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Crime-Data Site Issue: Can Private Firms Get Prime Access to Public Info?

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:26:32 -0400

Colin Drane operates the website SpotCrime.com, which obtains publicly available crime records from police agencies and graphically displays them on colorful maps. Drane tells Poynter.org the site attracts a million views a month from people curious about the burglaries, shootings, and other bedlam in their towns. The site makes money through advertising and from partnerships with television stations and other media organizations.

More than 300 law-enforcement agencies around the U.S. provide electronic access to their crime reports. He’s had conflicts with dozens of other agencies, which either deny him access entirely or provide information that’s dated or incomplete. Often, he finds that agencies already have struck deals with one of his larger competitors. The owners of sites such as CrimeReports.com, CrimeMapping.com, and RAIDS online compile and publish similar maps. “Police departments contract with a vendor and give them preferential access to very important public data,” Drane said. “If you’ve got agencies controlling the information through a vendor, that’s not full transparency, and it limits accountability.” As private companies have discovered there’s profit to be made from some kinds of government records, public agencies increasingly are outsourcing parts of their recordkeeping. That’s led to disputes over whether private firms can receive exclusive or preferential access to public data, copyright it, or withhold it from business competitors and other parties who request it.

Colorado Parole Chief Put On Leave After Criticism Over Corrections Killer

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:14:15 -0400

Tim Hand, director of Colorado's parole division, which has been under fire for two months for its handling of Evan Ebel and other violent parolees, has been put on a paid leave of absence, the Denver Post reports. Interim corrections chief Roger Werholtz announced the move in a brief e-mail to employees and said Hand would be replaced by Steve Hager, warden of the youth offender system. The e-mail offered no explanation. The parole division faced criticism for its handling of Ebel, who slipped out of his ankle monitoring bracelet on March 14. Authorities say he fatally shot pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon on March 17 and Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements at his home on March 19. It took five days after the ankle monitor was cut for a parole officer to discover the discarded bracelet at Ebel's house and six days to get a warrant for his arrest. A Denver Post review found at least 35 parolees have been convicted or accused of murder while on supervised release from prison since 2002.

Obama To Restrict Drone Strikes, Refocus U.S. War on Terrorism

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:41:46 -0400

President Obama opens a new phase in the long U.S. struggle with terrorism today by restricting use of unmanned drone strikes that have been at the heart of his national security strategy and shifting control of them away from the CIA to the military, says the New York Times. In the first major counterterrorism speech of his second term, Obama hopes to refocus the conflict that has defined U.S. priorities since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and foresees an day when the so-called war on terror might all but end. The administration acknowledged that it had killed four American citizens in drone strikes outside the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. Speaking at the National Defense University, Obama will renew his long-stalled effort to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Times says Obama "appears intent on countering criticism of his most controversial policies by reorienting them to meet changing conditions." He is expected to reject the notion of a perpetual war with terrorists, envisioning a day when Al Qaeda has been so incapacitated that wartime authority will end.

Sweeping Changes In TN Sex-Trafficking Laws May Make State National Model

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:31:27 -0400

As sex trafficking has had newfound attention, Tennessee has developed one of the nation’s most comprehensive anti-trafficking programs, The Tennessean reports. Twelve laws approved by legislators this year include harsher criminal penalties on traffickers, an extended window of time for prosecutors to bring charges, and the creation of a state trafficking task force to study and respond to the issue. The measures amplify a wave of attention since a statewide study in 2011 documented incidents of sex trafficking — which officials define as coercive adult prostitution and any sexual exploitation of children. "I would label this as sweeping changes," said Margie Quin of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Since the 2011 study, the bureau has trained thousands of agents, and this year a coalition of women’s groups funded promotions for the state’s trafficking phone line for crime tips and victim assistance. And Nashville again will host a four-day conference on trafficking — beginning today — in which police, teachers and social workers will receive training. Of the laws going into effect July 1, Quin said one stood out: Authorities will be able to prosecute those paying for sex — the “johns” — as traffickers.

Jodi Arias and Sheriff Joe Arpaio Both Willing to Allow Media Interviews During Trial

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:17:26 -0400

One reason Arizona's Jodi Arias trial is a media circus is that media-savvy Sheriff Joe Arpaio is ready and willing to set up jailhouse interviews with his most famous inmate, says the Associated Press. The spectacle surrounding the case reached new levels after Arias was convicted of murder two weeks ago when she told the local Fox affiliate in a stunning interview that she wanted the death penalty. Arpaio, whose office runs the county jail system, gave reporters a tour of Arias’ cell. On Tuesday night, he allowed Arias to do jailhouse interviews just hours after the jury began deliberating whether she should get the death penalty. The sheriff and defendant’s self-promotion added to a trial that many, including Arias’ own attorneys, argue is a runaway train. Fans flock to the courthouse, seeking autographs from the prosecutor and bartering for seats in the gallery. It’s rare for murder defendants to give interviews to reporters during a trial, or for jail officials to allow them. This trial is different because it has willing participants: Arpaio and Arias. "The media wanted to talk to her," Arpaio told AP. "She wanted to talk to them." The jury resumes deliberations today on Arias' sentence.

Seattle Law Enforcement Program for Prostitutes Under Investigation

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:09:22 -0400

A veteran King County sheriff’s deputy has been placed on administrative leave after his work with a drop-in center for women and girls involved in the sex trade in Seattle became the subject of an internal investigation, says the Seattle Times. The deputy, Andy Conner, is the idea man behind The Genesis Project, a nonprofit drop-in shelter that opened in 2011 to provide a safe haven for women involved in the sex trade. Conner and sheriff’s Detectives Brian Taylor and Joel Banks pooled their money and raised funds to launch the center to offer girls and women a way out of prostitution. The Seattle Times profiled The Genesis Project and the three men last year, a story featured in Crime & Justice News. The investigation is apparently focused on the finances of The Genesis Project. Several longtime staff and board members have left the center in recent months. It’s unclear whether The Genesis Project remains in operation.

America's 'War on Drugs' Proving Costly to Argentine Women

Graham Kates — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:51:01 -0400

The population of women in Argentina’s prisons has nearly tripled in the last two decades, in part due to the United States’ “War on Drugs,” according to a recently released report.

Researchers from Cornell Law School's Avon Global Center for Women and Justice and International Human Rights Clinic, University of Chicago Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, and the Public Defender's Office in Argentina surveyed nearly 30 percent of women incarcerated in Argentina’s federal prisons, and interviewed other key stakeholders.

The study found that Argentina’s response to pressure from the U.S. to participate in the “War on Drugs” has been to focus on low-level drug crimes, in which women are disproportionately represented.

“Within the drug hierarchy, women most often play the low-level role of trafficking mules, transporting drugs in their belongings, or on or within their bodies,” researchers wrote.

Researchers found that about 56 percent of women in federal prisons were incarcerated for drug trafficking. More than 40 percent were pretrial detainees.

Read the full report HERE.

States Refusing to Disclose Suppliers of Hard-to-Get Execution Drugs

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:25:59 -0400

States that impose the death penalty have been facing a shortage of the drugs used in executions, says ProPublica. California, with the largest death row population, is unlikely execute anyone for three years, in part due to the shortage of appropriate lethal drugs. Ohio, second to Texas in the number of executions since 2010, said it will run out of the drug it uses in executions, pentobarbital, on Sept. 30. Every state's supply of pentotbarbital expires at the end of November. States are seeking new suppliers or different drugs, and enacting changes to public records laws to keep the names of suppliers and manufacturers of those alternative drugs secret. Each time a state has found a new source for a drug to use in executions, Reprieve, an anti-death penalty organization based in London, in collaboration with U.S. death penalty lawyers, has used freedom of information laws, the local news media, and the powers of persuasion to compel the drug's manufacturer to cut off the supply. States, including Georgia, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Tennessee, are taking measures to keep anti-death penalty activists, and journalists, from learning the identity of suppliers.

U.S. Inmates Die Without "Compassionate Release," Fixes Could Take 2 Years

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:02:32 -0400

Many federal inmates die while their requests for "compassionate release" drift through the system, NPR reports. NPR tells the story of Clarence Allen Rice, who died of cancer in prison before he could gain release. Michael Horowitz, Justice Department inspector general, found the compassionate release program poorly managed and rife with confusion. "If you're going to tell inmates that they can only apply if they show that they have less than a certain number of months to live, there needs to be some standards in place so that the people processing these papers understand they've got to make the decisions quickly," he says. Mary Price of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which advocates for inmates and their relatives, says only about two dozen inmates a year get compassionate release, though thousands may be eligible under that program — including more than 100 inmates over age 80. The Federal Bureau of Prisons didn't want said it would do a better job of letting inmates know about the program, cut down on how many people need to approve the requests, and start tracking them electronically. Making all those changes could take two years.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev Implicated In 2011 Triple Murder; Agent Kills Accomplice

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:48:35 -0400

The late Tamerlan Tsarnaev, suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing, is believed to have committed a grisly triple murder in 2011, law enforcement officials said after a man believed to be his accomplice was gunned down in Orlando yesterday by a federal agent who was questioning him, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ibragim Todashev, 27, was shot dead after he lunged at and cut an FBI agent, who with two Massachusetts state troopers had been questioning him about the murders in Waltham, Ma. Officials said Todashev made a series of incriminating statements about the murders, implicating himself and Tsarnaev. Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev belonged to a small circle: ethnic Chechens on the Boston-area fighting circuit. One of the Waltham victims was also involved in amateur fighting and sometimes sparred with Tamerlan.

How California Fire Camps Help Provide Meaningful Work for Prisoners

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:35:00 -0400

California state fire camps allow low-level offenders to complete their time outside of prison walls and earn good behavior credits more quickly, reports Capital Public Radio. There's a catch. The inmates must train to work as hand and support crews to back up professional firefighters during wildfires. Once a year inmates on hand crews must pass a series of qualifying tests. The state runs 42 adult camps, including three for women. They hold more than 4,100 inmates. Governor Jerry Brown wants to increase their ranks by 1,250. It's part of his court-ordered plan to reduce overcrowding in California prisons.

Roy Evens is the Cal Fire Division Chief in charge of the Vallecito camp. "Bring 'em. We'd be happy to have them," he says. Those that come should not expect an easy ride. Evens says the days spent fighting fires can be brutal. "It starts early and ends rather late," he says. "It's not uncommon for hand crews, during an initial attack, to be on the line for 36 hours." That doesn't faze 33-year-old inmate Daniel Palmer. He says being at the camp is hard, but it's better than the alternative. "Being incarcerated, I spent a lot of time just on the yard, just wasting time," he says. "Here we have grade projects when we don't have fires, where we can go out and do things for the community. You know, make the world a better place while paying our debt to society."

With Business Help, Texas Bills On Prisoner Re-Entry On Way to Governor

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:32:00 -0400

Bills that attempt to make it easier for ex-offenders to find jobs once they are out of prison are headed to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's desk, reports the Texas Tribune. As they made their way through House and Senate committees, they had the usual input from groups that focus on criminal justice reform. They also got special attention from the Texas Association of Business, which specifically put criminal justice issues on its legislative agenda for the first time. Many of the bills supported by the business association passed, making it easier for some former prisoners to gain work skills and find jobs. Others withered under opposition. The association worked to address the concerns of businesses that are willing to hire former prisoners haven’t done so in the past. One bill would limit to law enforcement information in the statewide registry of sex offenders about employers, which can cause businesses to be hesitant about hiring people. The Texas Association of Broadcasters criticized the bill, saying it would make it difficult to inform the public about dangerous people in its midst. Another bill sent to the governor would limit the liability of businesses that hire ex-offenders.

Louis Mayo Dies; Helped Start NIJ, Promoted Community Policing

Ted Gest — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:44:00 -0400

Louis Mayo, known to many as National Institute of Justice "Employee #1," died this month in Virginia of cancer at 84. In 1968. Mayo issued the first policy memo of the newly founded National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (NILECJ), which later became NIJ, says the agency's Thomas Feucht. A former Secret Service agent on the White House detail, Mayo later was instrumental in developing and promoting community policing programs.

He formed and operated PACE (Police Association for College Education http://www.police-association.org) to encourage police departments to require BA degrees for their officers, and was founder and president of “Mayo Mayo and Associates” for 30 years, promoting best practices in criminal justice and policing. A Justice Department colleague remarked that International Association of Chiefs of Police conferences won't be the same without Mayo there, saying, "Who else, in the world of sole proprietors, believes in their work so much that they have a booth at IACP every year?”

OR Prosecutors Favor Cutting Terms for Pot, Other Drugs to Curb Prison Growth

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:37:39 -0400

The Oregon District Attorneys Association is advocating lower prison sentences for marijuana and other drug crimes as a way of curbing the growth of state prisons, reports the Salem Statesman Journal. Clackamas County DA John Foote said the plan is a response to legislation intended to save $600 million over the next decade by capping the prison population at 14,600. The legislation has the support of a public safety commission appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber and relies on reducing sentences for violent and property crimes. Foote said reducing sentences for some categories of sex abuse, assault, and robbery would be a mistake.

California "Realignment" Pushes National Jail Population Up

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:32:36 -0400

The national jail population rose last year after three straight years of decline, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said today.

As of mid-year 2012, the count in city and county jails was 744,524, up from 735,601 the year before. The increase was due mostly to California's "public safety realignment" program, which shifted many inmates from state prisons to local jails starting in late 2011.

California's jail population rose last year by about 7,600 after record-low counts at the ends of both 2010 and 2011.

Across the U.S., the rate of jail population per 100,000 residents remained stable between 2011 (236 per 100,000) and 2012 (237 per 100,000), down from a high of 259 in 2007.

Jails with an average daily population of 1,000 or more inmates accounted for some 91 percent (8,090) of the increase in the inmate population.

Jails operated at 84 percent of capacity, the lowest percentage since 1984.

Local jails admitted about 11.6 million inmates in the year ending midyear 2012, down from 13.6 million in 2008.

Stays in jails typically are so short that the number of those admitted last year was about 16 times the size of the average daily population.

Read the full report HERE.

Ted Gest is president of Criminal Justice Journalists and Washington DC Bureau Chief of The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers.

