The Crime Report

School Shootings

Nation's Schools Tighten Security in Response to TikTok Shooting Threats

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

Law enforcement agencies believe that threats warning of possible attacks on December 17 are false, and possibly pranks prompted by an online social media challenge to promote shootings, but they say they aren’t taking chances.

Justice and Health

COVID Booster Shots Unavailable for Incarcerees in 40 States: Report

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

As the country confronts a new variant in the COVID pandemic, a nationwide survey by the Prison Policy initiative has uncovered flaws in reporting and data collection in state facilities that rival mistakes seen when the infection first took hold in prisons last year.

Law

When ‘Self-Defense’ Clashes With Justice

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

Killing in self-defense has long been considered one of the most ancient “rights,” and often seems unassailable in the courtroom. But recent tragic cases such as the fatal shooting of jogger Ahmaud Arbery show that courts need to weigh other values in deciding whether an act was justifiable, argues a Colorado law professor.

Drugs

Sacklers of Purdue Pharma Back on the Hook for Opioid Claims

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

A U.S. district court judge in New York has ruled that a previous decision by a bankruptcy court granting the owners of Purdue Pharma immunity contradicts the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Immigration

Prosecutors Across Nation Rally Behind DACA Appeal

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

A coalition of 23 state attorneys general has joined an amicus brief in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The brief argues that without DACA, national economic growth over the course of a decade is projected to fall by $280 billion.

Guns

Gun Makers Fight NY Measure Allowing Industry Lawsuits

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

Gun manufacturers and the National Shooting Sports Foundation have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a New York law that allows the state and people affected by gun violence to sue the industry,

Immigration

Justice Department Exits Settlement Negotiations With Migrant Families

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

The Biden administration is withdrawing from efforts to conclude a global settlement providing financial compensation to migrant families for the harm inflicted on them by a Trump-era policy that separated parents and children at the border. The decision may be tied to a leak claiming separated families would receive up to $450,000 each, which was seized upon by conservative critics.

Drugs

Oregon Earmarks $25M to Aid Law Enforcement Crackdown on Illegal Pot Farms

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

Oregon law enforcement and community organizations are overwhelmed by illegal pot farms that are draining the drought region of much-needed water and making billions for gangs and cartels.

Immigration

Armed Vigilantes Exploit Texas Law to Hunt Migrants at the Border

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

A new Texas law allows migrants to be arrested for trespassing, attracting groups of armed private citizens to Kinney County, where they are now patrolling the border with local officials, stopping the migrants they find, and passing them off to be arrested by law enforcement who support and welcome them.

Policing

NYPD’s Sex Crimes Unit Accused of Neglect, Structural Flaws

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

The NYPD’s Special Victims Division lacks trained officers and is populated with investigators who don’t care about the work, resulting in further abuse of women and children, and even deaths, according to an investigation by The Appeal.

Cybercrime

Holiday Season Is Primetime for Online Love Scams

So-called ‘Romance Scammers” set up bogus online accounts to dupe the victim into transferring them money, sending gift cards, and even laundering money for them.

Policy & Politics

Meadows Contempt Referral Presents Dilemma for DOJ

The U.S. House of Representatives’ decision to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in criminal contempt risks undermining the ability of the executive branch to keep officials’ discussions private, say experts.

Police Misconduct

Chauvin, Pleading Guilty, Faces 25 Years for Violating George Floyd’s Civil Rights

Under the proposed sentence, the earliest former Minnesota cop Derek Chauvin would be released from prison would be around 2042. It would run concurrently with his earlier 22-year sentence in his state trial for murder.

Policy & Politics

Is Trump Guilty of Criminal Obstruction of Congress?

To convict someone of that crime, a jury must determine that a defendant took an obstructive action, affected an “official proceeding” and acted with “corrupt” intentions. Several members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot are already looking closely at its possible application to the former president.

