads, says Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks. Crime fell in 2011 for the ninth year in a row. The city had fewer crimes last year - and a million and a half more people - than it did when "Leave It To Beaver" made its debut in 1957. "The numbers are mind-boggling," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tells Banks. "You can walk down Main Street in the middle of the day or night. That's something we haven't seen in my lifetime." Main Street is a downtown thoroughfare, once notorious for drugs and crime, now an area of eclectic shops and busy restaurants.
The reasons for the drop are complicated: better policing and more community involvement; fewer drugs and fuller prisons; an explosion in new technology; and the fading profile of violent gangs. The phenomenon ought to be scrutinized, Banks says. We need to know what mix of forces has conspired to drive crime down, so we can - in an era of shrinking resources - plan and spend wisely to keep this going.
Los Angeles Times
"Bad Guys More Brazen"--Police Shootings Up in Columbus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Confrontations with increasingly violent people drove up the number of police-involved shootings in Columbus last year, police tell the Columbus Dispatch. There were 19 shootings by officers, the second-highest total in the past 15 years. Eight of the people shot were killed, the most in any year since 1997. Two people were shot in the first week of 2012.
"We're not the ones choosing to do this," said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman. The suspect has chosen to do something that necessitates our using that kind of force." Noting the frequency of deadly ambushes of police last year, Steve Groeninger of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said police work is growing more dangerous. Weiner said, "It seems like the bad guys are more brazen." Police are not cavalier in using deadly force, he said. Officers go through rigorous training to react along a use-of-force continuum that changes as a suspect's actions escalate, he said. Deadly force comes last on that arc. "It's still a human life, and you think of it that way."
Columbus Dispatch
In Houston, Murders and Jail Population Both Are Down
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News of Houston's lowest murder rate in decades coincides with a seemingly a counter-intuitive report that the Harris County Jail population has declined 31 percent in the last three years, says the Grits for Breakfast criminal-justice blog. In 2007, despite overcrowding and hundreds of prisoners housed in contract facilities as far away as Louisiana, Harris County voters rejected the issuance of debt for new jail construction.
Critics argued that policy changes by elected officials - particularly the District Attorney and judges - could resolve the problem without expensive new jail construction and without crime increasing, and it turned out that's exactly what's happened. The Houston Chronicle reports that dropping inmate numbers at the Harris County Jail will let the county end its nearly 5-year-old practice of shipping overflow inmates to Louisiana and other Texas counties within days. The jail population has fallen 31 percent since 2008, to 8,573.
Grits for Breakfast
Today's Protesters Must Face Consequences of Arrests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A North Carolina college student was surprised to be handcuffed at a protest against proposed legislative cuts to education funding, says the Raleigh News & Observer. A new wave of protesters has reinvigorated civil disobedience, but that action can carry a lasting price for the individual: an arrest and its consequences.
Said the student, "It does bring up a bit of doubt. I feel like I'll be asked to explain it a lot." Through a first-time offender program, she negotiated a deal with prosecutors that allows her to perform community service in exchange for dismissal of her disorderly conduct charge. Nevertheless, she had to craft a letter to explain her actions as she pursues her ambition of becoming an educator. Public protests were often the province of cranks, chronic hecklers, or a smattering of diehards pursuing old causes. Now, old and young, people established in life and those still planning their futures, are taking up placards and storming public venues.
Raleigh News & Observer
Solitary Confinement Critics Setting Their Sights On Virginia Prisons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Virginia's Red Onion State Prison, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement, says the Washington Post. In a state where 1 in 20 prisoners are held in solitary, Red Onion, a so-called supermax prison, isolates more inmates than any other facility, keeping more than 500 of its nearly 750 charges alone for 23 hours a day in cells the size of a doctor's exam room. Virginia,one of 44 states that use solitary confinement, has 1,800 people in isolation, a sizable share of the estimated 25,000 people in solitary around the U.S.
As more becomes known about the effects of isolation - on inmate health, public safety and prison budgets - some states have begun to reconsider the practice, among them Texas, which, like Virginia, is known as a law-and-order state. Mississippi, New York, and Texas have begun to scale back the use of solitary confinement under pressure from prison watchdogs. Now critics have set their sights on Virginia, where lawyers and inmates say some of the state's 40,000 prisoners, including some with mental-health issues, have been kept in isolation for years, in one case for 14 years. The Legal Aid Justice Center, which represents 12 inmates in isolation in Virginia, has requested an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which recently started a probe into a 1,550-bed Pennsylvania prison where inmates complain of long periods of isolation and a lack of mental-health treatment.
Washington Post
Why Anti-Gun Vigils Are Unlikely to Expand Federal Gun Controls
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In ceremonies from New York to Seattle, candlelight vigils are being held in 30 cities to remember the thousands who are murdered in the U.S. each year, most with guns. For gun-control advocates, it will be a day to "light a candle against the darkness of gun violence" and to demand that Congress tighten gun laws, McClatchy Newspapers report. Congress did nothing of the sort after the Tucson massacre a year ago, and the odds are good that nothing will happen this year.
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), a gun-control proponent who gets failing grades from the National Rifle Association, said it's just a matter of political reality. He wants Congress to repeal a 2010 law that allows loaded guns in national parks. "The problem is the NRA's got a majority in the House and Senate - that's the reality of it," said Dicks. John Velleco of the Virginia-based Gun Owners of America said Congress should instead loosen existing gun-control laws to make it easier for citizens to defend themselves with firearms. "I think the vigils completely miss the point because they're assuming that more gun-control laws will lead to fewer crimes, but we find that the opposite is true," he said. "The more gun-control laws you have, the easier it is for criminals to commit crimes." The vigils come after a particularly bloody holiday season.
McClatchy Newspapers
Caring for Dangerous Mentally Ill: Issue Year After Giffords Shooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson a year ago highlighted the issue of getting care for people with untreated mental illness who are dangerous. It hasn't settled the question of how to do so most effectively and fairly, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Jared Loughner, 23, awaits trial while a federal judge decides whether authorities can forcibly administer medication for his schizophrenia.
In Wisconsin, a committee is recommending changes to the state's commitment laws, including ways to reduce the number of patients who are brought into hospitals by police and to clarify laws to allow parents more control over the care of their children. "This is such an urgent issue," said Lucinda Roy, a professor at Virginia Tech and adviser to Seung-Hui Cho, who ignored a court order for psychiatric treatment and killed 32 students and faculty members in 2007 before killing himself. The Journal Sentinel is sponsoring a forum this week on ways to identify better those who are dangerous because of their mental illness and to get them help before they do harm to themselves or others. The forum follows the newspaper's series on the subject.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
St. Louis Police Fire Guns At High Rate; Little Outside Oversight
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
St. Louis officers fire their guns at a higher rate than those in many other metropolitan forces, says a St. Louis Post-Dispatch analysis. Unlike many other departments, St. Louis has no third party checking the process. An initiative to bring prosecutors on board was decided as the Post-Dispatch made inquiries for its story but has not yet been formalized. All investigative records pertaining to the officers' actions are sealed.
A report the department commissioned in 2009 found serious fault in how deadly force was used and investigated. Of 117 police uses of deadly force in the last five years, 113 were cleared. "There's a cloak of secrecy with these things," said Gonzalo Fernandez, the attorney for one man who was shot. "The repercussion is it allows an environment of abuse to continue." In the five years ending in 2010, St. Louis officers fired up to three times more often, per reported violent crime, than those protecting other, similar-sized populations. There is no national database of shots fired by police, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal compiled data from 16 departments in the most populated cities. St. Louis, not on the list, easily topped all of them in shots fired per violent crime.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Armed Pharmacy Robberies Up 79% in 5 Years; Long Island Worried
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pharmacies around the U.S. have been shaken by a rash of bold robberies by gun-wielding criminals hunting for narcotic painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, and other controlled medications, either to quench their own addictions or to sell, says the New York Times. Nowhere has the face of the epidemic been more frightful than on Long Island, where a pair of pharmacy robberies 30 miles apart resulted in six deaths. The killings have sharply elevated tensions - some pharmacies now display signs making it clear that they do not carry oxycodone - and set off a scramble for better security.
The Drug Enforcement Administration says there were 688 armed pharmacy robberies involving controlled substances in 2010, a 79 percent increase from 2006. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has called for better drugstore security and promoted longer sentences for pharmacy thefts. In September, a Long Island Pharmacy Crimes Task Force was created among law enforcement agencies and pharmacies to share security ideas. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, maintains RxPatrol, a clearinghouse that tracks pharmacy crimes and offers security tips. Purdue also posts rewards for information that helps in the capture of drugstore robbers.
New York Times
Secure Communities Mandatory for Local Law Enforcement: ICE Memo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two years after the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program was implemented, federal officials determined that choices available to local law enforcement agencies that wished to decline or limit their participation would be "streamlined" or "eliminated," making the information-sharing program mandatory, according to a memo recently made public and quoted by the Los Angeles Times. Launched in 2008, Secure Communities was promoted to local and state leaders as a way to focus immigration enforcement efforts on "serious convicted criminals."
The program, which involves the FBI sharing fingerprints collected from county jails with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has come under fire because a large percentage of immigrants caught up in the system were never convicted of a crime or were low-level offenders. Federal officials initially said there were ways for state and local officials to drop out of the program. In a 9-page memo dated Oct. 2, 2010, a legal advisor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said at that time that "choices available to law enforcement agencies who have thus far decided to decline or limit their participation in current information-sharing processes will be streamlined and aspects eliminated. In that way, the process, in essence, becomes 'mandatory' in 2013."
Los Angeles Times
Preliminary Data Estimate VA Wrongful Conviction Rate At 6%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A first peek into Virginia's post-conviction DNA project data shows a potential wrongful conviction rate of 6 percent in the decade and a half before DNA testing was widely available, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The preliminary figure from the Urban Institute, which is studying the results, roughly matches the exoneration rate found in 2005, when testing in a small sample of cases cleared two men of rapes and prompted Virginia's groundbreaking project.
The 6-year-old effort aimed at clearing innocent people was made possible by a trove of biological evidence samples discovered in Virginia Department of Forensic Science files dating from 1973 through 1988. John Roman of the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center said researchers reviewing 638 Virginia cases have identified 37 "that might support exoneration and that certainly support further investigation." Roman hopes the study will indicate how many people were wrongfully convicted of serious crimes from 1973 through 1988. "I don't know how far we can go down that road," he said, "but this is probably the best attempt to get at that number that anybody's ever had. The Justice Department made a really substantial investment in this."
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Civil Libertarians Oppose Expanding New York DNA Databank
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People convicted of felonies and 36 misdemeanors are required to provide DNA in New York state. Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to include all misdemeanor convictions, an additional 200 crimes, reports Gannett News Service. Law-enforcement organizations are supporting the measure as a means of obtaining more leads, nabbing more criminals and preventing future crimes, as well as uncovering wrongful convictions.
