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COPS to Review Vegas Police Shootings, May Draft Best Practices

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:14:02 -0500

Las Vegas's Metropolitan Police Department has agreed to open itself up to Justice Department officials, marking the start of a months-long process that could reform how its officers use deadly force and how those incidents are investigated, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The federal Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is expected to look at 20 years of shootings by Las Vegas officers, review the department's policies and procedures, and interview officers and civilians.

The COPS office is not working with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which does have the ability to mandate reforms. Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said bringing an independent set of eyes to scrutinize officer-involved shootings will strengthen the department, which saw its officers shoot and kill 12 people last year, a record for one year by the agency. The department has had two police shootings this year, both this week. One person, who shot and wounded an officer, died. The review is unique, and could lead to a national clearinghouse of "best practices" for officer-involved shootings, related policies and investigative procedures, said COPS Director Bernard Melekian.

Houston DA Checked on Critical Grand Jurors in Google Search

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:30:11 -0500

After denying any investigation into grand jurors who for six months investigated her office, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos said she directed her chief investigator to run "a cursory Internet search," the Houston Chronicle reports. Sources say an investigation by the DA's office into grand jurors, two judges, and a political opponent of Lykos was ongoing during the grand jury's probe. This week, the grand jury ended its investigation of possible problems with evidence from the Houston Police Department's DWI testing vehicles and the DA's office involvement.

The grand jury then accused Lykos' office of investigating them. Lykos first denied it, then said that because her office was "unfairly attacked" she had ordered an Internet search of members of the grand jury. "We were simply trying to learn if there was a political motivation behind the attacks," Lykos said. She suggested that a simple Google search did not rise to the level of "investigation." "The purpose of the Internet search was to simply try and determine what were the reasons for this grand jury's radical, erratic and what we believed to be unlawful actions," she said.

VAWA Expansion Endangered by Split Senate Vote

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:02:02 -0500

A proposed expansion of the federal Violence Against Women Act to aid “underserved” populations is in jeopardy after solid Republican opposition at a Senate markup yesterday.

Women’s advocates are pushing a version of the 17-year-old law that would give more power to Native Americans to prosecute cases on their lands and to help groups like women in the military and victims of sex traffickers.

Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, all eight GOP panel members voted against the expanded version of the bill. The measure was approved, 10 to 8, and will be sent to the Senate floor.

Even if it should pass the Senate, similar Republican opposition in the House, where the GOP has a solid majority, would likely block an expanded bill in an election year when there is relatively little time to consider legislation. The core VAWA provisions likely would remain intact.

Grassley listed a number of other provisions he opposed. He said that although some measures he favored to strengthen accountability of grantees were added to the bill, they did not go far enough. The senator said the “very good” law should continue in force at least in its current form.

Delays in passage are unfortunate, he said, “because when we have a united front against any kind of violence, whether it's against women or anybody else, the better off we're going to be in conquering it throughout all of society."

Paulette Sullivan Moore of the National Network to End Domestic Violence remains optimistic that VAWA will be reauthorized this year because members of Congress seeking re-election are unlikely to oppose a popular anticrime law aimed at helping women.

She called yesterday's split committee vote "unfortunate," saying that Republicans "decided that certain categories of women meant less than other categories of women."

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT.), a co-sponsor of the expanded bill, said it was "disheartening" to hear Republicans "saying we seek to protect too many victims."

Leahy, a former prosecutor, added, "Don't pick and choose among victims--they all count."

Leahy called the expanded bill bipartisan, noting that some Republicans not on the committee support it. The co-sponsor is Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID.)

Leahy noted that the bill approved by the committee, which was supported by the Obama administration, would cut the maximum amount of federal money for VAWA by about 20 percent.

Editor's Note: For more on VAWA, read TCR's coverage from earlier this week, "VAWA at the Crossroads."

Criminal Justice Game Theory Cited In Some State Corrections Reforms

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:41:26 -0500

While California’s corrections system is a trainwreck, Texas has become a model for corrections reform, says Governing Magazine. Last year, at least 11 states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, and North Carolina, enacted sweeping corrections reforms somewhat similar to Texas' with the intention of limiting the growth of their prison populations. This year, states as diverse as Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Hawaii are expected to take up corrections reform based on ideas that have played out successfully in Texas.

“The Texas story helped spawn a wave of reforms around the country,” says Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center on the States Public Safety Performance Project. “We hear over and over, ‘If Texas can do this, [the approach] can’t possibly be soft on crime.’” Governing attributes some of the shift to game theory, which seeks to understand what is a rational course of action in situations where other people’s responses determine outcomes. Academic game theorists have explored how promises, commitments, threats, the elimination of options, and other tactics can affect outcomes and the resulting “equilibrium.” In Texas and in a growing number of states and cities, policymakers have found a smarter approach based on a new generation of research that applies insights from the world of game theory to the criminal justice system.

29 States Acted On Prison Populations, Conviction Effects

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:17:12 -0500

Legislatures in 29 states last year adopted 55 criminal justice policies that may reduce prison populations and address collateral consequences associated with felony convictions, says The Sentencing Project in a new survey. The advocacy group said that four states -- Connecticut, Ohio, Nebraska, and North Dakota -- created sentence modification mechanisms that allow corrections officials to reduce the prison sentences of eligible
prisoners.

Four states -- Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, and Ohio -- revised mandatory and other penalties for crack cocaine and other drug offenses. The states authorized alternatives to prison as a sentencing option in some circumstances. Idaho and Florida expanded the eligibility criteria for drug courts. Illinois abolished the death penalty, becoming the 16th state to do so. The Sentencing Project says some of the changes were made because of fiscal constraints, and contends that there is a "growing recognition that large-scale incarceration has produced diminishing returns for public
safety."

VA To Repeal 19-Year-Old Handgun Buying Limit as GOP Controls Senate

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:53:00 -0500

Virginia is poised to lift a 19-year-old limit on handgun purchases, with the Republican-controlled state Senate expected to do away with the one-gun-per-month cap in a final vote today, reports the Washington Post. With the purchase limit likely headed for extinction, Virginia appears to have grown friendlier to gun rights since Republicans took control of the evenly divided Senate last month, pro-gun and gun-control activists agree.

This week, the Senate passed a bill barring localities from requiring that people seeking concealed handgun permits submit fingerprints. The House passed a bill allowing government employees to store guns and ammunition in personal cars parked in workplace lots, including those at child-care centers and parks. Lori Haas, a gun-control activist whose daughter, Emily, was injured in the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, believes the legislature is moving in the wrong direction this year. More than 40 bills related to guns are before the General Assembly this session, most of them meant to expand gun rights and a handful aimed at restricting them.

Holder, House GOP Lock Horns Again Over Fast & Furious

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:44:16 -0500

House Republicans accused Attorney General Eric Holder of hiding information at a hearing over the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation, McClatchy Newspapers report. Holder dismissed calls for him to resign and said he's not to blame for the scandal. Holder testified for four tense hours to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs about Fast and Furious.

It was a mess in which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives let illegal weapons flow across the border into Mexico and into the hands of criminals as part of a failed sting operation meant to track the guns and nab drug lords. "Because you have been grossly incompetent in the way that you have prepared before coming to Congress, I think you should resign," said Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID). Holder responded that his accusers were engaging in "political gotcha games" and character assassination. Democrats on the committee said that the Republicans were engaged in an election-year witch hunt and that there's no evidence tying the attorney general to the operation. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama "absolutely" stands by Holder.

Beyond the Drug War: How to Cope With America’s Addictions

Cara Tabachnick — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:30:44 -0500

In June 1971, the late President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one” and set in motion a national effort to tackle it. "I am convinced that the only way to fight this menace is by attacking it on many fronts," he said---a sentence that led headline writers at the time to dub his plan a “war on drugs.”

Over the next 40 years, despite significant advances, the “war” has left a legacy of thousands of shattered lives, millions of dollars in law enforcement costs, and a broken, dysfunctional prison system.
And drug abuse continues to be close to the top of our national “enemies list.”

How should our strategies change?

On Monday February 6, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy will lead a blue-ribbon list of speakers from the White House, leading police departments, think tanks and universities at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York to explore the alternatives---and how to repair the damage done to the U.S. justice system.

Malloy, who has led an overhaul of his state’s criminal justice system, was instrumental in passing a marijuana decriminalization law in June.

“Final approval of this legislation accepts the reality that the current law does more harm than good – both in the impact it has on people’s lives and the burden it places on police, prosecutors and probation officers of the criminal justice system,” he said at the time.

“Let me make it clear - we are not legalizing the use of marijuana. In modifying this law, we are recognizing that the punishment should fit the crime, and acknowledging the effects of its application. There is no question that the state’s criminal justice resources could be more effectively utilized for convicting, incarcerating and supervising violent and more serious offenders.”

Malloy will be joined by heads of three state correction systems, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, New York’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan, and many others over the course of the two-day conference.

The discussions are part of the 7th annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America. They follow a widely quoted report last summer issued by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which declared that the war on drugs “has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”

The Commission, which included the former presidents of Colombia, Mexico and Brazil as well as other top leaders, called for fundamental reforms in national and global drug control and suggested “treating drug addiction as a health issue, reducing drug demand through proven educational initiatives and legally regulating rather than criminalizing cannabis.”
Those proposals will be explored at the conference’s opening panel, America’s Addictions, by Special Prosecutor Brennan, along with Dr. Khalil Muhammad, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Benjamin Tucker, the deputy director of White House Office on National Drug Control Policy.

The conference theme is: "The Problem That Won't Go Away: How Drugs, Race and Mass Incarceration Have Distorted American Justice (and What To Do About It)"

EDITOR’S NOTE: The CMCJ is one of the partners in The Crime Report

The Symposium will also examine some of the newest and most innovative developments in the areas of prisoner re-entry and early release. Steering the 700,000 inmates leaving U.S. prisons every year to the services they need has become particularly daunting in a poor economy.

Experts in the re-entry field, including Risco Mention-Lewis, Assistant District Attorney from Nassau County, and Shelia Rule, founder of Think Outside the Cell Foundation will speak on this topic during the panel: After Prison What? Breaking the Mold on Prisoner Reentry.

A rash of states, including Wisconsin and Illinois, have recently repealed “early release” legislation. A consortium of correction officials, including Matthew Cate, Secretary of California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and New York State Corrections chief Brian Fischer will speak about what this means for America’s prisons in a panel, entitled: America’s Prisons: What Do You Mean “Early Release”?

Other panels will focus on crime trends from 2011-2012, gangs, drugs and urban warfare and trhe recent US and New Jersey Supreme Court rulings on eyewitness identification. The conference will conclude with special workshops for the more than 20 journalists from around the country, selected as special Reporting Fellows to attend the Symposium.

Cara Tabachnick is Managing Editor of The Crime Report. Please check our site for regular reports from the conference, including live blogging.

"What's The Rush?, Local Groups Ask About Seattle Police Reform

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:22:00 -0500

As the U.S. Department of Justice crafts a court order aimed at ending what it says is the unconstitutional use of force by Seattle police, some community groups — who have waited years for their complaints about police to be addressed — are feeling rushed by the process, reports the Seattle Times. A dispute has arisen over the makeup, or the need, for a citizens advisory panel to oversee implementation of the reforms, as suggested by Mayor Mike McGinn.

Justice Department civil-rights attorneys have met with McGinn, City Attorney Pete Holmes, members of the City Council and dozens of citizens groups and community members over the past three weeks with an eye toward completing interviews and most information-gathering by the middle of February. "There is a sense of urgency to get things done," said Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Bates. "Having this lingering and looming isn't good for anyone." Estela Ortega of El Centro de la Raza said she has asked the Justice Department to extend its deadlines for community input. After a dozen years of committees, task forces and reports about problems in the Police Department, "why suddenly is there a hurry?" she said.

NJ's Gov. Christie, Ex-Prosecutor, Adds Voice to Drug-War Critics

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:00 -0500

Before he became governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie made his name as a prosecutor. It was a surprise when he added his voice to the chorus of those who say the war on drugs has failed, says Governing magazine. Christie is expanding his state’s drug court program, offering treatment and counseling to more nonviolent offenders, rather than prison sentences. “I don’t believe that the only weapon we [should] use against the drug problem is incarceration,” he has said. “I just don’t think it’s worked.”

Last year, an international commission that included figures such as former United Nations chief Kofi Annan and former Secretary of State George Shultz called for legalization and regulation as a way to reduce violence. “It’s certainly a plus if well-known politicians add their voice, and it’s especially good if it’s conservatives like Christie,” says Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard University economist. “I hope the signal is that drug use is an individual choice for adults, just like zillions of other risky decisions, such as alcohol.” It’s precisely such signals that have led to an increase in illegal drug use over the past couple of years, after a decade of decline, say the proponents of tougher laws. Strategies like Christie’s will contribute to the sense more people have that it’s OK to take drugs, says Dr. Robert DuPont, who served as drug czar under presidents Ford and Carter. “As the perceived risk goes down, the use goes up,” DuPont says, “and an element of that risk is the criminal justice system.”

Obama Anticrime Surge At 3 Reservations: 3 Successes, 1 Failure

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:55:00 -0500

The Obama administration, which has made reducing crime a priority in its attempt to improve the quality of life at dozens of Indian reservations plagued by violence, recently ended a two-year crime-fighting initiative at Wyoming's Wind River reservation and three others deemed to be among the country’s most dangerous, reports the New York Times. Nicknamed “the surge,” it was modeled after the military’s Iraq war strategy, which helped change the course of the conflict.

Hundreds of officers from the National Park Service and other federal agencies swarmed the reservations, and crime was reduced at three of the four reservations — including a 68 percent decline at Mescalero Apache in New Mexico, officials said. Wind River, as has been true for much of its turbulent history, bucked the trend: violent crime there increased by 7 percent during the surge. Wind River has a crime rate five to seven times the national average and a long history of ghastly homicides. During the initiative, which increased the number of officers to 37 from 6, crimes included the murder of a girl, 13, who had been missing for four days and whose partly clothed body was found under a tree, and the killing of a 25-year-old man, who police say had been beaten with a child’s car seat and a dumbbell by two friends after a sexual encounter.

Kelly Cites NYC Cop's Shooting To Plug Antigun Super Bowl Ad

Ted Gest — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:06:00 -0500

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly watched as a doctor extracted a bullet from officer Kevin Brennan this week, says the New York Daily News. Describing the procedure, he says "They take this huge needle, full of novocaine, and then I see it going right into the bullet hole, a big hole from a .38, because it’s a big bullet. You stand there and you can feel this kid’s pain when the needle goes in, into the back of his head."

Kelly talked about the anti-gun television commercial New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Tom Menino will do during the Super Bowl on Sunday night and how he hopes that when people watch that commercial they will think about Brennan, 29. “The guns keep coming and will keep coming until the laws get tougher,” Kelly said.

Racial Disparities in Federal Charging Lengthen Sentences

Cara Tabachnick — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:29:57 -0500

Black males face significantly longer federal sentencing than white males due to prosecutorial charging decisions, found researchers in a new study.