Immigration 40% of Federal Crime Cases, From 12K to 85K In Decade

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:27:39 -0400

Immigration-related offenses are now the leading type of federal prosecution, constituting more than 40 percent of cases compared with 22 percent for drug crimes, according to federal crime data cited in a Human Rights Watch report quoted by the Los Angeles Times. Many immigrants are now prosecuted because they try to cross the border again after being deported, says the organization. Often, they are so desperate to get back to their families in the U.S. that prison time is not a deterrent, the report said. In the past, people with no prior criminal record would have been deported without being prosecuted. The report, "Turning Migrants Into Criminals," said immigration prosecutions for illegal entry or reentry increased to more than 85,000 in 2013 from about 12,500 in 2002. Until about a decade ago, most people prosecuted for immigration violations had criminal histories that included violent crimes or firearms offenses. Then federal prosecutors began taking more immigration cases in which the defendant had no prior convictions or a minor criminal record. A misdemeanor conviction for illegal entry is now enough to trigger a felony prosecution if the person is caught trying to enter the country a second time. Human Rights Watch put the cost of incarcerating immigration violators at $1 billion in 2011.

Arias "Circus" To End in Arizona as Jury Considers Life-or-Death Decision

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:18:18 -0400

On the evening after Jodi Arias’ fate went to the jury in Arizona, she seemed to hold out hope her life would be spared, reports the Arizona Republic. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, 12 News and NBC’s “Today” show, Arias said she doesn’t know if the jury will come back with life or death. “Whatever they come back with I will have to deal with it,” she said. “I have no other choice. The verdict may come today, ending what the Republic calls "the circus at Maricopa County Superior Court" that has drawn worldwide media attention. She will likely be transported to the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville immediately after the verdict, whether it is for life or for death. Arias, 32, was convicted May 8 of first-degree murder for the brutal 2008 slaying of Travis Alexander. Last week, the jury quickly found that the murder was committed in an especially cruel manner, opening Arias to a possible death sentence.

Colorado Lawyer Advocates "YouTube Law" To Advance His Cases

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:08:57 -0400

A Boulder, Co., attorney is wading into a touchy new area of legal ethics as he champions YouTube for attorneys who want to take their cases beyond the courtroom and into the court of public opinion, says the Denver Post. John Pineau has twice put video clips of pre-trial questioning on YouTube to the advantage of his clients and to the detriment of opponents: once because of a sense of moral outrage, another time in a case that resulted in a secret settlement. Pineau is teaching other attorneys how to add this potent component to their legal arsenal and to do it in a way that doesn't bend the rules of law. "This is an incredible new hammer of justice," said Pineau. "It's really not understating it to say this will change justice around the world." Deborah Cantrell, who teaches legal ethics at the University of Colorado, predicts widely differing opinions among attorneys on the ethics of what might be called YouTube law. Pineau became a firm believer in YouTube law after he won a civil judgment for a Hungarian-born woman against her ex-husband — who was convicted of beating her — and that man's father last year.

Killings Up in Central New Orleans Since CeaseFire; Optimism Remains

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:53:41 -0400

A little more than a year after the CeaseFire program was announced in New Orleans, the staff tasked with short-circuiting street violence through personal intervention had identified 40 conflicts that could result, or had already ended up, in bloodshed in an area of New Orleans' Central City neighborhood, says the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Of the 40 or so conflicts violence interrupters have tried to mediate, 23 diminished enough that CeaseFire was focusing on getting the people involved in those conflicts in contact with outreach workers. Despite the CeaseFire staff's efforts, the number of killings and shootings in Central City has not been reduced. The number, in fact, has increased. Neither the staff nor the City of New Orleans, which has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to CeaseFire, is ready to declare the program a failure. Officials say CeaseFire has prevented retaliatory violence in numerous instances, and it has had a positive effect on people's lives. "If you think about where Central City was, the hard and deep work that it'll take to get it to a better place is something that we are actively engaged in with our conflict mediation and our case management," said Johnetta Pressley, who oversees CeaseFire's efforts.

FBI Agent Kills Chechen With Ties to Marathon Suspect Tsarnaev

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:40:03 -0400

An FBI agent in Orlando today shot and killed a Chechen man with ties to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, says the Boston Globe. The FBI identified the person killed as as Ibragim Todashev, 26. A friend said Todashev was being questioned about his ties to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a shootout in with police on April 19; his younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in federal custody and facing charges that could bring the death penalty. A friend of Todashev said he met Tsarnaev when both lived in Massachusetts, and that the two men spoke with each other "months before" the April 15 bombings.

OAS Suggests Drug Decriminalization Even if It Leads to Dependency, Abuse

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:23:41 -0400

The Organization of American States says the illegal-drug industry in North America is worth $140 billion of the annual worldwide $330 billion illegal drug trade, reports the Washington Examiner. The OAS analysis suggests that a combination of decriminalization and legalization might help change the out-of-control drug business. The organization conceded it could also lead to greater drug dependency and abuse. "This situation must be faced with greater realism and effectiveness if we want to move forward successfully," said OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza. The report said that, "Legal availability, even without lower price, will encourage experimentation. Some of those new experimenters will go on to become dependent users. Dependent users include poorer parents, students, workers, and neighbors. Thus the increase in dependency may lead to more child neglect and abuse, more children dropping out of school, increased absenteeism, and less community spirit in populations that had not been much affected previously by drug dependence."

New Jersey Chief Justice Seeks to Speed Trials, Reform Bail System

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:14:09 -0400

New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wants to speed criminal and civil justice in his state, says the Newark Star-Ledger. He also wants to tackle bail reform in addition to what Gov. Chris Christie has proposed. A large number of people are awaiting trial in jail because they can’t afford to post bail payments of $2,500 or less, Rabner said, "and that’s not a healthy practice for a system of justice." Rabner is naming committees to make specific proposals. Roseanne Scotti, state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said residents facing criminal charges typically spend several months in jail while they await their trial. Last October, nearly 40 percent of the 15,000 in jail couldn’t afford to post bail. Rabner expects the panels will report back to him within a year. He said some reforms can be made by the courts and others may need legislative approval. A group of 11 judges is already studying whether there are too many pre-trial conferences, whether there should be a cut-off date for plea agreements, and whether it takes too long to gather evidence in a trial.

Senate Judiciary Approves Immigration Reform; Conservatives Assail It

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:01:07 -0400

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws on a bipartisan vote, sending the most significant immigration policy changes in decades to the full Senate, reports the New York Times. Debate is expected next month. The 13-to-5 vote came as the panel agreed to hold off on a particularly politically charged amendment, which would have added protections for same-sex couples. As the committee was finishing its work, dozens of high-profile conservative leaders and activists signed an open letter that denounced the bipartisan bill, saying the Senate “would do better to start over from scratch.”

TX Bill Gives Police New Authority to Seize Guns in Mental Incidents

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:41:25 -0400

The Texas legislature passed a bill giving police would have new authority to take firearms away from people in a mental crisis, reports the Texas Tribune. If signed by Gov. Rick Perry, the bill will allow police to confiscate guns from people who are experiencing a mental health crisis if they determine the person is a danger to themselves or others. The change is one of many suggested in a report by Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit advocacy organization, that called on lawmakers to replace the existing mental health code with one that reflects modern mental health needs. Lt. Michael Lee of the Houston Police Department said the law should spell out what authority officers have in situations where someone is experiencing a mental health crisis and there are weapons in close proximity. The bill also specifies how guns should be returned to their owners.

Federal Aid to Crime Victims Threatened by Budget Sequestration Deal

Ted Gest — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:00:29 -0400

Sequestration and related cuts in the current federal fiscal year will reduce or eliminate services to more than 955,000 crime victims, says the Center for American Progress, citing data from the National association of VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) Assistance Administrators. Federal criminal offenders pay into the federal crime victims fund through fines and penalties levied against them. Still, sequestration is expected to reduce federal victims-service-assistance grants to states by $37.2 million, resulting in the more than 377,000 victims losing access to these services this fiscal year. Even though Congress finally reauthorized the federal Violence Against Women Act, at least 106,000 fewer victims are expected to receive services involving domestic violence and sexual assault due to sequestration. Says the Center for American Progress: "Before boarding planes to go home on recess last month, Congress rushed to fix sequestration-related inconveniences for air travelers, but victims of crime and the law enforcement and other agencies that serve them remain dangerously shortchanged."

Rash of MN Cases of Men Killing Spouses, Girlfriends Worries Experts

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:12:13 -0400

The psyche of men who kill their spouses or girlfriends is a growing concern in Minnesota, where a spike in domestic homicides has provoked a jump in calls to domestic abuse shelters, says the Minneapolis Star Tribune. At least nine boyfriends or husbands have allegedly killed their partners so far this year. The state is on pace to double the 2012 total of 14 deaths. “The level of violence I’m seeing? Things are getting worse, not better,” said Heidi Carlson, who leads the men’s counseling program for the Domestic Abuse Project in Minneapolis. The profile of a typical abuser is a man who has been victimized himself in childhood and has developed such insecurity that he has an overwhelming desire to control everything around him — especially the routines and whereabouts of his spouse or girlfriend. The abuser who is more likely to kill owns a gun, and brandishes it during arguments. He is likely to have made death threats to his partner in the past, and to have raped or choked her.

A less common but telling risk is when an abuser hurts a pregnant partner, said Neil Websdale, a Northern Arizona University professor and an expert on domestic homicide. “Pregnancy is a tender time between couples. A man that is willing to assault and abuse his pregnant partner, I think, is logically more dangerous.” Recent Minnesota cases have involved men with warning signs such as gun ownership, but no history of aggression, said Aaron Milgrom, director of therapy for the Domestic Abuse Project. “These appear to be emerging as the guys who are most lethal,” he said. “The police were never called on them. They never went to treatment. The neighbors thought they were OK or just kept to themselves. And then they burst forth into the news. [ ] t’s really problematic for us.”

Governors Would Have Larger Role in Border Security if Immigration Reform Passes

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:53:23 -0400

Border security is a crucial part of the immigration overhaul creeping forward on Capitol Hill, says Stateline. The government has built 651 miles of fencing along the border—about three times what existed six years ago. The U.S. operates hundreds of remote cameras, more than 13,000 ground sensors, and five drones in the area. The Border Patrol force has doubled in the last decade, to more than 18,000. Those steps, together with the sluggish economy and record-high deportations, have slowed the flood of people trying to enter the U.S. illegally to a trickle. Still, border-state governors say the federal government must do more. If the immigration overhaul pending in the Senate becomes law, governors of those states will play a crucial role in determining how much border security is enough. The measure the U.S. Senate is considering would require the federal government to stop 90 percent of people who try to enter the U.S. If it cannot meet that threshold in five years, border governors would help decide how to meet it. The governors also would be allowed to deploy the National Guard for border security-related missions.

Journalists Outraged at U.S. Charge Fox Reporter Was "Co-Conspirator" On Leak

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:44:33 -0400

Journalists, First Amendment watchdogs, and government transparency advocates reacted with outrage to the revelation that the Justice Department had investigated the newsgathering activities of a Fox News reporter as a potential crime in a probe of classified leaks, the Washington Post reports. Critics said the government’s suggestion that James Rosen, Fox News’s chief Washington correspondent, was a “co-conspirator” for soliciting classified information threatened to criminalize press freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Others suggested that the Justice Department’s claim in pursuing an alleged leak from the State Department was little more than pretext to seize his e-mails to build their case against the suspected leaker. “It is downright chilling,” said Fox News executive Michael Clemente. “We will unequivocally defend [Rosen’s] right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.” Steven Aftergood of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said, “Asking for information has never been deemed a crime.” The reactions followed a Washington Post report on the inner workings of a Justice Department investigation into a possible leak of classified information about North Korea.

AP Leak Case: A Sad Story of Government, Politics, and the Media

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:18:55 -0400

Whoever leaked to the Associated Press last year not only broke the law but caused the abrupt end to a secret, joint U.S./Saudi/British operation in Yemen that offered valuable intelligence against al-Qaeda, says Washington Post columnist Walter Pincus. One goal was to get AQAP’s operational head, Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso. That happened one day before the AP story appeared. A second goal was to find AQAP bombmaker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, whose first underwear device almost killed Saudi Arabia’s anti-terrorism chief. Acting responsibly, the AP withheld its story for several days at the government’s request. Lives were at stake, officials said. What happened afterward illustrates a sad state of affairs — within government (which can’t control critical secrets), the White House, politics (where every event during a presidential race becomes political fodder) and the press (which screams First Amendment at any attempt to investigate it). How many times can the media claim the federal seizure of its phone records as “chilling sources,” Pincus asks. The risk of breaking the law apparently didn’t chill those who leaked the information to the AP. That’s what should be considered chilling, Pincus says.

NYC "Stop and Frisk" Case Judge Focuses On Police's 88% "High Error Rate"

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:49:23 -0400

After listening to two months of testimony on the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk practices, federal judge Shira Scheindlin left little doubt about her views of their effectiveness in helping detect criminal behavior, reports the New York Times. "A lot of people are being frisked or searched on suspicion of having a gun and nobody has a gun," Scheindlin said yesterday during closing arguments in the trial. "So the point is: the suspicion turns out to be wrong in most of the cases." Civil rights lawyers and those representing the city offered dueling interpretations of many weeks of testimony from scores of witnesses. The judge's remarks were far more critical and blunt than those she had previously made during the trial. Observing that only about 12 percent of police stops resulted in an arrest or summons, Scheindlin, who is hearing the case without a jury, focused her remarks on the other 88 percent of stops, in which the police did not find evidence of criminality after a stop. She characterized that as "a high error rate" and remarked to a lawyer representing the city, "You reasonably suspect something and you’re wrong 90 percent of the time That is a lot of misjudgment of suspicion."

