The Crime Report

Reforming the System

Stop 'Locking Up' the Drug Problem, Prosecutors Told

By Nancy Bilyeau | 2 hours ago

Drug addiction is now widely described as a public health crisis, but that perspective has mostly been missing in American courtrooms, where prosecutors focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation and care, a webinar at John Jay College was told this week.

Viewpoints

How Harm Reduction Can Help Win the Fight Against Opioids

By Lt. Diane M. Goldstein (Ret.) and Stacey McKenna | 2 hours ago

Despite three years of aggressive enforcement-based attempts to target traffickers, opioids continue to dominate illicit markets across the country. It’s time for a different response, write two reform advocates.

Justice and Health

States Hide Prison COVID-19 Data: Study

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles’ COVID Behind Bars Data Project have found that states regularly withhold data from the public and have increased the practice since the onset of COVID-19. Some haven’t released any health data at all.

Viewpoints

Can Police Face Up to Sexism?

By Gareth Bryon | October 27, 2021

An emerging debate over police “misogyny” has put law enforcement in the UK on the defensive. But it underlines the fact that a reckoning with a police culture that demeans women is long overdue wherever it appears, writes a former UK detective.

Cybercrime

4 Million Fentanyl Doses Seized in Global Crackdown on 'Darknet'

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

A coordinated 10-month effort on three continents has taken down a major drug and firearm ring operating on the Darknet, the murkiest area of cyberspace, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Some 150 individuals were arrested, including 65 in the U.S.

Drugs

Mexico, US Consider 'Holistic' Approach to Curbing Drug Cartels

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

After years of being outmaneuvered by powerful drug gangs, the two countries are trying a new strategy that involves tackling the economic and social factors that allow organized crime to flourish.

Guns

Gun Rights Group Joins Abortion Providers to Fight Texas Ban

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Spanning the “culture war” divide, the nonprofit gun rights group Firearms Policy Coalition is siding with abortion providers in the Texas dispute over the nation’s strictest abortion ban. The gun advocates worry the law could be used to limit other constitutional rights, in particular the Second Amendment

Guns

Congress to U.S. Military: Keep Track of Your Guns

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

In response to an Associated Press investigation that showed firearms stolen from U.S. bases have resurfaced in violent crimes, the Department of Defense is under pressure to develop a coherent strategy for improving how it accounts for military weapons and equipment.

Drugs

Pioneering Oregon Drug Law Off to a Rocky Start

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Oregon law enforcement agencies are failing to issue violations akin to traffic tickets to drug-users, a key component of the recently passed Measure 110, which decided low-level drug possession in the state should no longer be a crime and that addiction should be treated as public health issue.

Courts

U.S. Seeks Extradition of Assange from U.K. to Face Espionage Charges

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Britain’s High Court is being asked to overturn a judge’s decision that the Wikileaks founder should not be sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, promising he would be able to serve any prison sentence he receives in his native Australia,

Domestic Terrorism

Judge Rules Men Shot By Kyle Rittenhouse Can’t be Called Victims

Wisconsin Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder has ruled that attorneys in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial could refer to the men the teen shot in Kenosha, Wis., last year as “rioters,” “looters” and “arsonists,” but not “victims” because the term was “loaded.”

Immigration

Border Patrol Agents Accused of Racism Got ‘Minimal’ Discipline

Despite a disciplinary board recommending two dozen firings, most of the agents involved in a racist private Facebook group received nothing more than suspensions and letters of reprimand. Only two were actually fired, and one who posted some of the most offensive images was allowed to retire with disability and benefits.

Corruption

State Unemployment Fraud Costs California $20 Billion

California has given away at least $20 billion to criminals in the form of fraudulent unemployment benefits, confirming a number smaller than originally feared but one that still accounts for more than 11 percent of all benefits paid since the start of the pandemic.

Cybercrime

New ‘Bureau of Cyberspace’ Will Guard U.S. Digital Security

As part of the latest overhaul by the Biden administration aimed at treating cyber threats as a top-tier national-security issue, the State Department is creating a new bureau of cyberspace and digital policy to be led by a Senate-confirmed ambassador-at-large and a new, separate special envoy for critical and emerging technology.