Supporters argue that it is common for people to escalate from committing misdemeanors to felonies. Civil libertarians believe the change would infringe on people's rights and they don't think there is enough oversight and quality control in the system. The New York Civil Liberties Union is concerned the state doesn't have the "existing rigor and capacity in our regulatory oversight to ensure these samples are collected, processed, analyzed in a way that prevents error, fraud and abuse from entering into the process."
Gannett News Service/WGRZ
"Mind Boggling" L.A. Crime Decline Needs an Explanation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Los Angeles is in the midst of a crime drop so steep and profound it has experts scratching their heads, says Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks. Crime fell in 2011 for the ninth year in a row. The city had fewer crimes last year - and a million and a half more people - than it did when "Leave It To Beaver" made its debut in 1957. "The numbers are mind-boggling," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tells Banks. "You can walk down Main Street in the middle of the day or night. That's something we haven't seen in my lifetime." Main Street is a downtown thoroughfare, once notorious for drugs and crime, now an area of eclectic shops and busy restaurants.
The reasons for the drop are complicated: better policing and more community involvement; fewer drugs and fuller prisons; an explosion in new technology; and the fading profile of violent gangs. The phenomenon ought to be scrutinized, Banks says. We need to know what mix of forces has conspired to drive crime down, so we can - in an era of shrinking resources - plan and spend wisely to keep this going.
Los Angeles Times
"Bad Guys More Brazen"--Police Shootings Up in Columbus
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Confrontations with increasingly violent people drove up the number of police-involved shootings in Columbus last year, police tell the Columbus Dispatch. There were 19 shootings by officers, the second-highest total in the past 15 years. Eight of the people shot were killed, the most in any year since 1997. Two people were shot in the first week of 2012.
"We're not the ones choosing to do this," said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman. The suspect has chosen to do something that necessitates our using that kind of force." Noting the frequency of deadly ambushes of police last year, Steve Groeninger of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said police work is growing more dangerous. Weiner said, "It seems like the bad guys are more brazen." Police are not cavalier in using deadly force, he said. Officers go through rigorous training to react along a use-of-force continuum that changes as a suspect's actions escalate, he said. Deadly force comes last on that arc. "It's still a human life, and you think of it that way."
Columbus Dispatch
In Houston, Murders and Jail Population Both Are Down
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News of Houston's lowest murder rate in decades coincides with a seemingly a counter-intuitive report that the Harris County Jail population has declined 31 percent in the last three years, says the Grits for Breakfast criminal-justice blog. In 2007, despite overcrowding and hundreds of prisoners housed in contract facilities as far away as Louisiana, Harris County voters rejected the issuance of debt for new jail construction.
Critics argued that policy changes by elected officials - particularly the District Attorney and judges - could resolve the problem without expensive new jail construction and without crime increasing, and it turned out that's exactly what's happened. The Houston Chronicle reports that dropping inmate numbers at the Harris County Jail will let the county end its nearly 5-year-old practice of shipping overflow inmates to Louisiana and other Texas counties within days. The jail population has fallen 31 percent since 2008, to 8,573.
Grits for Breakfast
Today's Protesters Must Face Consequences of Arrests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A North Carolina college student was surprised to be handcuffed at a protest against proposed legislative cuts to education funding, says the Raleigh News & Observer. A new wave of protesters has reinvigorated civil disobedience, but that action can carry a lasting price for the individual: an arrest and its consequences.
Said the student, "It does bring up a bit of doubt. I feel like I'll be asked to explain it a lot." Through a first-time offender program, she negotiated a deal with prosecutors that allows her to perform community service in exchange for dismissal of her disorderly conduct charge. Nevertheless, she had to craft a letter to explain her actions as she pursues her ambition of becoming an educator. Public protests were often the province of cranks, chronic hecklers, or a smattering of diehards pursuing old causes. Now, old and young, people established in life and those still planning their futures, are taking up placards and storming public venues.
Raleigh News & Observer
Solitary Confinement Critics Setting Their Sights On Virginia Prisons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At Virginia's Red Onion State Prison, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement, says the Washington Post. In a state where 1 in 20 prisoners are held in solitary, Red Onion, a so-called supermax prison, isolates more inmates than any other facility, keeping more than 500 of its nearly 750 charges alone for 23 hours a day in cells the size of a doctor's exam room. Virginia,one of 44 states that use solitary confinement, has 1,800 people in isolation, a sizable share of the estimated 25,000 people in solitary around the U.S.
As more becomes known about the effects of isolation - on inmate health, public safety and prison budgets - some states have begun to reconsider the practice, among them Texas, which, like Virginia, is known as a law-and-order state. Mississippi, New York, and Texas have begun to scale back the use of solitary confinement under pressure from prison watchdogs. Now critics have set their sights on Virginia, where lawyers and inmates say some of the state's 40,000 prisoners, including some with mental-health issues, have been kept in isolation for years, in one case for 14 years. The Legal Aid Justice Center, which represents 12 inmates in isolation in Virginia, has requested an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which recently started a probe into a 1,550-bed Pennsylvania prison where inmates complain of long periods of isolation and a lack of mental-health treatment.
Washington Post
Friday, January 6, 2012
5 Jan 2012
January 5, 2012
Crime Down in L.A. Area; Beck: Economy Not Driving Force
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even since the economy began stalling several years ago, there have been dire warnings that crime would rise. In Southern California, says the Los Angeles Times, crime continues its long decline despite the weak economy. Indeed, 2011 brought new worries about a "double dip recession," yet streets in many parts of the region were the safest they've been in decades. The trend continues to puzzle some criminologists but has reinforced the view of many in law enforcement that factors other than the economy determine the rise or fall of crime.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said crime rates are determined largely by how well police do their job and the "informal social standards" set by communities - that is, what kind of behavior people are willing to tolerate from others. "The driving forces on crime," Beck said, are " 'What is the likelihood the police will catch you?' and, 'What would your mother or neighbor think if they knew what you were doing?' " The city, along with much of the rest of L.A. County, finished the year with thousands fewer serious crimes than in 2010. "It is deeply puzzling," said Richard Rosenfeld, a leading criminologist at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. "During past economic recessions, with high unemployment and stagnant incomes, we saw increases in crime. That has not been the case this time."
Los Angeles Times
Most States Still Don't Comply With Adam Walsh Law, Could Lose Aid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six years ago, Congress passed what is known as the Adam Walsh Act, aimed at protecting children from predators by collecting sex offender data in a national public registry and requiring those people listed in it to report their movements to law enforcement, says Stateline.org. Adam's law required states to place convicted sex offenders in one of three tiers, based on the severity of their crimes. The act, named for a 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered in Florida in 1981, gave the states five years to comply.
The vast majority of states did not comply on time. As the five-year deadline of July 2011 was approaching, only four had met the terms of the law. The Obama administration issued new guidelines that gave states more discretion in implementing the act and clarified how to share information, and in the past year, 12 more states have become compliant. Most still are not, even though they will lose 10 percent of their federal justice assistance grants as a penalty. Many states are continuing to voice their objections to what the federal law expects of them. Susan Frederick of the National Conference of State Legislatures, expects states to continue to press Congress for more discretion about which offenders to place on the three-tiered national registry, and for how long.
Stateline.org
California Medical-Pot Morass: "It's About the Almighty Dollar"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miller-McCune magazine tries to sort through California's medical-marijuana morass. By one estimate, the Golden State produces 8.6 million pounds of pot annually - one-third of the U.S. total - with a street value of $13.8 billion. Annual retail sales of medical marijuana in the state may total $1.3 billion, on which the state now collects as much as $105 million in sales tax.
Federal authorities concede that they're far too busy to chase down and lock up individuals who say they smoke marijuana because it eases their pain or who grow it in relatively modest amounts. That laissez-faire attitude doesn't apply to those who dispense medicinal pot. The U.S. Justice Department contends that state sanctions intended to regulate the sale of medicinal marijuana have been hijacked in many cases by criminally minded profiteers who've basically turned dispensaries into convenience stores that cater to recreational users. "This in not about the sick and the afflicted in many cases," says Rusty Payne of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "It's about the almighty dollar."
Miller-McCune
KS Must Consider Sentencing Changes With Prisons Over Capacity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ninety-nine times over the last six years, Kansas legislators have increased criminal penalties, says the Kansas City Star. As more criminals are packed into overcrowded prisons, the state is struggling to balance the new costs of justice against needs such as education and social services. State prisons for men are more than 250 inmates over capacity. In a decade, they're projected to be short about 2,000 beds. Prisons for women also will exceed capacity in about seven years.
State officials are considering solutions that will release some prisoners sooner than planned or keep them out of prison in the first place, said Kansas Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts. The idea of mass releases is not on the table. Roberts has three broad options - or a mix of them - in mind: build more prisons, house prisoners in county jails, or cut recidivism by helping paroled prisoners. Each idea would cost millions of dollars, he said. Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said administrators need to find a way around the problem because police and prosecutors will continue to haul criminals before judges. "We would be opposed to any kind of early release determination by administrators after experts like police, prosecutors, and juries have determined what a sentence should be," he said.
Kansas City Star
Departing Denver Police Monitor: Ruling Says It's OK for Cops to Lie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Denver civil service panel's decision to return two police officers fired for lying on the job suggests to cops that it is OK to lie, Denver's independent monitor said yesterday, the Denver Post reports. The three-member hearing panel said that misleading statements made by David Torrez and Jose Palomares about their chase of a stolen car didn't meet the legal bar needed to end their careers. The decision tells police "you can lie, and if it is not a serious enough lie, you won't get fired," monitor Richard Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal, who oversees internal investigations of Denver police and sheriff's deputies, said returning to the job any officer who lies during an investigation has "horrible implications" for the department. Cops routinely are called on to testify in cases. Returning them to their jobs after they have lied over important matters weakens the criminal justice system, he said. In some cases, the officers will be called on to tell the truth during trials for years. Rosenthal, who came to Denver in 2005 from Portland, Ore, where he had initiated an independent monitor's office, is leaving the position at the end of the week to create and head a new independent investigations office in British Columbia.
Denver Post
Departed OR Corrections Chief Reframed Crime-Punishment Debate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doubters rolled their eyes eight years ago with the announcement that Max Williams would be the next director of the Oregon prison system, says The Oregonian. Williams was a trial lawyer and a Republican legislator aspiring to higher office. What did he know about running a sprawling prison complex? "We were a little concerned that he was an outsider with no corrections background," said Tim Woolery, corrections representative for the prison system's largest union.
Now, with Williams gone, few doubt his abilities and impact on one of the state's largest bureaucracies. "I've been proven right of my assessment of Max," said former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who picked Williams. The 48-year-old Republican stepped down Friday as the Corrections Department director to take over another billion-dollar enterprise, the Oregon Community Foundation. He leaves a 14-prison system holding 14,000 inmates. He drove the agency to better prepare inmates for freedom. Almost from Day One, he has reckoned with mental illness in thousands of inmates, recasting how the prison system handles one of its most challenging populations. Williams took advantage of the public spotlight to reframe Oregon's debate about crime and punishment. He plants himself in the "smart on crime" camp, convinced that simply holding inmates until their parole dates wastes money and, worse, puts Oregonians at risk for more crime.