The study, Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Charging and its Sentences Consequences, found that on average and at almost every decile of the sentence-length distribution black males served longer sentences even after taking into account arrest offense, criminal history, district, and age.

For further explanation read the Nieman Watchdog interview with study co-author Sonja Starr, Assistant Professor of Law at University of Michigan law school here.

Access the study here.

KY Governor: Pain Pills "Killing Our People," Action Needed

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:32:32 -0500

In Eastern Kentucky’s Floyd County, some prescription drug addicts trade food stamps for pills while others buy clean urine from strangers so they can pass drug tests, says the Louisville Courier-Journal. In Oldham County, police trace spikes in burglaries and other crimes to a wave of addictions to the powerful painkiller Opana. Those are some of the stark realities Kentucky faces in its escalating struggle with pain pill addictions, a Kentucky Prescription Drug Abuse Summit was told yesterday.

The conference — held by the U.S. attorneys in Kentucky in cooperation with the University of Kentucky, brought officials from law enforcement, health care, government, and other arenas together. Gov. Steve Beshear told 300 attendees “nothing is more important” than prescription drug abuse, which takes the lives of almost 1,000 Kentuckians a year — more than traffic accidents on the state's roads. “It’s literally killing our people,” Beshear said. “This issue will rank among the highest priorities. We must work together. We must be aggressive, and we must act now.” That action includes spending $4 million in his proposed two-year state budget to expand the prescription-drug monitoring system known as Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting, or KASPER. Beshear is working with Attorney General Jack Conway and House Speaker Greg Stumbo on a wide-ranging prescription drug abuse bill expected to be introduced in the legislature soon.

NYC Pot Arrests Highest In Decade; Impact Of Policy Change Not Clear

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:03:15 -0500

Last year, New York City police officers made the greatest number of marijuana arrests in more than a decade, reports WNYC Radio. About 50,700 people were arrested for low-level marijuana possession in 2011. Last year, the department ordered officers not to make arrests for marijuana possession if the pot was never in public view.

Defense lawyers and law enforcement experts don't think the order has done much to change what they believe to be unlawful police behavior on the streets. It’s too early to tell if Kelly’s order has had an impact, observers say, because there have been historical dips and surges in the number of arrests. Harry Levine, a professor at Queens College, said marijuana arrests have nearly doubled since 2005. The number of arrests made in the last half of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tenure has exceeded the total number of marijuana arrests made under Mayors Rudy Giuliani, David Dinkins, and Edward Koch combined. "Twenty-four years of marijuana arrests under three different mayors and a number of different police chiefs are still lower than just five years of what Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly have accomplished," Levine said.

Philadelphia Murders Up; "Everyone Is Talking About It"

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:14:02 -0500

A month into 2012, Philadelphia has been shaken by crimes that have shocked and horrified, says the Philadelphia Daily News. On Jan. 10, a man opened fire on a car filled with teens, killing three of them. A few days later, a 23-year-old man was fatally beaten on a crowded street. Then last week came the execution-style murder of store clerk Rosemary "Reyna" Rivera, who police say was killed because she had witnessed another homicide in her neighborhood.

"January was an extremely challenging month for the city," said Everett Gillison, Mayor Michael Nutter's chief of staff and deputy mayor for public safety. "I believe everyone is talking about it, which I believe is a good thing." As of Tuesday, the city had tallied 34 homicides in 2012. That's one more than last year's January count and more than January 2007, when the city had 32 homicides in the month and finished the year with 391, a five-year high. Last year, the city had 324 homicides. "The crime rate always fluctuates. It's very difficult to predict from one month to another," said Jerry Ratcliffe, a Temple University professor of criminal justice. "Everybody recognizes this is a concern, but we have to be realistic. This is one month worth of data, and 34 victims in a city of 1.5 million people."

NC District Attorney Suspended for Misconduct; Ex-Judge Will Take Over

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:03:03 -0500

Leon Stanback, a retired Durham, N.C., judge, has been named acting district attorney in Durham by Gov. Bev Perdue after D.A. Tracey Cline was suspended on a finding of probable cause she engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brought her office into disrepute. Stanback will serve during what Perdue called a "challenging time" for the office, reports the Raleigh News & Observer.

Stanback is a former member of the state parole board and was an assistant district attorney in Guilford County in the 1970s. He has been in private practice as a defense lawyer. Since he retired, he has been a court mediator. Cline attacked Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson in court documents that legal scholars and lawyers have described as unprecedented and beyond acceptable. Reports in the News & Observer have shows substantial errors of fact by Cline in the filings. Another judge suspended Cline on Friday.

OR Gov Names First Woman to Head Corrections: Colette Peters

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:54:00 -0500

Colette Peters, a former juvenile counselor, victim's advocate, legislative analyst, and prison inspector general, has been named director of the Oregon Corrections Department by Gov. John Kitzhaber. The Oregonian says the billion-dollar agency faces pressure to better handle felons and be less of a drain on the state treasury. In some quarters, the agency is seen as distant from other public safety professionals, and its efficiency with a dollar is questioned.

Peters, 41, who must be confirmed by the state Senate, is the first woman to lead the Corrections Department. Nearly three years ago, she took charge of the Youth Authority after it had been rattled by the state's budget fortunes -- built up, pared back and built up again. Last year, she led the agency through another round of cuts, trimming how many juvenile offenders the state could house. The agency now tends about 1,800 youths on a two-year budget of $300 million. The cuts could have been worse, but Peters, a polished and research-driven executive, persuaded legislators to ratchet back. That political nimbleness appealed to Kitzhaber, who credited Peters with building strong relations among those working with the Youth Authority -- prosecutors, county juvenile authorities, families, counseling professionals and the agency's staff.

Mississippi Supreme Court to Hear Barbour Pardon Challenge Next Week

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:44:00 -0500

The Mississippi Supreme Court will consider Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood's effort t overturn the pardons of four convicted murderers and other inmates next week, CNN reports. Then-Gov. Haley Barbour issued the pardons last month, sparking anger from authorities and relatives of crime victims. Hood called the pardons "a slap in the face to everyone in law enforcement and [ ] Governor Barbour should be ashamed."

The attorney general is questioning the pardons for "failure to sufficiently meet the publication requirements of the Mississippi Constitution." All four of the convicted murderers Barbour pardoned were serving life sentences and worked as trusties at the governor's mansion. That practice has been discontinued by new Gov. Phil Bryant. One of the convicted murderers was recently found in Wyoming, according to Hood. Joseph Ozment was served with papers at a hotel in Laramie, where he had been staying under another name. Barbour has defended his pardons, telling CNN last week that Ozment and the others have been rehabilitated.

St. Louis Police Fired Shots Five Times Over 19 Days; Chief Concerned

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:58:00 -0500

It's been a violent start to the new year for St. Louis police officers, who fired shots in five incidents over 19 days, killing one and wounding four, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Several instances appear to violate the department's written policies, although Chief Dan Isom said exceptions can be made. His officers hit suspects with gunfire in 15 incidents during all of 2011. Officers typically fire between 30 and 40 times a year.

"Four is a concern," Isom said last week, before the fifth incident occurred. "But that doesn't mean it's necessarily inappropriate [ ] We look at these shootings on a case-by-case basis." In fact, the use-of-force policy begins with a disclaimer: "In exceptional circumstances, violations of the restrictions may be justified by necessity." It generally prohibits firing at or from moving vehicles, or being too quick to pull out a pistol. Three of this year's incidents involved shots at moving cars. One was the unintentional wounding of a teenager by an officer's unholstered pistol during a struggle. The remaining one — in which a suspect was killed — featured an exchange of shots in which three officers together fired almost 100 rounds.

After 44 Arrests Yield No Convictions, Philadelphia Man Guilty of Robbery

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:54:00 -0500

A Philadelphia man who avoided a conviction despite 44 arrests for armed robbery and other crimes will now serve at least 32 years in federal prison, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. John Gassew, 25, was found guilty yesterday of two counts of robbery and two counts of possessing a firearm while committing a crime. Federal prosecutors picked up the case in 2010 after the Inquirer profiled Gassew's virtually penalty-free journey through the local courts.

For more than a decade, the U.S. Attorney's Office has used its tougher penalties and greater resources to prosecute selected cases ordinarily handled in the city's Common Pleas Court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linwood Wright said the convictions would not have been possible without "witnesses who are willing to come forward and victims who are willing to hang in there." In the city court system, case after case collapsed after victims failed to show up to testify. The Inquirer found that Gassew was a typical defendant in a system where nearly two-thirds of those charged with violent crimes escaped conviction on all counts. The series said about 20 robbery cases against Gassew were dropped by city courts after witnesses failed to appear in court.

Milwaukee Sheriff Toughens Rules On Who's Allowed Electronic Monitoring

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:22:00 -0500

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has returned 61 inmates to jail who had been released with electronic monitoring bracelets, under tougher standards and stricter enforcement of rules governing the privilege, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Clarke made the change to put behind bars offenders he considers too dangerous for electronic monitoring. Crimes that are off limits for electronic monitoring include robbery, sexual assault, numerous drug offenses, and third offense or more of drunken driving.

Two things prompted the sheriff's tougher stance. Clarke said he ordered a review in December after seeing offenders he considered public safety risks getting into the jail alternative program. He also discovered a court ruling that said sheriffs generally have the power to determine which sentenced offenders can get out of jail on electronic monitoring. That bolstered his view that judges' recommendations on the subject were just that - recommendations. Clarke said his office had been following judges' orders on electronic monitoring until it determined they couldn't dictate whether an offender was released with a bracelet monitor. Judges used electronic monitoring as "nothing more than a jail leniency tool," Clarke said. Chief Judge Jeffrey Kremers said there was no dispute over the sheriff's authority to decide whether a sentenced offender gets jail or electronic monitoring.

OK Jail Changes Policy After Reserve Cop Gets In 6 Times to See Fiancee

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:15:00 -0500

Oklahoma County jailers have been told to ask more questions when investigators from other agencies drop in to question inmates, reports The Oklahoman. Sheriff John Whetsel said the policy change is in response to a man who used police credentials from the small town of Langston to get six private meetings with his incarcerated fiancee.

Dawud Ali, 60, of Oklahoma City, was charged with six felony counts of unauthorized entry into a prison institution. He has been a reserve Langston police officer. Ali signed in the first time as a Langston officer but the other five other times signed in as being from Logan County. He was a supervisor at the Oklahoma County jail before being fired in 2001. Whetsel said the fact Ali used his police uniform as part of his ruse made it more difficult to detect. “This is not a problem with security,” Whetsel said. “This is a law enforcement officer who abused his position. [ ] It wasn't just a citizen who walked up off the street.” The jail often has more than 2,000 inmates.

MI Police Suicides Show Stress On Cops Exposed to "Human Misery"

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:12:00 -0500

Greg O'Dell was a respected law enforcement official and a married father of two when he drove his car to a residential street in Michigan two days before Christmas, got out, and killed himself, says the Detroit News. O'Dell, 54, chief of the Eastern Michigan University Police Department, never told his colleagues he suffered from depression. Now, a month after his death, the department is trying to move forward while struggling to understand why a man who seemed to have it all would take his own life. In the past month, three men from public safety careers have died of suicide in southeast Michigan. Some officials say it highlights the chronic stress law enforcement officers face and the challenges of persuading them to get help.

Studies show police officers have a higher suicide rate than the public. About 140 to 150 police officers kill themselves each year, or 17 per 100,000, according to Badge of Life, a group of active and retired police officers, medical professionals and surviving families of suicides from the U.S. and Canada. The rate for the general population is 11 per 100,000. "Police officers are human," said John Violanti of the University of Buffalo, who has studied the suicide rates of police, military personnel, and firefighters. "They not only have to put up with life's usual struggles, they also have to put up with this job that exposes them to death, human misery, abused kids. They can't get rid of this baggage and it eats at them."

Grassley: $1.8 Million To Attorneys for Stevens Prosecutors "Unseemly"

Ted Gest — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:40:00 -0500

The federal government has spent nearly $1.8 million defending prosecutors from allegations they broke the law in the botched corruption case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, reports USA Today. The case fell apart three years ago when the Justice Department admitted its attorneys had improperly concealed evidence that could have helped his defense. A court-ordered investigation concluded that prosecutors had engaged in "significant, widespread, and at times intentional misconduct," but that they should not face criminal contempt-of-court charges.

Records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that Justice has paid about $1.6 million since 2009 to private lawyers representing the six prosecutors targeted by that court investigation. It also paid $208,000 to defend three prosecutors from a finding hey had committed civil contempt of court. "Unfortunately, it's the taxpayers who are losing twice," said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "First, the Justice Department committed serious legal errors and ethical missteps in its taxpayer-funded investigation and trial against Sen. Stevens. And second, this is an unseemly high amount of money being spent by the taxpayers to defend what appears to be egregious misconduct." Stevens died in 2010.

IN Toughens Human Trafficking Law Before Super Bowl, Other States Act

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:34:36 -0500

On the day of last year's Super Bowl in Dallas, a human trafficking suspect told police, “There was big money to be made during the Super Bowl,” said a Dallas Morning News report quoted by Stateline.org. For Super Bowl XLVI this Sunday in Indianapolis, state officials are going out of their way to show that human trafficking won’t be tolerated. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels called on lawmakers to tighten the state’s law on human trafficking before the Super Bowl. An anti-trafficking law was quickly passed and signed.

Lawmakers in 20 states are debating human trafficking bills. West Virginia is working on creating its first anti-trafficking statute, while the other states are refining existing laws surrounding prostitution, in many cases moving the criminal burden away from those forced into the commercial sex trade and placing it with the traffickers. Legislators are also working to provide resources to fight trafficking by appropriating more funding for victim’s services, increasing criminal penalties for traffickers, and giving police authority to use wiretaps or to subpoena internet service providers to investigate potential child sexual exploitation.

Denver Indictment Illustrates Growth of Human Trafficking Rings

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:10:14 -0500

The Denver crime ring had all the makings of a traditional street gang: A clear hierarchy, members who tattooed the group's name on their bodies, girlfriends at the ready to help cover their tracks, says the Denver Post. Rather than drugs and guns, the organization whose indictment was announced this week allegedly trafficked primarily in young girls. It's a trend that, according to experts, is growing, not just overseas or in big port cities but in towns across the United States.

While commodities such as guns and drugs are gone once you sell them, a human-trafficking victim — isolated, afraid, potentially addicted or dependent in other ways — provides an ongoing profit stream. "For people who are ruthless and don't care what they do to other human beings, it is a very attractive business proposition," said Denver lawyer T. Markus Funk, a former federal prosecutor and co-author of the recent book "Child Exploitation and Trafficking. "They're like omnivores. They're not selective." Colorado enacted an anti-human-trafficking law in 2006, but the first successful prosecution wasn't completed until last summer.

Miami Police Break Up Occupy Camp, Citing Unsanitary, Unsafe Conditions

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:50:16 -0500

Scores of police swept through the downtown location of Occupy Miami last night, ejecting several dozen demonstrators and arresting a few of them while shutting down the protest camp after three and a half months, reports the Miami Herald. The police, wearing riot gear and banging batons on their plastic shields, cleared demonstrators from within half a-dozen blocks of the camp site. They also tore down tents and makeshift dwellings left on the site.