How Two FBI Agents Were Killed In Counterterrorism Training Exercise

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:40:39 -0400

It was a counterterrorism training exercise that two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s elite hostage rescue unit had completed dozens of times: rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of a ship at sea, says the New York Times. As agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw began their descent on Friday onto a ship off the coast of Virginia, the helicopter suddenly tilted because of a strong gust of wind. As the pilot tried to steady the aircraft, the two men, holding ropes and loaded with gear, lost their grips and fell. It was the first time an agent died in the line of duty since December 2011. In the past 12 years, six others have been killed. The FBI has 14,000 agents. The hostage rescue unit was created before the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles to help the government respond to an episode similar to the one at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed after being taken hostage. The unit, with fewer than 100 agents, has responded to 850 episodes, including the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

TN Man Faces Prison Term for Advising Driver in Fatal Hit-and-Run to Flee

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:21:51 -0400

A Nashville man who prosecutors say told a suspect to flee after a fatal hit-and-run faces up to six years in prison for his advice, The Tennessean reports. In one of the more closely followed vehicular homicide cases in recent years, the role of a third person, a bystander, has been largely overlooked. Jordan Hawbaker, 22, was on the scene of an accident that claimed the lives of two young men in 2011. Hawbaker, who had been drinking at a nearby bar, is said to have encouraged the driver to flee the scene. That suggestion broke the law, prosecutors say, and was enough for them to charge him with being an accessory to a crime. Under state law, accessory after the fact applies to someone who helps a suspect avoid arrest after knowing a felony was committed — providing a getaway car or hiding someone in a home, for instance. Prosecutor Kyle Anderson said Hawbaker took on a criminal liability when he told the driver to flee. “It may not make sense to a layperson, but it’s the law,” he said.

40% Of FBI Applicants Aren't Hired Over Polygraph Tests Some Find Dubious

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 07:59:37 -0400

Thousands of job applicants come to FBI offices every year, but many have their hopes dashed, and it’s not because of their work experience or education or criminal records. They’re turned down because they’ve failed their polygraph tests, McClatchy Newspapers report. The FBI polygraphs about 13,000 people a year for job screening, criminal investigations, and national security inquiries. The bureau has at least a 30 percent failure rate in its job screening. As many as 40 percent of special agent applicants don’t get the job because of their polygraph test results. The FBI’s policy of barring candidates who fail polygraph tests clashes with the view of many scientists that government agencies shouldn’t be relying on polygraph testing to decide whether to hire or fire someone. Experts say polygraph testing isn’t a reliable indicator of whether someone is lying – especially in employment screening. “I was called a lazy, lying, drug dealing junkie by a man who doesn’t know me , my stellar background or my societal contributions,” wrote a black applicant in Baltimore, who said he was told he qualified for a job except for his polygraph test failure. “Just because I am young and black does not automatically denote that I have ever used any illegal drugs.”

Federal Prosecutions Under Foreign Corrupt Practices Law Dropped Last Year

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 07:48:46 -0400

Federal foreign bribery and corruption prosecutions declined last year even as 15 new countries were cracking down on such crimes involving their own government officials, says a survey by Trace International Inc. reported by the National Law Journal. The survey found that prosecutions under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against individuals, businesses, or government entities dropped by 52 percent compared with 2011. In countries other than the United States, foreign bribery prosecutions fell by 42 percent. Despite last year's drop, enforcement actions are surging in 2013, said Trace's Julie Coleman. "We don't think 2012 is a harbinger of what's going to happen in 2013," she said. "Originally, it was off to a slow start, but there are a lot of things percolating." The report found mining and other extractive industries responsible for the most foreign bribery actions, followed by manufacturing and service providers; aerospace or defense/security; and health care. Investigations are pending in retail and entertainment.

MI Boosts Inmate Postsecondary Education With Vera Institute Help

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:05:00 -0400

After years without funding for prisoners to access higher education, the Michigan Department of Corrections is mounting several efforts to teach community college courses and vocational training in-house to a small number of inmates who are near parole, says the Detroit News. The move comes nearly two decades after the federal government cut Pell grant funding to inmates and essentially ended postsecondary education in prisons. Michigan will join a pilot project that hopes to gather enough evidence to resurrect publicly supported postsecondary education in prisons nationally.

"We want to build the evidence that investment in postsecondary education is a cost-effective intervention and a wise use of public dollars," said Fred Patrick of the New York-based Vera Institute of Justice, which awarded Michigan a grant for the work. "We also want to show it succeeds at reducing recidivism, supports families and contributes to the economic base of communities." There are 42,000 inmates in Michigan's 31 state prisons. Of those, nearly half come in with a high school diploma or General Educational Development certificate. Inmates who are released have a 43 percent chance of returning to prison, but research has shown graduating inmates from college programs can decrease recidivism 72 percent, says Vera.

High Caseloads Give AL Parole Officers 10 Minutes Per Month With Offenders

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:59:00 -0400

The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles has applied Band-Aids to ensure oversight of 67,410 former inmates, reports the Birmingham News. Officers carrying an average caseload of 193 can spend less than 10 minutes per month with each offender. Drug testing, counseling, employment assistance, and other services sometimes can’t be delivered. And if probationers don’t check in, there’s little time to hunt them down.

Pardons and Paroles had 403 supervising officers in February 2007; now there are 350. Many officers, especially those in rural parts of the state, are left to supervise nearly 300 former inmates. Cynthia Dillard, the parole board's executive director, said national recommendations call for officers to average seeing 60 to 75 people. As the number of officers falls, judges are placing fewer offenders on probation, opting for split jail sentences and community corrections. That’s because the judges can see probation officers are overloaded, said Eddie Cook, assistant director of the agency. “Last year, or the year before, we were actually bleeding. But right now, we have Band-Aids on.” Still, the number of repeat offenders in Alabama remains low, at 17 percent, while the national average is 37 percent.

CA Politician Stirs Debate on Effectiveness of Prison "Realignment"

Ted Gest — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:20:00 -0400

Anthony Ibarra, 28, was beaten, stabbed, and tortured for hours, his body ditched in a truck in California. says the San Francisco Chronicle. Potential gubernatorial candidate Abel Maldonado is outraged that four of 10 suspects arrested for the killing were ex-convicts who had been supervised by county probation officers under realignment, Gov. Jerry Brown's solution to state-prison overcrowding. Santa Barbara County probation officials said realignment, in which the state is shifting responsibility for thousands of lower-level offenders to counties, didn't appear to be a factor in Ibarra's killing in March. To Maldonado, the slaying might have been prevented if the men had been under stricter state oversight, and he saw an opportunity to strike in the debate over whether realignment has made the state more dangerous.

The Republican former lieutenant governor said realignment - Brown's response to a federal court order to cut the prison population from 143,000 inmates to about 110,000 by this summer - was a "failed experiment," and that a better solution would be to expand prisons. He said he would seek to repeal realignment with a November 2014 ballot initiative. Maldonado's reliance on anecdotal criminal cases, though, alarmed supporters of the program, which began in October 2011 and allocated more than $2 billion to the counties for the first two years. "There is a lot of fear-mongering going on without data to support the statements," said Wendy Still, head of adult probation in San Francisco. "Instead of looking at isolated cases, we need to look at whether the public is safe. And I believe that when realignment is implemented correctly, the public is a lot safer."

A Glimpse

Graham Kates — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:15:00 -0400

My entire life I’ve wondered how I would have turned out if my father was in my life. My mother was addicted to KJ (PCP) in the 1990’s. One night when I was five we got pulled over in San Jose, California and she got busted with sixteen joints of PCP. She went to prison for five or six years and I was left parent-less.

I’ve met my dad, that I can remember, three times in my entire life. With no father in my life I eventually turned to the streets for guidance and comfort.

My mom got out of prison and when I was eleven or twelve we started to get high together and selling bomb and crystal. Still no real role model except for my varrio.

My dad was sentenced to a seventeen-year prison term in 2000 or 2001.

In the hood I didn’t think of the consequences I would have for doing crimes and frankly I didn’t care, I was in and out of the juvenile hall system since 2003. I used to play sports in the community I grew up in, got kicked out of every school I attended in seven years and I wish I never did.

Today, I’m twenty years old and regret everything I’ve done to end up in the position I’m in now. In 2010, at the age of seventeen years old I got charged as an adult and got twenty-one years with eighty-five percent. My release date is 2028 if good, 2033 if not.

Now, (can you believe) I’m celled up with my father, the one that was never there for me and chose to be a gang membber than to be a father to me. I understand the responsibilities he had to do as a gang member, but what about the responsibility to being a dad?

In 2006, I had a son that was born. I was thirteen years old and I was there for him but not like I should have been. I too had responsibilities as a gang member. I messed up like my dad. It took twenty-one years, “almost” life to get a reality check. I forgive my father and have chosen to move on from here on out. I hope one day my son, Eli will forgive me and give me a chance for my mistakes and know that he has a Dad who loves him very much. I know he’ll break the negative cycle.

Since 1996, The Beat Within's mission is to provide incarcerated youth with consistent opportunity to share their ideas and life experiences in a safe space that encourages literacy, self-expression, some critical thinking skills, and healthy, supportive relationships with adults and their community. Outside of the juvenile justice system, The Beat Within partners with community organizations and individuals to bring resources to youth (between the ages of 11 -17) both inside and outside of detention. We are committed to being an effective bridge between youth who are locked up and the community that aims to support their progress towards a healthy, non-violent, and productive life. The following pieces come from our weekly workshops which were recently held in one the 18 juvenile detention facilities – from Hawaii to San Francisco to Washington DC – we venture into each week. From the writings we produce the national publication, The Beat Within. For more information please visit us at www.thebeatwithin.org.

Is the Media Under-Reporting Sex Crimes in the Military?

Graham Kates — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:01:00 -0400

The amount of coverage a crime gets in the media often depends on who the victim is.

Crimes against children, for example, get a lot of attention. And as I discussed in a prior column, missing white women often get a disproportionate amount of press.

The same is true to some extent when it comes to the identity of the alleged criminal.

For instance, the press loves to write about celebrities who’ve been arrested. Just look at the onslaught of coverage of actress Reese Witherspoon’s recent arrest for disorderly conduct.

What if an alleged offender is a member of the military? Do the media give such crimes the same attention as those committed by civilians? Or are these crimes downplayed, perhaps out of misguided patriotism?

Unfortunately, crimes committed by members of the military, particularly sexual assaults, are common.

On May 7, the Department of Defense (DOD) released its annual report on sexual assault in the military. The simple fact that the DOD is required to issue these reports annually says a lot about the extent of the problem.

The 729-page report says that, in 2012, there were 3,374 sexual assaults reported by service members, a 6 percent increase from 2011.

Clearly, sexual assault is a serious, prevalent and persistent problem in the military.

This conclusion was reinforced on May 5—just two days before the release of the report—when Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was arrested on a sexual battery charge.

The kicker: he was in charge of sexual assault prevention programs for the Air Force.

And to make matters worse, on May 14 the New York Times reported that an Army sergeant who served as a sexual assault and response coordinator at Fort Hood was under investigation for allegations of pandering, sexual contact, assault and mistreatment of subordinates.

The press has done an admirable job covering the DOD report and the various responses to it. But how good of a job did they do covering the underlying issue of sexual assaults in the military?

It’s hard to tell.

The Krusinski case got a lot of coverage. But the alleged assault didn’t occur on base and the victim wasn’t a member of the military. And she reported the incident to the police.

That fact illustrates one of the challenges in covering sexual assaults in the military: the press may simply be unaware that these crimes are taking place.

If the victims only report these crimes to military authorities and they’re handled internally, reporters may have no way of even knowing that these attacks occurred.

Another problem is that these crimes often aren’t reported to anyone.

For example, the DOD report includes the results of a confidential survey in which more than 26,000 members of the military indicated they’d been subjected to unwanted sexual contact in 2012 alone.

When you compare that figure to the number of reported sexual assaults, it’s clear that the vast majority of such conduct goes unreported to authorities.

A toolkit for reporters from the Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls & Young Women says that, according to the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey, while 46 percent of rapes/sexual assaults in general aren’t reported to the police, that number is even higher in the military—with 86.5 percent of rape/sexual assault cases going unreported.

So if the papers and Internet aren’t inundated with stories on sexual assaults by service members, it’s hard to fault the media.

The documentary “The Invisible War” increased public and media awareness of what it describes as an epidemic of sexual assaults in the military and may have led to increased press coverage of these assaults when they’re brought to light.

However, simply reporting on these crimes isn’t enough.

It’s also important that when reporting sexual assaults in the military, journalists don’t let support for the armed services shade their coverage of these crimes.

For example, the website Take Back the News warns against the use of a “tone of shock and anomaly” when the accused is a member of the military, which sometimes results in the accused being portrayed as patriots rather than criminals.

In fact, when questioned about the Defense Department report, President Barack Obama deemed the Pentagon statistics a betrayal of the uniform that’s “not patriotic.”

Robin L. Barton, a legal journalist based in Brooklyn, NY, is a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a regular blogger for The Crime Report. She welcomes readers’ comments.

Police, Feds Use Popular Polygraph Device That Makes Critical Errors

Ted Gest — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:25:05 -0400

Police departments and federal agencies across the U.S. use a type of polygraph despite evidence of a technical problem that could label truthful people as liars or the guilty as innocent, McClatchy Newspapers have found. As a result, innocent people might have been labeled criminal suspects, faced greater scrutiny while on probation, or lost out on jobs. Just as alarming, spies and criminals may have escaped detection. The technical glitch produced errors in the computerized measurements of sweat in one of the most popular polygraphs, the LX4000. Polygraphers first noticed the problem a decade ago, but many government agencies hadn’t known about the risk of inaccurate measurements until McClatchy raised questions about it.

The manufacturer, Lafayette Instrument Co. Inc., described the phenomenon as “occasional” and “minor,” but it couldn’t say exactly how often it occurs. Even after one federal agency became concerned and stopped using the measurement and a veteran polygrapher at another witnessed it repeatedly change test results, the extent and the source of the problem weren’t independently studied nor openly debated. In the meantime, tens of thousands of Americans were polygraphed on the LX4000. The controversy casts new doubt on the reliability and usefulness of polygraphs, which are popularly known as lie detectors and whose tests are banned for use as evidence by most U.S. courts.