The Oregonian
Do Neighborhoods Influence Juvenile Crime?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Juveniles are more likely to commit crimes, especially drug offenses, if they live in crime-heavy neighborhoods, found researchers from Temple University in a recently published study quoted in The Crime Report. The report, "The Coaction of Neighborhood and Individual Effects on Juvenile Recidivism," was published in Cityscape, a HUD journal focusing on original research on housing and community development issues.
Researchers considered several outcome variables based on different recidivating offense types: drug offenses, person (violent) offenses, and property offenses. They found that high rates of juvenile recidivism in the neighborhood surrounding individual youths greatly increased the likelihood of recidivism in individual offenders.
The Crime Report
Mt. Rainier Shooting Suspect's Downward Spiral, Gun Obsession
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Benjamin Barnes, 24, fled into the woods in Mount Rainier National Park, suspected of the ambush-style slaying of a park ranger, friends say his life already had collapsed around him, reports the Seattle Times. Records show he'd struggled in high school and had been kicked out of his beloved Army - a loss that fed an obsession with guns, according to an acquaintance. He lost his girlfriend to his erratic, threatening behavior and a close Army friend to suicide. He was under court order to be supervised when he visited his infant daughter.
Early Sunday morning, his role in a gunfight that left four people wounded at a home sent him running for the mountains, the place a friend says he felt most at home. Park Ranger Margaret Anderson did not know his recent background as she set up a roadblock to intercept Barnes' car. Barnes stopped, according to witnesses, and then stepped out of the car and shot the 34-year-old mother of two girls, ages 3 and 1. The newspaper reports on Barnes' recent life in detail. Chris Smith, a friend, said he had heard through friends that Barnes had become obsessed with guns after leaving the military. "Everything was guns and shooting and stuff like that," Smith said. Barnes was found dead of exposure after the weekend incident.
Seattle Times
After MN Court Shooting, Judge Won't Hear Cases Without Security
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Minnesota judge and vocal critic of a lack of weapons screening at three suburban courtrooms says he is refusing to hear cases at them until stronger security precautions are put into place, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I'm tired of driving to Brookdale, the courtroom everyone who knows agrees is the most likely place for a shooting or violence to occur, and not know whether I will be carried out in a body bag that day," District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman wrote to judicial colleagues yesterday, citing the high number of domestic violence cases at that courtroom.
"I ask that you stand in solidarity with me. Do not go. Don't take my place." Zimmerman's ultimatum follows a Dec. 15 shooting at the Cook County Courthouse in Grand Marais that critically injured a prosecutor and witness, underscoring concern about the lack of weapon screening at courthouses in some Minnesota counties. Zimmerman, 57, an 11-year veteran of the bench, said he intends to continue hearing cases in downtown Minneapolis, where visitors are screened before they can enter the court and administration towers. He is one of 12 judges who rotate one week per month at the county's three suburban courtrooms. Court administrators, who are scrambling to find replacements for hundreds of Zimmerman's misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases, say they're in the middle of a $77,000 study by a consulting firm to determine how to improve security.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
About $1.3 Million of Record $6.6 Million MO Cash Heist "Re-Stolen"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plotters involved with St. Louis' record $6.6 million ATM Solutions heist were themselves robbed of about 20 percent of the money, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. LaTunya Wright, whose former boyfriend was among four armed men who stormed the money depot in 2010, entrusted another woman to help hide at least $2 million in a storage unit. "They stole my stolen money," Wright cried out after she finished counting the cash later and came up with only $640,000 to $650,000, according to a co-defendant's plea agreement filed yesterday and a person with knowledge of the investigation. That was at least $1.3 million short.
Three guilty pleas of peripheral players in the crime, and claims about the re-stolen money, could mean a new round of charges in a case in which 14 people have been accused of the robbery, its planning or its aftermath. It also could mean recovery of more money. Only about half of the $6.6 million has been tracked down. It appears that all of the $1.3 million re-stolen portion remains missing.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WI Gun Shop License Revoked, Still Runs Shooting Range, Sells Ammo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Milwaukee gun shop whose license was revoked for breaking federal law stopped selling guns Dec. 31 but continues to run a shooting range and sell ammunition and other accessories, as allowed by federal law, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked the federal firearms license of Badger Guns last year.
Congress has passed special laws that prohibit the ATF from releasing much information about revocations. Badger Guns and its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, have been the top sellers of crime guns recovered by Milwaukee police for at least the past decade. The store is expected to resume aselling guns. The owner, Adam Allan, previously said he planned to sell the operation to someone who could get a license. That person may be his brother. It would be the second time in recent years that players inside the operation changed position, wiping away violations. ATF is largely powerless to stop such changes. The agency can deny a license if it can prove there is a "hidden ownership" arrangement, and Congress limits how deeply the ATF can dig into a new applicant's background - one of several ways federal lawmakers have crippled the ATF's ability to regulate lawbreaking gun dealers.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Texas Maintains Largest Prison Graveyard; 2,100 Burials So Far
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Texas prison system's Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the nation's largest prison graveyard in the country, 22 acres where thousands of inmates who were executed or died while incarcerated are buried, all of them unclaimed by relatives, reports the New York Times. In a state known for being tough on criminals, where officials eliminated last-meal requests on death row, the Byrd cemetery has been a little-known counterpoint to the mythology of the Texas penal system.
One mile from the Walls Unit, which houses the execution chamber, about 100 inmates are buried each year in ceremonies for which the state spends considerable time and money. Each burial costs Texas about $2,000. Often, none of the deceased's relatives attends, and the only people present are prison officials and the inmate workers. "I think everyone assumes if you're in a prison cemetery you're somehow the worst of the worst," said Franklin Wilson, an assistant professor of criminology at Indiana State University who is writing a book about the cemetery. "But it's more of a reflection of your socioeconomic status. This is more of a case of if you're buried there, you're poor." Prison officials have verified 2,100 inmates buried at the cemetery,
New York Times
Crime Down in L.A. Area; Beck: Economy Not Driving Force
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even since the economy began stalling several years ago, there have been dire warnings that crime would rise. In Southern California, says the Los Angeles Times, crime continues its long decline despite the weak economy. Indeed, 2011 brought new worries about a "double dip recession," yet streets in many parts of the region were the safest they've been in decades. The trend continues to puzzle some criminologists but has reinforced the view of many in law enforcement that factors other than the economy determine the rise or fall of crime.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said crime rates are determined largely by how well police do their job and the "informal social standards" set by communities - that is, what kind of behavior people are willing to tolerate from others. "The driving forces on crime," Beck said, are " 'What is the likelihood the police will catch you?' and, 'What would your mother or neighbor think if they knew what you were doing?' " The city, along with much of the rest of L.A. County, finished the year with thousands fewer serious crimes than in 2010. "It is deeply puzzling," said Richard Rosenfeld, a leading criminologist at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. "During past economic recessions, with high unemployment and stagnant incomes, we saw increases in crime. That has not been the case this time."
Los Angeles Times
Most States Still Don't Comply With Adam Walsh Law, Could Lose Aid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six years ago, Congress passed what is known as the Adam Walsh Act, aimed at protecting children from predators by collecting sex offender data in a national public registry and requiring those people listed in it to report their movements to law enforcement, says Stateline.org. Adam's law required states to place convicted sex offenders in one of three tiers, based on the severity of their crimes. The act, named for a 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered in Florida in 1981, gave the states five years to comply.
The vast majority of states did not comply on time. As the five-year deadline of July 2011 was approaching, only four had met the terms of the law. The Obama administration issued new guidelines that gave states more discretion in implementing the act and clarified how to share information, and in the past year, 12 more states have become compliant. Most still are not, even though they will lose 10 percent of their federal justice assistance grants as a penalty. Many states are continuing to voice their objections to what the federal law expects of them. Susan Frederick of the National Conference of State Legislatures, expects states to continue to press Congress for more discretion about which offenders to place on the three-tiered national registry, and for how long.
Stateline.org
California Medical-Pot Morass: "It's About the Almighty Dollar"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miller-McCune magazine tries to sort through California's medical-marijuana morass. By one estimate, the Golden State produces 8.6 million pounds of pot annually - one-third of the U.S. total - with a street value of $13.8 billion. Annual retail sales of medical marijuana in the state may total $1.3 billion, on which the state now collects as much as $105 million in sales tax.
Federal authorities concede that they're far too busy to chase down and lock up individuals who say they smoke marijuana because it eases their pain or who grow it in relatively modest amounts. That laissez-faire attitude doesn't apply to those who dispense medicinal pot. The U.S. Justice Department contends that state sanctions intended to regulate the sale of medicinal marijuana have been hijacked in many cases by criminally minded profiteers who've basically turned dispensaries into convenience stores that cater to recreational users. "This in not about the sick and the afflicted in many cases," says Rusty Payne of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "It's about the almighty dollar."
Miller-McCune
KS Must Consider Sentencing Changes With Prisons Over Capacity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ninety-nine times over the last six years, Kansas legislators have increased criminal penalties, says the Kansas City Star. As more criminals are packed into overcrowded prisons, the state is struggling to balance the new costs of justice against needs such as education and social services. State prisons for men are more than 250 inmates over capacity. In a decade, they're projected to be short about 2,000 beds. Prisons for women also will exceed capacity in about seven years.
State officials are considering solutions that will release some prisoners sooner than planned or keep them out of prison in the first place, said Kansas Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts. The idea of mass releases is not on the table. Roberts has three broad options - or a mix of them - in mind: build more prisons, house prisoners in county jails, or cut recidivism by helping paroled prisoners. Each idea would cost millions of dollars, he said. Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said administrators need to find a way around the problem because police and prosecutors will continue to haul criminals before judges. "We would be opposed to any kind of early release determination by administrators after experts like police, prosecutors, and juries have determined what a sentence should be," he said.
Kansas City Star
Departing Denver Police Monitor: Ruling Says It's OK for Cops to Lie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Denver civil service panel's decision to return two police officers fired for lying on the job suggests to cops that it is OK to lie, Denver's independent monitor said yesterday, the Denver Post reports. The three-member hearing panel said that misleading statements made by David Torrez and Jose Palomares about their chase of a stolen car didn't meet the legal bar needed to end their careers. The decision tells police "you can lie, and if it is not a serious enough lie, you won't get fired," monitor Richard Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal, who oversees internal investigations of Denver police and sheriff's deputies, said returning to the job any officer who lies during an investigation has "horrible implications" for the department. Cops routinely are called on to testify in cases. Returning them to their jobs after they have lied over important matters weakens the criminal justice system, he said. In some cases, the officers will be called on to tell the truth during trials for years. Rosenthal, who came to Denver in 2005 from Portland, Ore, where he had initiated an independent monitor's office, is leaving the position at the end of the week to create and head a new independent investigations office in British Columbia.