The operation was carried out almost completely without violence, though some of the demonstrators said one of their number was clubbed when caught up in an advancing police line. Six Occupy Miami protesters refused to leave, staying inside a flimsy barricade of plywood and old mattresses. Police detained them briefly, but when they were offered a last chance to walk away without being arrested, they did. Occupy Miami leaders said their movement would simply spread to other camps around the county. The group's continued camping permit was denied because of “unsanitary site conditions and unsafe activities, which have resulted in a number of arrests by the Miami-Dade Police Department,” said Miami-Dade spokeswoman Suzy Trutie. Occupy Miami leaders conceded that there have been as many as 50 arrests around the camp site since it was set up last October.

Photographer Says Memphis Police Detained Him, Deleted Arrest Footage

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:33:29 -0500

The Memphis Police Department is investigating a complaint from a photojournalist who was detained by police after he filmed an arrest and whose footage was deleted by the officers, says the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The National Press Photographers Association asked the Memphis police director asking for an investigation and offered help to educate officers on the right of journalists to photograph arrests on public spaces.

Monday morning, Casey Monroe, a photographer with ABC 24 News who was not working and not carrying a videocamera, observed officers placing a restaurant owner in a squad car. The man was cited for a parking violation, but was placed into custody after an argument with an officer. Monroe was watching when officers instructed him to leave. He informed the officer that he was a journalist. Asked again to leave, Monroe said he had a right to be there and was placed into the back of a squad car. He was quickly released. The photographer later started videorecording the scene with his phone. Monroe said an officer told him he could not take photos of the arrest. Monroe again informed officers that he was a journalist and that he had a right to photograph police on public property.

MD Inmates Had Access to Some Patients' Social Security Numbers

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:19:27 -0500

A Maryland corrections division that provides inmate labor has backed out of a data entry contract with the health department after state auditors found that prisoners had access to some patients' personal information. The findings were included in a legislative report three months after Maryland Correctional Enterprises stopped providing the services to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Baltimore Sun reports.

The report said the agency used inmate labor to enter physician Medicaid reimbursement claims into a database. Social Security numbers that appeared in the proper spot in the upper right corner of the forms were automatically redacted, or "blacked out." But "infrequently, Social Security numbers for the recipient and/or the provider appeared in other locations on the form" and "remained accessible to the inmates," the report said. Agency spokesman Rick Binetti said this occurred in 3 out of 3,000 cases reviewed, when doctors' offices mistakenly used a patient's Social Security number as the account identifier. He said there was no evidence to suggest inmates even noticed the numbers, and he stressed that there was "strict security in the room where this data entry took place," including four cameras and supervisory staff.

New Science of Arson Enables Defenders to Challenge Convictions

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:04:13 -0500

An Ohio death row inmate hopes the state parole board will permit him to argue that a mysterious "man in red" could have started the 1990 fire that killed his 3-year-old son, says the Associated Press. Michael Webb says investigators using now-discredited methods came to the wrong conclusion about where in the house the flames broke out. Investigators say Webb set the fire to kill his family, collect the insurance and start a new life with his mistress.

It is one of a series of cases that represent a new legal frontier: Defense attorneys cite advances in the fire investigation science to challenge arson convictions, as they use DNA to clear people for murder and rape. Research has challenged long-held assumptions about how flames spread and the tell-tale signs they leave. "Our scientific understandings have improved in recent years, and the effect of that has to be to say, `We've got some innocent people who've been declared guilty based on misunderstandings,'" said John Hall of the National Fire Protection Association. It used to be common for investigators to conclude an accelerant like gasoline was used if a fire burned particularly hot. In fact, the new arson science has found no such correlation. Another mistaken assumption: A V-shaped pattern on a wall of a burned building is proof of arson. All it shows is where a fire started.

Milwaukee Evidence Based Pretrial Release System Takes A Hit

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:20:28 -0500

It took 10 days for Milwaukee County's new pretrial release system for criminal defendants to draw unwanted attention, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Derrick Byrd, 21, charged with felony murder in a fatal robbery, was released without posting a cash bail. It wasn't a mistake. Commissioner Kevin Costello followed the recommendation of Justice 2000, the agency contracted to assess tens of thousands of people brought to jail. It's part of "evidence-based decision making" meant to bring more effective management of law enforcement and justice system resources.

Justice 2000 began using the new assessment tool Jan. 17 after years of research and development. Missing among the many factors considered in assessing risk and recommending bail or conditions of pretrial release is "public reaction." In Byrd's case, prosecutors had asked for $150,000 cash bail. They appealed Costello's ruling to Crcuit Judge David Borowski, who set a $50,000 bail hours after Byrd left jail. "No victim is ever going to accept an evidence-based decision that conflicts with their emotion-based decision" about bail, said Chief Judge Jeffrey Kremers said. "That's valid, but as a system we can't make decisions totally emotion-based, though it always plays some role."

FL Gov, With Excess Inmate Beds, Wants to Close 11 Prisons, Camps

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:57:26 -0500

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, looking to plug a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, has decided to shutter seven of the state's 62 prisons and four of its 46 work camps, potentially costing 1,300 workers their jobs, the Associated Press reports. The initial savings are estimated at $15 million. The corrections department budget is $2.4 billion.

Where have all the prisoners gone? Most never arrived. Policymakers 20 years ago, extrapolating on then-current crime trends, started building prisons. The wave never happened and crime rates have fallen since 1991. Florida now has excess prison room, about 116,000 beds for 102,000 inmates. "Forecasting of prison space is not an exact science," said Bill Bales, a Florida State University criminology professor who was the prison system's research director from 1987 to 2003. "There's no crystal ball." Nationally, state prison population has remained flat at about 1.2 million over the last decade, says the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

L.A. Judge Orders Parts of Juvenile Court Work Open to News Media

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:25:00 -0500

Los Angeles County Juvenile Court will be opened to media coverage regularly, with certain exceptions intended to protect the interests of children, reports the Los Angeles Times. Judge Michael Nash said he wanted to open the proceedings because secrecy had allowed problems to fester outside of the public's view. Without access to the courts, news organizations have been forced to rely on incomplete case records released months or years after decisions were made.

Nash's ruling applies to the dependency side of Juvenile Court, which largely means child abuse, foster care, and adoption proceedings. The order does not apply to the delinquency side, which handles crimes committed by children. Under state law, Juvenile Court judges are able to open a proceeding if a news organization makes a persuasive argument for it. The media virtually never prevail. Nash's order shifts the burden of proof from news organizations to the parties involved in the proceedings. A Juvenile Court proceeding will now be open to reporters unless a compelling case is made to close it in the best interest of the child or children involved. Leslie Starr Heimov of the Children's Law Center of California, which represents a majority of children in the Los Angeles dependency system, said her firm was considering an appeal to the order.

New York Advances Bill To Expand DNA Collection from Convicts

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:50:00 -0500

Tough-on-crime New York State legislators, seeking to expand the collection of DNA from convicts, point to cases like that of Raymon McGill, who was linked to a rape and two murders after being arrested in an attempted robbery, says the New York Times. Civil libertarians want to expand the use of DNA for the potential exoneration of people serving time. The Senate passed a bill yesterday that would require all convicted criminals to submit a DNA sample. Current law requires only those convicted of felonies and some misdemeanors to do so. Supporters of the measure said it could have prevented McGill from committing murder, because if he had been required to give his DNA after committing a petty crime years ago, he would have been identified in the rape inquiry, which preceded the murders.

Barry Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project, said that if supporters of DNA expansion were serious about preventing wrongful convictions, they should promote measures like requiring videotaping of interrogations or changing the way lineups are done. “Less than 10 percent of serious felony cases have any biological evidence in them, which can identify the real perpetrator with a DNA test,” he said. “And most of the serious offenders are already in the DNA database. This isn’t the No. 1 priority.”

VAWA at the Crossroads

Lisa Riordan Seville — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:23:00 -0500

Nearly two decades after it first passed, the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) may be headed for major changes.

The Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed a reauthorization bill today that would expand the scope of the act by providing more services to under-served populations such as American Indian women, women in the military and victims of sex trafficking. During the Senate Judiciary Committee's mark-up session, there was a 10-8 vote.

Introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the bill would also strengthen prevention efforts, expand access to safe housing for women and children and allow more groups to become eligible to receive federal funding.

This landmark legislation—the first to recognize that domestic violence required a national response—has historically received widespread bipartisan support since it was passed in 1994 and reauthorized in 2000 and 2005.

But this time it may run into political headwinds.

Widespread concern about federal spending and questions about the management of VAWA grant funds could stop the bill in its tracks this year.

Allegations of Fraud

Standing in the way of the a smooth passage to the reauthorization is Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee’s top Republican. Grassley, who has been a VAWA supporter in the past but has yet to endorse the current proposal, says that because audits from two federal agencies found that a number of VAWA grantees were mismanaging their funds, anti-fraud measures must be inserted into the legislation before the bill can move forward.

Audits conducted between 1998 and 2010 by the Justice Department’s Inspector General found violations of grant requirements ranging from unauthorized and unallowable expenditures, to sloppy record keeping and failure to report in a timely manner.

The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), one of the bill’s leading supporters and the agency that disburses the federal grants, rejects the claim that grantees are improperly administering their funds.

“The Office on Violence Against Women takes its grant-making responsibilities very seriously and is dedicated to managing its grant programs effectively and with transparency,” Beatrice Hanson, the agency’s principal deputy director, told The Crime Report.

“Each of the grantees [questioned by auditors] was able to provide appropriate documentation to resolve that it had not misspent any funds.”

Despite this outcome, Grassley and other Republicans, including Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), are expected to insert strong accountability measures into any bill that would authorize federal funding—not just for VAWA but for all federal grant programs. An overriding concern about government spending in the Senate and the House—particularly among Tea Party Republicans who seek to reduce spending in all areas—is especially heightened during this election year, making VAWA’s fate unclear.

$400 Million Annually

How much government spending are we talking about?

Annually, VAWA grantees share about $400 million in federal funds. It’s unlikely that Congress will authorize additional funding for VAWA or any other spending bills this legislative session due to economic factors and political pressures to reduce spending.

In an effort to increase accountability, Grassley may introduce measures that could require annual audits and studies to determine the effectiveness of VAWA programs. The Senator is also expected to fight for an amendment that would require all grantees to match 25 percent of their federal funds with cash donations.

VAWA advocates, including the National Organization for Women, argue that a mandate to match federal funds is one many local programs will not be able to meet. Not only are state governments decreasing their contributions to grantees but also private donations are in decline—and they say Grassley’s measure during this economic climate will force vital programs to close their doors.

A House version of the bill has yet to be introduced. Insiders say that if the reauthorization can pass in the Senate with strong bipartisan support and accountability measures that satisfy Republicans, then the law has a chance of being reauthorized this year. If it doesn’t make it out of the Senate, then the VAWA reauthorization may be forced to wait until next year.

New research shows that VAWA is needed now more than ever.

Although crime is dropping nationwide, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released in November shows that the incidence of violence against women is higher than has been previously documented. Researchers now say that nearly 1 in 5 women have been the victims of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime, and 1 in 3 have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Advocates say expanding the scope of the law to better serve more women is needed. But critics have raised questions about the CDC data.

The Plight of American Indian Women

Consider American Indians. Katy Jackman of the National Congress of American Indians cites Marcus Levings, former Chair of Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota. Preparing to testify on another law, the 2009 Tribal Law and Order Act, Levings told Jackman, “My daughter was brutally raped and beaten two weeks ago and she’s still in the hospital.”

He explained that the perpetrator had committed this crime before, but federal authorities failed to prosecute. Jackman recalled that Levings spoke “so matter of fact, like this is something that happens every day…It’s a pretty devastating example of why things need to change.”

For many American Indian women, violence is an everyday occurrence. According to the Department of Justice, 1 in 3 American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime. That’s three and half times higher than the national average.

The problem: Tribes don’t have jurisdiction to fully prosecute these crimes that occur within their territories.

The proposed reauthorization would restore jurisdiction to tribes so they can prosecute crimes of violence against women committed by non-Indians within their territories. Since a Supreme Court decision in 1978, only federal prosecutors have had that power.

Tribes say that restoring their authority to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence perpetrators of violence against women would be a major breakthrough in addressing pervasive crimes against Native American women.

Susan Carbon, director of the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, agrees, telling The Crime Report that, “addressing the needs of native women is a priority. Over the course of the past couple of years, we’ve identified some legal gaps that exist in providing services to native women and ensuring that their needs are being met and that offenders are being held accountable in tribal communities—it’s an important part of the process.”

Expanding the Act

Many women are looking to VAWA for more comprehensive, effective and cost-saving responses to other kinds of crime, including domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

“When VAWA was originally passed in 1994, it was seen as a landmark piece of legislation—people tended to look at these crimes and blame the victim for causing the violence,” said Carbon. “We needed to have a comprehensive national approach to address these crimes—and that’s an ongoing need we still have.”

Before the new CDC study, research from the National Institute of Justice showed that 1 in 6 women have been the victims of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. The new study found that younger women have a higher incidence of sexual assault than previously established. Data showed that of women who are raped, nearly 80 percent experience their first rape before age 25; of those, 42 percent experience their first rape before they turn 18.

The new research “was an extremely useful study,” said Paulette Sullivan Moore, the vice president of public policy for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. “We’ve always known our reporting numbers were low—this study provides us with more accurate prevalence. It shows that we have a critical problem and it should demonstrate every reason why VAWA needs to be reauthorized.”

The new proposed legislation seeks to “not only impact women that are underserved, but those that are un-served,” said Terri Poore, vice president and policy chair of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence.

Populations that face barriers to accessing existing, more traditional services include rural residents, and women who experience violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity and racial and ethnic background. Other at-risk populations are those with language barriers, immigration status and those with mental or physical disabilities. The new legislation specifically targets these groups for expanded assistance that will better serve their needs and increase their ability to access services.

“VAWA is at a critical juncture to press beyond traditional services,” said Poore. “We need to dig deeper and further to make sure all survivors are served by looking at new and different approaches; we’ve come a long way since 1994, but we still have a long way to go.”

VAWA is getting support from some key state leaders.

Lobbying From Attorneys-General

On January 11, the attorneys general from 52 states and territories urged Congress to reauthorize VAWA to “ensure that vital programs working to keep women and families safe from violence and abuse continue uninterrupted.”

Key among their concerns are strengthening prevention and intervention programs, improving the response to sexual assault and preventing domestic violence homicides.

Since Congressional funding is likely to remain static at $400 million annually, some question whether the proposed expansion of the act will dilute the funds available to existing grantees.

“We really need to see an increase in funding for all VAWA programs,” said Poore. “But we don’t want to do that at the cost of other programs.”

Carbon said that while the dilution of funds is a legitimate concern, it doesn’t have to be the case.

“We have turnover among grantees to ensure that new organizations receive funding,” she said. “And there is a sustainability component to each grant: Organizations need to show how they will sustain their organizations once the grant ends, so we hope those mechanisms will be in place.”