Oakland Police, Crime Rising, Trying to Rebuild Force, Earn Public Trust

Ted Gest — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:40:45 -0400

Managing expectations amid a rising crime rate is the latest challenge in Oakland, California's most violent city, says the Los Angeles Times. The police department is under pressure to satisfy conditions of a decade-old federal court settlement that stemmed from racial profiling and improper use of force. Two chiefs have left in two years. A quarter of its sworn officers have been lost since 2008 to budget cutbacks. The city handles about twice the emergency calls per capita as the average law enforcement agency in the state. As the department works to rebuild its force and earn citizens' trust, it offers lessons on how deeply the nature of policing changes when resources are cut to the bone. "There are places in the country right now like Oakland that are at a tipping point," said Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum. "They are really testing how much police make a difference."

Oakland is now the nation's robbery capital, after a 24 percent jump last year. A 43 percent rise in burglaries left the lone full-time investigator drowning in 13,000 cases. Neighborhoods plagued by burglaries and robberies pushed to keep "problem-solving officers," who analyze patterns and causes of crime. The rising number of homicides and shootings in gang-afflicted areas forced a reshuffling. It's not an uncommon story: A fourth of agencies surveyed nationwide in 2010 by the Major Cities Chiefs Association had cut back on traffic, property crime and drug investigations; more than a third had sliced into community policing. In 2011, the Justice Department tallied 12,000 law enforcement layoffs and 30,000 unfilled positions.

Re-Abuse Common for Teens Who Seek Orders of Protection

Graham Kates — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:10:29 -0400

About one in four New York teens who seek Orders of Protection in response to dating violence suffer further violence at the hands of their original abusers, according to a recent study.

Researchers analyzed 1,200 Orders of Protection sought in New York family court in 2009 and 2010, the first two full years after a state law made it possible for teens to secure orders without parental involvement. In addition, they obtained criminal histories and police incident files for abusers and conducted focus groups with victims.

More than 90 percent of Order of Protection petitioners were female. While all of the victims were teens, the average age of their abusers was nearly 21 years old.

The majority of the teen petitioners returned to court more than once, but most received orders lasting only a month or so, according to the study.

“However, analysis of arrest and police incident reports, as well as new petitions taken out by study petitioners, indicated that a little more than a quarter of the respondents reabused their victims from one to three years after the initial petition,” researchers wrote.

Read the study HERE.

Can New Orleans Truly Be U.S. Murder Capital, Otherwise Fairly Safe?

Ted Gest — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:24:17 -0400

It's a favorite talking point of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas, says the New Orleans Times-Picayune: Their city is the nation's murder capital, but other than that, it's a reasonably safe place. It's significantly less dangerous, they say, than Orlando, perhaps the most popular family destination, which had a violent crime rate 35 percent higher than New Orleans in 2011. New Haven, Ct., Little Rock, Ar.; Springfield, Il.; Amarillo, Tx.; St. Petersburg, Fl.; Boston; Chattanooga, Tn.; and hundreds of other cities are all more dangerous than New Orleans.\

More than semantics are at stake. Countless tourism dollars and economic development chances ride on the city's reputation as a safe place to live and do business. Crime stats are held out as an objective indicator of how safe visitors and residents should feel. The city's crime numbers are so counterintuitive that many criminologists find them hard, if not impossible, to swallow. They regard murder as the most reliable category because killings are almost always reported and are thus hard to manipulate. A high murder rate typically signals high levels of other crimes, especially violent ones. Several criminologists say crime data for New Orleans dating back many years suggest that either the city is fudging the numbers, or that New Orleans residents are less apt to report serious non-fatal assaults than residents of other murder hotbeds. Rick Rosenfeld, a criminologist at University of Missouri-St. Louis, finds it "hard to believe New Orleans would be so out of sync with so many other comparable cities - my city of St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, other impoverished cities."

Cleveland Police Came to Block of Kidnapped Women 160 Times in 10 Years

Ted Gest — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:33:38 -0400

For a decade, while authorities say Ariel Castro kept three women imprisoned in his dilapidated white colonial, residents of the short stretch of Seymour Avenue in Cleveland where he lived reported a litany of other crimes that brought police to the block, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Since 2002, when Michelle Knight disappeared, police came to Castro's section of the street to take crime reports nearly 160 times — a little more than once month — for fewer than 20 homes. The Plain Dealer analyzed its database of thousands of police crime reports to draw a picture of what drew officers to the now infamous street while the missing women were captives there.

The newspaper found there were more than 35 assaults, many of them domestic crimes against women, which resulted in busted lips, bleeding noses, and violated protection orders. Police investigated a dozen drug-related crimes — including a crop of 9-foot tall marijuana plants growing in a garden within view of the sidewalk. Ten people were reported missing, though several of the cases involved multiple reports about habitual runaways. All appear to have returned home. Ronnie Dunn, an associate professor of urban studies at Cleveland State, said a transient community that lacks block clubs or social supports can lead to a culture of fear where people shutter themselves in their homes and close their blinds. "That is the perfect environment for crimes to proliferate," he said. And for crimes to possibly go unnoticed or unreported.

Paper Questions Gallup Finding That Memphis Is Worst in "Safe at Night" Index

Ted Gest — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:09:01 -0400

The Memphis Commercial Appeal asked readers to comment on a Gallup survey finding that only 55 percent of people surveyed in Memphis feel safe walking alone at night--lower than any of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas. (The Detroit figure was 70 percent; Baltimore, 66 percent, New Orleans, 59 percent. (The survey results last month can be found here.)

Noting a divergence of opinion at facebook.com/SafeInMemphis, the newspaper cites a caveat by Gallup that its survey of people in a "Metropolitan Statistical Areas include both a central city and suburban areas, and certainly residents in parts of lower-ranked metro areas may feel very safe, while those in certain parts of other highly ranked metro areas may feel very unsafe."

Court: Crack Penalty Adjustment Should Apply to All Cases Retroactively

Ted Gest — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:54:56 -0400

People convicted of crack cocaine offenses have a right to resentencing hearings under a 2010 law that lessened penalties for possession and dealing, says a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reported by the Associated Press. Expanding the Fair Sentencing Act to people whose cases played out before the law's passage could open the door for thousands of inmates to ask judges to reduce their prison time. The Supreme Curt may end up deciding the issue.

The ruling in the case of two Kentucky men sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession and distribution of crack cocaine expands on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from June 2012. Judge Gilbert Merritt, for the majority in the Kentucky case, said the law "can and should" be interpreted to replace "the old, discriminatory mandatory minimums," which weighed heavier on black defendants. Letting discriminatory sentences go forward is unconstitutional, Merritt wrote. Dissenting Judge Ronald Lee Gilman said the fact that a disparity still exists, but somehow is constitutional, cannot be explained by the majority. "Congress is of course free to amend the Fair Sentencing Act to make it fully retroactive, but that is a legislative prerogative and not appropriate for this court to simply decree," Gilman wrote.

Arrests in New Orleans Parade Shooting Show Major Change In Police Tactics

Ted Gest — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:33:34 -0400

With the capture of two suspects in a Mother’s Day parade shooting, New Orleans become the second city this year after Boston to endure episodes of large-scale street violence allegedly initiated by brothers, a massive law-enforcement manhunt, and the capture of the wanted individuals, says the Christian Science Monitor. At least two shooters, identified as Akein and Shawn Scott, attempted what even hardened criminologists called the unspeakable: a gang hit on a street full of paradegoers a few blocks from the French Quarter. Of 20 people hurt, seven were women and two were children.

The long-suffering New Orleans Police Department helped turn the emotional response around by tracking the alleged shooters down. It appears to be an example of a dramatic shift in gang-war policing that the city has made. “In this case, Police Department intelligence is way better than what it used to be,” says Dee Wood Harper, a criminologist at Loyola University New Orleans. New Orleans has dramatically shifted its priorities away from low-level shakedowns of street dealers, a popular practice among police but one that can alienate neighborhoods. Instead, it’s building deeper cases against members of the most violent groups, the people posing the greatest threat to their neighbors.

It's Possible No Laws Were Broken In IRS "Targeting" Scandal

Ted Gest — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:44:11 -0400

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) wants to know "who's going to jail" over the IRS scandal. Ousted acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller says no laws were violated when the agency targeted conservative groups, says the Washington Post.

It’s quite possible that nobody will ever be convicted of breaking the law in the IRS situation. “I am not aware of any statute that prohibits IRS targeting of applicants,” said Republican lawyer Jan Baran. Other politically inclined lawyers agree. There are three types of laws that might ave been broken: Civil rights laws that protect people from being discriminated against by the government; The Hatch Act, which prevents civil servants from engaging in partisan political activity;, and perjury laws, which prevent people from lying to Congress

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Honored for Work on Crime Data, Custody Death

Ted Gest — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:07:00 -0400

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel got the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting for its series of reports exposing deep flaws in the Milwaukee Police Department's crime numbers. Ben Poston and John Diedrich examined how the department underreported thousands of violent assaults, rapes, robberies, and burglaries and failed to correct the problem while presenting flawed statistics to the public.

Last week, Poston and Diedrich won top prize in the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Awards for Investigative Reporting, administered by the Chicago-based Better Government Association. Their work, along with reporting by Gina Barton on a death in police custody, also won the top public service award and Best in Show honors in the National Headliner Awards.

Critics: FBI Hasn't Done Enough on Civil-Rights Era Unsolved Cases

Ted Gest — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:13:00 -0400

Six years ago, the FBI started a review of 112 cold-case killings from the civil rights era, and civil rights activists are critical of the FBI's efforts, reports NPR. The review comes with word of the death of a man who'd been named by the Concordia, La., Sentinel, of a possible suspect the notorious death of black businessman Frank Morris in 1964. The man, who denied involvement, died last week. An FBI official said the agency had "diligently pursued the information," but "turned up no credible evidence" to link the man to the killing.

Law Prof. Paula Johnson, co-director of the Cold Case Justice Initiative at Syracuse University, called on Congress to hold hearings on whether the FBI has done enough to investigate Morris' case and others. "We would want a much more accelerated pace to these cases," she says, "and that's the thing that we're calling for." The 2008 federal Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Act provided $10 million annually for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate racially motivated killings from before 1970. A proponent of the law is "disappointed overall" in its implementation. "[There] never was a very aggressive outreach effort to find evidence and witnesses," says Alvin Sykes of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign.

Long Island Officer Who Killed Student Faulted for Entering Home Prematurely

Ted Gest — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:59:00 -0400

When a Nassau County, N.Y., police officer confronted a gunman holding Hofstra University student Andrea Rebello hostage in her home on Friday night, he was forced, in an instant, to make a life-or-death calculation: Open fire and risk hitting the hostage, or hesitate and risk losing the hostage and being killed himself, says the New York Times.The officer’s decision to fire, killing the gunman along with the student, will be parsed as authorities investigate an episode that unfolded after the police interrupted a home invasion.

Enough details have emerged to paint a picture of a police operation that in the course of a few minutes spiraled out of control. Officers who arrived first on the scene believed they were confronting an armed robber but knew nothing about the hostages. That gap in knowledge was critical, experts said, possibly leading to missteps that inflamed an already dangerous situation and ultimately led to tragedy. Most critical, experts said, was the decision by the officer who ultimately opened fire to enter the home in the first place. That decision quite likely eliminated the opportunity to negotiate with the gunman, said Prof. Eugene O’Donnell of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a former New York City police officer. In any hostage crisis, he said, the first step for the police is to create a situation in which officers are in control.

Guns and the Media

Graham Kates — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:57:57 -0400

In the months since Adam Lanza rampaged through Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, killing 26 students and teachers before committing suicide, a robust debate over the limits of gun rights has played out in the nation’s media.

But America has been down this road before.

Its cities and towns experience more than 12,000 homicides each year, roughly two-thirds of which are firearms-related—many of them in the poorest neighborhoods---and they rarely make it off the police blotter to daily headlines.

And few of the nation’s more than 19,000 annual gun suicides make the papers at all.

At a two-day roundtable on gun violence, gun laws and the media for senior editors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York last week, journalists met with politicians, academics and even firearms industry representatives to explore the wider dimensions of the issue.

High on the agenda for the journalists, who represented 15 of the nation’s most influential news outlets, was searching for new angles to bridge the gap between every day crime coverage and the wider-scope issues that face our nation.

“How do we do it so it’s fresh, how do we make it more relevant, and how do we make people care about areas of town they might have written off?” asked Gilbert Bailon, editor-in-chief of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch during a panel on May 15.

“I think that’s the challenge we have, because violence is in our papers every day.”

The answer, according to many of the speakers at the May 14-15 “Under the Gun” roundtable, is to avoid the clichés and pitfalls of a debate that can often seem stale after simmering for decades.

"The politics of this moment really is very similar to a political arc that we have seen a number of times in the last century," said Robert Spitzer, chair of the Political Science department at the State University of New York, Cortland, and one of the country’s leading experts on gun issues.

He recounted a series of violent incidents that sparked national outrage and debate—only to fizzle out soon after.

But new perspectives on mental health issues, and potential technological updates that might make firearms safer, offer the opportunity to re-frame the debate.

Connie Rice, Executive Director of the Advancement Project, said that instead of focusing on guns themselves, journalists should hone in on the effects of violence.

“We need to shift the frame from violence to trauma,” she said.

“The public health model says ‘don't focus on arrest, don't focus on wars and particularly don't focus on shootings.’ It says ‘focus on kids, focus on their safety.’"

Shannon Frattaroli, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, suggested journalists focus on innovations that have the potential to make guns safer.

She said engineers are capable of creating ‘smart guns’ that can only be triggered by their owners’ fingers and grip mechanisms designed to prevent children from operating handguns.

However, Frattaroli’s solution does little to address the hundreds of millions of guns already on the streets in America.

Joe Bartozzi, vice-president of the Connecticut-based firearms manufacturer O.F. Mossberg and Sons, argued the low-tech approach is best for keeping kids safe from those weapons.

The gun debate really turns on “access to guns,” Bartozzi said. “We should be talking about keeping guns in safes.”