Denver Post
Departed OR Corrections Chief Reframed Crime-Punishment Debate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doubters rolled their eyes eight years ago with the announcement that Max Williams would be the next director of the Oregon prison system, says The Oregonian. Williams was a trial lawyer and a Republican legislator aspiring to higher office. What did he know about running a sprawling prison complex? "We were a little concerned that he was an outsider with no corrections background," said Tim Woolery, corrections representative for the prison system's largest union.
Now, with Williams gone, few doubt his abilities and impact on one of the state's largest bureaucracies. "I've been proven right of my assessment of Max," said former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who picked Williams. The 48-year-old Republican stepped down Friday as the Corrections Department director to take over another billion-dollar enterprise, the Oregon Community Foundation. He leaves a 14-prison system holding 14,000 inmates. He drove the agency to better prepare inmates for freedom. Almost from Day One, he has reckoned with mental illness in thousands of inmates, recasting how the prison system handles one of its most challenging populations. Williams took advantage of the public spotlight to reframe Oregon's debate about crime and punishment. He plants himself in the "smart on crime" camp, convinced that simply holding inmates until their parole dates wastes money and, worse, puts Oregonians at risk for more crime.
The Oregonian
Do Neighborhoods Influence Juvenile Crime?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Juveniles are more likely to commit crimes, especially drug offenses, if they live in crime-heavy neighborhoods, found researchers from Temple University in a recently published study quoted in The Crime Report. The report, "The Coaction of Neighborhood and Individual Effects on Juvenile Recidivism," was published in Cityscape, a HUD journal focusing on original research on housing and community development issues.
Researchers considered several outcome variables based on different recidivating offense types: drug offenses, person (violent) offenses, and property offenses. They found that high rates of juvenile recidivism in the neighborhood surrounding individual youths greatly increased the likelihood of recidivism in individual offenders.
The Crime Report
Mt. Rainier Shooting Suspect's Downward Spiral, Gun Obsession
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Benjamin Barnes, 24, fled into the woods in Mount Rainier National Park, suspected of the ambush-style slaying of a park ranger, friends say his life already had collapsed around him, reports the Seattle Times. Records show he'd struggled in high school and had been kicked out of his beloved Army - a loss that fed an obsession with guns, according to an acquaintance. He lost his girlfriend to his erratic, threatening behavior and a close Army friend to suicide. He was under court order to be supervised when he visited his infant daughter.
Early Sunday morning, his role in a gunfight that left four people wounded at a home sent him running for the mountains, the place a friend says he felt most at home. Park Ranger Margaret Anderson did not know his recent background as she set up a roadblock to intercept Barnes' car. Barnes stopped, according to witnesses, and then stepped out of the car and shot the 34-year-old mother of two girls, ages 3 and 1. The newspaper reports on Barnes' recent life in detail. Chris Smith, a friend, said he had heard through friends that Barnes had become obsessed with guns after leaving the military. "Everything was guns and shooting and stuff like that," Smith said. Barnes was found dead of exposure after the weekend incident.
Seattle Times
After MN Court Shooting, Judge Won't Hear Cases Without Security
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Minnesota judge and vocal critic of a lack of weapons screening at three suburban courtrooms says he is refusing to hear cases at them until stronger security precautions are put into place, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I'm tired of driving to Brookdale, the courtroom everyone who knows agrees is the most likely place for a shooting or violence to occur, and not know whether I will be carried out in a body bag that day," District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman wrote to judicial colleagues yesterday, citing the high number of domestic violence cases at that courtroom.
"I ask that you stand in solidarity with me. Do not go. Don't take my place." Zimmerman's ultimatum follows a Dec. 15 shooting at the Cook County Courthouse in Grand Marais that critically injured a prosecutor and witness, underscoring concern about the lack of weapon screening at courthouses in some Minnesota counties. Zimmerman, 57, an 11-year veteran of the bench, said he intends to continue hearing cases in downtown Minneapolis, where visitors are screened before they can enter the court and administration towers. He is one of 12 judges who rotate one week per month at the county's three suburban courtrooms. Court administrators, who are scrambling to find replacements for hundreds of Zimmerman's misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases, say they're in the middle of a $77,000 study by a consulting firm to determine how to improve security.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
About $1.3 Million of Record $6.6 Million MO Cash Heist "Re-Stolen"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plotters involved with St. Louis' record $6.6 million ATM Solutions heist were themselves robbed of about 20 percent of the money, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. LaTunya Wright, whose former boyfriend was among four armed men who stormed the money depot in 2010, entrusted another woman to help hide at least $2 million in a storage unit. "They stole my stolen money," Wright cried out after she finished counting the cash later and came up with only $640,000 to $650,000, according to a co-defendant's plea agreement filed yesterday and a person with knowledge of the investigation. That was at least $1.3 million short.
Three guilty pleas of peripheral players in the crime, and claims about the re-stolen money, could mean a new round of charges in a case in which 14 people have been accused of the robbery, its planning or its aftermath. It also could mean recovery of more money. Only about half of the $6.6 million has been tracked down. It appears that all of the $1.3 million re-stolen portion remains missing.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WI Gun Shop License Revoked, Still Runs Shooting Range, Sells Ammo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Milwaukee gun shop whose license was revoked for breaking federal law stopped selling guns Dec. 31 but continues to run a shooting range and sell ammunition and other accessories, as allowed by federal law, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked the federal firearms license of Badger Guns last year.
Congress has passed special laws that prohibit the ATF from releasing much information about revocations. Badger Guns and its predecessor, Badger Outdoors, have been the top sellers of crime guns recovered by Milwaukee police for at least the past decade. The store is expected to resume aselling guns. The owner, Adam Allan, previously said he planned to sell the operation to someone who could get a license. That person may be his brother. It would be the second time in recent years that players inside the operation changed position, wiping away violations. ATF is largely powerless to stop such changes. The agency can deny a license if it can prove there is a "hidden ownership" arrangement, and Congress limits how deeply the ATF can dig into a new applicant's background - one of several ways federal lawmakers have crippled the ATF's ability to regulate lawbreaking gun dealers.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Texas Maintains Largest Prison Graveyard; 2,100 Burials So Far
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Texas prison system's Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the nation's largest prison graveyard in the country, 22 acres where thousands of inmates who were executed or died while incarcerated are buried, all of them unclaimed by relatives, reports the New York Times. In a state known for being tough on criminals, where officials eliminated last-meal requests on death row, the Byrd cemetery has been a little-known counterpoint to the mythology of the Texas penal system.
One mile from the Walls Unit, which houses the execution chamber, about 100 inmates are buried each year in ceremonies for which the state spends considerable time and money. Each burial costs Texas about $2,000. Often, none of the deceased's relatives attends, and the only people present are prison officials and the inmate workers. "I think everyone assumes if you're in a prison cemetery you're somehow the worst of the worst," said Franklin Wilson, an assistant professor of criminology at Indiana State University who is writing a book about the cemetery. "But it's more of a reflection of your socioeconomic status. This is more of a case of if you're buried there, you're poor." Prison officials have verified 2,100 inmates buried at the cemetery,
New York Times
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
3 Jan 2012
January 3, 2012
Despite Prison Population Drop, Broad-Based Change Not Yet Assured
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite the first national decrease in prison populations in nearly four decades, reported last month by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, it remains to be seen whether progress toward meaningful reductions will proceed at a pace necessary to have a significant impact on the phenomenon of mass incarceration, sentencing expert Malcolm Young of Northwestern University Law School writes on The Crime Report. The basis for broad-based and deep change in sentencing and corrections practices has not yet emerged, he says.
Sentenced prisoner populations fell by a combined total of 20,805, or -2.8%, in 24 states, a considerable change from 2006, when only nine states experienced a decrease. In 26 states in 2010, prison counts increased by a total of 11,060, not an insignificant number. In 18 of these 26 states, which house 42 percent of the total state population, the 2010 sentenced prisoner population was the highest ever. So far, Young writes, "neither the dollar nor human costs of a massive system of incarceration and its racial and class impacts, have ignited a widespread, energized political or social movement opposite of that which resulted in mass incarceration."
The Crime Report
Georgia to Debate Sending Fewer To Prison in Drug, Property Cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Conservative states across the South have altered their approach to criminal sentencing in recent years by replacing the tough-on-crime mantra with a "smart on crime" philosophy that supporters say saves money and could even cut repeat offenses, says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Georgia legislature this winter will debate a shift in emphasis toward alternatives to prison time for nonviolent offenders, as suggested by a special council appointed last year to study the state's prison population and criminal code.
The effect of its recommendations would be to send fewer people to jail for property and drug crimes and boost alternative punishments. That shift has the backing of Gov. Nathan Deal, who said it is time for Georgia to follow the lead of Texas, South Carolina, and other Southern states and take a more effective approach to punishment. He said Georgia, which now spends more than $1 billion a year on state prisons and has seen its inmate population double in the past 20 years, simply cannot afford to keep the current sentencing regime. While Georgia has some of the toughest criminal penalties in the nation for violent and repeat offenders, almost every convict is spending more time behind bars these days than ever before.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Social Media A Clearinghouse for Information in L.A. Arson Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When an arsonist began preying on Hollywood last week, social media sites like Twitter quickly emerged as a clearinghouse for information, says the Los Angeles Times. People tweeted when they first saw smoke, shot videos, and photos of burning cars on their cellphones, and traded both facts and rumors in rapid stream. Faced with a quickly changing, highly unusual investigation, L.A. law enforcement agencies embraced Twitter and other forms of social media as never before. Law enforcement and fire agencies essentially joined the conversation, using Twitter and Facebook not only to disseminate information but to get tips and track reports of new fires.
"This investigation is a social media phenomenon," said Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker. "Early, in terms of the public information office, the PIOs noticed that a lot of the best information was coming from and being distributed by social media. We wanted to speak to the public where the public is, and that is social media." He added: "We got some valuable tips from social media," Parker said. "I personally passed on to investigators at least three pieces of information from Twitter that were useful." Authorities have arrested Harry Burkhart, 24, a German national carrying travel papers from Chechnya who had made a scene recently in an immigration court hearing.
Los Angeles Times
NYC Concern: Police Failure to Take Reports of Crimes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some New York City crime victims struggle to persuade the police to write down what happened on an official report, says the New York Times. More than half a dozen police officers, detectives, and commanders cited departmental pressure to keep crime statistics low as one of the reasons. Police commissioner Raymond Kelly appointed a panel last January to study the crime-reporting system. The panel is expected to focus on the downgrading of crimes, in which officers improperly classify felonies as misdemeanors.