According to Carbon, prevention is critical.

“If we’re really going to put an end to violence against women, we have to start earlier in the process,” Carbon said. “We have to focus on prevention, not on spending all our resources after the violence has occurred. We need to begin at the beginning and get more of our resources to kids.”

Still, the needs of women victims of violence are growing.

“Across the nation, homicides have gone down, we know crime across the board has gone down, but we still have these staggering numbers on violent crimes against women,” Carbon added. “We need to reauthorize VAWA, it’s enormously important.”

Deirdre Bannon is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is a recent graduate of Georgetown University’s graduate school of journalism, and she welcomes reader comments.

Metal Thieves In Sacramento Getting Prison Terms in New Crackdown

Ted Gest — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:18:00 -0500

Jeffrey Wadleigh of Sacramento is charged with a variant of the hot new crime trend for 2012: metal theft, says the Sacramento Bee. Last month, he was caught at 1:30 a.m. with $2,000 worth of copper wiring that belonged to a construction company. Wadleigh, 48, a self-admitted methamphetamine addict, instead pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years behind bars.

If metal thieves such as Wadleigh used to slide in and out of the system with little or no attention, they have become a top priority. Metal thefts these days are almost sure to produce relatively lengthy periods of incarceration. "In light of the damage they're doing and the problems they're causing, they need to be punished, and the word needs to get out that if you get caught, you're going to get punished," said Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi. Public defenders say about 10 metal thievery cases are coming in each week.

Charlotte Evicts Occupy Protesters, Who Ask Court to Permit Camping

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:31:54 -0500

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police returned to the Occupy Charlotte site before daybreak today, awakening and evicting several protesters who were sleeping on the lawn of the old City Hall overnight. Yesterday, police evicted dozens of protesters and tore down at least 30 tents, the Charlotte Observer reports. The police action comes on a day when Occupy Charlotte members and their attorney plan to be in court, asking a judge to prevent the city from enforcing a newly-adopted ordinance that prohibits protesters from camping on city-owned property. Their attorney filed a lawsuit accusing the city of violating rights of free-speech and assembly.

The Charlotte action was non violent, a stark contrast to confrontations that have broken out in some cities where the Occupy movement has spread. In Oakland, for instance, tensions remained high after weekend clashes between protesters and police ended in more than 400 arrests. "We didn't get anybody hurt," said Charlotte Police Chief Rodney Monroe. "As far as I'm concerned, that's a success." Protester Don Faix said the event was fuel for the movement to continue, and even grow in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention this summer. "Today's their turn. What's coming up is our turn. We're going to wake this city up," Faix said.

Sensenbrenner: U.S. System Needs More Mandatory Prison Sentences

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:04:59 -0500

Some Republicans want to overhaul federal sentencing and bring back more mandatory prison terms to bring more order back into the process, says NPR. "A criminal committing a federal crime should receive similar punishment regardless of whether the crime was committed in Richmond, Va., or Richmond, Calif., and that's why I am deeply concerned about what's happening to federal sentencing," said House Crime Subcommittee chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).

Since the Supreme Court acted in 2005 to make the sentencing guidelines advisory — not mandatory — Sensenbrenner said, judges in places like New York City have imposed sentences below the guideline ranges almost half the time. Judges only a few hours further north in New York are still following the guidelines. Former prosecutor Matt Miner, who has served as GOP congressional aide, says, "We have a federal system. There should be consistency not just in the same courthouse and on the same floor or district by district but across the country, and we're failing in that." Douglas Berman, a law professor and sentencing expert at Ohio State University, said, "The way you make sure the guidelines get due respect is to make them respectable."

NY's Cuomo Calls for Treating NYC Delinquents Close to Their Homes

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:56:26 -0500

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is building on reforms to the juvenile justice system by proposing a "Close to Home" initiative, which would allow New York City youth to be treated in facilities near their homes, reports the Legislative Gazette. A Cuomo budget briefing says youth will be placed in settings that are appropriate for their educational, mental health, substance abuse, and other service needs, without compromising public safety. "Outcomes in the current state system are quite bad," said Jennifer March-Joly of Citizens' Committee for Children, saying it costs the state $260,000 per year to incarcerate a child.

The Close to Home proposal would shift the custody of youth placed in non-secure and limited-secure facilities from the state to facilities in New York City. Proponents of the plan say this would ensure that children are in facilities that provide better access to their families and easy contact with their attorneys. "Family and community engagement is increasingly being recognized as critical to positive youth justice outcomes, and the people who are most impacted by the system and their allies in the advocacy community need to be involved in a substantial way in the design, review and on-going operation of the city's new plan," said Gabrielle Prisco of the Correctional Association of New York.

Community Courts Help Make Justice System Credible, Robinson Says

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:03:00 -0500

Community courts have been successful in large part because of "their focus on making the justice system credible and relevant to the people it serves," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Laurie Robinson told an international conference on community justice today in Washington, D.C. The conference was organized by the New York City-based Center for Court Innovation. Robinson credited former Attorney General Janet Reno with starting the first drug court in Miami. In 1994, there were only 11 drug courts; now there are more than 3,500 "problem-solving" courts in the U.S., Robinson said.

"Community courts, drug courts, mental health courts, reentry courts, and the rest really exemplify American innovation," Robinson said. She noted that New York City's Midtown Community Court, which began in the 1990s, has been proved by research to have reduced local crime and revived public trust in the justice system. Robinson also mentioned the emphasis on collaboration in community courts, citing the South Dallas, Tx., Community Court and its "entire community center offering a variety of services for both defendants and community residents – things like health care, job training, housing, and benefits assistance. These are the resources that help prevent individuals from returning to court again and again – and this type of coordination is typical of community courts." Robinson said community courts operate on a "procedural justice" model that makes offenders "feel like they’ve been treated with respect," making them "more likely to accept court decisions – even those that go against them."

CT Police Chief Gallo Quits Amid Federal Civil Rights Investigation

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:48:00 -0500

Embattled East Haven, Ct., police chief Len Gallo announced his retirement, while the head of the town's police commission wants Gallo fired so he can't collect unused vacation and sick time that could total more than $100,00, reports the Hartford Courant. Gallo is at the center of a federal probe into civil rights violations against Latinos and is an unnamed co-conspirator in last week's indictment of four officers, his lawyer has acknowledged.

A comment by Mayor Joseph Maturo that he would eat tacos to help ease tensions between police and Latinos has helped thrust the shoreline community into the national spotlight. Sources said Maturo, soon after his election in November, was notified by federal investigators that the arrests of officers were expected. He said federal officials were angered that he reinstated Gallo, who was put on leave by the previous mayor. "Gallo's position at the top of the East Haven Police Department signaled to the brave victims who risked everything to testify and to the Latino community that their dignity was not respected," said Ángel Fernández-Chavero, a leader of the pastoral council at St. Rose of Lima Church. "I hope that the department now moves swiftly to implement the recommendations of theU.S. Department of Justiceand its own consultant, the Police Executive Research Forum."

Angry Philly Mayor Objects to Bail Release for Murder Suspect

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:43:00 -0500

An angry Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter questioned how a man with a long arrest record for violence and guns was granted bail, walking free hours before a warrant was issued for him in a 2011 murder, and days before a witness to that slaying was gunned down, execution style, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Nutter, who has made public safety, especially gun violence, one of the centerpieces of his platform for a second term, called the case of Jorge Aldea, 23, "exhibit number one," in the challenges facing police when they arrest violent criminals only to watch them go free.

On Jan. 5, Judge Nazario Jimenez Jr. reduced Aldea's bail on a gun-possession charge from $50,000 to $20,000, despite a prosecutor's objections over Aldea's dozen previous arrests, including ones for attempted murder and assault. Six days later, Aldea posted 10 percent bail and was released. Hours later that same day, a warrant was issued for him in a murder. A witness in the case was shot dead Jan. 23, and police believe Aldea was involved. "This is a person that should not have been out on the street in the first place," Nutter told the Inquirer. "It was a gun charge, and when you look at his history, his record, his priors, it's clear this is a dangerous person."

Despite Studies Showing Boot Camps Ineffective, TX Runs One for 30

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:34:00 -0500

Remember boot camps? Texas still runs one, for 30 inmates in a 400-bed facility. The other beds are empty, says the Amarillo Globe-News. For 180 days, the lives of the men, ranging in age from 17 to 26, are strictly regimented. They are awakened at the same time every day, eat meals on a strict schedule, exercise and work in the fields. The aim is to shock first-time convicts with the harshness of prison life.

Officials wouldn't let a reporter into the camp. Boot camps were the rage nationwide in corrections circles in the late 1980s and early ’90s, but faded away as questions emerged about whether they prevented recidivism. Studies conducted by the U.S. Justice Department and academia showed boot camps weren’t effective programs, said Terry Easterling, probation director for three Texas counties. “Robert Dawson, a University of Texas law professor, said what boot camp did was take flabby, out-of-shape, slow burglars, and turned them into healthy, fast burglars,” Easterling said. Judge John Board once sent offenders to boot camps regularly. “I’m not sure how effective they really were,” Board said. “We sent young people who we thought would benefit from it. When they got out, they had their military haircuts. I’d ask them questions and they’d answer, ‘Sir, yes sir.’ I was impressed. Three months later we’d have them back.”

MS Attorney General Fighting Barbour's Pardons of Murderers

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:27:00 -0500

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says he can't force murderer Joseph Ozment, pardoned by outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour, back to the state even though he has been located in Wyoming, CNN reports. "We can't treat him as an escapee. He has a document that says he's a free man as of now," said Hood. In 1992. Ozment was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ozment did not appear at a Mississippi court hearing in a case challenging the pardons. A judge may hold him in contempt.

Tammy Gatlin, the sister of Tiffany Ellis Brewer, was shot and killed by David Gatlin, also pardoned by Barbour. "He got life plus 30 years, you know? And he served 18 of them. My sister lived 20 years. It's ridiculous," Brewer said. Hood criticized Barbour's actions, telling CNN, "He ran the office of the governor as if it was Mississippi in the 1950s," said Hood. The attorney general, a Democrat, said many of the inmates Barbour, a Republican, pardoned came from influential families or had connections to the Republican Party. Barbour is defending his actions.

House Democrats Defend Obama Administration On Fast & Furious

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:26:00 -0500

Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday will issue a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress, the New York Times reports. An 89-page report, "Fatally Flawed: five Years of Gun-walking in Arizona," says Fast and Furious is the fourth investigation dating to 2006 in which federal firearms agents used "gun-walking," failing to intercept illegally purchased guns in an effort to build a bigger case.

“This report debunks many unsubstantiated conspiracy theories,” Said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). “Contrary to repeated claims by some, the committee has obtained no evidence that Operation Fast and Furious was a politically motivated operation conceived and directed by high-level Obama administration political appointees at the Department of Justice.” Congressional Republicans have been investigating Fast and Furious for the past year, and much of the Democratic report consists of a synthesis of previously released information.

Seattle Restoring City Lawyers to Help Police, Communities

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:14:00 -0500

After 10 years of fighting problem motels in Seattle neighborhoods, residents got help from an assistant city attorney assigned to the Seattle Police Department who brought 180 tax-evasion charges against the owners and forced them to sell. The federal grant money that funded the precinct-liaison program in 1995 dried up and city budget cutbacks shuttered the program last year, says the Seattle Times. Now the City Council has restored funding for four attorney liaisons in the city's five police precincts to help solve public-safety issues and advise police about emerging problems around issues such as nightlife and medical marijuana.

City Attorney Pete Holmes is calling the retooled program Precinct Liaison 2.0, to reflect its broader focus, not just to provide legal advice to police but to serve as a resource to neighborhoods facing chronic problems such as drug and gang activity or nuisance properties. Holmes said the city liaisons, who will begin their jobs in mid-February, will work closely with other city departments to address community concerns, allowing police to concentrate on criminal activity. "A lot of people call 911 with problems that really aren't law-enforcement issues. It might be feuding neighbors. It might be garbage that isn't getting picked up. It might be streetlights that are burned out. These liaisons provide immediate relief to the police," said Holmes.

Paper Finds 200 Houston Jail Employees Disciplined In 3 Years

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:02:00 -0500

A female Houston jailer ordered an entire cellblock of women to strip naked in a search. She's still on the job. Another jailer punched a seriously ill inmate as he lay in the infirmary; the inmate died, and the jailer's punishment: one day in jail. A sergeant slugged an inmate so hard it took 14 staples to close a gash over his eye. The sergeant was fired but not charged with a crime, says the Houston Chronicle. These incidents and dozens of others highlight how the Harris County Jail, one of the nation's busiest, continues to have problems similar to those cited in a 2009 U.S. Department of Justice report critical of the use of excessive force against inmates.

A Chronicle review found that from 2008 through 2010, more than 200 jail employees were disciplined for various offenses. Last year, the Sheriff's Office disciplined 88 employees working in detention, including jailers, deputies, and civilians. Their offenses included excessive use of force, having sex with inmates, mistakenly releasing dangerous prisoners including suspected drug dealers, sleeping on the job, and leaving their post to have a 90-minute-long domino game. One jailer destroyed mail sent to prisoners, and another ruined a picture of an inmate's son by spraying it with cleaning solvent. Sheriff Adrian Garcia said his office "employs many dedicated and professional women and men. They are the rule rather than the exception."

NYC Police Spokesman Paul Browne Stirs Controversy Over Flip-Flops

Ted Gest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:54:00 -0500

As spokesman for the largest U.S. police force, Deputy New York City Police Commissioner Paul Browne is one of the most important – yet largely unknown – newsmakers, reports the Associated Press. Lately, a series of flip-flops, hedges, and retractions about an inflammatory anti-Muslim movie shown to police recruits and other issues has made Browne the target of scathing columns in the local press and angry denunciations by community activists. Browne denied the existence of a secret surveillance program targeting Muslims even though AP later obtained documents detailing its work.

Critics say he oversees a system that withholds public records, plays favorites with the media, and promotes Kelly and the NYPD with a truth-compromising fervor. "There are too many instances where he has blatantly lied about what is going on with the NYPD to the taxpayers who pay his salary," said City Councilman Jumaane Williams. Defenders say Browne is a trustworthy, tireless, and combative spokesman. "Anybody that knows Paul Browne knows he gives you the facts always as he knows them at the time, and later on, if he finds the facts that he gave you are wrong, he's not shy about standing up and correcting himself," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. David Krajicek, a former police reporter in New York City and vice president of Criminal Justice Journalists, said, "I think the NYPD was a trend leader in attempting to control the message."

National Stalking Awareness Month Concludes

Lisa Riordan Seville — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:08:00 -0500

In 2003, a young woman from Ohio, Debbie Riddle, called the Stalking Resource Center, part of the National Center for Victims of Crime. Her sister, Peggy Klinke, had just been murdered by a stalker who tracked her to another state.

Debbie wanted to transform her family’s tragedy into a force for good—to alert the public about the dangers of stalking and the need to protect its victims. Her call led to a Lifetime Television program on stalking, an educational video (“Real Fear, Real Crime”) on Peggy’s story featuring Erin Brockovich, and a Congressional resolution to launch National Stalking Awareness Month, and—in January 2004—to the first National Stalking Awareness Month.