Research & Analysis

Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment’s Victims Now ‘the Most Vulnerable of the Vulnerable’: Report

Despite a decline to a record low in executions across the country, capital punishment continues to be imposed on inmates with mental disabilities and others with lack of access to adequate legal counsel, says the Death Penalty Information Center in its latest year-end review.
Policing

Traffic Stops Turn Deadly: Nearly 1 Death per Week

While the country focuses on the Duane Wright traffic stop case where officer Kim Potter mistook her firearm for her Taser, experts are shining a light on the dangers and nuances of traffic stops.
Prisons

US Prison Population Decreased 15% in 2020

The 2020 imprisonment rate of 358 per 100,000 U.S. residents is the lowest seen since 1992, reports the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prisoner releases during the pandemic accounted for most of the decline.
Crime Statistics

Violent Crime Highest in Poor Urban Neighborhoods: Study

Affluent white communities have largely escaped the spike in homicides and assaults, according to a study of 13 cities by the University of California-Davis Violence Prevention Research Program. Researchers said racially and economically segregated neighborhoods, which were hit hardest during the pandemic, have borne the brunt of the violence.
Capital Punishment

Number of US Executions Continues to Decline: BJS

Five states and the federal government executed 17 prisoners in 2020, and another 11 met their deaths so far this year, reflecting a steady reduction in the use of capital punishment since the turn of the century, reports the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Policing

Study Calls for Police Leaders to Show ‘Empathy’ for Cop Shooting Victims

Senior law enforcement officials should be trained in using their public statements to show empathy for victims of police use-of-force incidents, as an important tool for reducing the tensions and anger that otherwise lead to violent protests, says a study published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology.

WORTH A READ

At the Crossroads

America’s Rocky Road to Justice-Informed Policing
By Greg Berman | December 16, 2021
The George Floyd killing forced white Americans to confront awkward truths about racial disparities in the justice system, and the police role in enforcing those disparities. In the latest installment of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation’s “At the Crossroads” series of interviews, criminologist and former prosecutor Kami Chavis argues the entire police “ecosystem” needs reform―starting at the local level.
Reforming the System

MA Record Expungement Bill Offers ‘Fresh Start’ to Juveniles
By Andrea Cipriano | December 16, 2021
New reform proposals are being looked at in Massachusetts that, if passed, would expand the list of offenses that could be expunged from someone's juvenile record. This comes as new reform programs are becoming popular in the state, and many hope for change.
TCR Special Reports

Children and Guns: Holding Parents Accountable
By Cassie M. Chew | December 15, 2021
The charges filed against James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of a Michigan teen who allegedly shot dead four of his high school classmates, could bring greater national attention to weaknesses in federal and state laws regulating firearm storage and minors’ access to guns, a TCR Special Report found.
Environment

DOJ Signals New Strategy For ‘Environmental Justice’
By TCR Staff | December 15, 2021
The federal government intends to get tougher on corporate polluters that endanger “communities of color and low-income communities,” the head of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Featured

Bill Moyers on Justice

By TCR Staff | December 1, 2017

Moyers was honored as TCR’s 2018 “Justice Media Trailblazer.” Watch the video of his remarks at the Feb 15, 2018 John Jay College dinner here.

The Crime Report - Your Complete Criminal Justice Resource

Immigration

Prosecutors Across Nation Rally Behind DACA Appeal

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

Guns

Gun Makers Fight NY Measure Allowing Industry Lawsuits

By TCR Staff | 9 hours ago

Immigration

Justice Department Exits Settlement Negotiations With Migrant Families

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

Drugs

Oregon Earmarks $25M to Aid Law Enforcement Crackdown on Illegal Pot Farms

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

Immigration

Armed Vigilantes Exploit Texas Law to Hunt Migrants at the Border

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

Policing

NYPD’s Sex Crimes Unit Accused of Neglect, Structural Flaws

By TCR Staff | 10 hours ago

Cybercrime

Holiday Season Is Primetime for Online Love Scams

Policy & Politics

Meadows Contempt Referral Presents Dilemma for DOJ

Police Misconduct

Chauvin, Pleading Guilty, Faces 25 Years for Violating George Floyd’s Civil Rights

Policy & Politics

Is Trump Guilty of Criminal Obstruction of Congress?

Justice and Health

‘Ten-Minute’ Evictions Draw Tears, Anger in Arizona’s Maricopa County

Advocates Push for Rikers Closure After 15th Inmate Dies

Overdose Deaths Increase as Fentanyl Found in More Illicit Pills

Michigan School Shooting Case Could Open the Door to More Novel Prosecutions

Louisiana Judge Urged to Resign Over Recorded Racist Remarks