The Crime Report

Domestic Terrorism

White Supremacists Claim Free Speech Rights as Charlottesville Trial Opens

By TCR Staff | 4 hours ago

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.

Reforming the System

How Philadelphia's 'Bail Advocates' Reduced Pretrial Racial Disparities

By Eva Herscowitz | 5 hours ago

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.

Guns

Gun Violence is Killing More Teens and Children

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

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.

Domestic Terrorism

Jan 6 Riot Organizers 'Had Dozens of Meetings with GOP Congress Members'

By Andrea Cipriano | 5 hours ago

Two pro-Trump rally organizers who say they helped extensively plan election protests around the country — most notably, the storming of the Capitol on January 6 — are now coming forward to share that they regularly met with GOP representatives or their top staff in the weeks leading up to the riots in Washington D.C in an exclusive report from Rolling Stone.

Cybercrime

Natural Disasters Could Leave Communities Exposed to Cyberattacks: Report

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

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.

Policing

Georgia Police Chief Launches 'Shoot to Incapacitate' Program

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Police Chief Louis Dekmar, who has run the LaGrange, Ga., Police Department for 26 years, is training his officers to shoot for the legs, pelvis or abdomen in situations where they think it could stop a deadly threat without killing the source of that threat.

Transnational Crime

Colombia Captures Notorious Drug Lord Compared to Escobar

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Colombia’s most-wanted drug lord, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, widely known by his alias, Otoniel, and the alleged leader of the notorious drug-trafficking group Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan, which dominates major cocaine-smuggling routes in the country’s north, has been captured by armed forces in his jungle hideout and faces extradition to the United States.

Immigration

Tired of Waiting in Southern Mexico, Thousands of Migrants March North

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Desperate for work and fleeing poverty and violence, a caravan of nearly 4,000 migrants recently decided to march out of the southern city of Tapachula after waiting for asylum applications to be processed for as long as a year

Drugs

California Legal Weed Industry Overwhelmed by Illicit Market

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

While California’s cannabis market is booming nearly five years after voters legalized recreational weed, the vast majority of pot sales are still underground, with the state’s illegal market approaching $8 billion annually.

Guns

Alec Baldwin Film Set Shooting Prompts Calls for Gun Ban

By TCR Staff | 6 hours ago

The recent accidental fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by Alec Baldwin has triggered questions about why real guns are ever used on movie sets when computers can create gunshots in post-production.

Department of Justice

U.S. House of Representatives Holds Bannon in Contempt of Congress

While the decision could expose Steve Bannon to criminal prosecution, the final decision remains in the hands of the attorney general and the Department of Justice.

Police Misconduct

NYPD Officers on Misconduct Watchlist Still Able to Jeopardize Cases

Despite a 2019 law intended to speed up needed disclosures of officer credibility, officer history remains inscrutable and those flagged for misconduct continue to jeopardize cases.

Sentencing

Sentence for Minneapolis Cop Who Killed 911 Caller Cut By More Than Half

Mohamed Noor, who fatally shot an unarmed woman after she called 911 to report a possible rape happening behind her home, has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison — the most the judge could impose but less than half the 12½ years he was sentenced to for his murder conviction that was overturned last month.

Research & Analysis

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.
Crime Victims

Older Americans Prime Targets of Fraud During Pandemic: DOJ

Since July 2020, the Justice Department has brought over 220 criminal and civil enforcement actions in nearly 20 different types of fraud cases that targeted the elderly, according to the DOJ’s annual report.
Police Misconduct

As Police Violence Increases, Civilians Less Likely to Call 911: Study

Researchers with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government found that high-profile acts of police brutality, like the murder of George Floyd, negatively affect public trust and cooperation with law enforcement, resulting in fewer 911 calls when crimes occur.
women and justice

Number of Female State Police Has Not Risen Since 2000

Despite proof that female officers use less force and avoid more complaints, state police departments often fail to change the perception that state policing isn’t for women.
Justice and Health

How States Shunted Prisoners Aside in Vaccine Rollout

By failing to prioritize incarcerated people, the state-by-state rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine represented a legal and ethical failure, argue the authors of a California Law Review paper.

WORTH A READ

women and justice

How Education Helps Women Incarcerees Resist ‘Inhumanity’ of Prison
By Eva Herscowitz | October 22, 2021
American prisons are profoundly inhospitable for incarcerated women — but prison education programs can help women on the inside resist the ‘inhumanity’ of incarceration, say Kathy Boudin and Judith Clark, two formerly incarcerated women now advocating for prison reform.
Viewpoints

Border Patrol and Title 42: Violence Multiplied
By Mark Dow | October 22, 2021
The Biden administration is using a 1944 public health statute to enforce an inhumane policy blocking access to asylum, writes an immigration policy author.
At the Crossroads

View from the Trauma Center: Why Gun Violence Persists
By Greg Berman | October 21, 2021
The young Black men most victimized by gun violence can tell us how to stop it, but “too often we ignore their voices,” criminologist Joseph Richardson tells Greg Berman in the latest installment of the Harry Frank Guggenheim “At The Crossroads” series.
Prison Writing

An Inmate’s Story: How I Turned Into the Person I Feared Most
By Tommy Traughber | October 21, 2021
As an 11-year-old he was bullied by classmates. Thirty years later he looked back with regret on the choices that turned him into a violent gang member serving life in prison, in this essay produced for "The Beat Within" justice writing workshop in San Francisco.

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

Policing

Georgia Police Chief Launches 'Shoot to Incapacitate' Program

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Transnational Crime

Colombia Captures Notorious Drug Lord Compared to Escobar

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Immigration

Tired of Waiting in Southern Mexico, Thousands of Migrants March North

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Drugs

California Legal Weed Industry Overwhelmed by Illicit Market

By TCR Staff | 5 hours ago

Guns

Alec Baldwin Film Set Shooting Prompts Calls for Gun Ban

By TCR Staff | 6 hours ago

Department of Justice

U.S. House of Representatives Holds Bannon in Contempt of Congress

Police Misconduct

NYPD Officers on Misconduct Watchlist Still Able to Jeopardize Cases

Sentencing

Sentence for Minneapolis Cop Who Killed 911 Caller Cut By More Than Half

Guns

St.Louis-Chicago Gun Trafficking Network Developed on Facebook

Sex Crime

Lyft Records Over 4,000 Sexual Assault Cases Over 3 Years

Growing Number of Witnesses Film Crimes Before Reporting Them to Police

Chicago Gags Anti-Vax Union Leaders, as Indiana Poaches Rebel Cops

To Breach the U.S. Border, Migrants Take to the Sea

Charges Unlikely for Bystanders Who Witnessed Rape on Philadelphia Train