As the 2012 National Stalking Awareness Month draws to a close, we are encouraged by all we have learned about stalking, especially in the past few years.

In 2009, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, published Stalking Victimization in the United States the largest national study on stalking and the first national study to address the use of technology to stalk.

The study estimated that 3.4 million people over age 18 were victims of stalking during a 12-month period, and that 1 in 4 victims reported that the stalker used some form of technology. The report also showed that three in four stalking victims knew their offender and that stalking can profoundly affect victims’ lives.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), which views stalking as a public health problem as well as a crime. It also underscored the high prevalence of stalking.

The CDC found that 6.6 million people are stalked over any 12-month period, and that 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men are stalked at some point in their lifetime. More than one-half of female victims and one-third of male victims were stalked before the age of 25.

These findings confirm what law enforcement, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other professionals have been hearing from victims for years.

The NISVS study shows that most stalking cases today involve some form of technology. More than three-quarters of victims reported having received unwanted phone calls, voice and text messages; and roughly one-third of victims were watched, followed, or tracked with a listening or other device.

Education is the best way to combat this dangerous crime. Both the public and professionals who work with stalking victims need to understand the prevalence of stalking, its serious dangers, and the pervasive use of technology by stalkers.

The websites for National Stalking Awareness Month and the Stalking Resource Center, offer a wealth of information about stalking for victims, the public, and professionals.

In addition to these resources, the Stalking Resource Center has recently released two tools for professionals—“The Use of Technology to Stalk Training DVD” and “The Use of Technology to Stalk Online Course”—which provide information on the technologies used by stalkers, the impact on victims, and how law enforcement and communities can best respond to these cases. Both tools are available through the Stalking Resource Center’s Web site at www.ncvc.org/src.

The National Stalking Awareness Month theme is Stalking: Know It. Name It. Stop It.

By visiting these sites you can help build the momentum of National Stalking Awareness Month, learn the facts about stalking, and help reduce the impact of this crime.

Mai Fernandez is executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. She welcomes reader comments.

How U.S. Crime Suspects Flee Abroad And Aren't Brought Back

Ted Gest — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:30:37 -0500

Jorge Montiel fled to his Mexican hometown after he was alleged to have raped and murdered a Georgia housewife in 2010. Federal agents tried to bring the international fugitive to justice, but something stood in the way: the cost, says the Chicago Tribune. When the U.S. Justice Department called Forsyth County, Ga., prosecutors to explain the complex U.S. extradition process and to say the county would have to pay for translation and other fees, "the decision was made by Forsyth County to discontinue that effort," said the FBI.

Montiel became just another of the thousands of criminal suspects living with impunity in foreign countries even when federal authorities have identified their precise locations. After the Tribune exposed law enforcement failures that allowed more than 100 dangerous suspects to flee northern Illinois and remain free abroad, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder vowed that the Justice Department would redouble efforts to return alleged murderers, rapists, and other violent fugitives to Illinois — and secured the pledge of his Mexican counterpart to make it happen. The flawed enforcement efforts are not unique to Chicago. The Tribune assembled the only public accounting of a fugitive apprehension program that government officials cloak in secrecy.

Occupy Protesters Vandalize Oakland City Hall; 400 Arrested

Ted Gest — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:31:00 -0500

Almost 400 people were arrested during a series of Occupy Oakland marches and protest actions Saturday that included a group breaking into and vandalizing City Hall, reports the Oakland Tribune. Mayor Jean Quan called the City Hall invasion "the crowning of the constant other vandalism we've had outside." Demonstrators broke an interior window, upended and damaged historic architecture models believed to be more than 100 years old, destroyed glass casings, stole and burned two American flags, and broke into fire sprinkler and elevator control rooms.

Saturday marked the single largest number of arrests in one day since Occupy Oakland began in October, a culmination of what both sides agreed is an increasingly tense standoff between protesters and police. Saturday's clashes inspired solidarity marches yesterday by Occupy groups across the U.S., including those in New York City, Philadelphia, Denver, and Los Angeles.

High Court Case Raises Issues About Cellphone Tracking By Cops

Ted Gest — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:21:00 -0500

The two men who pointed a gun at the owner of a Denver-area convenience store and emptied the cash register Dec. 28 took the victim's iPhone. The next day, cops had one of the suspects in custody after AT&T sent investigators updates every 15 minutes showing the device's location in an apartment, says the Denver Post. As cellphone tracking becomes a more effective and relied-upon step in building criminal cases, the practice has pitted law enforcement against privacy advocates worried about turning the cellphone against its owner.

At the heart of the debate is how police and prosecutors obtain information on a cell user's whereabouts. Should they be required to show fact-based probable cause, the standard that must be met to obtain a search warrant or meet some lower standard? The U.S. Supreme Court last week jolted the legal community when five of nine justices indicated that using cellphones to track people's movements in real time without a search warrant could violate Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure.

Your Digital Data—Exposed

Lisa Riordan Seville — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:25:00 -0500

The problem started in Kentucky. A server in that state belonging to the online shoe retailer Zappos had been attacked—breaching internal networks to access personal data for more than 24 million customers.

Late on Sunday, January 15, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh sent an email first to employees, then to customers, breaking the news. They had recently been hacked.

“We've spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand and trust with our customers,” Hsieh wrote to customers. “It's painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident.”

No credit card numbers were compromised, but the apology didn’t stop a backlash. Last week, a Texas woman filed a class-action lawsuit against Zappos and its parent company, Amazon, for failing to maintain adequate security for those customers who had entrusted the company with their personal data.

The Zappos attack is the latest in a growing number of online security violations that impact millions of consumers each year. In 2011, at least 30.4 million records were breached in the 535 violations tracked by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a non-profit technology privacy advocate. These included a growing number of violations around medical records, as well as the breach of Sony Playstation data for about 70 million customers last April.

The attacks have prodded experts to ask for greater clarity on the extent of the responsibility of corporate and government agencies for keeping, and safeguarding, the data they collect.

“I think we need to hold not only those who breach accountable,” said Helen Nissenbaum, a senior faculty member at NYU’s Information Law Institute, “but also the companies who are over-collecting information, and under-protecting it."

The Spread of Cybercrime

Nissenbaum spoke January 23 at a panel on cybercrime co-hosted by the Citizen Crime Commission of New York City and the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. The morning event convened politicians, law enforcement, private interests and academics to look at how increasing use of the internet has changed the criminal landscape, from theft to homeland security.

The panel included Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), who outlined her legislation to improve enforcement of cyber crime, introduced last fall. She admitted issues of consumer privacy and protection go largely unmentioned.

“The bills that we’re debating now in Congress really only address critical infrastructure,” Gillibrand said.

As for how to best protect consumer data, she added, “I would suspect we would leave that to the private sector.”

Private companies now have the ability to collect and store not only the data consumers offer up--name, social security number and credit card; status updates, Foursquare check-ins and Tweet--but also incidental footprints.

Google searches reveal our internet service provider addresses. Data from the GPS in our phones and cars leaves traces of our daily movements. And while the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that law enforcement cannot use GPS technology for extended monitoring of suspects without a warrant, private companies can keep vast amounts of the same information on customers who use some of their services.

“Organizations are collecting information that they really have no need for,” Paul Stephens, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s director of policy and advocacy, told The Crime Report. “And there are very few limits, in most situations, with how that information is going to be used inside or outside the company.”

It has largely been left to the same companies to figure out how to protect this information.

At the panel, Chris Sonderby, associate general counsel of Facebook, described how the company has begun paying “white hats”--the good guys of the hacking world--a “bug bounty ” when they identify security in the social network’s system.

Sonderby implied that business interests provide enough incentive to keep information secure.

“Companies that don’t protect information, or have information leaks, those are companies that people aren’t going to use,” he said.

Yet some do not believe a dip in business is incentive--or punishment--enough.

Europe Takes Action

While policy in the U.S. has largely depended on that, the European Union on Jan. 25 introduced a bold and, some say, extreme legislative overhaul of data protection laws. The draft bill from E.U. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding provides unprecedented privacy protections to European citizens.

Particularly contentious is the inclusion in the bill of a "right to be forgotten,” which would allow individuals to demand their data back from companies. The update to the 1995 law would levy fines of up to 2 percent of annual revenue to companies that fail to comply with the new standards.

The draft, diluted after heavy lobbying, still displeased the business community, which, like Facebook, believes its own interests galvanize security—and that limiting firms’ ability to store data would hinder operations.

“I think if this was to become law tomorrow, it would be chaos,” said Mark Owen, a partner at the London-based entertainment and media firm Harbottle & Lewis in an interview with The Crime Report.

Yet even in privacy-minded Europe, it may be years, and many iterations, before these measures go into effect.

There is value to clarifying standards for companies, Owen said. But he believes the greatest privacy protections will come from the individuals themselves.

“Consumers are becoming better educated about what they are giving out,” said Owen, “And that’s going to be more effective than any law.”

Protecting Your Data in the Digital Age:

These days, it is almost inevitable that your data will end up as some kind of digital record.

"The minute you give up your information, whether online or offline, it will become part of a database,” said Paul Stephens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “That can make you a victim of cyber crime even if you yourself have never owned a computer or been online.”

What can you do to protect yourself?

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has a trove of fact sheets for consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission also has advice on what to do if your identity has been stolen.
The head of Reputation Defender offers up ten ways protect your privacy, particularly focused on your online trail.

Editor’s Note: Have you been a victim of cyber crime, or know someone who has? Are you a business owner who grapples with how to protect data? Let us know the steps you have taken to protect information.

Lisa Riordan Seville is deputy managing editor of The Crime Report. She welcomes reader comments.

Prison Closings Could Kill Small Towns Like Boydton, Virginia

Ted Gest — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:30:22 -0500

As Boydton, Va., prepared for its 200th anniversary in February, it was blindsided by news the the state planned to close its Mecklenburg prison there, which houses about 730 inmates. The Washington Post says Boydton will lose 20 percent of its budget — revenue that comes from providing sewer services to the prison — and 300 jobs. Officials may have to lay off most of the town’s workers, including its only police officer; triple some water rates; and cut back on trash pickups.

More than $1.5 million in grants are in jeopardy. If the town does not get help from the state, it could go bankrupt and be dissolved. Boydton’s bicentennial could turn into its wake. The story of Boydton is playing out in small towns across Virginia and around the nation. Many depressed rural communities welcomed prisons as sources of jobs and revenue. Budget woes and moves to jail fewer nonviolent offenders are leading states to mothball dozens of correctional facilities — an unexpected blow for communities already suffering from the recession. At least 13 states closed prisons in 2010.

Critic: CDC Sexual Violence Survey Exaggerated the Problem

Ted Gest — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:39:51 -0500

Christina Hoff Sommers of the American Enterprise Institute is questioning the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, which estimated that more than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime."

Sommers, writing in the Washington Post notes, that the CDC data "are wildly at odds with official crime statistics," sand accuses the agency of "defining sexual violence in impossibly elastic ways and then letting the surveyors, rather than subjects, determine what counted as an assault." An example offered by Sommers: Participants were asked if they had ever had sex because someone pressured them by “telling you lies, making promises about the future they knew were untrue?” All affirmative answers were counted as “sexual violence."

WI To Study Eliminating Preliminary Hearings; Defense Wary

Ted Gest — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:57:55 -0500

A new effort to streamline criminal prosecutions in Wisconsin takes aim at hearings once considered critical, but which some argue have morphed into costly, time-consuming tools for the defense: the preliminary examination, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A Senate bill would allow all forms of hearsay at preliminary hearings and has rekindled talk of eliminating them - something the state's Judicial Council supports.

Defense lawyers expressed concerns that the move could be the start of erosion of due process rights in the name of saving money. Preliminary hearings are not trials. They are statutory creations, not required by the state or federal constitutions. Most defendants either waive their right to the preliminary examination, or a judge finds sufficient probable cause to bind the defendant over for trial. Defense lawyers often use the hearings to get an early feeling for testimony from state witnesses, almost like taking a deposition.

Chairman Issa Raises Questions on DEA Money-Laundering Probes

Ted Gest — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:34:01 -0500

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is raising questions about how the Drug Enforcement Administration conducts its undercover money-laundering investigations and whether those operations cross the line between fighting and facilitating crime, reports the New York Times.

Issa, writing to Attorney General Eric Holder, accused the Justice Department of dragging its feet in responding to his request more than a month ago for a briefing on the operations, which allow DEA agents to pose as money launderers and smugglers to infiltrate drug-trafficking organizations. Issa said he was concerned about whether there was sufficient oversight of the operations. He said an inquiry by his office had revealed evidence of potential impropriety, including the arrests of two American pilots who were held in a Panamanian jail for seven months.

Bal. Police: New Training, Discipline Heads Will Restore Confidence

Ted Gest — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:17:40 -0500

Baltimore police officials say their new heads of training and internal discipline — hires from outside the department — will help restore public trust in an agency marred by corruption and a "friendly-fire" incident in which an officer was killed, reports the Baltimore Sun. The additions of a former federal drug agent and a veteran police commander from Montgomery County, Md., prove his department is serious about improving, said Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld.

"We know we have in some areas, in some communities, and with some officers, an estranged, broken relationship," Bealefeld said. "I'm relying on these two." Bealefeld said Grayling Williams, the new head of the Internal Investigation Division, which handles complaints of abuse, excessive force, and other improprieties on the 3,100-member force, will put a public face on efforts to regain credibility. The hires, made with input from a state police training commission and an advisory board of citizens who help investigate officer misconduct, came incidents last year that threatened confidence in the department.

Son of NYPD Commissioner Kelly Accused of Rape

Ted Gest — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:05:11 -0500

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was on the defensive two days after reports surfaced that a paralegal accused his son Greg, 43, of rape, reports the New York Daily News. The woman, 30, asserted that at the end of a boozy date on Oct. 8, she led Kelly, a Fox TV newsman, to her Wall Street-area law office, where she was raped while in a drunken stupor.

She told investigators she got pregnant and had an abortion. The Manhattan District Attorney's office, which has seen two headline grabbing rape cases fall apart recently, will make sure they have the goods on Kelly before they charge him in the case, experts said. Defense attorney Joseph Tacopina said the fact that the woman waited three months to report the alleged rape is bound to give prosecutors pause. The woman’s claim she was drunk — and that Greg Kelly took advantage of her — will make prosecutors even more reluctant to press the case, he said.

Private GPS Use Rising; Is It "Electronic Stalking"?

Ted Gest — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:01:00 -0500

Tens of thousands of Americans are using Global Positioning System devices to track vehicles, which the Supreme Court said last week is a Fourth Amendment search issue for law enforcement, the New York Times reports. The easy tool for recording a person’s every move is a powerful one that, when misused, amounts to “electronic stalking,” private investigator John Nazarian of Los Angeles tells the newspaper. “That, to the victim, is just as terrifying as seeing your face in the window at night before they go to bed,” he said.