But as journalists try to expand their coverage to include the impact of current research on mental illness and gun safety, it’s an almost sure bet that politicians and advocates will circle back to finger-pointing and old talking points.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy complained, for instance, that journalists’ attempts to give both sides equal play created a false “moral equivalency” between elected officials and gun advocates.

“Until we reset the balance of this moral equivalency, the National Rifle Association (NRA) will be treated just the same way as anyone who sits across the table on the issue,” Malloy said during an opening roundtable discussion May 14, adding that he believes the outspoken organization cares more about the gun industry than gun owners.

But the gun advocates have their own beefs with the press.

According to Joe Bartozzi, the media has distorted the issue by focusing on the NRA’s wealth and power as a lobby group.

Do both sides have a point?

Jesse Wegman, one of the media participants in this week’s conference, believes they might.

Wegman, former editorial operations manager of The Daily Beast/Newsweek,. believes that when covering the gun debate in particular, journalists can’t just write off one side as insidious or scientifically unsound.

“It’s not just sort of the craziness of some factions in our government,” said Wegman during one of the panels. Wegman will join The New York Times editorial board this summer.

“It’s also these words in our founding documents, and I think it just changes everything about (this issue).”

Graham Kates is deputy managing editor of The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers. He can be found on Twitter, @GrahamKates.

Repeat Crimes by CA Inmates Out in "Realignment" Up, Total Recidivism Same

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:48:03 -0400

Felons released from California prisons are committing new crimes at about the same rate they did before Gov. Jerry Brown switched their supervision to county probation under a "realignment" plan, but a new report says repeat offenses are up, reports the Los Angeles Times. A new study from the state corrections department said there is "very little difference between the one-year arrest and conviction rates of offenders released pre- and post-realignment."

The state chose not to highlight a study finding that repeat offenses increased during the short-term study, and that offenders are much more likely than in the past to be arrested for a felony. The felony rate rose from 34.6 percent to 42.5 percent after realignment. The study of 37,000 offenders released from state prisons between October 2011 and March 2012 showed that almost 59 percent of those released from prison were arrested within a year for a new crime. That compares with 62 percent of the 52,000 offenders released from prison in the same six-month period a year before. The report demonstrates realignment's effect in reducing prison populations. The number of inmates returned to prison dropped from 21,800 before realignment to 2,780 after.

After 12 Years, Federal Consent Decree Ends on Reform of Los Angeles Police

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:34:02 -0400

The federal judge who oversaw a dramatic, forced transformation of the Los Angeles Police Department freed the department from the final vestiges of federal oversight, reports the Los Angeles Times. U.S. District Judge Gary Feess formally lifted the binding agreement the U.S. Justice Department imposed on the LAPD in 2001, which spelled out dozens of major reforms the police agency had to implement and frequent audits it was required to undergo by a monitor who reported to Feess.

The dismissal of the consent decree, which arose largely out of the Rampart corruption scandal and addressed basic problems of accountability that stretched back decades, delivered a largely symbolic milestone for the LAPD as it continues to disassociate itself from a past marked by abuses and turmoil. After revelations in 1999 that officers assigned to the Rampart Division were implicated in serious misconduct, including physical abuse of suspects, evidence tampering and perjury, public trust in the police plummeted and federal officials responded to calls from a growing chorus of critics for intervention. In 2006, as the decree was set to expire, Feess angrily rebuked the department for what he found to be its slow pace of reform and extended the decree for five years.

EEOC Makes Priority of Prosecuting Cases Involving "Vulnerable Workers"

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:22:34 -0400

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is making a priority of prosecuting cases involving "vulnerable workers," reports NPR. Examples include migrant farm workers raped by supervisors in the fields, or those who are the most likely to be exploited and least able to speak out in their own defense. Four years ago, 21 men with intellectual disabilities were freed from a century-old schoolhouse in Atalissa, Ia. They ranged in age from their 40s to their 60s. For most of their adult lives they had worked for next to nothing and lived in dangerously unsanitary conditions.

This month, the EEOC won a $240 million judgment against the turkey-processing company at which the men worked. The civil suit involved severe physical and emotional abuse of men with intellectual disabilities. The judgment will be reduced because it exceeds a legal cap on jury awards. The case highlights the difficulty of preventing and identifying abuse of vulnerable workers, who are also the least likely to come forward about violations. Susan Seehase of Exceptional Persons, a support center that took in most of the men in Iowa, visited their old dwelling. Windows were boarded up, allowing little ventilation or light. The cockroaches were overwhelming. A leaky roof, mildew, accumulated grease, and mice droppings contributed to an overwhelming stench. A fire marshal condemned the building, saying it was the worst he'd seen in nearly 3,000 inspections.

AP Phone Record Seizure Just Latest Example of Rise in "Leak" Prosecutions

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:12:22 -0400

President Obama had a reputation when he took office as a liberal former constitutional lawyer who had condemned Bush-era national security policies. NPR says he has proved to be tougher than President George W. Bush on prosecuting national security leaks. The seizure of Associated Press phone records is just the latest example. The administration has prosecuted six people for giving reporters information about secret national security operations — twice as many cases as all previous presidents combined. Matt Miller, who used to advise Attorney General Eric Holder, says government officials share a sense that there are more leaks than there used to be, and they must be stopped.

"It has nothing to do with stopping the press from doing their job," he says. "The goal is to stop people who have taken an oath to protect national security from disclosing secrets that harm it." Journalists' groups say that's a distinction without a difference. To First Amendment advocates, the explanation is like saying: "We're not trying to prevent people from drilling for oil — we just want to keep the oil in the ground." Lucy Dalglish, who runs the journalism school at University of Maryland, says the only reason to do this is to send a message. "You send a message to both the media and [ ] to federal employees: You leak — we're going to get you," she says. "And I'm being told by reporters it's being pretty effective."

Texas Fusion Center Threatened by Budget Vote, Could be First to Close

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:04:33 -0400

In a surprising move, Texas House and Senate budget negotiators agreed to wipe out funding for the Department of Public Safety’s fusion center, part of a nationwide intelligence gathering initiative that has generated controversy, reports the Austin American-Statesman. If the House and Senate affirm the change, it could make Texas the first state to pull the rug from under one of the statewide fusion operations that began under a Department of Homeland Security offensive that has been criticized for wasting taxpayers’ money.

“It’s shocking to me,” said Ron Brooks, a former director of the San Francisco fusion center, now with a Washington D.C., consulting and lobbying group specializing in criminal intelligence issues. Despite their terrorism-focused origins, Brooks said the more than 70 fusion centers across the U.S. have evolved into “all-crime centers” to coordinate information sharing among local, state and federal agencies. Such information sharing provides “smart policing” of everything from street gangs to homicide investigations, Brooks said. He knows of no other state that has eliminated funds for a statewide center. A factor in the decision, was a report by a U.S. Senate investigative subcommittee that lambasted the fusion centers for “irrelevant, useless or inappropriate” intelligence gathering and wasteful spending on private contractors, while doing little to keep the country safer.

Ex-Prosecutor Calls for Civil-Rights Charges Against Cleveland's Castro

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:49:40 -0400

Cleveland's Ariel Castro should be named in a civil-rights charge under Ohio's law against violence "based on sex," contends former prosecutor Wendy Murphy of New England Law/Boston in Women's eNews, citing allegations that Castro kidnapped three young women, two as minors, and kept them barricaded as sex slaves, often in chains, for 10 years. One victim was reportedly impregnated five times, then beaten and starved to induce miscarriages. Another became pregnant and gave birth to Castro's child inside the home.

District Attorney Timothy McGinty initially brought only a handful of crimes against Castro, but made it clear that he would seek many more charges during grand jury proceedings. Castro not only selected females to be his kidnap victims, he committed countless gender-specific sex crimes for 10 years, including forced pregnancies and abortions. He also had a past history of extreme domestic violence against his ex-wife and child. Murphy says that adding a civil rights charge won't likely increase the ultimate punishment given that Castro will surely serve at least multiple life sentences, but she says, "it is important for government officials to label civil rights crimes correctly when they happen in order to give value to the harm to democracy itself when people are singled out for violence based on their status as females."

Advocates Question DOJ Finding On Juvenile Sex Abuse in Adult Facilities

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:50:00 -0400

Youth advocates have long argued that juveniles incarcerated in adult prisons and jails are at heightened risk for rape and other forms of sexual abuse. A Justice Department survey issued yesterday (and reported in this digest) found that juveniles did not report significantly more sexual victimization than adult inmates, says the New York Times. The survey offers the first national estimates of the prevalence of sexual abuse among juveniles housed in adult facilities.

The report’s lead author said he believed the findings “are far more reliable and representative of the experiences of such youth nationwide than the anecdotal data from the past.” Advocacy groups contested the numbers, arguing that many juveniles housed with adults are afraid to report sexual abuse and that the true figures are likely to be far higher. Allen Beck of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said extensive precautions were taken to preserve confidentiality for inmates who participated in the survey and to ensure that the reports were as reliable as possible. Liz Ryan of the Campaign for Youth Justice, a group that aims to keep minors out of the adult criminal justice system, said, “We think that this study is inconsistent with previous studies that have been done on this topic.”

U.S. Lost Track of Suspected Terrorists in Witness Protection Program

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:49:00 -0400

The U.S. has lost track of two known or suspected terrorists given identities under the federal witness protection program, says a Justice Department audit that indicated the program was so poorly monitored the department didn't even know how many such individuals were in it, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The new identities of individuals who had cooperated in terrorism investigations were not properly shared with other agencies, the Justice Department’s inspector general reported yesterday.

As a result, some known or suspected terrorists in the witness protection program who were on the federal "no-fly" list were allowed to travel on commercial flights. “We found significant deficiencies in the handling of known or suspected terrorists who were admitted into the WitSec [witness security] Program,” the watchdog agency found. “Therefore, it was possible for known or suspected terrorists to fly on commercial airplanes in or over the United States and evade one of the government’s primary means of identifying and tracking terrorists’ movements and actions.” Since it began in 1971, some 18,300 witnesses, family members, and other associates of witnesses have received identity protection – relocated with new names – under the program. As of a year ago, there were about 700 participants in the program. Witnesses typically testify in cases involving organized crime, drug trafficking, gang activity, and terrorism.

ICE Says 32 Released Immigration Detainees Had Multiple Felony Convictions

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:25:00 -0400

Under pressure from Congress, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has disclosed new details about the criminal backgrounds of some of the approximately 2,200 immigration detainees let out of custody in February in anticipation of spending cuts, saying that 32 of the 622 convicted criminals released nationwide had multiple felony convictions, reports the Arizona Republic.

The new details raised more questions about the decision in February by Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials to release 2,226 immigration detainees from facilities in several states in order to slow rising detention costs in the face of $300 million in automatic budget cuts known as the sequester, which kicked in March 1. During two congressional hearings in March, ICE Director John Morton insisted that only detainees who did not pose a threat to public safety were released and that all remained under supervision. Information released by DHS in response to requests from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations shows that ICE has taken back into custody 58 of the convicted criminals released nationally after a review showed the seriousness of their offenses. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told the newspaper: "You should be concerned with people who are guilty of second-degree robbery, DUI, stalking convictions — those kinds of things. They’re just released out into the public when they are in this country illegally."

Lawsuit May Test Whether Publishing An Expunged Arrest Report Is Defamatory

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:03:00 -0400

Lorraine Martin, a Connecticut nurse, was arrested with her sons when the police raided her home and found a small amount of marijuana. The charges were later dropped and the official record was purged, says Philly.com. Martin has been unable to find a job, and she claims it is because when you type her name into a search engine, articles like one titled “Mother and Sons Charged with Drug Offenses” are still available through online news outlets. Martin filed a class-action suit against local news outlets on behalf of those who were arrested but whose criminal records have since been expunged.

The suit claims that the online media outlets defame them by continuing to make available content about the story. The novel question is: Can an article written about an incident that accurately describes an event that did take place be false if the record of that event was later expunged? In other words, does the truth change into a falsehood over time such that what happened after the fact makes the event described at the time defamatory? And if it does, then does the online news agency have an obligation to take down content that hurts a person’s reputation or ability to earn a living if the subsequent events make it clear that the arrest should not have happened or where the prosecutor has, by expunging the record, shown that the person who was arrested for a crime should not continue to be judged on the basis of her arrest for it?

Mueller Details FBI Failure To Follow up On Marathon Bombing Suspect Info

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:43:00 -0400

The terrorist tracking task force in Boston failed to act on notices that one of the alleged Boston Marathon bombers had traveled to and from Russia last year, FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that handles the Justice Department's budget, reports Politico. Mueller said authorities would "do better" next time in following up on such information.

Mueller said that before Tamerlan Tsarnaev went to Russia last year, the Joint Terrorism Task Force was notified by a database known as TECS (formerly Treasury Enforcement Communications System). Tamerlan's travel was being flagged because the Russian intelligence service told the FBI in 2011 he'd become more religious and was interested in joining Islamic radical groups in Russia. "When [Tamerlan] returned to the United States there as an automatic message that was pushed out that also came to the task force in that way and there was no additional action taken on that," Mueller said. "It may well have been because of the numerous inquiries that we handle. [ ] That particular Joint Terrorism Task Force in any given year handles hundreds of similar assessments and leads and the like." Mueller said changes are being made to make sure such notices are followed up on.

Washington Proposes Rules for Legal Pot System Under Voter-Approved Measure

Ted Gest — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:17:00 -0400

Washington residents and out-of-staters could buy an ounce of tested, labeled marijuana, seven days a week, up to 20 hours a day, in state-regulated stores under draft rules for a new legal-pot system proposed yesterday by the Liquor Control Board, reports the Seattle Times. The rule is more permissive than in Colorado, the other state creating an adult recreational-pot market. Colorado lawmakers limited out-of-staters to buying one-quarter ounce in stores in an effort to impede “smurfing,” the practice of making repeated buys and aggregating pot to sell on the black market.