There also are crimes that officers simply failed to record, which one high-ranking police commander called "the newest evolution in this numbers game." It is not unusual for detectives, who handle calls from victims inquiring about the status of their cases, to learn that no paperwork exists. Detective Louis Molina, president of the National Latino Officers Association, said that for some officers, the desire of supervisors to keep recorded crime levels low was "going to be on your mind," and that it "can play a role in your decision making." He added: "For police officers, it's gotten to the point of what's the most diplomatic way to discourage a crime report from being taken."
New York Times
NRA, Seeking To Defeat Obama, Gets $14.8 Million From Industry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The National Rifle Association, which began as a grass-roots organization dedicated to teaching marksmanship, enters the 2012 election season as a lobbying, merchandising, and marketing machine that brings in more than $200 million a year and wants to unseat President Obama, reports Bloomberg News. From 2004 to 2010, the group's revenue from fundraising - including gifts from gun-makers who benefit from its political activism - grew twice as fast as its income from members' dues.
More than 50 firearms-related companies have given the NRA at least $14.8 million. "Unlike organizations which start out controlled by industry and created by industry, like lobbying groups for coal or oil, they really started out as a grass-roots organization and became an industry organization," said William Vizzard, a former agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms now a professor of criminal justice at California State University in Sacramento. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre talks about "a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country."
Bloomberg News/Columbus Dispatch
Baltimore Murders Under 200; U.S. Attorney: "Very Big Deal"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The annual number of killings in Baltimore has fallen below 200 for the first time in more than three decades, the Baltimore Sun reports. Though Baltimore is still among the most deadly cities per capita, the drop extends an overall downward trend in gun violence since 2007, the year Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld took office. The 196 slayings in 2011 were the fewest since 1977; in 2010, 223 people were killed.
U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said the homicide count falling under 200 is "a very big deal." While criminologists can't agree on what's driving the declines, local officials say they deserve credit for taking out violent drug organizations from top to bottom and breathing heavily down the necks of other known offenders through a policy of "targeted enforcement." Various agencies - from parole and probation to schools to federal prosecutors - are working together more closely than ever before, officials agree. As cities saw unprecedented drops in recent years, Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, and St. Louis seemingly were unable to stem the violence. This year, Baltimore and St. Louis saw large declines; Detroit and New Orleans saw big increases
Baltimore Sun
Washington, D.C., Homicides Down, Up in Adjoining Maryland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a crime-location shift, Washington, D.C.'s murder total is declining just as the count is increasing in adjoining Prince George's County, Md., reports the Washington Post. There were 97 slayings in Prince George's last year, four more than in 2010. In Washington, the total was 109, down from 132 in 2010 and the lowest count since 1963.
Some who still see frequent violence in their neighborhoods say there's not much to celebrate in the city's declining homicide numbers. "I'm slow to get to excited," said the Rev. Donald Isaac of the East of the River Clergy, Police, Community Partnership. "As soon as you begin to celebrate, it can reverse so quickly." Said Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier: "When I started here in 1990, the two things that used to really bother me was that we were known as the murder capital of the world and the city of unsolved homicides. Our detectives and our police officers have done an amazing job turning that around. We are no longer either one of those things."
Washington Post
Cleveland Homicide Total Tops '10, Well Under the 1970s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A hot summer of shootings led to an increase in homicide cases in Cleveland in 2011, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The city had seen 88 slayings as of Thursday, up from 77 last year but the number had reached beyond 300 in some years in the 1970s. Police Chief Michael McGrath said "statistics are a sensitive issue."
A summer of shootings in Cleveland led some city leaders to call for a new approach to approach gun violence. From June 9 to Oct. 5, there were 30 homicides. McGrath said homicides generally happen more in the summer because more people are on the street, and hot weather flares tempers. "You'll also find that felonious assaults with handguns also occur more in the summer," he said. "They parallel each other." Violence -- youth violence in particular -- was addressed at a November summit which called for the problem to be considered a public health issue.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
As Death Penalty Declines, Texas Still the National Leader
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With six executions scheduled for the first three months of 2012 and more than twice as many executions as any other state last year Texas is poised to continue leading the nation in executions, says the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Despite dropping to a 15-year low in 2011, Texas leads the U.S. in executions even as questions are raised nationwide about the wrongful conviction of inmates. Last year, 43 prisoners were executed nationwide.
Alabama, which had the second most executions, sent six inmates to the death chamber in 2011. Other states with more than one execution were Ohio with five, Georgia and Arizona each with four, and Oklahoma, Florida and Mississippi each with two, says the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty. "Executions have dropped by about 50 percent since the late 1990s," says its director, Richard Dieter. "With a growing concern about whether some of those convicted are actually innocent, jurors, prosecutors, judges and legislators [are] more cautious about the use of the death penalty."
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Michigan Tests Plan To Reduce Use of Prison Segregation Cells
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michigan has a long, sordid history of using isolation for prisoners, sometimes with disastrous and deadly results, says Detroit Free Press columnist Jeff Gerritt. Inmates call it "the box" or the "the hole," the corrections department calls it "administrative segregation." For months, or even years, the steel-bolted cells hold inmates who can't adjust to prison or pose a safety, security or escape risk. In one prison, a pilot program shows that alternative approaches can reduce the need for segregation cells and the dangers they pose.
Alger Correctional Facility's remote location can mean few or no visits from friends and family. It has 176 segregation cells. The state is trying to reduce the use of segregation, where inmates do time alone in an 8-foot-by-10-foot cell. Segregation costs nearly double the $33,000 a year the state typically pays to incarcerate each prisoner. In 2009, Alger started an "Incentives in Segregation" pilot project to reward positive behavior. The program has cut down on major misconducts and critical incidents in segregation, including cell damage, by more than half. It has also reduced days in segregation by possibly 10%. "When you start re-enforcing positive behavior, (prisoners) have something to lose," said Warden Catherine Bauman. "It's made a safer environment for staff and prisoners."
Detroit Free Press
Dallas Police Chief Shifts Detectives To Family Violence Unit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Dallas man who attacked his sister with a hammer and two years later beat his ex-girlfriend slipped through a system strained by heavy caseloads, staffing shortages, and frequently uncooperative victims, says the Dallas Morning News. Other cities use techniques to help identify high-risk domestic offenders and stop them before something deadly happens. Dallas Police Chief David Brown has ordered more detectives assigned to the family violence unit to reduce the caseload. He instructed his commanders to look at what's being done elsewhere. "You've got to figure out a way to catch that flag - that individual that's escalating to murder," Brown said, cautioning that he didn't want to create a system in which detectives overlooked something just because it didn't show the standard warning signs. "You've got to treat them all as a priority."
Family violence represents a quandary for police. Burglary and theft detectives work high caseloads, too, but those crimes typically produce no leads and require little follow-up. Domestic violence cases almost always have a known offender and require more follow-up work. More important, each one represents the potential for a deadly outcome.
Dallas Morning News
Examining the Impact of Big Drug Bust on a Small Pennsylvania Town
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the 40-year-old drug war, the descent of 200 law enforcement officers on the little city of Clairton, Pa., a year ago was barely a skirmish. For that town of 6,800, it was a big deal, says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the first of a series. Part of a 42-person roundup of accused cocaine dealers, "This case, for the first time ever in this community, allowed us to remove the people who were bringing large amounts of drugs in," said Clairton Police Sgt. Joe Giles.
The city went on to have, in 2011, what Police Chief Robert Hoffman described as "a horrible year" in terms of violent crime. Its civic leaders are struggling, with limited resources, to take the next steps to build on progress made in the roundup. While some career criminals were taken off the streets, so were some people who had worked legal jobs and were well-liked in their community. As with many criminal cases, incarceration has yanked pillars of support from some families. The local drug market, meanwhile, endures.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Despite Prison Population Drop, Broad-Based Change Not Yet Assured
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite the first national decrease in prison populations in nearly four decades, reported last month by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, it remains to be seen whether progress toward meaningful reductions will proceed at a pace necessary to have a significant impact on the phenomenon of mass incarceration, sentencing expert Malcolm Young of Northwestern University Law School writes on The Crime Report. The basis for broad-based and deep change in sentencing and corrections practices has not yet emerged, he says.
Sentenced prisoner populations fell by a combined total of 20,805, or -2.8%, in 24 states, a considerable change from 2006, when only nine states experienced a decrease. In 26 states in 2010, prison counts increased by a total of 11,060, not an insignificant number. In 18 of these 26 states, which house 42 percent of the total state population, the 2010 sentenced prisoner population was the highest ever. So far, Young writes, "neither the dollar nor human costs of a massive system of incarceration and its racial and class impacts, have ignited a widespread, energized political or social movement opposite of that which resulted in mass incarceration."
The Crime Report
Georgia to Debate Sending Fewer To Prison in Drug, Property Cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Conservative states across the South have altered their approach to criminal sentencing in recent years by replacing the tough-on-crime mantra with a "smart on crime" philosophy that supporters say saves money and could even cut repeat offenses, says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Georgia legislature this winter will debate a shift in emphasis toward alternatives to prison time for nonviolent offenders, as suggested by a special council appointed last year to study the state's prison population and criminal code.
The effect of its recommendations would be to send fewer people to jail for property and drug crimes and boost alternative punishments. That shift has the backing of Gov. Nathan Deal, who said it is time for Georgia to follow the lead of Texas, South Carolina, and other Southern states and take a more effective approach to punishment. He said Georgia, which now spends more than $1 billion a year on state prisons and has seen its inmate population double in the past 20 years, simply cannot afford to keep the current sentencing regime. While Georgia has some of the toughest criminal penalties in the nation for violent and repeat offenders, almost every convict is spending more time behind bars these days than ever before.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Social Media A Clearinghouse for Information in L.A. Arson Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When an arsonist began preying on Hollywood last week, social media sites like Twitter quickly emerged as a clearinghouse for information, says the Los Angeles Times. People tweeted when they first saw smoke, shot videos, and photos of burning cars on their cellphones, and traded both facts and rumors in rapid stream. Faced with a quickly changing, highly unusual investigation, L.A. law enforcement agencies embraced Twitter and other forms of social media as never before. Law enforcement and fire agencies essentially joined the conversation, using Twitter and Facebook not only to disseminate information but to get tips and track reports of new fires.
"This investigation is a social media phenomenon," said Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker. "Early, in terms of the public information office, the PIOs noticed that a lot of the best information was coming from and being distributed by social media. We wanted to speak to the public where the public is, and that is social media." He added: "We got some valuable tips from social media," Parker said. "I personally passed on to investigators at least three pieces of information from Twitter that were useful." Authorities have arrested Harry Burkhart, 24, a German national carrying travel papers from Chechnya who had made a scene recently in an immigration court hearing.
Los Angeles Times
NYC Concern: Police Failure to Take Reports of Crimes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some New York City crime victims struggle to persuade the police to write down what happened on an official report, says the New York Times. More than half a dozen police officers, detectives, and commanders cited departmental pressure to keep crime statistics low as one of the reasons. Police commissioner Raymond Kelly appointed a panel last January to study the crime-reporting system. The panel is expected to focus on the downgrading of crimes, in which officers improperly classify felonies as misdemeanors.