GPS trackers are increasingly being cited in cases of criminal stalking and civil violations of privacy. One use — by as many as 30,000 parents, one seller estimates — is to monitor the driving habits of teenagers; some devices send a text message when the car goes over a certain speed. California and Texas, unlike most states, ban many uses of GPS trackers without consent, with exceptions for law enforcement and car owners. Many private investigators follow the same rules to minimize the risks of civil litigation — that a tracked person could sue for violation of privacy.

Tennessee Ponders Ways to Curb Its Pain Pill Epidemic

Ted Gest — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:22:00 -0500

Tennessee’s pain pill epidemic can be measured in alarming statistics about the rise and frequency of prescriptions, reports The Tennessean. Families count a different toll: loved ones dead from overdoses or in a downward spiral of addiction to such drugs as hydrocodone and oxycodone. Lawmakers and state officials are hurrying to address the problem with expanded regulations, including a proposal from Gov. Bill Haslam that would require doctors and pharmacists to consult a controlled substance database before writing or dispensing such prescriptions.

The death rate for drug overdoses has nearly tripled to 16 deaths per 100,000 people in Tennessee since 1999. The conundrum facing law enforcement is that those taking the drugs aren’t the typical abusers. The drugs aren’t being dealt on the street, and the users have prescriptions written by doctors, often in pain clinics, and distributed by pharmacists.

After Violence, Memphis To Create Fed-State-Local Antigang Force

Ted Gest — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:41:00 -0500

After a string of violent crimes by teen and adult gang members, Memphis is gearing up to mount its largest war on gangs, reports the Memphis Commercial Appeal. For the first time, local, state and federal law enforcement and prosecutors are teaming to create a multijurisdictional gang task force.

"We want to roll this out as soon as possible, but we want to be successful the first time," said U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton. "Egos have been checked at the door. We all want something that is going to be meaningful, effective and efficient." Federal agents with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have agreed to participate. Members of Memphis Police Department's Gang Unit say they're anxious for reinforcements. "With us just having a 12-man unit, we're spread thin," said unit supervisor Lt. Anthony Carter.

CIA Pulls Its Agent From Unusual Long Assignment With NYPD

David Krajicek — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:04:53 -0500

A CIA operative's unusual assignment inside the New York Police Department is being cut short after an internal investigation that criticized how the agency established its unprecedented collaboration with city police, The Associated Press reports. In its investigation, the CIA's inspector general faulted the agency for sending an officer to New York with little oversight after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and then leaving him there too long, according to officials who have read or been briefed on the inquiry. The CIA said last month that the inspector general cleared the agency of any wrongdoing.

The inspector general opened its investigation after a series of AP articles that revealed how the NYPD, working in close collaboration with the CIA, set up spying operations that put Muslim communities under scrutiny. Plainclothes officers known as "rakers" eavesdropped in businesses, and Muslims not suspected of any wrongdoing were put in intelligence databases.

Review of Incident 'Memos' Casts Doubt on Crime Drop in Memphis

David Krajicek — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:04:44 -0500

Memphis Police Department officials believe thousands of crimes over a five-year period were described in "memos" but never included in official crime statistics, reports the city's Commercial Appeal. Police Director Toney Armstrong said MPD officials discovered 79,000 memos written by officers from January 2006 through July 2011, many of which could have been criminal reports or investigations. He said the discrepancy was "brought to my attention" after he took the job in April 2011.

Armstrong said officers can write memos when there isn't enough information at the time of an initial investigation, but a review of the memos showed hundreds, possibly thousands, should have been upgraded. He said a sample of 20,000 memos from 2010 indicated that about one in every 15 should have been upgraded to a crime report, which would have then been included in crime statistics. The discovery could cast doubt on the crime-reduction numbers the department claimed under former police director Larry Godwin.

Spate of Shootings Reported Under Missouri 'Castle Doctrine'

Ted Gest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:04:34 -0500

Law enforcers in St. Louis are trying to navigate their way through the state "castle doctrine" law after several cases in which homeowners have shot and killed intruders, reports the Post-Dispatch. Supporters say the law is working, but not all cases are clear-cut, and authorities have struggled with the evolving law. Within 72 hours in September, two burglars were fatally shot in homes on opposite ends of St. Louis. Police said both homeowners were justified. And in early December, an off-duty Beverly Hills detective who lives in St. Louis shot a burglar to death under nearly identical circumstances.

In total, there were seven fatal shootings that involved the castle doctrine or other self-defense laws in St. Louis last year, compared with two in 2010. St. Louis police are changing how they handle apparent justifiable homicide cases in response to the spate of such shootings. In the past, detectives and supervisors in the St. Louis Police Department's homicide unit who thought a homicide was justified would call prosecutors to run it by them, to make sure they agreed. Now every case will undergo a more formal review by the St. Louis circuit attorney's office.

New Orleans Police Turn to Private Security Cams for Evidence

Ted Gest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:04:19 -0500

Although New Orleans has scrapped its oft-ridiculed public crime camera system, police detectives are increasingly turning to private security cameras to catch images of villains in the act, reports the Times-Picayune. Since last summer, the nonprofit ProjectNOLA has donated 75 high-definition cameras to homeowners in high-crime areas, on the condition that they be aimed at the street. The nonprofit group's volunteers already monitor crime scanners, but now they can link remotely to any camera in the area and send fresh footage via cell phone to detectives.

ProjectNOLA founder Bryan Lagarde, a former police officer and district attorney's office employee, started ProjectNOLA because he "got sick of telling crime victims, 'Sorry, we have no evidence.'"Other cities, such as Chicago and Atlanta, combine public-private systems more formally, by compiling maps of all private surveillance systems or creating integrated systems that allow police departments, under certain conditions, to view live footage from thousands of private systems.

Amid Budget Crunch, Washington Scrutinizes Sex Offender Finances

Ted Gest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:03:55 -0500

A little-known state agency says it can save the state $1 million a year by overseeing defense costs for Washington's troubled civil-commitment program that locks up the most dangerous sex offenders, reports the Seattle Times in its "Price of Protection" series. The state Office of Public Defense said providing centralized financial oversight and eliminating hourly billing by defense attorneys would lead to the savings.

The Times found the state has little control over its $12 million a year in legal bills spent to keep sex offenders detained beyond prison. Offenders facing civil commitment routinely postpone their trials for years, driving up costs and wasting state money. State lawmakers, pressed to close a $1.5 billion budget shortfall, will consider OPD's proposals during the legislative session.

Federal Gun Law Proposal Raises Debate in Tennessee

Ted Gest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:03:54 -0500

The Tennessean reports on Tennessee's gun laws--"or the lack thereof." It is one of 34 states that don’t require any background checks for private sales of firearms, even if the sale is handled by an online site. But now, the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns is calling for the federal government to mandate background checks in all gun sales. It’s sparked an emotional debate that even divides gun-rights advocates. Opponents decry the idea as an affront to individual freedoms and say citizens should be able to sell private property without government interference.

But supporters argue that guns sales should require more accountability on the part of the seller and the buyer to reduce the chances that a gun will fall into the wrong hands. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who helped organize the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, recently released a report criticizing Tennessee, among other states, for having buyers willing to sell guns to people they knew could not pass a background check.

Times Columnist Questions NYPD Commissioner's 'Trust Me' Policy

David Krajicek — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:03:16 -0500

Writing in the New York Times, columnist Jim Dwyer says that the NYPD's explanation of its involvement in a controversial film about Muslims "has been contaminated with official falsehoods." The police first said that only a few officers were shown the film and that the department had not cooperated with the filmmakers; it turned out that 1,400 officers saw it and that Police Commission Raymond Kelly gave a 90-minute interview for the project.

Dwyer writes, "No one has given a straight, plausible story to explain how a piece of agitprop wound up being screened in a police training facility for months." He notes that since 9/11 police have enjoyed vastly expanded powers to conduct surveillance. "In effect, a federal court was asked to trust the police not to abuse that power or infringe on people’s rights," Dwyer writes. "In opinion polls, Mr. Kelly has proven to be among the city’s most popular public officials, and he seemed to enjoy the confidence of a majority of New Yorkers. Yet Mr. Kelly is not going to be police commissioner forever, and 'trust me' is not a policy that can work forever."

Two Cases Illustrate the 'Defying Logic' of Heroin Addiction

Ted Gest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:03:15 -0500

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tells two stories of heroin addiction. Based on the drug's low prices, high potency and widespread availability -- from the inner city to tony suburbs -- the threat has never been more manifest. "The power of addiction is very strong," said Neil Capretto, medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation Center. "It happens to good people but the drug doesn't care."

In one case, a young white woman originally from an affluent suburb of Austin, Texas, now living in Pennsylvania. Her sister died of a heroin overdose, she herself almost died three times, and now has sworn off the drug. In another case, a 59-year-old black former steel worker with a long criminal record is trying to stop using heroin for the fifth time. Says Dr. Capretto, "He's a good guy, he's a smart guy but he's a human. This drug gets ahold of you and it defies logic. It sends signals to your brain that override your survival mechanism and say 'You need this drug.' "

Baltimore Warrant Sweep Leads to 2,200 Violent-Offender Arrests

Ted Gest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:03:15 -0500

A coordinated state and local initiative in the Baltimore area to arrest violent offenders wanted on warrants has led to apprehension of 2,200 people since last summer, reports the city's Sun. The operation was funded with $500,000 in federal grants from the Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention.

Homicides declined in Baltimore by about 7 percent in 2011. e if new information is produced on suspicious deaths in 2011. No one argues a cause-and-effect link can be made between the arrests and the drop in homicides, and no list has been compiled showing how long these offenders were in jail after their arrests. But Kristen Mahoney, the agency's executive director, said that arresting violent offenders helps reduce violent crime and that she wants to use the approach again. "If you remove 2,100 violent offenders off the street in a seven-month period, you're going to have a pretty big sea change" in violent crime, Mahoney said.

California Speed-Trap Town Dissolves Its Police Department

David Krajicek — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:01:48 -0500

Faced with crushing bills, a tiny California town that became infamous for aggressive law enforcement has eliminated its police department, reports the Los Angeles Times. "Maricopa just does not have the money to run a professional department," said Eric Ziegler, a retired city manager who advises the City Council. "It wasn't because of any particular feeling that there had been wrongdoing." Officials in the town of 1,200 are considering the sale of the department's last remnants: four patrol vehicles — all bought used years ago — and two motorcycles.

The department had two full-time employees and about 20 uniformed volunteers — mostly veterans of other departments or younger people looking to land their first law enforcement jobs. Over the last couple of years, the oil town 40 miles southwest of Bakersfield became known as a speed trap. Officers pulled drivers over for infractions such as cracked windshields and unlighted license plates. In a scathing report last June, the Kern County grand jury accused police of targeting Latino motorists in hopes of seizing vehicles from unlicensed, undocumented immigrants. The panel urged the 100-year-old city to pull the plug on its police department. Earlier this month, Maricopa decided to contract out its law enforcement responsibilities to the Kern County Sheriff's Department.

WA Senator Targets Death Penalty, Though Prospects Seem Dim

David Krajicek — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:01:47 -0500

Legislative hearings are usually not matters of life and death. But such was the case Wednesday in Olympia, when Washington legislators heard testimony on a bill to abolish the death penalty, reports the Oregonian. Dozens of people showed up for a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to speak or listen to testimony on Sen. Debbie Regala's bill. If the bill passes, Washington will follow in the steps of Oregon, where Gov. John Kitzhaber recently put a moratorium on the death penalty.

The legislators heard testimony from attorneys, professors, religious leaders and even a man who sat on death row for 23 years before Gov. Chris Gregoire granted him clemency. No one spoke against Regala's bill. However, the prospects for Regala's proposal seem dim this year, especially in a key House committee. Tacoma Rep. Steve Kirby says he will withhold his vote, effectively blocking it unless his fellow Democrats can persuade a Republican to join them.

Aging Prisoners; Unprepared Corrections, Report Says

Cara Tabachnick — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:39:36 -0500

Prisoners are aging rapidly and American prisons, jails and correction officers are unprepared to deal with their needs, says a new report from Human Rights Watch, “Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States."

Human Rights Watch visited nine states and 20 prisons to interview prison officials, corrections and gerontology experts, and prisoners. Human Rights Watch found officials scrambling to respond to the needs and vulnerabilities of older prisoners. They are constrained, however, by straitened budgets, prison architecture not designed for common age-related disabilities, limited medical facilities and staff, lack of planning, lack of support from elected officials, and the press of day-to-day operations.

The report found that one in ten prisoners is serving a life sentence The number of US state and federal prisoners age 65 or over grew at 94 times the rate of the total prison population between 2007 and 2010.

To access the report click here.

U.S. v. Jones: Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age

Lisa Riordan Seville — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:36:00 -0500

As technology makes surveillance easier and cheaper, courts are grappling with how to apply the Fourth Amendment in the digital age. Prior to beepers, GPS, people checking in on Foursquare, and social networks, law enforcement monitoring of suspected offenders was limited by the constraints of manpower, budget and the risk that the officers following suspects might themselves be seen.

But now an increasing amount of information about people’s whereabouts, activities, purchases and intentions can be gleaned digitally, without an officer ever leaving the station. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this month in United States v. Jones provides little guidance about which activities might be considered searches, which require warrants, and which voluntary disclosures to third parties might waive Fourth Amendment rights.

Editor’s Note: See also TCR’s August piece, “Big Brother is Tracking You: GPS and the Fourth Amendment.”

The case involved a GPS tracking device installed on a car owned by his wife and driven by Antoine Jones, a D.C. nightclub owner. Jones was the target of a narcotics investigation by police and the FBI, who obtained a search warrant to place a GPS device on the car in D.C. within 10 days. The device was planted on the car on the 11^th day in Maryland.

At his trial for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, Jones moved to exclude the information collected through GPS monitoring, but the district court suppressed only the data obtained while the vehicle was parked in Jones’s own garage. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed his conviction on the grounds that the 28-day warrantless use of the GPS violated the Fourth Amendment.

The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed, but with three separate decisions, providing little guidance for courts faced with issuing warrants or admitting evidence from digital devices.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justice John G. Roberts, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor. Since the Fourth Amendment protects the right of the people to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” and since a car is an “effect,” the majority held that the government had committed a trespass in violation of the Fourth Amendment in installing the device.

The majority refused to comment on the constitutionality of surveillance without a trespass.

“It may be that achieving the same result through electronic means, without an accompanying trespass, is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, but the present case does not require us to answer that question,” wrote Justice Scalia.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote a concurrence that was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, and Justice Elena Kagan. He noted that “the Court’s reasoning largely disregards what is really important (the use of a GPS for the purpose of long-term tracking) and instead attaches great significance to something that most would view as relatively minor (attaching to the bottom of a car a small, light object that does not interfere in any way with the car’s operation).”

Alito criticized the majority for using a physical trespass test, which had been rejected in previous cases as not protective enough.

By wiretapping a public phone booth, law enforcement had not trespassed on the suspect’s property in the 1965 decision of U.S. v. Katz. Yet the Supreme Court had held that Charles Katz had a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in his conversations and that the Fourth Amendment “protects people, not places.”