Washington would not allow the sale of marijuana concentrates, such as hash or hash oil, unless they were infused in edible or liquid products. The high-potency concentrates have become popular to vaporize, particularly with younger users. Washington’s 46-page raft of rules covers issues from product testing to growing licenses to advertising restrictions to package labeling. The draft rules would allow sun-grown pot in greenhouses — with rigid walls, roofs and doors — but not open fields. They would not initially cap the number of growing licenses issued by the state, in an effort to include smaller growers in a seed-to-store system untested on the planet. The rules would not cap processing or retail licenses either, for similar reasons. Alison Holcomb, primary author of the initiative to legalize recreational pot, was pleased with the rules’ balancing of public safety and health with the desire to create a workable system.

Can ‘Smart Gun’ Technology Change the Stalemate Over Gun Violence?

Graham Kates — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:33:54 -0400

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter issued a challenge to the gun industry Wednesday, arguing that the application of “smart gun” technology, designed to program firearms so that only their owners can fire them, could not only save lives but neutralize the concerns of gun rights advocates.

"Why don't you at least try?” Nutter, who also serves as president of the U.S., Conference of Mayors, asked Joe Bartozzi, vice-president of the Connecticut-based firearms manufacturer O.F. Mossberg and Sons.

“Put one on the market and see what happens."

But Bartozzi, speaking at a roundtable for newsroom editors and columnists at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, insisted it wouldn’t work.

Bartozzi said Mossberg had already surveyed focus groups about some of the cutting-edge technology already available, such as personalized rings that could be digitally programmed to recognize the legitimate owner of a weapon.

The response, he said, was overwhelmingly negative. Customers who wanted guns to protect themselves and their families considered such technology too unreliable, he said.

"What if I have to hand the gun to my spouse in an emergency?” Bartozzi recalled a focus group member asking.

"It’s hard to understand that it represents more than just a piece of steel or plastic. It represents personal security; it represents security when the police aren't there. It represents even food when there's no supermarket. It represents self-defense. It represents liberty and freedom for a lot of people," Bartozzi said.

Wednesday’s exchange underlined the continued wide gulf in the national debate over gun violence, in the shadow of both last December’s Sandy Hook elementary school shootings and Congress’ failure last month to pass meaningful gun legislation.

Nutter and fellow panelist Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak argued that finding technological solutions to the challenge of gun access represented a common sense approach to a problem both sides agreed was a key factor in reducing the kind of gun violence that has afflicted many U.S. cities: the easy access to guns--particularly those sold or trafficked on the black market---to youth gang members and others who otherwise could not get them legally.

Both mayors also discussed proposals to bring market pressure to bear on the gun industry, such as the “Sandy Hook Principles” adopted by Philadelphia this year, and deploying the buying power of municipalities who purchase a large percentage of the country’s firearms for their own police departments.

“This is an opportunity to utilize our collective economic power to help companies understand that your product can cause death and destruction,” Nutter said.

“So any measures that you can take to make all of us safer are not only good for us, they’re good for business.”

The Sandy Hook principles, which borrow from the 1980s campaign against South African apartheid, involve the threat of divestment by stockholders such as large municipal pension funds, against corporations with large investments in the gun industry unless manufacturers change their marketing or production lines to reflect concerns about gun safety and firearms responsibility.

The smart gun technology issue, ranging from biometrics to trigger locks, also reflects a wider challenge by gun safety advocates to treat guns as consumer products subject to national safety standards similar to seatbelts in cars or childproof medicine bottles.

Bartozzi, a member of the board of governors of the National Shooting Sports Foundation – the leading industry lobby group---insisted guns are unlike other consumer products subject to federal rules because they are protected by the Second Amendment.

“I think sometimes we confuse what our privileges and rights. Driving a car is a privilege. You have the right to own a gun,” he said.

Rybak and other speakers at Wednesday’s “Under the Gun” roundtable charged that leading gun rights lobbies such as the National rifle Association (NRA) and the NSSF made it harder to reach any compromise because of their objections to both technological solutions and efforts to modernize even the current system for tracking guns used during crimes.

The lobbies’ influence with both Republicans and Democrats from states with strong gun cultures had managed to block federal legislation that would enable law enforcement agencies to share information about firearms trace data, Rybak charged.

"We should have real-time information, computer-based---my God, this is the 21st century," he said.

Bartozzi, however, rejected claims by the mayors and other speakers that the NRA effectively calls the shots for gun manufacturers—or vice versa.

“There seems to be some notion that the gun industry somehow controls the NRA, well that's just not true, the NRA has five million members," said Bartozzi, who is an NRA member.

He was backed up by Larry Keane, NSSF general counsel, who attended Wednesday’s session as an observer. While the NSSF and NRA often take similar positions on gun-related issues, Keane noted that the NSSF is an industry trade association, as opposed to the NRA, which is primarily a gun owners group.

But one issue that the NRA and NSSF are in lockstep on is recent calls for universal background checks on gun purchases. They argued that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is too unreliable to be mandated.

He noted that many states do not input mental health and criminal history records into the system, and that it often fails to provide a speedy response.

NICS, which is designed to contain records for every person barred from owning a gun, has experienced a few high-profile “outages” during periods of high demand for gun purchases — including during two of the last three “Black Fridays.”

But to Rybak, a slow system with insufficient data is better than no system at all.

"I've heard way too many eulogies for people I'll never know for me to think that the status quo is acceptable," he said.

Emotions flared at times as the two urban mayors pressed the gun company executive to concede failings in his industry.

Bartozzi said he’s struggled with the torrent of criticism targeted at gun manufacturers since the Newtown CT shootings. Much of the national debate on gun control, he said, lacked civility.

“It has been pretty tough to look at the paper every day,” said Bartozzi. “I am seeing very nasty, derogatory reports, cartoons, editorials.”

But Rybak responded that Minneapolis’ struggles with gun-related homicides and suicides make it hard for him to maintain civility.

"If you think this should be a reasonable discussion, then you haven't been seeing the slow motion mass murder going on in this country," he said.

Editor’s note: For more of TCR’s coverage of the Under the Gun Roundtable, including Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy’s comments on how his state managed to pass some of the country’s toughest gun laws, please click HERE.

Graham Kates is deputy managing editor of The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers. He can be found on Twitter, @GrahamKates.

Federal Judges Declare Emergency, Say Funding Cuts Threaten Defenders

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:14:31 -0400

Federal courts officials asked the White House for emergency funding, saying the judiciary does not have the budget flexibility to absorb the large mandatory budget cuts that have caused furloughs in the nation's federal public defender and court offices, Legal Times reports. The U.S. Judicial Conference said the courts need an emergency appropriation of $73 million—$41 million for federal public defenders and $32 million for court operations. The money would save 550 jobs in public defender and clerk offices, and prevent 24,000 furlough days for 5,000 employees.

The request connected the emergency funding to the Boston Marathon bombing, saying $5 million for projected representation costs "for high-threat trials, including high-threat cases in New York and Boston" that federal public defenders would have been able to absorb had the sequester not happened. The courts want to replace part of the $350 million overall cut to the federal courts budget as part of sequestration earlier this year, said U.S. Circuit Judge Julia Gibbons, chair of the judicial conference, and Judge Thomas Hogan, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. "The judiciary is confronting an unprecedented financial crisis that could seriously compromise the Constitutional mission of the United States courts," they said. "We believe our supplemental request meets the threshold for receiving an emergency designation."

O.J. Simpson Case Puts Spotlight On Issue of Inadequate Defense Lawyering

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:03:03 -0400

O.J. Simpson's appeal for a new trial sheds light on an issue affecting countless lesser-known defendants: bad lawyering, says the Christian Science Monitor. Along the way, he might get a helping hand from the U.S. Supreme Court. Simpson wants to overturn his conviction on armed robbery and kidnapping of sports memorabilia dealers in 2007. He says his counsel was inadequate and that his lawyer misled co-counsel.

Squabbles between lawyers and their clients and co-counsels are not uncommon, says Robert Pugsley, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. “Most clients in this situation are so poor or low on the economic scale that their bad lawyering doesn’t get much attention, and so the issue remains largely unnoticed,” he adds. “Whether Simpson prevails or not, this proceeding has a great chance to put the spotlight on this widespread problem. Maryland lawyer Rene Sandler says, “He actually has a case with merits, but these are extreme, uphill battles because you are asking a court to substitute its own judgment, years later with faded memories, for that of the judge at the time.”

Obama Seeks to Revive Media "Shield" Law Amid Flap over AP Data Seizure

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:34:30 -0400

The Obama administration asked Congress to revive legislation giving give stronger protections to reporters, responding to widespread criticism over the Justice Department's broad seizure of Associated Press phone records, the Wall Street Journal reports. House Republicans, at a contentious four-hour hearing, barraged Attorney General Eric Holder with questions about the AP case and other issues, including the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups. The AP seizures were part of a Justice Department investigation into national-security leaks. The subpoenas appeared to be handled "contrary to the law and standard procedure," House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), told Holder.

The White House talked to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) about reviving "media shield" legislation that would protect journalists from revealing sources as part of an investigation. Schumer has been a chief proponent of such a law, though an effort to pass it in 2009 failed. Journalism advocacy groups welcomed the renewed interest in protecting journalists, though the effectiveness of a shield law would depend on how it is written and how easily the Justice Department could override the protections, citing national-security concerns. "When you talk about a shield law, it's often completely dependent on what they end up with," said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "If you keep watering down certain elements [ ] you can end up with a law that doesn't mean much."

Inmates With Mental Health Problems Victimized More In Sex Crimes

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:19:00 -0400

Prison and jail inmates with mental health problems reported higher rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization than did other inmates, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said today. An estimated 6.3 percent of prison inmates and 3.6 percent of jail inmates with serious psychological distress reported inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization, compared with 0.7 percent for both prison and jail inmates without a mental health problem.

The new study provides findings for the first time on sexual victimization of inmates with mental problems and on juveniles (ages 16 to 17) held in adult facilities. Nationwide, 2.0 percent of prison inmates and 1.6 percent of jail inmates reported at least one incident involving another inmate; 2.4 percent of prison inmates and 1.8 percent of jail inmates reported having had sex or sexual contact with facility staff. An estimated 80,600 adult inmates—57,900 in prisons and 22,700 in jails—reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff during 2011-12.

AK Serial Killing Case Shows Problem With Lack of Missing Person Database

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:09:00 -0400

A serial killer who committed suicide in an Alaska jail last year confessed to murdering at least 11 people across the U.S., but Israel Keyes didn't name names, and investigators trying to figure out who he killed are running into a major stumbling block: There is no unified, mandatory national database for missing persons, reports NPR. In a dimly lit back office at the Anchorage Police Department, investigators are piecing together Keyes' travels on a map. They say he may have killed people in places he traveled to over the past decade. He traveled a lot: to Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago, among other cities.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is federally mandated and has long-term government funding. The closest thing to it for adults is the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, which is funded by the Justice Department. But it's not required by Congress and doesn't have a long-term funding source.

As Detroit's 5th Chief in 5 Years, Can Craig Succeed Where Others Didn't?

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:57:00 -0400

Detroit has had five police chiefs in five years, and each made essentially the same promises on assuming command of the Detroit Police Department: lowering the crime rate, emphasizing community policing, and putting more officers on patrol. How might new Chief James Craig differ from his predecessors, asks the Detroit News. Unlike previous chiefs, Craig has experience turning around troubled police departments, experts said, which could help him succeed where others fell short.

"He's done more than just talk about it; he's gotten out there and proven himself," said city manager Milton Dohoney of Cincinnati, where Craig has been chief for two years. "He hit the ground running, went out and engaged rank-and-file officers, and proved he was a good listener. He was perceived as fair, and he boosted officer morale." Craig, 56, began patrolling Detroit's 10th Precinct in 1977. He spent 28 years in the Los Angeles Police Department before serving as chief in Portland, Me., and Cincinnati. Ex-New York City and Los Angeles chief William Bratton said Craig has an attribute not shared by recent chiefs other than Jerry Oliver: He was hired from outside Detroit. "He was part of the turnaround" in Los Angeles, Bratton said.

Brown Wants High Court Review of CA Prisons; Inmates: Hold Him In Contempt

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:53:00 -0400

Gov. Jerry Brown and his top state prison official are about to find out how mad they've made the three federal judges overseeing California's overcrowded prison system, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Lawyers for prison inmates yesterday asked the three-judge panel to find Brown and Jeffrey Beard, the state's corrections chief, in contempt for failing to comply with orders requiring the administration to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for reducing the prison population.

Citing "willful defiance" by the governor and his staff, the inmates' lawyers argue the federal court must take strong action to force the state to shed another 10,000 inmates to cut the prison population to about 110,000 at the end of this year. The federal judges previously found California's prisons so overcrowded that they deny adequate medical and mental health care to inmates. The inmates' lawyers want judges to order the state to release more low risk prisoners to solve the overcrowding. Brown said this week he is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

GOP Warns Advocates of Lowering Drivers' Alcohol Limit: It's a State Issue

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:41:00 -0400

Republicans have a message for federal safety regulators who want to lower the legal alcohol limit for drivers dramatically: Washington needs to butt out, Politico reports. GOP leaders on Capitol Hill said the legal limit on blood-alcohol content should be left to state legislatures, not bureaucrats and politicians in Washington. While the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations are nonbinding, Republicans are warning the government against withholding federal funding from — or offering financial incentives to — states to prod them to adopt tougher drunken driving laws.

“I think it’s a state issue,” declared Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), a member of the Commerce Committee and the GOP leadership team. Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, concurred: “That would be a state issue — that would be my belief.” Tying federal highway dollars to states’ drunken driving laws is a bipartisan practice that goes back decades. The Reagan administration used the threat of lost money to get states to raise their drinking age to 21 in the 1980s, and Congress used similar leverage to prod states to reduce the blood-alcohol threshold to 0.08 percent in the past decade. Still, federal meddling with state dollars has often been described as “blackmail or bribery,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY.)

NRA Plans Lawsuit to Block New Maryland Gun-Control Law

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:23:00 -0400

The National Rifle Association will sue to block a Maryland gun-control law being signed today by Gov. Martin O’Malley, said by the Washington Post to be on the nation's strictest, the Washington Post reports. It bans the sale of nearly all semi-automatic rifles, plus magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, and requires new gun buyers to submit digital fingerprints to state police.