There also are crimes that officers simply failed to record, which one high-ranking police commander called "the newest evolution in this numbers game." It is not unusual for detectives, who handle calls from victims inquiring about the status of their cases, to learn that no paperwork exists. Detective Louis Molina, president of the National Latino Officers Association, said that for some officers, the desire of supervisors to keep recorded crime levels low was "going to be on your mind," and that it "can play a role in your decision making." He added: "For police officers, it's gotten to the point of what's the most diplomatic way to discourage a crime report from being taken."
New York Times
NRA, Seeking To Defeat Obama, Gets $14.8 Million From Industry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The National Rifle Association, which began as a grass-roots organization dedicated to teaching marksmanship, enters the 2012 election season as a lobbying, merchandising, and marketing machine that brings in more than $200 million a year and wants to unseat President Obama, reports Bloomberg News. From 2004 to 2010, the group's revenue from fundraising - including gifts from gun-makers who benefit from its political activism - grew twice as fast as its income from members' dues.
More than 50 firearms-related companies have given the NRA at least $14.8 million. "Unlike organizations which start out controlled by industry and created by industry, like lobbying groups for coal or oil, they really started out as a grass-roots organization and became an industry organization," said William Vizzard, a former agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms now a professor of criminal justice at California State University in Sacramento. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre talks about "a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country."
Bloomberg News/Columbus Dispatch
Baltimore Murders Under 200; U.S. Attorney: "Very Big Deal"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The annual number of killings in Baltimore has fallen below 200 for the first time in more than three decades, the Baltimore Sun reports. Though Baltimore is still among the most deadly cities per capita, the drop extends an overall downward trend in gun violence since 2007, the year Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld took office. The 196 slayings in 2011 were the fewest since 1977; in 2010, 223 people were killed.
U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said the homicide count falling under 200 is "a very big deal." While criminologists can't agree on what's driving the declines, local officials say they deserve credit for taking out violent drug organizations from top to bottom and breathing heavily down the necks of other known offenders through a policy of "targeted enforcement." Various agencies - from parole and probation to schools to federal prosecutors - are working together more closely than ever before, officials agree. As cities saw unprecedented drops in recent years, Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, and St. Louis seemingly were unable to stem the violence. This year, Baltimore and St. Louis saw large declines; Detroit and New Orleans saw big increases
Baltimore Sun
Washington, D.C., Homicides Down, Up in Adjoining Maryland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a crime-location shift, Washington, D.C.'s murder total is declining just as the count is increasing in adjoining Prince George's County, Md., reports the Washington Post. There were 97 slayings in Prince George's last year, four more than in 2010. In Washington, the total was 109, down from 132 in 2010 and the lowest count since 1963.
Some who still see frequent violence in their neighborhoods say there's not much to celebrate in the city's declining homicide numbers. "I'm slow to get to excited," said the Rev. Donald Isaac of the East of the River Clergy, Police, Community Partnership. "As soon as you begin to celebrate, it can reverse so quickly." Said Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier: "When I started here in 1990, the two things that used to really bother me was that we were known as the murder capital of the world and the city of unsolved homicides. Our detectives and our police officers have done an amazing job turning that around. We are no longer either one of those things."
Washington Post
Cleveland Homicide Total Tops '10, Well Under the 1970s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A hot summer of shootings led to an increase in homicide cases in Cleveland in 2011, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The city had seen 88 slayings as of Thursday, up from 77 last year but the number had reached beyond 300 in some years in the 1970s. Police Chief Michael McGrath said "statistics are a sensitive issue."
A summer of shootings in Cleveland led some city leaders to call for a new approach to approach gun violence. From June 9 to Oct. 5, there were 30 homicides. McGrath said homicides generally happen more in the summer because more people are on the street, and hot weather flares tempers. "You'll also find that felonious assaults with handguns also occur more in the summer," he said. "They parallel each other." Violence -- youth violence in particular -- was addressed at a November summit which called for the problem to be considered a public health issue.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
As Death Penalty Declines, Texas Still the National Leader
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With six executions scheduled for the first three months of 2012 and more than twice as many executions as any other state last year Texas is poised to continue leading the nation in executions, says the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Despite dropping to a 15-year low in 2011, Texas leads the U.S. in executions even as questions are raised nationwide about the wrongful conviction of inmates. Last year, 43 prisoners were executed nationwide.
Alabama, which had the second most executions, sent six inmates to the death chamber in 2011. Other states with more than one execution were Ohio with five, Georgia and Arizona each with four, and Oklahoma, Florida and Mississippi each with two, says the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty. "Executions have dropped by about 50 percent since the late 1990s," says its director, Richard Dieter. "With a growing concern about whether some of those convicted are actually innocent, jurors, prosecutors, judges and legislators [are] more cautious about the use of the death penalty."
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Michigan Tests Plan To Reduce Use of Prison Segregation Cells
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michigan has a long, sordid history of using isolation for prisoners, sometimes with disastrous and deadly results, says Detroit Free Press columnist Jeff Gerritt. Inmates call it "the box" or the "the hole," the corrections department calls it "administrative segregation." For months, or even years, the steel-bolted cells hold inmates who can't adjust to prison or pose a safety, security or escape risk. In one prison, a pilot program shows that alternative approaches can reduce the need for segregation cells and the dangers they pose.
Alger Correctional Facility's remote location can mean few or no visits from friends and family. It has 176 segregation cells. The state is trying to reduce the use of segregation, where inmates do time alone in an 8-foot-by-10-foot cell. Segregation costs nearly double the $33,000 a year the state typically pays to incarcerate each prisoner. In 2009, Alger started an "Incentives in Segregation" pilot project to reward positive behavior. The program has cut down on major misconducts and critical incidents in segregation, including cell damage, by more than half. It has also reduced days in segregation by possibly 10%. "When you start re-enforcing positive behavior, (prisoners) have something to lose," said Warden Catherine Bauman. "It's made a safer environment for staff and prisoners."
Detroit Free Press
Dallas Police Chief Shifts Detectives To Family Violence Unit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Dallas man who attacked his sister with a hammer and two years later beat his ex-girlfriend slipped through a system strained by heavy caseloads, staffing shortages, and frequently uncooperative victims, says the Dallas Morning News. Other cities use techniques to help identify high-risk domestic offenders and stop them before something deadly happens. Dallas Police Chief David Brown has ordered more detectives assigned to the family violence unit to reduce the caseload. He instructed his commanders to look at what's being done elsewhere. "You've got to figure out a way to catch that flag - that individual that's escalating to murder," Brown said, cautioning that he didn't want to create a system in which detectives overlooked something just because it didn't show the standard warning signs. "You've got to treat them all as a priority."
Family violence represents a quandary for police. Burglary and theft detectives work high caseloads, too, but those crimes typically produce no leads and require little follow-up. Domestic violence cases almost always have a known offender and require more follow-up work. More important, each one represents the potential for a deadly outcome.
Dallas Morning News
Examining the Impact of Big Drug Bust on a Small Pennsylvania Town
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the 40-year-old drug war, the descent of 200 law enforcement officers on the little city of Clairton, Pa., a year ago was barely a skirmish. For that town of 6,800, it was a big deal, says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the first of a series. Part of a 42-person roundup of accused cocaine dealers, "This case, for the first time ever in this community, allowed us to remove the people who were bringing large amounts of drugs in," said Clairton Police Sgt. Joe Giles.
The city went on to have, in 2011, what Police Chief Robert Hoffman described as "a horrible year" in terms of violent crime. Its civic leaders are struggling, with limited resources, to take the next steps to build on progress made in the roundup. While some career criminals were taken off the streets, so were some people who had worked legal jobs and were well-liked in their community. As with many criminal cases, incarceration has yanked pillars of support from some families. The local drug market, meanwhile, endures.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, January 2, 2012
30 Dec 2011
December 30, 2011
Murders Up Again In "Kill-A-Delphia," Mayor's Goals Not Met
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation's 10 most populous cities, says the Philadelphia Daily News. At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved. The city's homicide tally stood at 324 Wednesday, including the eight victims allegedly killed in previous years by West Philly abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Last year, 306 people were killed, and the year before, 302. City officials prefer to focus on the past. When they compare numbers, they go back to 2007, when murders in Philly were at the five-year high of 392. Looking at it that way, they get a 17 percent decrease in the murder rate from 2007 to 2011.
Mayor Michael Nutter, during his 2007 campaign, pledged that he wouldn't seek re-election if the 2010 homicide tally was more than the 288 killed in 2002. At his inauguration in 2008, he set what turned out to be an overly ambitious goal of slashing the city's murder rate by 30 to 50 percent in three to five years. He won re-election this year. Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, said the city had been making progress, but when the economy tanked, the mayor was unable to implement some of his plans for reducing crime. Among the 10 most populous cities, Philly comes out on top, with 20.7 homicides per 100,000 residents. The next closest are Chicago, 15.7, and Dallas, 10.9.
Philadelphia Daily News
OR Panel Urges Sentencing, Parole, Juvenile Reforms to Avoid Prisons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oregon could spare itself a continuing run-up in its billion-dollar prison system with changes to sentences, parolee programs, and juvenile justice, a state commission is reporting to Gov. John Kitzhaber, The Oregonian reports. The panel said far more is known now about how to punish and reform offenders since the last thorough reform of sentences in 1989. Proved techniques could drive down recidivism, mitigating the need to build prisons and add thousands more beds.
Money motivated Kitzhaber to put the group to work. State forecasters estimate that Oregon's prison population will grow by 2,000 over the next decade. The state corrections department said it would need $608 million more in coming years to house that population, including building prisons. Some of that cost can be avoided, the commission said. "The commission has missed the mark by focusing on only one aspect of the criminal justice system: sentencing," said Wasco County District Attorney Eric Nisley, president of the Oregon District Attorneys Association. He said current sentencing policies work.
The Oregonian
Davis Looks at Britain to Improve Boston Homicide Clearance Rate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Facing a growing backlog of unsolved slayings, Boston police commissioner Edward Davis will overhaul the way his detectives work homicide cases by employing modern sleuthing techniques - such as rapidly flooding murder scenes with a swarm of investigators and forensic experts - in a first-in-the-nation initiative aimed at bringing vicious killers to swift justice, reports the Boston Herald. "My goal is to improve the clearance rate," said Davis. "To get over the national average (of 65 percent) - and I think that's possible - we need to examine best practices. I want to shoot for the stars with this."