The Alito concurrence would use the Katz reasonable expectation of privacy test as the sole test, but Alito ominously suggests that technology such as social networks can lower the expectation of privacy.

During oral argument, Justice Alito had said, “Technology is changing people’s expectations of privacy. Suppose we look forward 10 years, and maybe 10 years from now 90 percent of the population will be using social networking sites and they will have on average 500 friends and they will have allowed their friends to monitor their location 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through the use of their cell phones. Then — what would the expectation of privacy be then?’”

Justice Sotomayor agreed with the Alito concurrence that “at the very least, ‘longer term GPS monitoring in investigations of most offenses impinges on expectations of privacy.’” But she drew attention to the unique attributes of GPS surveillance she found relevant to the Katz analysis.

“GPS monitoring generates a precise, comprehensive record of a person’s public movements that reflects a wealth of detain about her familial, political, professional, religious, and sexual associations,” wrote Sotomayor, adding, “People disclose the phone numbers they dial or text to their cellular providers; the URLs that they visit and the e-mail addresses with which they correspond to their Internet service providers; and the books, groceries and medications they purchase to online retailers.”

Such disclosures to third parties should not be taken as a sign that people have a lower expectation of privacy with respect to the type of information the government is allowed to collect.

“I for one doubt that people would accept without complaint the warrantless disclosure to the Government of a list of every Web site they had visited in the last week, or month, or year,” wrote Sotomayor.

Despite the seeming achievement of a nine-justice affirmation of Fourth Amendment rights, the Jones case raises more concerns about privacy then it answers.

The case shows how easy it is for law enforcement to get a warrant for long-term monitoring. If the GPS had been planted a day earlier and in D.C. instead of Maryland, the Supreme Court would never have become involved.

The decision also leaves intact the ability of law enforcement to use third parties to trigger surveillance technologies. The Court cited with approval the beeper decisions where the seller of a legal chemical attached a beeper to the container so that the cops could figure out where the chemical was going.

Under that logic, the manufacturer of a computer could include hardware or software to inform law enforcement of anything suspicious that a person searched for or ordered; that approach would evade Fourth Amendment scrutiny.

More troubling, Justice Alito seems prepared to hold that, if people are sharing more of their lives on social networks, Foursquare, and through emails, they lower their expectations of privacy for Fourth Amendment purposes.

Only Justice Sotomayor seemed concerned that “Awareness that the government may be watching chills associational and expressive freedoms.”

Citing Seventh Circuit Judge Joel M. Flaum, Justice Sotomayor warned that “making available at a relatively low cost a substantial quantum of intimate information about any person whom the Government, in its unfettered discretion, chooses to track” may “alter the relationship between citizen and government in a way that is inimical to democratic society.”

Lori Andrews is a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law and the author of I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy. She welcomes comments from readers.

Report: Texas Supreme Court Favors Corporations Over Consumers

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:51:44 -0500

In the last 10 years, the majority of Texas Supreme Court decisions have favored corporate interests over consumers, and the panel of judges has repeatedly overstepped its authority by overturning jury verdicts and interpreting the law to benefit the rich, according to a scathing report set to be released today by consumer advocacy group Texas Watch and reported by the Texas Tribune. “The Texas Supreme Court has marched in lock-step to consistently and overwhelmingly reward corporate defendants and the government at the expense of Texas families,” the report says.

Texas Watch says in its study, which reviewed court decisions in more than 624 cases in the past 10 years, that the trend started when Gov. Rick Perry began appointing Supreme Court justices in 2000. The report argues that data from court rulings shows that Perry’s appointees “corporatized the court.” But the court, a former justice and conservative groups disagree with the report's conclusions, arguing that a statistical analysis doesn't provide enough context. The state's highest civil court ruled in favor of defendants — mostly corporations and government entities — in about 74 percent of the 624 consumer cases brought before the panel in the last decade, according to the report. Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, said the high court’s nine justices, who are all Republicans, are too similar to one another. Many represented corporations in court before they became justices, and 85 percent of the time, they agreed with one another.

WSJ Profiles Con Man Behind the Sting That Cost Google $500 Million

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:51:34 -0500

The Wall Street Journal tells the story of David Whitaker, a federal prisoner and convicted con artist, who during four months in 2009 was the lead actor in a government sting targeting Google Inc. that yielded one of the largest business forfeitures in U.S. history. Whitaker posed as an agent for online drug dealers in dozens of recorded phone calls and email exchanges with Google sales executives, spending $200,000 in government money for ads selling narcotics, steroids and other controlled substances.

"There was a part of me that felt bad," Mr. Whitaker wrote in his account of the undercover operation viewed by The Wall Street Journal. "I had grown to like these people." But, he said, "I took ease in knowing they…knew it was wrong." The government built its criminal case against Google using money, aliases and fake companies—tactics often used against drug cartels and other crime syndicates. Google agreed to pay a $500 million forfeiture last summer in a settlement to avoid prosecution for aiding illegal online pharmaceutical sales. Google acknowledged in the settlement that it had improperly and knowingly assisted online pharmacy advertisers allegedly based in Canada.

Judge Wants Faster Commitment for Incompetent TX Prisoners

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:51:22 -0500

Texas routinely violates the constitutional rights of mentally incompetent prisoners by forcing them to stay in jail for up to six months before moving them to psychiatric hospitals, a judge ruled this week. State District Judge Orlinda Naranjo ruled that the Department of State Health Services must start moving "forensic commitments" — people accused of crimes who have been ruled incompetent to stand trial because of mental illness — to state psychiatric hospitals within 21 days of receiving a judge's order, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

Over the past two years , the average prisoner spent six months in jail waiting for a hospital bed, the ruling states. "Keeping incompetent pretrial criminal defendants confined in county jail for unreasonable periods of time violates the incompetent detainees' due process rights as guaranteed by the Texas Constitution," Naranjo wrote. The ruling stems from a 2007 lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Texas, a federally funded organization that advocates for people with disabilities, including mental illness. In that lawsuit, the group claimed that the health department regularly refuses to take forensic commitments because the hospitals do not have space for them.

Study: Missouri Again Leads U.S. in Number of Black Homicide Victims

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:50:35 -0500

For the second year in a row, Missouri leads the nation in the rate of black homicide victims, according to an study by the Violence Policy Center reported by the Kansas City Star. It is the third time in the last five years that Missouri has topped the list. Missouri’s rate of 34.72 homicides per 100,000 black residents in the study year of 2009 is almost double the national black homicide victim rate of 17.90. The national rate for whites is 2.92 homicides per 100,000 people.

If there is any positive news in the report, it’s that Missouri’s nation-leading rate decreased from the year before when it led the country with 39.90 homicides per 100,000 black residents. Kansas ranked 12th nationally with a rate of 20.04 per 100,000 population. In St. Louis, blacks were victims in 125 of the 143 homicides in 2009. Of Kansas City’s 110 homicides in 2009, there were 81 black victims.Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forté said the factors contributing to violent crime are multifaceted and require a multifaceted effort to combat it. “It’s not singularly a parent issue. It’s not singularly a law enforcement issue. It’s an issue for the entire community,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/25/3392027/missouris-black-homicide-rate.html#storylink=cpy

California Jails Target Recividism Under Realignment Program

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:49:35 -0500

California’s "realignment" program to reduce overcrowding in state prisons has already brought changes to how county jails are dealing with inmates, reports Stateline. “Before realignment,” says Chief Deputy Sheriff Kevin Zimmermann, “we’d incarcerate offenders, provide minimal education as required by the state, and then send them on their way. The focus is very different now because the focus of realignment is reducing recidivism…we only have so many beds, so it’s in our best interest that they don’t come back.”

Democratic Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to sentence non-violent, non-sexual, and non-serious offenders to serve their sentences in county jails rather than in state prison was developed to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order declaring overcrowded conditions in the state prisons unconstitutional, and it was put together quickly in the spring and summer of 2011 during the state’s budgeting process, without much public debate or study. Each county had to be ready by October with a plan for how to handle its new influx of inmates.

Amid Rancor, Florida Legislators Fast-Track Prison Privatization

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:39:47 -0500

As emotions run high, lawmakers are again fast-tracking privatization of South Florida prisons while the state rushes to shut down seven others, an economic and political one-two punch that is creating anger and anxiety statewide, reports the Miami Herald. The Senate Budget Committee voted 13-5 Wednesday to fast-track privatization of prisons in the southern tier of the state. Correctional officers who were not allowed to testify shouted “Shame, Shame!” as security personnel hovered near lawmakers.

Republican lawmakers are determined to overcome a judge’s rejection of last year’s privatization plan and pass a plan that can survive legal scrutiny. The current proposal, which would amount to the largest expansion of prison privatization in the country, would replace the state with for-profit vendors at 30 prisons in 18 South Florida counties. Only the South Florida Reception Center in Miami-Dade County, a point of entry for inmates, would remain state-run. For-profit prison vendors would be required to run prisons at a cost of at least 7 percent less than what state-run prisons cost taxpayers. Opponents say the savings would be outweighed by the loss of jobs, economic dislocation and lack of accountability.

ead more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/25/2608357/private-prisons-bill-advances.html#storylink=cpy

Vera Report: Prison Costs Are 14% More Than Budgets Reflect

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:38:20 -0500

State taxpayers pay, on average, 14 percent more on prisons than corrections department budgets reflect, according to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice. The report, "The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers," found that among the 40 states that responded to a survey, the total fiscal year 2010 taxpayer cost of prisons was $38.8 billion, $5.4 billion more than in state corrections budgets for that year. When all costs are considered, the annual average taxpayer cost in these states was $31,166 per inmate.

Vera says the report marks the first time these costs have been quantified for prisons across the states. To calculate the total price of prisons, Vera developed a survey tool that tallied costs outside corrections budgets. The most common of these costs were fringe benefits, underfunded contributions for corrections employees' pension and retiree health care plans, inmate health care, capital projects, legal costs, and inmate education and training. The scale of the expenditures outside of corrections departments ranged from less than 1 percent of the total cost of Arizona's prison budget to as much as 34 percent in Connecticut.

GA Supreme Court Judge Urges Lawmakers to Reform Juvenile Justice

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:18 -0500

The chief justice of Georgia's Supreme Court urged lawmakers to overhaul its juvenile justice system in the same way state leaders have proposed focusing more heavily on rehabilitating rather than jailing nonviolent adult offenders, reports the Associated Press. Chief Justice Carol Hunstein made the comments Wednesday in her annual State of the Judiciary address. She said that putting nonviolent youth offenders into juvenile jails increases the likelihood they will commit crimes in the future, wastes public money and exposes them to violence and abuse.

State funding cuts have limited access to mental health and child welfare services along with group homes, Hunstein said. As a result, she said juvenile judges sometimes face the choice of sending young offenders to lock-up facilities or sending them home "to get nothing at all." She cited statistics from the Department of Juvenile Justice showing that in the past three years, nearly two-thirds of the roughly 10,000 incarcerated young people have substance abuse problems. More than one-third had mental health problems. "As with adults, we have learned that our get-tough tactics have failed to scare juvenile offenders straight," Hunstein said.

More Than 100 Arrested in Big Gang 'Take-Down' in San Diego

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:17 -0500

Authorities arrested more than 100 suspected gang members in San Diego Wednesday, reports the city's Union-Tribune. They face racketeering and other charges in a series of sweeping federal indictments. U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy called it the largest single take-down of gang members in memory. The early-morning arrests were made by members of local and federal law enforcement agencies. Fifteen members named in indictments or criminal complaints remain at large.

Among those arrested are two high-ranking members of the Mexican Mafia, the prison-based gang that Duffy said controls street gang activities in huge chunks of the county. Also arrested were as many as eight "shot callers," or street gang leaders, who sell drugs and also collect "taxes" that are funneled to Mexican Mafia leaders. The arrests were the product of three separate investigations conducted in North County, East County and central San Diego, Duffy said. The probes lasted more than year and involved extensive wiretaps. The defendants are accused of crimes including drug sales, extortion, assaults and attempted murders.

Trenton Mayor Gets Tepid Reaction to New Public Safety Plan

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:16 -0500

One day after Trenton Mayor Tony Mack announced his comprehensive public safety plan, the city’s police unions, crime watch group, and police commanders took issue with portions of the strategy as questions remained as to how the goals would be implemented and funded, reports the Times of Trenton. In a department reeling from layoffs and budget cuts, a plan to put all available officers to work for 48 hours, for example, would quickly drain the shrinking overtime budget, Capt. Fred Reister said. Mack said the “All Hands on Deck” initiative would allow officers to be recalled during spikes in crime.

Trenton laid off one-third of its police officers last September, and since then has struggled to keep manpower levels on the street up. Yesterday, Mack stood by the plan, but added it was a work in progress. “If somebody can present something better, it can be changed,” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to solve a major issue in our city, and everyone I’ve spoken to today is excited about the comprehensive approach we’re taking and excited about the positive outcome.”

As Mental Health Calls Rise, Minnesota Adds More Officer Training

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:15 -0500

As mental health calls to police and social service groups increase, law enforcement agencies are investing in extra training to help officers untangle situations ranging from erratic behavior to drug overdoses to suicide attempts, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The paper said some counties have seen mental health 911 calls, including suicides and attempts, increase by more than 25 percent in the past two years. There's no clear explanation for the increase, but theories include unemployment and financial stress, the struggles of returning military veterans and lack of access to mental health services.

Jon Roesler, a state Health Department epidemiology supervisor, said greater access to powerful anti-depressants and painkillers may contribute to higher suicide rates and more drug overdose calls. Other sources said social changes may be a factor, including the isolation of technology, where families are communicating electronically rather than face to face.

Appeals Court Panel Hears Case of HIV-Positive Man Rejected as Cop

David Krajicek — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:31:14 -0500

A panel of federal judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of the Atlanta police department’s decision to reject a job application from an HIV-infected man, reports the Associated Press. The 40-year-old man sued the city in 2010, claiming he was denied a police officer job solely because he has the virus. Atlanta attorneys argued there are other officers on the force with HIV, and said the police department does not have a blanket policy disqualifying candidates with the virus. Gay rights groups and police agencies are closely following the case closely.

One of the three judges signaled the lawsuit would likely be sent back to a lower judge to reconsider.“I don’t see how we can avoid a remand in this case,” Circuit Judge R. Lanier Anderson said. The judges will issue a ruling later. The man sued under the pseudonym Richard Roe and has requested anonymity because he believes his medical condition could prevent him from other job opportunities. He said in an interview he was a former criminal investigator with the city of Los Angeles who discovered he had HIV in 1997, but that it didn’t hinder his ability to perform his duties.

Eyes Wide Shut

Lisa Riordan Seville — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:13:00 -0500

In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Manson v. Braithwaite that allowing juries to use identification evidence generated by rigged pretrial show-ups, photo-arrays and lineups violates the due process clause of the federal Constitution..

Manson left a question open: what if the circumstances surrounding the pretrial identification unfairly pointed to a suspect, but were not the fault of the police?

Suppose the pretrial confrontation was pure accident, or arranged by private parties. Could evidence from those non-police events be presented to jurors? Or does the due process clause reach even pretrial identifications for which the police could not be blamed?