Domestic Terrorism

Federal Judge Weighs Terrorism Charge Against Men Accused of Plotting Race War

Federal Judge Theodore D. Chuang has decided to consider adding a “terrorism enhancement” to the prison terms of Patrik Mathews and Brian Lemley Jr., two white supremacists who prosecutors said plotted to carry out deadly violence at a Virginia guns-rights rally last year to provoke what one of them called “a full-blown civil war.”

Research & Analysis

Hate Crimes

2020 Saw Highest Number of Hate Crimes in 20 Years: FBI

One of the main findings of the latest revised FBI report is that hate crimes against people of Asian descent rose by 76 percent in 2020 — furthering the FBI’s finding that 60 percent of hate crimes were carried out on the basis of an individual’s race.
Immigration

ICE Data Shows 2021 Immigration Arrests Fell to Lowest Level in Over a Decade

The decrease is attributed to the new rules established by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which instruct officers to prioritize threats to national security and public safety.
Reforming the System

How Philadelphia’s ‘Bail Advocates’ Reduced Pretrial Racial Disparities

The pretrial process in U.S. courts often sets up defendants to fail. The results of a Philadelphia pilot project suggest that hiring paraprofessionals to furnish defenders with more individualized information about clients could make a big difference, according to an Indiana Law Journal paper.
Cybercrime

Natural Disasters Could Leave Communities Exposed to Cyberattacks: Report

An attack directly after a natural disaster could create a domino effect leading to a loss of electrical power, water, and disruption of telecommunications and other infrastructure, according to Pew Stateline.
Guns

California ‘Red Flag Law’ Hampered by Funding, Coordination Issues: Study

Lack of sufficient funding and a failure to coordinate between law enforcement agencies has reduced the effectiveness of a 2016 California law authorizing police to remove firearms from people considered to be at risk of harming themselves or others, according to a UC Davis study.
Cybercrime

Treasury Chief Yellen Calls Ransomware ‘Direct Threat’ to Economy

At $600 million, the volume of suspected ransomware payments is likely to double what it reached last year.

WORTH A READ

Viewpoints

Sex Offenders: Fear vs. Fact on Halloween
By Derek W. Logue | October 26, 2021
Many states and local jurisdictions have enacted statutes restricting the activities of registered sex offenders at Halloween. But there is no evidence backing up claims that children are especially at risk from pedophiles during the holiday, writes a reform advocate.
Policing

Should Cops and Mental Health Caregivers Work Together?
By Hayley Zhao/Next City | October 26, 2021
Dallas has reduced hospitalization and incarceration with a program that sends social workers and clinicians along with police to answer mental health-related 911 calls. But some critics say the presence of police sends the wrong message.
Domestic Terrorism

White Supremacists Claim Free Speech Rights as Charlottesville Trial Opens
By TCR Staff | October 25, 2021
Plaintiffs in the long-delayed lawsuit in federal court against two dozen organizers of the August, 2017 far-right march in Charlottesville, N.C., are accusing the collection of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Klan sympathizers and other adherents of extremist ideology of plotting to foment the violence that left at least 19 people injured and one woman dead.
Guns

Gun Violence is Killing More Teens and Children
By TCR Staff | October 25, 2021
Experts say new data confirm fears that the latest gun violence surge has killed more children and teens than in recent years. Some cities getting hit the hardest are New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia.

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

Guns

Gun Rights Group Joins Abortion Providers to Fight Texas Ban

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Guns

Congress to U.S. Military: Keep Track of Your Guns

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Drugs

Pioneering Oregon Drug Law Off to a Rocky Start

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Courts

U.S. Seeks Extradition of Assange from U.K. to Face Espionage Charges

By TCR Staff | October 27, 2021

Domestic Terrorism

Judge Rules Men Shot By Kyle Rittenhouse Can’t be Called Victims

Immigration

Border Patrol Agents Accused of Racism Got ‘Minimal’ Discipline

Corruption

State Unemployment Fraud Costs California $20 Billion

Cybercrime

New ‘Bureau of Cyberspace’ Will Guard U.S. Digital Security

Domestic Terrorism

Federal Judge Weighs Terrorism Charge Against Men Accused of Plotting Race War

Forty Years Later, New John Wayne Gacy Victim Identified

Female Correction Officers Speak Out Against Sexual Assault by Rikers Inmates

Georgia Police Chief Launches ‘Shoot to Incapacitate’ Program

Colombia Captures Notorious Drug Lord Compared to Escobar