Davis said the last time a serious study of investigative techniques took place was 1975. "This is the first time in 35 years that anyone will take a hard look at what detectives do," he said. Davis is looking across the pond to the so-called "British model" for fresh ideas. The murder clearance rate in Boston this year is about 34 percent, the Herald calculates, although Boston police, using the FBI method of calculating, say their clearance rate this year was 55 percent. Keys to the British model are setting strict protocols for approaching each homicide and sending teams of detectives and crime scene specialists, known as "murder squads," to work the slaying scene in the first 48 hours while clues and witness memories are still fresh. The "golden hour," immediately after the call comes in, is critical. That's when decisions that lead to quick arrests and successful prosecutions are made, said Eugene O'Donnell of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Boston Herald
NYC Crime Up or Down, Depending on How Strangulation is Counted
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Major crime in New York City has risen in 2011 but less than 1 percent, says the New York Times. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the number of felonies has gone down. His logic was rooted in a state law that created strangulation as a new class of crime. The law, which went into effect in late 2010, offered three definitions of strangulation (none resulting in a person's death); first- and second-degree strangulation were felonies, and third-degree strangulation was a misdemeanor. The city's theory is that many crimes now classified as second-degree strangulations would have been treated as misdemeanors or less before the new law took effect.
If those crimes were excluded from the 2011 felony total, overall crime would have fallen by 1.2 percent, Bloomberg said. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly cited criminologist Franklin Zimring of the University of California at Berkeley, whose recent book, "The City That Became Safe," looks closely at the reduction in crime in New York City since 1991. "He says the reduction of crime in New York City is a Guinness Book of World Records reduction, not seen anywhere," Kelly said. "He says - he's a very definite voice in the business - that the reason for the dramatic, the Guinness Book of Records reduction over two decades, is police work. It's as simple as that, as direct as that."
New York Times
Post-Katrina Woes Contribute to New Orleans' Rising Homicide Total
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stories of street killings in New Orleans continue to crowd nightly newscasts, despite vows by leaders to stem the violence, says USA Today. As of yesterday, police had counted 197 murders in the city - well above last year's tally of 175. The murder rate last year was 51 per 100,000 residents - 10 times the national average and five times larger than other similar-size cities. The violence is hampering the rebuilding and repopulating of New Orleans from the floods that followed Katrina.
As murder rates elsewhere continue to drop, New Orleans is trending the wrong way, says John Roman of the Urban Institute: "What's happening in New Orleans is completely different from what you're seeing in almost every major U.S. city." Why has it been so difficult to stop the killings, even with new leadership at the police department and the conviction of several officers involved in post-Katrina shootings of civilians? Katrina and the ensuing collapse of schools, home life and other support structures likely played a role, says Lance Hill of the New Orleans-based Southern Institute for Education and Research. Children displaced by the floods returned with their families to a wrecked city, bounced from school to school and lacked mental health professionals to help them through the trauma, he says.
USA Today
Chicago Crime Numbers Are Down, Police Role Debated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chicago is close to ending 2011 with fewer murders than last year, which saw the lowest number of those violent crimes in nearly a half a century, says the Chicago Tribune. From January through Tuesday, there were 423 murders in Chicago compared to 431 through the same period last year, say police statistics. That is a steady decline since 2008, when the city had 513 murders. A year later, that number was down to 459. Overall crime is down by 8 percent this year. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has overseen a makeover in the patrol division that included shifting more than 1,000 police officers from desk jobs, lockups and two specialized units to beat patrols.
Criminologist Dennis Rosenbaum of the University of Illinois at Chicago that if violent crime were to rise, it could be attributed to such factors as unprecedented contact between rival gangs, gang members looking to reclaim their authoritative positions in the neighborhood upon their return from prison, and instability in the illegal drug market. "This problem should not be the sole responsibility of the police," Rosenbaum said. "Studies around the world consistently suggest that violence, including gang violence, is the result of concentrated poverty, low-functioning schools, stressors on the family that lead to family dysfunction, a culture of violence through entertainment, media and sports, discrimination and exclusion."
Chicago Tribune
CA Police Say ShotSpotter Works, Improves Community Relations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The gunfire alert system ShotSpotter has become a basic component of police work in six San Francisco Bay Area cities that have bought it in recent years, says the San Francisco Chronicle. While offering mostly anecdotal evidence, and acknowledging some problems, police commanders say it's been a success and is likely to be a permanent feature of their jobs. San Francisco is expanding its network from 4.3 to 9.3 square miles.
Proponents say the system enables officers to respond faster, often reaching the spot where shots were fired before the first 911 caller dials in. In many rough neighborhoods, officials said, the vast majority of gunfire prompts a ShotSpotter alert but no human calls. As he displayed a series of ShotSpotter alerts on his office computer, San Francisco police Commander Mikail Ali said the system also did something less tangible: convince people that police were on their side. "We used to miss a lot of these (gunfire) incidents," Ali said. "People assumed we knew about them, but we didn't. They would say, 'They don't show up because they don't care.' It further polarized communities."
San Francisco Chronicle
Phoenix Sheriff Arpaio Rejects Black Leaders' Demands That He Resign
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The calls for Maricopa County, Az., Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign amid a U.S. Justice Department investigation continued to grow as a group of black leaders implored the five-term official to step down, reports the Arizona Republic. Arpaio rejected the calls for his resignation and continued to depict the effort as a politically motivated ploy brought on by longtime opponents.
More than 20 black community leaders, including Phoenix Councilman Michael Johnson and local leaders of the National Urban League and the NAACP, stood on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix and said the results of the Justice Department's civil-rights investigation demonstrated the need for an immediate change in leadership at the Sheriff's Office. "They're ganging up on me," Arpaio said. "They know I can win next year. They think they can drive me out. It's never going to happen." The Justice Department findings, issued two weeks ago, accuse Arpaio of running an office that fosters institutional discrimination against Latino residents through the sheriff's immigration-enforcement efforts and treatment of Hispanic inmates.
Arizona Republic
Private Firm Taking Control of Ohio Prison This Weekend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Management & Training Corp. of Utah takes over operation of Ohio's 2,300-inmate North Central Correctional Institution tomorrow, reports the Associated Press. The prison is among five state facilities seeing management or operations changes that night in a consolidation and privatization effort by Republican Gov. John Kasich.
Management & Training Corp. of Utah takes over operation of Ohio's 2,300-inmate North Central Correctional Institution tomorrow, reports the Associated Press. The prison is among five state facilities seeing management or operations changes that night in a consolidation and privatization effort by Republican Gov. John Kasich. The previously private North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in Lorain County will be returned to state control and merged into one complex with adjacent Grafton Correctional Institution. Kasich put five state prisons on the block, but only the privately-run Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut was sold. It was bought by Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest prison vendor, for $72.7 million in the first deal of its kind in the nation. The vendor already ran the facility. The sale generated more than enough to close a $50 million prison budget gap that loomed, so other offers were rejected. Savings will be realized even as the state adds 702 beds to its overcrowded 50,200-inmate prison system, said prisons spokesman Carlo LoParo.
Associated Press/Columbus Dispatch
Will Luck of Immigration-Law Critics Run Out at the Supreme Court?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Federal judges have blocked strict new immigration laws adopted by conservative legislatures in half a dozen states, including a ruling last week that said South Carolina may not set up a "street-level dragnet" to stop and arrest illegal immigrants, the Los Angeles Times reports. Immigrant rights advocates who have cheered those rulings may soon find their luck has run out as those rulings head for the Supreme Court. Legal experts believe the high court's conservative majority will take a sharply different approach.
So far, lower-court judges have mostly sided with the Obama administration, ruling, as U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel did in the South Carolina case, that regulating immigration is the province solely of the federal government, not the states. In addition to South Carolina, judges have blocked extensive parts of immigration laws in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, and Utah and some parts of an Alabama law. Immigrant rights advocates say nearly all the judges have agreed that states cannot make immigration offenses a state crime. "The common thread is that states can't be in the business of finding and locking up people they suspect of being undocumented immigrants," said Cecillia Wang of the national Immigrants' Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Alabama ruling is the one notable exception to that trend.
Los Angeles Times
U.S. Prosecutors Have Less Money to Spend; $2,800 to Close a Felony
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics offers a new, if a bit dated, profile of the nation's prosecutors. A 2007 census found 2,330 state prosecutors' offices, 11 fewer than found in a 2001 count. They serve a wide range of populations, from 500 to 9.9 million residents. The prosecutors had $5.8 billion to spend, down from $6.1 billion in 2001.
n full-time offices serving populations of under 100,000--three-fourths of the nation's prosecutors' offices--the average office includes one chief prosecutor, three assistants, one victim advocate, one legal services staffer, one investigator, and three support staff. Prosecutors' entry-level salaries in such officers are typically in the $44,000-$55,000 range. The budgeted cost per felony case closed was just under $2,800, in prosecutors' offices serving more than 1 million residents.
U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
"Murderabilia" Sales Assailed as "Insidious and Despicable Industry"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A calculator that retails for $99 is for sale at $3,700 on the crime memorabilia site Supernaught because it beloned to Seung Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007, says the Washington Post. The calculator and hundreds of items like it--the personal effects, paintings, letters, and even fingernails of killers, are being sold to collectors on at least a half-dozen "murderabiliia" sites.
Collectors say Cho's calculator is the first item with a connection to the him available for purchase in more than four years - since the first 48 hours after his mass murder. "It's an insidious and despicable industry," said Andy Kahan, a Houston victims' rights advocate and law enforcement official who has led a campaign to prohibit the sale of murderabilia. Although eight states, including Texas and California, have laws that prohibit convicted killers from profiting from their crimes, efforts to push legislation through Congress have failed repeatedly.
Washington Post
Murders Up Again In "Kill-A-Delphia," Mayor's Goals Not Met
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation's 10 most populous cities, says the Philadelphia Daily News. At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved. The city's homicide tally stood at 324 Wednesday, including the eight victims allegedly killed in previous years by West Philly abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Last year, 306 people were killed, and the year before, 302. City officials prefer to focus on the past. When they compare numbers, they go back to 2007, when murders in Philly were at the five-year high of 392. Looking at it that way, they get a 17 percent decrease in the murder rate from 2007 to 2011.
Mayor Michael Nutter, during his 2007 campaign, pledged that he wouldn't seek re-election if the 2010 homicide tally was more than the 288 killed in 2002. At his inauguration in 2008, he set what turned out to be an overly ambitious goal of slashing the city's murder rate by 30 to 50 percent in three to five years. He won re-election this year. Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, said the city had been making progress, but when the economy tanked, the mayor was unable to implement some of his plans for reducing crime. Among the 10 most populous cities, Philly comes out on top, with 20.7 homicides per 100,000 residents. The next closest are Chicago, 15.7, and Dallas, 10.9.
Philadelphia Daily News
OR Panel Urges Sentencing, Parole, Juvenile Reforms to Avoid Prisons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oregon could spare itself a continuing run-up in its billion-dollar prison system with changes to sentences, parolee programs, and juvenile justice, a state commission is reporting to Gov. John Kitzhaber, The Oregonian reports. The panel said far more is known now about how to punish and reform offenders since the last thorough reform of sentences in 1989. Proved techniques could drive down recidivism, mitigating the need to build prisons and add thousands more beds.
