The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/)
Many wrongful convictions are based on forensic testimony based on science later exposed as flawed. A California statute this year laid out the terms for granting relief to defendants challenging ‘expert’ evidence—but striking the right balance between evolving scientific research and trial pressures remains a challenge, says a UC law professor.
An 18th-century theory used by sports bettors, gamblers and even weather forecasters could help criminologists and policymakers uncover crimes that are unrecorded in official statistics, claims a British researcher.
District attorneys in four boroughs have agreed to file motions to toss out old warrants issued for low-level offenses like drinking in public and riding a bicycle on a sidewalk. All are more than 10 years old. The mass clearance will dismiss a significant portion of the city’s roughly 1.5 million outstanding warrants.
In his inaugural address in January, President Trump vowed that “American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” But gun deaths and firearms injuries have increased so far in 2017, according to tallies by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.
About 25 Missouri Highway Patrol troopers will be policing the interstate highways in St. Louis as part of Gov. Eric Greitens’ initiatives to combat crime in the city. Civil rights groups worry about racial profiling by the troopers, a persistent problem in the state.
The use of deadly force by English officers is still exceedingly rare compared with the U.S., but the number of fatal shootings by cops ticked up to six last year.
The founder of a black gun group says, “There’s this feeling, this fear in today’s society, for people of color especially, that the person sitting over there in the corner might be about to attack you.”
Lt. Aaron Allan, nicknamed “Teddy Bear,” was walking up to the scene of a car crash in a suburban Indianapolis yard when an occupant of the wreck opened fire.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sanctioned the use of civil asset forfeiture by law enforcement, despite bipartisan political opposition to the controversial practice. New Mexico and Nebraska have taken the lead by banning it. Will others follow?
Sixty men and women volunteered when Judge Sam Benningfield offered 30 days off the sentence of White County jail inmates willing to undergo a vasectomy or birth control implant. The offer was rescinded when the world caught wind.
The problem of contraband cellphones has become a huge problem in U.S. prisons. U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina says the FCC could solve it by allowing state and local lockups to use signal-jamming technology.
His appearance in Brentwood, Long Island, which has been beset by violence linked to the MS-13 gang, will be used to highlight his efforts to stem illegal immigration and boost deportations.
The FBI alleges that the chief contract negotiators for Fiat Chrysler and the United Autoworkers Union colluded for six years to enrich themselves, skimming cash to pay for trips, jewelry and a Ferrari. They succeeded by plotting to keep senior union members “fat, dumb and happy.”
The 2015 decision concerned church-related signage, but its free speech underpinnings have made it the case-law basis for successful court challenges of local panhandling laws across the country. “It’s an unanticipated consequence,” said an Ohio city attorney.
Faouzi Jaber, a 61-year-old Ivorian citizen, pleaded guilty this week in a case involving smuggling arms and drugs to Colombia’s FARC group. But the undercover tactics by U.S. agents raise questions about future drug-war strategies in Colombia.