The Court waited until last month’s decision in Perry v. New Hampshire to resolve that issue. In Perry, the Court held that only “police-arranged” pretrial confrontations are subject to exclusion.

The Perry opinion (written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) is not surprising as a matter of doctrine. The current membership of the court is hostile to the extension of federal constitutional protections to the conduct of private, unofficial actors.

Editor’s note: see Doyle’s commentary from October, “Less Than Meets the Eye.”

The text itself is dry and workmanlike. It seems to adhere to routine conventions of judicial opinion writing: to say the minimum necessary to decide the case, and nothing more.

The startling thing about the Perry opinion is the fact that Perry could have been written the same day as Manson in 1977. A lot has happened during the 35 years since Manson was decided, but you wouldn’t know that from the Perry opinion.

The Perry court maintained a disciplined silence about any lessons that the intervening 35 years might have taught it.

There are times when silence speaks very loudly.

Exonerations? What Exonerations?

Between the Manson decision and the Perry opinion DNA evidence has exonerated over 200 men wrongly convicted by the testimony of mistaken eyewitnesses. During the same period psychologists have published hundreds of studies explaining the mechanisms of human memory that contributed to these miscarriages of justice.

Legal commentators and social scientists have published numerous careful articles dissecting the vulnerability of the adversary trial processes that failed to catch the errors.

A Supreme Court opinion that ignores facts as glaring as these might be designed to whisper. But it is heard as a shout. This one shouts that the wrongful convictions and the proven impotence of the legal machinery that was supposed to prevent them just don’t matter very much.

According to Justice Ginsburg the courts have the eyewitness situation well in hand, and always have. If a non-police pre-trial identification is questionable, we can leave it to the juries to sort it out during the trial, as we traditionally have.

Justice Ginsburg begins the court’s opinion with a catalogue of the protections against eyewitness error that the traditional adversary tool-box affords. Then, she writes about them as though they actually worked.

For example, she points to jury instructions like one suggested by the hoary case of Telfaire v. United States, decided in 1974, as proof that jury instructions prevent miscarriages of justice without noting that at least one study (by Professor Edith Greene) showed that the Telfaire instruction actually raised the conviction rate in eyewitness trials.

Justice Ginsburg then stresses the protections offered by the participation of counsel and the potential of cross-examination exactly as if those weapons had not been tried and had not failed in every exoneration case on the DNA list.

And Justice Ginsburg ignores what any trial lawyer (and any scholar who has looked at the issue) would tell you: cross-examination and lawyers’ arguments are fundamentally incapable of discrediting honest but mistaken eyewitnesses.

One experiment showed that jurors believed mistaken and accurate eyewitness (in roughly the same viewing conditions) at the same rate. Another indicated that cross-examinations that showed that the eyewitness was legally blind decreased the conviction rate by a whopping three percent.

The fact is, cross-examining lawyers can always ask questions and generate specific data, but that specific data is no help because many jurors will apply mistaken “common sense” principles in using that data. It is easy enough, for example, for a lawyer to show that an eyewitness victim was under extreme stress, a factor which researchers know degrades reliability.

But many jurors believe that stress actually enhances accuracy. So, defending lawyers who show stress during a trial will have hurt their clients, not protected them. Lawyers can easily show that a witness is confident in the correctness of his or her choice. But the jurors will believe that “common sense” teaches that confident testimony indicates accuracy, while researchers have shown that by the time of testimony confidence and accuracy are largely unrelated.

Over 100 years ago, in his pioneering book, On The Witness Stand, Hugo Munsterburg, pointed out that everyone—industrialists, educators, and physicians—except the lawyers had learned what psychologists have to teach us about the vulnerable three-stage process of encoding, storage, and retrieval that we call “memory. “

Everyone, that is, except the courts.

The ‘Obdurate’ Lawyer

“The lawyer alone is obdurate,” Munsterburg complained.

Today’s Supreme Court may not be obdurate, but it is shockingly complacent. It is one thing to say that the due process clause of the federal constitution is the wrong solution to the problem of eyewitness error. It is quite another thing to pretend, as the Perry court does, that there was never a problem in the first place, or—in the face of the tragic lessons of the DNA cases—that the problem is already solved.

It may be that Perry is the price we pay for a Supreme Court whose membership is drawn more from the faculty lounge than from the cutting floors of the ordinary criminal courts.

Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose experience as a New York prosecutor apparently provided some insight into how the trial process actually works—and doesn’t work—resisted the comforting fiction that the judges can now prevent error.

Watch a few actual criminal trials and complacency becomes hard to sustain. Read the DNA exoneration lists, and it is harder to shut your eyes to the price of your smugness.

Out on the sharp end of the system, the police are modernizing their eyewitness identification procedures, and working groups and task forces of prosecutors, defenders, and trial judges are working on improving the adversary mechanisms that inspect the police results.

There are signs that their collaborations might improve things. But the practitioners on the frontlines are swimming upstream against hundreds of years of legal tradition, and they could have used a little leadership and support from the Supreme Court.

In Perry v. New Hampshire, the court, eyes shut tight against evidence of the legal system’s imperfection, failed to provide it. By refusing to take a step forward, the court took a step back.

James Doyle is a Boston attorney and the author of True Witness: Cops, Courts, Science and the Battle Against Misidentification (Palgrave 2005) a history of the clash between eyewitness science and legal traditions. He is a 2012 Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Justice. The opinions expressed here are his own. He welcomes comments from readers.

Four CT 'Bullies With Badges' Charged for Treatment of Latinos

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:52:20 -0500

A small group of East Haven, Conn., police officers who worked together on the evening shift were arrested Tuesday following a long federal investigation and charged with terrorizing Latinos in their town. Federal authorities called them "bullies with badges," and the indictment against them alleges a long list of crimes ranging from excessive force to obstructing justice, reports the Hartford Courant.

The four were "allegedly formed a cancerous cadre that routinely deprived East Haven residents of their civil rights," said Janice K. Fedarcyk, assistant director-in-charge of the New York office of the FBI. The investigation was prompted by a video recording of an encounter between some of the officers arrested Tuesday and the Rev. James Manship, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in New Haven. The federal probe found a pattern of discrimination by police, particularly against Latino residents. Connecticut's U.S. Attorney, David B. Fein, said more arrests and additional charges could be forthcoming.

New Firearms Law Prompts Some OH Businesses to Turn Away Gun-Toters

Ted Gest — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:51:43 -0500

A no-guns movement by some Ohio businesses has prompted conflict over a new state law that allows customers to carry firearms into restaurants and bars, as long as they don’t consume alcohol. The Columbus Dispatch says some business owners feel that they’re losing their right to a weapon-free zone. Some are posting signs to turn away gun-toters with messages such as, “Do Not Patronize if Armed.”

Columbus alone has 300 establishments with the signs, according to the Ohioans for Concealed Carry data. In the suburbs, 29 businesses in Dublin, 20 in Westerville, 17 in Hilliard and 11 in Worthington ban firearms. Jake’s Restaurant in Mount Vernon put up its sign in the fall, a few weeks after the law took effect in August. It reads: “All weapons including concealed firearms are prohibited on these premises.” “We felt the need to say, ‘Hey, we still don’t see the need to bring weapons in,’ ” said Amy Baldner, general manager. Some gun owners are offended by the signs, and they are letting owners know. “We’ve had some very angry people, and they actually leave,” said Baldner.

Judicial Civil War Displays Unseemly Side of California Courts

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:51:26 -0500

As the legislature reconvened this month, California's judges resumed their civil war over money and power, reports the Sacramento Bee. It pits Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and the State Judicial Council, along with one faction of trial and appellate judges, against a rebellious faction, organized as the Alliance of California Judges, over how to allocate pain as the courts adjust to reduced financing.

An early political test for the combatants is Assembly Bill 1208, a rebel-sponsored bill that faces a deadline this week for approval. The measure, which would strengthen the authority of local judges, has been stalled for months as both sides ramped up their lobbying. For a profession that places high value on decorum and what's called "judicial demeanor," the public and private politicking has gotten downright nasty at times, with the contending factions exchanging accusations of bad conduct. The rebel alliance has produced a 20-page white paper that lays out in detail what it regards as misappropriation of operational funds for the courts that leaves them unable to cope with criminal and civil business.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/25/4212637/dan-walters-california-judges.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy

CA Counties Amend Bail Policies to Key on Risk, Not Finances

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:45:43 -0500

Some California counties are changing long-held policies about who must remain in jail while awaiting trial, allowing judges to free criminal defendants based not on whether they can afford bail but whether they're a risk to public safety, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Public policy experts say the shift is overdue, given the crowded conditions at many county jails and a new law that is filling them with convicts who in the past would have served time in state prisons.

Most prisoners in California county jails are pretrial detainees being held because they can't meet the financial conditions set by the court, said Tim Murray of the nonprofit Pretrial Justice Institute. So instead of basing a person's release solely on their ability to pay a bail amount, some counties are allowing law enforcement authorities - often probation officers - to conduct pretrial risk assessments. The tests gauge a person's likelihood of committing another crime if they are released and are increasingly being used as a tool to help judges decide whether a person should stay in jail while awaiting trial. Some counties use the assessments as an alternative to bail, while others use the tests to help decide the bail amount.

In Reversal, NYPD's Kelly Admits Role in Anti-Muslim Documentary

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:45:12 -0500

In a reversal of earlier comments, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly acknowledged that he cooperated with the makers of "The Third Jihad," a controversial film that was shown to more than 1,400 NYPD officers in 2010. A spokesman had said Kelly's appearance in the film was from recycled interviews, but he said Tuesday the commissioner had sat for an interview—a decision he now describes as a mistake.

The film says the goal of “much of Muslim leadership here in America” is to “infiltrate and dominate” the United States. Kelly amended his earlier comments when the film’s producer, Raphael Shore, provided details about a 90-minute interview with the commissioner at Police Headquarters on March 19, 2007. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that whoever showed the film to city police officers during training “exercised some terrible judgment.”

Stats Reveal High Rate of Homicide Among DC's Juvenile Wards

Ted Gest — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:45:00 -0500

More than 50 youths in the custody of Washington, D.C.'s juvenile justice agency either have been killed or found guilty of killing someone else over the past five years, and most of them had been categorized in advance as posing a substantial risk of reoffending, reports the Washington Times. Hundreds of other youths with similar risk factors remain on city streets, according to figures from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, because the agency says it lacks secure facilities to hold them and because officials think confining them jeopardizes their chances for rehabilitation.

Statistics provided by the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show that 19 “wards” — juveniles who commit crimes and are placed in the agency’s custody — have been convicted in homicide cases since 2007. An additional 34 wards were victims of homicides over the same period. City officials said separate statistics show that 39 youths have faced homicide charges with dispositions that are pending or include convictions, acquittals, dismissals or guilty pleas since 2009.

AZ Lawmakers' Agenda Includes Many Bills Aimed to Protect Children

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:44:49 -0500

Arizona lawmakers get their first look today at a raft of bills aimed at improving the state's Child Protective Services after a gubernatorial task force was formed in the wake of several high-profile child deaths last summer, reports the Arizona Republic. Two committees will hear the bills, which include proposals to develop a special committee to oversee CPS reforms and look into privatizing the agency, provide grandparents a stipend for raising their grandchildren, and require group homes to provide teens with life-skills training.

The bills are among dozens of reforms to Arizona's child-welfare system planned in the coming months. But it remains to be seen whether the efforts -- which focus on what happens after CPS receives a report -- will reduce CPS caseloads, slow the steady rise in the number of foster children or improve the safety of children. Rep. Terri Proud, R-Tucson, said the Department of Economic Security, which oversees CPS, is the only state agency without an oversight committee. Under House Bill 2249, a 13-member committee would look for ways to improve CPS and investigate privatization efforts in other states.

Legislative Proposals in NH, TN Set Sights on 'Activist Judges'

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:44:22 -0500

Frustrated by "activist judges,” lawmakers in New Hampshire and Tennessee have proposed bills that would end the judicial branch’s ability to rule on the constitutionality of legislation, reports Stateline. Mae Beavers, a Republican state senator in Tennessee, was the lead sponsored of a proposal to limit the judiciary, saying it had "overstepped their bounds.” But she withdrew the bill this week under criticism from members of both parties, including the Republican Senate speaker Ron Ramsey, according to the Tennessean.

Meanwhile in New Hampshire, a feud between the state judiciary and House Republicans reached a peak last October. The state Supreme Court had issued an advisory opinion that the legislature did not have the power to force the attorney general to join a multi-state lawsuit against the federal health care overhaul. The House then overwhelmingly passed a resolution repudiating the court’s opinion. A new bill would amend the state Constitution so that “the supreme court shall determine the constitutionality of judicial acts and the legislature shall determine the constitutionality of legislative acts.”

Battle Over Judgeships Brings Virginia Senate to a Standstill

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:44:11 -0500

A partisan battle over judicial appointments left the Virginia Senate at a standstill Tuesday, with members prevented by procedural rules from voting on any legislation or even conducting committee meetings until the matter was resolved, reports the Washington Post. The House of Delegates and Senate eventually found a way out of the impasse, at least for the next few days, by postponing the matter until Thursday. But Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) indicated that Democrats would continue to flex whatever muscle they had left after this month’s GOP takeover by opposing all new judicial nominations.

The heated showdown — coming just weeks into the session and over two judicial nominees not considered the least bit controversial — raised concerns that it will be a rocky session for Richmond’s evenly split upper chamber. “This is a residual consequence of bruised political egos,” said Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment (R-James City), suggesting that Democrats were using “political extortion” to get back at Republicans after they declined to share power in the 20-20 chamber.

Civil Liberties Group Urges Caution in Call to Expand DNA Testing in NY

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:43:40 -0500

A number of sheriffs and district attorneys have joined New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in supporting a legislative proposal to expand the state's DNA databank, reports the Albany Times-Union. ing the state DNA databank. If the Legislature passes the measure, New York would be the first state to take DNA samples from everyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony.

But Robert Perry of the New York Civil Liberties Union said the potential for error and fraud is great, given the problems that already exist with the databank. "There have been a number of developments that should give policy makers pause, including familial searching based on a partial matches; unauthorized use of DNA by local labs and rogue databanks that maintain samples from people who have not been charged with a crime," Perry said.

Police Say Illinois Experienced Surge in Gun Ownership in 2011

David Krajicek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:43:20 -0500

The number of people licensed to own guns in Illinois jumped by more than 78,500 last year, possibly fueled by a belief the state was poised to legalize the concealed carry of weapons, reports the Northwest Indiana Times. The Illinois State Police says nearly 1.4 million people had Firearm Owner Identification Cards as of Jan. 1, compared with just over 1.3 million the year before. Police got 321,437 applications in 2011, up from 287,552 in 2010.

The 6.1 percent increase in FOID cards comes as Illinois continues to be a focal point among gun rights advocates as the lone state in the nation that does not allow people to carry concealed weapons in public. The FOID card does not allow people to carry guns in public. Rather, in order to possess or purchase firearms or ammunition, residents of the state of Illinois are required to have the card.