Money motivated Kitzhaber to put the group to work. State forecasters estimate that Oregon's prison population will grow by 2,000 over the next decade. The state corrections department said it would need $608 million more in coming years to house that population, including building prisons. Some of that cost can be avoided, the commission said. "The commission has missed the mark by focusing on only one aspect of the criminal justice system: sentencing," said Wasco County District Attorney Eric Nisley, president of the Oregon District Attorneys Association. He said current sentencing policies work.
The Oregonian
Davis Looks at Britain to Improve Boston Homicide Clearance Rate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Facing a growing backlog of unsolved slayings, Boston police commissioner Edward Davis will overhaul the way his detectives work homicide cases by employing modern sleuthing techniques - such as rapidly flooding murder scenes with a swarm of investigators and forensic experts - in a first-in-the-nation initiative aimed at bringing vicious killers to swift justice, reports the Boston Herald. "My goal is to improve the clearance rate," said Davis. "To get over the national average (of 65 percent) - and I think that's possible - we need to examine best practices. I want to shoot for the stars with this."
Davis said the last time a serious study of investigative techniques took place was 1975. "This is the first time in 35 years that anyone will take a hard look at what detectives do," he said. Davis is looking across the pond to the so-called "British model" for fresh ideas. The murder clearance rate in Boston this year is about 34 percent, the Herald calculates, although Boston police, using the FBI method of calculating, say their clearance rate this year was 55 percent. Keys to the British model are setting strict protocols for approaching each homicide and sending teams of detectives and crime scene specialists, known as "murder squads," to work the slaying scene in the first 48 hours while clues and witness memories are still fresh. The "golden hour," immediately after the call comes in, is critical. That's when decisions that lead to quick arrests and successful prosecutions are made, said Eugene O'Donnell of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Boston Herald
NYC Crime Up or Down, Depending on How Strangulation is Counted
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Major crime in New York City has risen in 2011 but less than 1 percent, says the New York Times. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the number of felonies has gone down. His logic was rooted in a state law that created strangulation as a new class of crime. The law, which went into effect in late 2010, offered three definitions of strangulation (none resulting in a person's death); first- and second-degree strangulation were felonies, and third-degree strangulation was a misdemeanor. The city's theory is that many crimes now classified as second-degree strangulations would have been treated as misdemeanors or less before the new law took effect.
If those crimes were excluded from the 2011 felony total, overall crime would have fallen by 1.2 percent, Bloomberg said. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly cited criminologist Franklin Zimring of the University of California at Berkeley, whose recent book, "The City That Became Safe," looks closely at the reduction in crime in New York City since 1991. "He says the reduction of crime in New York City is a Guinness Book of World Records reduction, not seen anywhere," Kelly said. "He says - he's a very definite voice in the business - that the reason for the dramatic, the Guinness Book of Records reduction over two decades, is police work. It's as simple as that, as direct as that."
New York Times
Post-Katrina Woes Contribute to New Orleans' Rising Homicide Total
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stories of street killings in New Orleans continue to crowd nightly newscasts, despite vows by leaders to stem the violence, says USA Today. As of yesterday, police had counted 197 murders in the city - well above last year's tally of 175. The murder rate last year was 51 per 100,000 residents - 10 times the national average and five times larger than other similar-size cities. The violence is hampering the rebuilding and repopulating of New Orleans from the floods that followed Katrina.
As murder rates elsewhere continue to drop, New Orleans is trending the wrong way, says John Roman of the Urban Institute: "What's happening in New Orleans is completely different from what you're seeing in almost every major U.S. city." Why has it been so difficult to stop the killings, even with new leadership at the police department and the conviction of several officers involved in post-Katrina shootings of civilians? Katrina and the ensuing collapse of schools, home life and other support structures likely played a role, says Lance Hill of the New Orleans-based Southern Institute for Education and Research. Children displaced by the floods returned with their families to a wrecked city, bounced from school to school and lacked mental health professionals to help them through the trauma, he says.
USA Today
Chicago Crime Numbers Are Down, Police Role Debated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chicago is close to ending 2011 with fewer murders than last year, which saw the lowest number of those violent crimes in nearly a half a century, says the Chicago Tribune. From January through Tuesday, there were 423 murders in Chicago compared to 431 through the same period last year, say police statistics. That is a steady decline since 2008, when the city had 513 murders. A year later, that number was down to 459. Overall crime is down by 8 percent this year. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has overseen a makeover in the patrol division that included shifting more than 1,000 police officers from desk jobs, lockups and two specialized units to beat patrols.
Criminologist Dennis Rosenbaum of the University of Illinois at Chicago that if violent crime were to rise, it could be attributed to such factors as unprecedented contact between rival gangs, gang members looking to reclaim their authoritative positions in the neighborhood upon their return from prison, and instability in the illegal drug market. "This problem should not be the sole responsibility of the police," Rosenbaum said. "Studies around the world consistently suggest that violence, including gang violence, is the result of concentrated poverty, low-functioning schools, stressors on the family that lead to family dysfunction, a culture of violence through entertainment, media and sports, discrimination and exclusion."
Chicago Tribune
CA Police Say ShotSpotter Works, Improves Community Relations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The gunfire alert system ShotSpotter has become a basic component of police work in six San Francisco Bay Area cities that have bought it in recent years, says the San Francisco Chronicle. While offering mostly anecdotal evidence, and acknowledging some problems, police commanders say it's been a success and is likely to be a permanent feature of their jobs. San Francisco is expanding its network from 4.3 to 9.3 square miles.
Proponents say the system enables officers to respond faster, often reaching the spot where shots were fired before the first 911 caller dials in. In many rough neighborhoods, officials said, the vast majority of gunfire prompts a ShotSpotter alert but no human calls. As he displayed a series of ShotSpotter alerts on his office computer, San Francisco police Commander Mikail Ali said the system also did something less tangible: convince people that police were on their side. "We used to miss a lot of these (gunfire) incidents," Ali said. "People assumed we knew about them, but we didn't. They would say, 'They don't show up because they don't care.' It further polarized communities."
San Francisco Chronicle
Phoenix Sheriff Arpaio Rejects Black Leaders' Demands That He Resign
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The calls for Maricopa County, Az., Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign amid a U.S. Justice Department investigation continued to grow as a group of black leaders implored the five-term official to step down, reports the Arizona Republic. Arpaio rejected the calls for his resignation and continued to depict the effort as a politically motivated ploy brought on by longtime opponents.
More than 20 black community leaders, including Phoenix Councilman Michael Johnson and local leaders of the National Urban League and the NAACP, stood on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix and said the results of the Justice Department's civil-rights investigation demonstrated the need for an immediate change in leadership at the Sheriff's Office. "They're ganging up on me," Arpaio said. "They know I can win next year. They think they can drive me out. It's never going to happen." The Justice Department findings, issued two weeks ago, accuse Arpaio of running an office that fosters institutional discrimination against Latino residents through the sheriff's immigration-enforcement efforts and treatment of Hispanic inmates.
Arizona Republic
Private Firm Taking Control of Ohio Prison This Weekend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Management & Training Corp. of Utah takes over operation of Ohio's 2,300-inmate North Central Correctional Institution tomorrow, reports the Associated Press. The prison is among five state facilities seeing management or operations changes that night in a consolidation and privatization effort by Republican Gov. John Kasich.
Management & Training Corp. of Utah takes over operation of Ohio's 2,300-inmate North Central Correctional Institution tomorrow, reports the Associated Press. The prison is among five state facilities seeing management or operations changes that night in a consolidation and privatization effort by Republican Gov. John Kasich. The previously private North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in Lorain County will be returned to state control and merged into one complex with adjacent Grafton Correctional Institution. Kasich put five state prisons on the block, but only the privately-run Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut was sold. It was bought by Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest prison vendor, for $72.7 million in the first deal of its kind in the nation. The vendor already ran the facility. The sale generated more than enough to close a $50 million prison budget gap that loomed, so other offers were rejected. Savings will be realized even as the state adds 702 beds to its overcrowded 50,200-inmate prison system, said prisons spokesman Carlo LoParo.
Associated Press/Columbus Dispatch
Will Luck of Immigration-Law Critics Run Out at the Supreme Court?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Federal judges have blocked strict new immigration laws adopted by conservative legislatures in half a dozen states, including a ruling last week that said South Carolina may not set up a "street-level dragnet" to stop and arrest illegal immigrants, the Los Angeles Times reports. Immigrant rights advocates who have cheered those rulings may soon find their luck has run out as those rulings head for the Supreme Court. Legal experts believe the high court's conservative majority will take a sharply different approach.
So far, lower-court judges have mostly sided with the Obama administration, ruling, as U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel did in the South Carolina case, that regulating immigration is the province solely of the federal government, not the states. In addition to South Carolina, judges have blocked extensive parts of immigration laws in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, and Utah and some parts of an Alabama law. Immigrant rights advocates say nearly all the judges have agreed that states cannot make immigration offenses a state crime. "The common thread is that states can't be in the business of finding and locking up people they suspect of being undocumented immigrants," said Cecillia Wang of the national Immigrants' Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Alabama ruling is the one notable exception to that trend.
Los Angeles Times
U.S. Prosecutors Have Less Money to Spend; $2,800 to Close a Felony
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics offers a new, if a bit dated, profile of the nation's prosecutors. A 2007 census found 2,330 state prosecutors' offices, 11 fewer than found in a 2001 count. They serve a wide range of populations, from 500 to 9.9 million residents. The prosecutors had $5.8 billion to spend, down from $6.1 billion in 2001.
n full-time offices serving populations of under 100,000--three-fourths of the nation's prosecutors' offices--the average office includes one chief prosecutor, three assistants, one victim advocate, one legal services staffer, one investigator, and three support staff. Prosecutors' entry-level salaries in such officers are typically in the $44,000-$55,000 range. The budgeted cost per felony case closed was just under $2,800, in prosecutors' offices serving more than 1 million residents.
U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
"Murderabilia" Sales Assailed as "Insidious and Despicable Industry"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A calculator that retails for $99 is for sale at $3,700 on the crime memorabilia site Supernaught because it beloned to Seung Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007, says the Washington Post. The calculator and hundreds of items like it--the personal effects, paintings, letters, and even fingernails of killers, are being sold to collectors on at least a half-dozen "murderabiliia" sites.
Collectors say Cho's calculator is the first item with a connection to the him available for purchase in more than four years - since the first 48 hours after his mass murder. "It's an insidious and despicable industry," said Andy Kahan, a Houston victims' rights advocate and law enforcement official who has led a campaign to prohibit the sale of murderabilia. Although eight states, including Texas and California, have laws that prohibit convicted killers from profiting from their crimes, efforts to push legislation through Congress have failed repeatedly.
Washington Post
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)