Supporters will go on the offensive with a television ad campaign designed to build public support for the new law. Ahead of a 2014 election in which every member of Maryland’s General Assembly will be up for reelection, the ad is designed to blunt criticism from would-be contenders hoping to use the legislation as a campaign issue. It’s also a way, proponents said, to demonstrate to lawmakers in less-blue states as well as in Congress that a vote for gun control can be a winning one.

Heroin Problem Rises in Florida After State's Success Against Pill Mills

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:14:00 -0400

Heroin is inching back in Florida, the unintended consequence of the state’s epic war on prescription pills, says the Miami Herald. With Florida officials successfully slowing the supplies, shutting down the pill mills that masqueraded as pain centers and arresting thousands of addicts and even doctors, heroin has become a popular substitute. In January, researchers from across the U.S. met in New Mexico at the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Community Epidemiology Work Group conference and swapped frighteningly similar stories about the increased use of heroin. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale region was named one of the regions facing the heroin trend.

“The major drug headline of 2012 was the emergence of heroin both in urban centers and small cities and towns,’’ said epidemiologist and drug expert Jim Hall of Nova Southeastern University’s Center for Applied Research on Substance Abuse and Health Disparities. “Young adults, 18 to 30, white, prescription opioid addicts are making the transition to heroin.” While the raw numbers remain small in Florida and police have seen little street activity, experts are mounting a campaign to slow the trend, from public education about the risks of heroin and needle injection to law enforcement presentations about a Good Samaritan law designed to stop drug overdoses.

NFL Star Starts Anti-Domestic Violence Group After Lover Kills Sister

Ted Gest — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:05:00 -0400

Raised with two sisters by a single mom, Chris Johnson of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens heard all about the violence that often surrounds women while he was growing up. He never thought much about it until his sister was struck down by multiple gunshot wounds to her chest and head by a man who said he loved her, says the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

As a result, Johnson started Showtime 37, a nonprofit organization that helps connect victims of domestic violence with resources that can help them break free from their abusers. “I just wanted to be one of the voices that showed a way out,” Johnson said. “You see too many cases of men killing women just like what happened to my sister. A real man doesn’t like to see another man put his hands on a woman.” Eugene Esters, 48, the man convicted last week of murdering Johnson’s sister, will serve a life prison sentence. Chris Johnson’s wife, Mioshi, also joined the cause to break the cycle of violence after her sister-in-law’s death.

Violence and 'Civil War-Level' Trauma in the Inner City

Graham Kates — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:23:55 -0400

When Arthur Kellermann first studied risks associated with gun ownership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided funding for his research.

What he found was widely considered groundbreaking.

"Homes where guns were kept were nearly three times more, not less, likely to be the scene of a homicide,” Kellerman said during a conference at John Jay College in New York City yesterday.

“And five times more, not less, likely to be the scene of a suicide."

The study, which looked at homicides in one Washington State county between 1977 and 1983, helped frame a decade’s worth of research into gun violence as a public health concern.

It was not popular with the National Rifle Association and firearms industry advocates.

The NRA lobbied Congress to limit the CDC’s ability to research gun-related risks and in 1996, three years after a particularly high profile Kellermann study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a federal budget included a prohibition on CDC funds that “may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”

In the 17 years since, federally funded studies of gun violence have been rare.

But even with a paucity of gun-related research, the inherent health effects of inner city violence are becoming clear. Speaking at the conference this morning, Connie Rice, Executive Director of the Advancement Project California, said children in urban areas are prone to experience trauma and post-traumatic stress “at Civil War levels.”

“Trauma is the biggest elephant in the room that nobody seems to see,” said Rice.

“When you focus on trauma, you begin to get a better sense of what these kids' lives are like. It helps you get a sense of why they can't look you in the eye, can't focus."

But politicians are often all too willing to be “tough on crime” without addressing trauma, said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade schools, during the conference.

While no students in Miami-Dade County were killed in school between 2009 and 2012, Carvalho said 99 students were murdered outside school walls during that time period.

81 were shot to death.

“We keep the schools open late, you know why? Because kids are afraid to go home,” Carvalho said.

It’s a small measure — designed to help students during what Carvalho calls “the killing hours” between 4 and 8 p.m., when the streets are most dangerous for kids and teens — but he said its an acknowledgement of the burden of guns in their lives.

"If you restrict the number of guns in America, if you restrict the access, the number of children killed by adults goes down," said Carvalho.

Graham Kates is Deputy Managing Editor of The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers. He can be found on Twitter, @GrahamKates.

NTSB Suggests Lower DUI Threshold, But Will States Go Along?

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:11:06 -0400

USA Today reports that states should reduce the blood-alcohol level that qualifies as drunken driving to 0.05 percent to reduce fatal crashes, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended Tuesday. The risk of a crash at 0.05 percent is about half as much as at 0.08 percent, the limit in all states, according to a safety board report released Tuesday. Impaired driving remains "one of the biggest killers in the United States," said Deborah Hersman, the NTSB chairman. "To make a bold difference will require bold action. But it can be done."

But the board makes only recommendations to states and the federal government, and can't make laws or regulations. The Governors Highway Safety Association supports the current alcohol threshold. "When the limit was .10, it was very difficult to get it lowered to .08," said Jonathan Adkins, a spokesman for the governors group. "We don't expect any state to go to .05."

L.A. Schools Push Back Against Columbine-Inspired 'Zero Tolerance'

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:10:15 -0400

In ground-breaking action, the Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday to ban suspensions of defiant students, directing officials to use alternative disciplinary practices instead, reports the Los Angeles Times. The action comes amid mounting national concern that removing students from school is imperiling their academic achievement and disproportionately harming minority students, particularly African Americans.

The action marks a decisive step back from "zero tolerance" policies that swept the nation after the Columbine school shooting in Colorado more than a decade ago. But as harsh school discipline policies took hold, studies in Texas and elsewhere found that suspensions did not lead to better behavior but were linked to poor academic achievement and run-ins with law enforcement. African Americans are disproportionately affected — accounting for 26 percent of those suspended in L.A. Unified in 2010-11 although they made up 9 percent of the student population.

Kansas Criminal Records Closed to Public; Some Pols Caught Unaware

Ted Gest — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:09:53 -0400

The Kansas Legislature has closed most criminal records to the public--records that are readily available in most other states, reports the Kansas City Star. The Kansas law goes so far as to make it a misdemeanor crime for a law enforcement agency or prosecutor to release those records without a judge’s order. “I know of no other states where these records can be closed forever,” said Ken Bunting, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, a nonprofit that works to protect the public’s right to open government.

Several law enforcement officials in Kansas said the records are closed to protect the rights of the accused and to keep publicity from tainting a jury. In addition, the records may contain the name of a confidential informant or investigation techniques such as wiretapping that police want to keep secret. Johnson County District Attorney Stephen Howe said that if certain information is released it could subject people to harm or death. As in national security matters, “Most people would say, ‘We don’t need to know,’” he said. But several state legislators interviewed did not realize how restrictive Kansas law is regarding criminal records and said the Legislature needs to revamp the law.

Crime Fear Factor: Why Don't Americans Believe They Are Safer Today?

Ted Gest — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:09:29 -0400

Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky explores the crime "fear factor" in America. He writes, "America is nearly as safe as your mother's arms. Violent crime has dropped by 50 percent since 1993, and gun homicide is down the same - 3.2 gun deaths per 100,000 Americans in 2011, contrasted with 6.6 in 1993, according to FBI statistics. There were actually more gun suicides (18,735) than homicides (11,493) in 2009, the last year reported.

"We are living in the safest times since the 1960s - and the plummeting gun-murder rate happened without new federal gun-control laws. This is not to argue against them: As a gun owner, I strongly supported the criminal-background check. These are facts, whether you find them convenient or not. A recent Pew Research poll found that only 12 percent of Americans think gun violence has decreased. If America is safer, why don't we feel safer?"

Crime and Punishment: Locked-Up VA Teens Clamor for Russian Lit

Ted Gest — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:00:44 -0400

"Something strange" is happening at the Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center in Virginia, reports the Washington Post. Russian literature is being explored as a recidivism remedy for juvenile criminals. Residents of the center are so eager to get into a Russian literature class led by the University of Virginia that prison officials use it as a reward. The youths are clamoring to read weighty books such as "War and Peace" even after the class is over.

The idea of bringing Tolstoy to juvenile offenders is flat ridiculous to some, who think they need a tough wake-up call and practical job skills, not what they consider literary fluff. But the commonwealth spends nearly $80 million a year on juvenile correctional centers, and in recent years more than a third of the people released from those centers were convicted of another crime within a year. No one’s predicting a miracle cure for recidivism, a national problem. But there’s no cost to the Department of Juvenile Justice for the class. And staff members at Beaumont see a marked change in students’ behavior and goals with the class, said the principal of the high school there. Some have gone on to college.

Controversial Cutting-Edge Laws in Arizona Have Proven Costly for Taxpayers

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:25:09 -0400

Controversial Arizona laws targeting illegal immigrants, abortions and school choice have been costly for taxpayers, reports the Arizona Republic. Lawsuits over the measures have cost millions of dollars in legal fees and and thousands of hours of state employee time, diverting them from other work. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne blames the Obama administration for targeting Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer’s office says such lawsuits are sometimes the cost of doing the right thing. And the ACLU of Arizona blames a Legislature and governor too willing to ignore the U.S. Constitution.

The paper estimated that Arizona has spent more than $300,000 defending a voter-approved law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and nearly $176,000 defending the state’s Clean Elections public-funding program for candidates. The state paid more than $5 million to defend education requirements for students who are not proficient in English, according to the private attorneys’ billing data.

Police: Kanawha County Is Epicenter of WV's 'One-Pot' Mobile Meth Labs

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:15:06 -0400

Kanawha County is the epicenter of West Virginia meth, reports the Charleston Gazette. The county, which includes the capital city of Charleston and has the state's largest population (about 200,000), has reported eight times as many methamphetamine lab seizures as any other county in West Virginia so far this year, according to the State Police. Kanawha has had 113 meth lab busts. Cabell County was the next highest with 14.

Kanawha County's meth lab busts are on pace to surpass 300 for the year -- more than the 288 labs seized by law enforcement across the entire state in 2012. An increasing number of individuals there are making meth in small "shake and bake" or "one-pot" mobile labs, said Mike Goff, a state pharmacy board administrator who has studied the issue for years. "There are just so many people cooking it," Goff said Tuesday. "It spreads like wildfire."

Have Guns-on-Campus Rules Changed in PA? They'd Rather Not Say

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:59:24 -0400

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explores the confusion about whether rules barring guns on Pennsylvania college campuses have changed. In a debate about personal safety and Second Amendment rights that is hot with emotion, a university can face anger no matter what it says. So some of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities -- under pressure to end campuswide firearms bans -- are choosing their words carefully on the matter.

The State System of Higher Education's attorneys set the changes in motion last year by advising schools that campuswide gun bans were not legally enforceable. The lawyers acted after individuals, including at least one student, questioned existing campus rules. A spokesman said policies still forbid firearms in campus buildings or at university events and are intended "to the extent possible under the law to keep guns off campus." Yet Edinboro, California University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock University, Lock Haven, Millersville, Shippensburg and Kutztown recently amended their policies, though few knew about it until now.

Audit Finds Release-Date Errors for Hundreds of Colorado Prison Inmates

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:45:10 -0400

The early results of a Colorado Department of Corrections audit has so far found errors that led to early release dates for hundreds of prisoners, reports the Denver Post. The sentencing judges must now decide which of those already released should be returned to prison to serve out the longer sentences required by state law. Other cases involve prisoners who are on the verge of release who may now see their sentences extended. The audit is on pace to find serious sentencing flaws in more than 1,000 cases.

The audit was ordered after it was disclosed that a parolee believed to have murdered corrections chief Tom Clements was released from prison early because of a clerical error. The errors found in the audit occurred for a variety of reasons. In some cases, judicial clerks may have given incorrect sentences to the corrections department. In others, corrections officials may have interpreted sentences incorrectly. A full breakdown is not yet available on how the errors occurred. The state has identified 8,415 individuals whose sentences need reviews. The work will conclude in July.

BBC Says It Erred in Reporting Racial Bias in Coverage of Cleveland Women

David Krajicek — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:30:47 -0400

The BBC has corrected an error in a story last week that claimed the Cleveland Plain Dealer had given more attention over the years to the white victim among the three kidnapped females who were held captive at a house in the Ohio city. The BBC cited "Missing White Woman Syndrome" in its claim that the paper had written more stories about victim Amanda Berry, who is white, than Gina DeJesus, a Latina, reports About.com.

In fact, a Plain Dealer editor, Chris Quinn, said his paper had published 24 stories that mentioned DeJesus and 17 that mentioned only Berry. A BBC spokesman replied, "This story has been amended to remove the suggestion that the Cleveland Plain Dealer published considerably more stories about Amanda Berry while she was missing than it did about Gina DeJesus. The numbers cited were based on erroneously compiled data and we regret that error."

The Ironies of Gun Marketing

Graham Kates — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:04:00 -0400

Driving along the expressway leaving Baltimore recently, I observed an electronic billboard alerting drivers to the identity of one of the current “most wanted” fugitives in the area.

As I was moving toward the billboard, the advertisement changed to notify us of the upcoming “Gun and Knife Show” at the state fair grounds north of the city.

Juxtaposed against this irony is the breaking story of corruption endemic to the Baltimore City Detention Center. While the City Jail is formally operated by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, in actuality it is apparently run by the boss of a local gang.

The details of this corruption have been widely reported. In brief, the gang was able to suborn the collaboration of at least 13 correctional officers, four of whom were impregnated by the gangleader, who has been incarcerated for several years awaiting trial.

The corrupted officers were able to bring in various materials needed by gang members in continuing their operations on the outside. The boss allegedly was asserting his control over day to day operations in the jail.

One hopes that state corrections leaders will re-assert control over the operation of the jail. One hopes that all involved will be found out and receive appropriate sanctions.

But personally, I am far from sanguine about this.

Having been involved in various parts of the criminal justice system in many parts of Maryland, including Baltimore, over the past two decades, it is clear that the justice system in Baltimore is very, very broken.

Citizens in the city do not trust the police. Because of this, the jury pool is anything but objective, rendering effective prosecution difficult. And now we learn that the officers sworn to manage inmates and detainees in our jail were not only permitting criminal activity to continue but were affirmatively abetting that activity.

Clearly, a top-down purge is needed, and it is unfortunate that some good officers will be caught in this net. Fortunately, this purge has begun.

I wonder, though, about a society that permits the irony of a billboard simulcasting the need to capture most wanted criminals alongside a celebration of the weapons that allow those criminals to do their deeds.

It strikes me that we have gotten what we have asked for.

Erik Roskes, a regular blogger for The Crime Report, is a forensic psychiatrist and serves on the teaching faculty in the Psychiatry Department at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The opinions expressed are those of the author only, and do not represent those of any of Dr. Roskes’ employers or consultees, including the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He welcomes readers’ comments. Dr. Roskes’ website is http://mysite.verizon.net/eroskes.

Dannel Malloy: 'The NRA is holding a gun to the head of every Republican' Senator

Graham Kates — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:35:52 -0400

Connecticut’s governor says the media is allowing the National Rifle Association (NRA) to co-opt the national debate on firearms and gun control.

Five months after 28 people — including the shooter and his mother — were killed in the Newtown, CT massacre, Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut spoke yesterday to a group of about 40 reporters and editors from across the nation about the politics of gun control. He was joined in a panel discussion at John Jay College in New York by Robyn Thomas, Executive Director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Robert Spitzer, professor at the State University of New York, Cortland.

Malloy said journalists, especially those on television, draw a false equivalency between the NRA and those in favor of stricter gun control laws. He argued that the NRA is more representative of the firearms industry than firearms owners.

"We keep treating the NRA as if it's a real organization that is advocating on behalf of people, as opposed to a purchased entity that only advocates on behalf of companies,” Malloy, a Democrat, said.

In addition to complaints about the level of exposure granted to representatives of the NRA, Thomas and Spitzer said journalists often neglect to provide contextual information that could better inform readers about issues in the gun debate.

Thomas highlighted a failure to analyze the wording used in public opinion polls.

"It may be that if you ask the question, ‘Do you support stricter gun laws?" the numbers might not look supportive,” said Thomas. “But if you say ‘Do you support background checks’ the numbers are much more in favor.”

While Second Amendment advocates often argue that even limited restrictions on gun ownership are in violation of the Constitution, Spitzer noted that gun laws have been a fixture of the American legal landscape since before the Constitution was ratified.

Even as the county’s founding fathers were crafting the Second Amendment, American states had laws banning the sale of guns to Native Americans, black people and others, said Spitzer, the author of The Politics of Gun Control.

But he said the administration of former President George W. Bush oversaw a dramatic shift in the proliferation of gun restrictions.

"In terms of policy, it was the most gun friendly administration in history," Spitzer said.

In the aftermath of Newtown, Republicans and Democrats around the country rushed to pass laws that changed the way local jurisdictions viewed firearms, but Thomas said that several states took steps that hint at a “sea change” away from the policies of the last decade.

Connecticut, New York and Colorado significantly strengthened gun restrictions, and New Jersey, Maryland, Nevada and California may pass similarly tough packages.

But new federal gun laws remain difficult to pass.

A measure that would have broadly expanded federal restrictions on certain firearms transactions failed to get the 60 votes needed for passage in the Senate.

Malloy said recent national polls that suggest a majority of Americans support laws mandating background checks are evidence that the NRA has undue influence.

“We couldn’t get to 60 votes, because the NRA is holding a gun to the head of every Republican,” said Malloy.

Graham Kates is Deputy Managing Editor of The Crime Report. He welcomes comments from readers. He can be found on Twitter, @GrahamKates.

Study: American Youth Exposed to High Rates of Violence

Graham Kates — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:05:18 -0400

A new study suggests that about 40 percent of youths in the United States experience at least one physical assault each year.

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center conducted random telephone interviews in 2011 with about 4,500 minors or their caregivers.

Nearly 14 percent of those surveyed reported repeated maltreatment by a caregiver, according to the study.

In addition, more than 13 percent reported being physically bullied; nearly one in three said they were emotionally bullied.

Read the study’s abstract HERE or purchase the full study from the Journal of the American Medical Association HERE.

Freed Cleveland Women Trapped by Media, Some Offering Money

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:15:24 -0400

Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, and Michelle Knight, freed last week after a decade of being held against their will in Cleveland, now are imprisoned by the media, says Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Mark Naymik. James Wooley, a former federal prosecutor speaking for them, asked for time space, and privacy. That's the message delivered Sunday by a former federal prosecutor speaking for the three victims. Says Naymik: "It's hard to argue with him, especially if reports are true that a news helicopter hovered above DeJesus' home to catch a glimpse of her getting some fresh air."

Public relations consultant Bruce Hennes, working with Wolley, says media outlets have offered money for the women's stories. He hopes news outlets will reconsider the traditional approach of reporting such stories out of respect for the women. He said doing so will take "courage" by some outlets. "The media has a role to play," he said. "Every reporter that has a piece of this has to decide what his or her role will be." DeJesus, Berry. and Knight may decide to tell their story, even perhaps to media outlets who pay for exclusives, says Naymik, adding, "Doing so has to be on their terms, not their captors'."

Green Dot A Key Element in MD Inmate Black Market Currency

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:59:00 -0400

In the black market of Maryland's prisons and jails, where the right price can secure cellphones and drugs, transactions unfold through a complex system of currency, says the Baltimore Sun. Among the key elements: 14-digit codes, prepaid debit cards, and text messages. One brand of cards — Green Dot — is so ubiquitous that it has become part of the lexicon on the inside.

The federal indictment of two dozen inmates and corrections officers in an alleged Black Guerrilla Family corruption scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center notes several instances in which suspects refer to "dots" in transactions. Corrections officials have fought for years against illicit commerce — cigarettes, cash and even bars of soap have been used in trade among prisoners. Now prepaid cards have emerged in concert with cellphones as an efficient way to move capital around, into and out of corrections facilities. Using a simple code number to make transactions makes the cards hard for authorities to detect, said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.

New House Task Force Will Examine Growing Federal Prison System

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:42:54 -0400

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees federal prison spending, will work with ranking member Chaka Fattah (D-PA), on a task force to review all aspects of the rapidly growing federal correctional system, reports CQ Roll Call. Wolf is outraged that federal prisoners are not provided more opportunities to gain work experience and believes the Bureau of Prisons is holding too many people, including ill older inmates who no longer pose a threat to society. A report by the Justice Department’s inspector general came to the same conclusion. “If you’re 68 years old and you’re dying of cancer and your life expectancy is seven months, why do we want to keep you in prison?” Wolf says.

A separate House task force is examining "overcriminalization" in the federal justice system, including what Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-VA) calls minor crimes in which perpetrators may not have realized they were breaking the law. He cited the example of an 11-year-old girl who "saved a baby woodpecker from the family cat" and was fined $535 under a federal law banning the possession of a migratory bird. In the Senate, Rand Paul (R-KY), has joined with Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on a "safety valve" bill that would allow federal judges to depart from mandatory minimum sentences under certain conditions.

DOJ Seizes 20 Phone Line Records of AP Reporters, Editors In Leak Probe

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:25:21 -0400

The Justice Department seized records of 20 phone lines used by reporters or editors for the Associated Press to gather information for a leak investigation involving a 2012 AP story about a counterterrorism operation in Yemen, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department notified AP on Friday that records had been subpoenaed from telephone companies several months ago. The subpoenas covered a two-month period around the time AP wrote the story about an alleged conspiracy to detonate an underwear bomb aboard a U.S.-bound airliner.

The breadth of AP phone logs sought went beyond the searches used by the Justice Department in known past cases. AP denounced the effort as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion by the Department of Justice into the news-gathering activities" of the company. The AP is a cooperative that serves member news outlets and customers including websites, newspapers, and television and radio stations. The U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., said Justice Department policies require the office to make "every reasonable effort to obtain information through alternative means before even considering a subpoena for phone records of a member of the media." Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union called the government's move "an unacceptable abuse of power."

It's Official: Cincinnati's James Craig to Become Detroit Police Chief

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:21:00 -0400

Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig tells the Cincinnati Enquirer he's accepted the job as Detroit Police Chief. “It’s an emotional day,” Craig said. “But going to Detroit is the ultimate job for me.” Craig’s exit comes as 66 Cincinnati police officers face pink slips in the city’s effort to balance a $35 million deficit. Reorganization of the department will now be left in his command staff’s hands.

The situation in Detroit – Craig’s hometown – isn’t any rosier. The Motor City is being run by state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr, who is trying to figure out how to straighten out the city’s $327 million budget deficit. Public safety unions in Detroit there are up in arms, having received word from Orr that because Detroit is under receivership it no longer has an obligation to engage in collective bargaining. City Manager Milton Dohoney either will name an interim leader and launch the second search for a chief in three years, or he could simply appoint a new chief.

Colorado Voters To Decide On Pot Taxes; Revenue Estimates Hazy

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:15:00 -0400

When Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, supporters touted new tax revenue estimates that ranged as high as $2 billion over five years. Recent reports and analyses offer some advice: Don’t spend that money yet, reports Stateline. “Nobody has any idea (about revenue),” said Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist and analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute. “There’s only one good way to find out what the revenue would be, and that would be for all levels of government to legalize it and then we see what happens.”

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy predicted that marijuana legalization there would produce $60 million annually in new revenue and savings for the state each year until 2017. The taxes on marijuana sales include a 15 percent excise tax (dedicated to school construction) and a 10 percent sales tax, for a total of 25 percent. According to the study, those levies would bring in $32 million for the state budget, $14 million for local governments and would result in a savings of more than $12 million in state and local law enforcement spending. Last week, Colorado lawmakers approved the taxes and set other regulations. Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill. The taxes go before the voters in a November referendum.

Murder, Manslaughter, Rape Rose Sharply After Congress Allowed Guns in National Parks

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:45:00 -0400

Murder, manslaughter, and rape cases rose sharply the year after guns were allowed in national parks, though most violent crimes fell last year to about the same level as in 2009, say new data from the National Park Service reported by The Oklahoman. The park service numbers show 15 murder and manslaughter cases in 2010, up from four in 2009, the year Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) pushed through an amendment to allow loaded firearms in national parks located in states that had concealed carry laws.

Rapes also rose, from 34 in 2009 to 45 in 2010, as did kidnappings and aggravated assaults. Robberies dropped from 64 to 58. The issue of park crimes arose last week when Coburn sought unsuccessfully to amend a water projects bill with a proposal to allow firearms on land controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During that debate, Coburn said crime had fallen on National Park Service land because of his legislation to allow firearms in the parks. John Hart, a spokesman for Coburn, said the senator misspoke when he claimed crime rates had dropped 85 percent since the new policy took effect allowing loaded firearms. Hart said an evaluation of the new statistics shows the worst offenses tracked by the Park Service have dropped an average of 11 percent in the three years since the new firearms policy took effect, compared with the average of the three years before the new policy.

Number Shot by Philadelphia Police Jumps Without Explanation

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:21:00 -0400

The number of people shot by Philadelphia police has climbed to its highest level in a decade, as violent crime and assaults on police officers are down, reports Philly.com Philadelphia police shot 52 suspects last year while responding to calls for reported crimes. Of those shot, 15 people died. The city's police watchdog says the department hasn't provided a reason for the increase. The Police Advisory Commission has been repeatedly blocked in its efforts to review shootings and, according to the executive director of the Police Advisory Commission, Internal Affairs has refused to supply requested information about any of the shootings.

Police Internal Affairs investigators and the district attorney's office have not raised any known concerns about the shootings. In 2011, 35 were shot. “It certainly raises a red flag,” said David Rudovsky, civil rights attorney and University of Pennsylvania law professor. “The numbers almost speak for themselves.” Philadelphia in recent years has had one of the highest rates of shootings by police in the nation.

Death Penalty Phase Next Week In Gosnell Abortion "House of Horrors" Case

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:12:00 -0400

Pennsylvania Dr. Kermit Gosnell, found guilty yesterday of three counts of first-degree murder in the abortion "house of horrors" case, will face the jury again next week in the death-penalty phase of his trial, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The prosecution will present evidence for aggravating circumstances that call for his execution. Being convicted of more than one murder is an aggravating circumstance as defined by statute. Another is if a victim is under the age of 12.

Defense attorney Jack McMahon can proceed largely as he sees fit because mitigating circumstances - evidence that argues against the death sentence - are not defined by statute. "Given that this man is 72 years old and a doctor, I would expect Mr. McMahon to focus on the positive achievements this doctor has undoubtedly had in his lifetime," said Marc Bookman of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, a Philadelphia nonprofit that provides defense resources in death-penalty cases. "The verdict itself - acquittals on some charges, compromises on some - suggests that [the jurors] have already seen some gray in the case rather than the black and white we often see in capital cases," said Bookman, a public defender for 27 years.

Law Enforcement Officer Felonious Deaths Last Year Dropped Sharply to 47

Ted Gest — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:01:00 -0400

The number of law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty last year dropped sharply, from 72 to 47, the FBI reports. Of the deaths, 12 resulted from injuries inflicted while investigating suspicious persons or circumstances, eight died while conducting traffic pursuits or stops, five in tactical situations, and five as a result of ambushes (four due to entrapment/premeditated situations and one during an unprovoked attack).

Four officers’ deaths happened as a result of answering disturbance calls (two of which were domestic disturbance calls) and three officers were dealing with prisoners. Two officers sustained fatal injuries during drug-related matters, two were attempting to make other arrests, and two were performing investigative activities. Two officers were responding to robberies in progress, one was responding to a burglary in progress, and one officer was killed as a result of handling a person with a mental illness. Offenders used firearms in 43 of the 47 deaths. These included 30 incidents with handguns, seven with rifles, and three with shotguns. The type of firearm was not reported in three incidents. Two victim officers were killed with vehicles used as weapons; one was killed with a knife; and one officer died from injuries inflicted with personal weapons, such as hands, fists, or feet.