The Crime Report

Immigration

Anti-Immigrant Fears Reflected in Federal Sentencing Decisions: Study

By TCR Staff | 1 hour ago

A study by two Penn State University professors found that Hispanic non-citizens—including both green card holders and undocumented—received on average heavier sentences from federal courts in districts that became major new destinations for Latinx immigration after 2000.

Policing

End Over-Policing and ‘Under-Protection,’ Activist Tells Violence Summit

By Maria Trovato | 3 hours ago

Reducing violence and increasing safety requires building trust between the police and marginalized communities, but that won’t happen until police acknowledge the historical role law enforcement played as enforcers of Jim Crow, warns a civil rights lawyer.

Reforming the System

Rikers Closing Imperiled by High Number of Parole Violators

By Nancy Bilyeau | 3 hours ago

A report released this week warns that New York City will never achieve its goal of shutting down the notorious Rikers Island jail unless it reforms the system of community supervision.

Reforming the System

‘Safe Spaces’ for At-Risk Youth Foster Violence Prevention, Conference Told

By Brian Demo | 3 hours ago

Community organizers in Detroit, South Bend, In., and Jacksonville, Fl., tell a conference at John Jay College how local drop-in centers can provide critical comfort zones for neighborhoods plagued by violence.

Policing

Philly Removes 72 Cops Over Social Media Posts

By Crime and Justice News | 4 hours ago

The Philadelphia Police Department pulled 72 officers off regular duties as authorities investigate inflammatory social media posts revealed in a database that found thousands of offensive postings by current and former officers. It was the largest removal of officers from the street in recent memory.

Elections 2020

Biden Backing of Death Penalty is Softening

By Crime and Justice News | 4 hours ago

In 1994, Sen. Joe Biden’s signature crime bill made dozens more offenses punishable by death. Unlike most of his Democratic opponents for the White House, he still supports executions. Yet speaking this month in New Hampshire, he congratulated state leaders for ending the death penalty.

Elections 2020

Police Killing of Black Man Called Buttigieg 'Nightmare'

By Crime and Justice News | 4 hours ago

Instead of showcasing South Bend, In., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s ability to lead through a crisis, the shooting is exposing an Achilles’ heel of his candidacy: his frosty relationship with the city’s black residents,

Jails

Cincinnati Jail Offers Drug to Break Addiction Cycle

By Crime and Justice News | 6 hours ago

Only one in 20 jails and prisons offer medication for addiction. Cincinnati’s Hamilton County jail now offers inmates buprenorphine to temper drug cravings.

Cybercrime

Small FL City Paying $600K Ransom to Hackers

By Crime and Justice News | 8 hours ago

City leaders in Riviera Beach, Fl., met this week for an extraordinary vote to pay a large ransom to hackers who paralyzed the city’s computer systems. The city’s insurance carriers will pay 65 Bitcoin, about $592,000.

Juvenile Justice

NYC Teen Arrests Drop Under 'Raise the Age' Law

By Crime and Justice News | 8 hours ago

Police officers arrested 54 percent fewer 16-year-olds for felonies and misdemeanors in the last three months of 2018. Police used more “juvenile reports” as an alternative to arrests or summonses for minor crimes such as marijuana possession or low-level assault.

U.S. Department of Justice

Michael Dreeben, DOJ’s Criminal Law Expert, Leaves

Michael Dreeben, the longtime U.S. Justice Department appellate lawyer who was a criminal-law expert on the special counsel’s team investigating Russia’s election interference, is retiring from federal government service.

Homicide

Man Accused in Four Louisiana Random Shootings

After Sean Barrette, 22, was arrested, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said, “This is multiple acts of violence. I’m not going to call him a serial killer.”

Sex Crime

Leader of Sex-Cult Group NXIVM Convicted

Keith Raniere, leader of NXIVM, a group that espoused a philosophy of self-improvement but was accused of recruiting, grooming and branding an inner circle of female sex slaves, was found guilty Wednesday by a federal jury in Brooklyn. Actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty in the case.

Immigration

Trump’s Deportation Idea Called Expensive, Unlikely

By telegraphing plans for a nationwide roundup, the president risked undermining the effectiveness of ICE’s most complex enforcement operation in years. Officials predicted that would-be deportees could scatter from known addresses, diminishing the White House’s chances for success.

Research & Analysis

Reforming the System

Parole and Probation Violators Account for 45% of State Prison Admissions: Study

The nation’s flawed community supervision system operates like a revolving door, ordering individuals back to prison for violations as minor as a missed meeting with a probation officer, according to a new report by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, in what advocates say is a “wake-up call” for reform.
Courts

Threats to Judiciary Surge Worldwide: Is America at Risk?

Courts provide the ultimate defense for democracies, so it’s no accident that anti-democratic governments around the world are steadily chipping away at the independence of their judiciaries, according to two legal researchers who warn that the U.S. isn’t immune from the trend.
Reforming the System

Housing Bans on the Justice-Involved ‘Violate American Values’: Paper

Statutes barring formerly incarcerated individuals from certain types of housing have more to do with prejudice than protecting public safety, argues a NYU Law professor, who says housing policy should be divorced from the justice system.
Guns

Toolkit Tells Doctors How to Talk Gun Safety With Patients

A guide prepared by researchers for the Annals of Internal Medicine is aimed at helping physicians identify gun-owners who are at risk of hurting themselves or others. Among the key suggestions: finding the right “language” to discuss the issue.
Science & Technology

Does ‘Big Data’ Threaten Due Process?

Prosecutors are using data surveillance technology in novel ways to go after criminals. But in the process they may be undermining constitutional guarantees of due process, warns a new study.
cash register justice

New Orleans Gets ‘Blueprint’ for Scrapping Money Bail System

Under a proposal by the Vera Institute of Justice, the city will be the first in the country to replace money bail and conviction fees— “the twin pillars on which money injustice stands”— with a fair system aimed at reducing the number of individuals held in pretrial detention.

WORTH A READ

TCR Special Reports

Can the ‘Emerging Science of Violence Prevention’ Build Safer Communities?
By Yotam Ponte | June 19, 2019
Reducing violence in America’s at-risk communities requires more than aggressive policing. Speakers at a John Jay conference Tuesday described the growing successes around the country of multi-pronged, evidence-based efforts involving community outreach, peer support and civilian professionals.
Reforming the System

‘Hurt People Hurt People:’ A Lesson in Preventing Tragedy
By Andrea Cipriano | June 19, 2019
Police ‘hot spot’ strategies usually focus on isolating the relatively small number of individuals responsible for violence in a neighborhood. But experts at a John Jay conference on violence prevention said the focus should also identify victims who can evolve into offenders themselves.
cash register justice

Penalizing Poverty: In Upstate NY, Driver’s License Suspensions Unravel Lives
By Meaghan M. McDermott/ Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | June 19, 2019
Two-thirds of all license suspensions in New York are just for traffic debt. In the upstate city of Rochester, the poor have been hit the hardest.
Reforming the System

U.S. Needs ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Sentencing, Summit Told
By Maria Trovato | June 18, 2019
Speakers at a Columbia Law School summit on sentencing reform called for a focus on racial justice, rehabilitation and community safety to replace the punitive policies of the past.

Featured

Bill Moyers Speaks Out on Justice. Watch the Video.

By TCR Staff | December 1, 2017

Moyers received TCR’s annual “Justice Trailblazer” award at a John Jay College dinner Feb. 15. See the video of his remarks here.

The Crime Report - Your Complete Criminal Justice Resource

Policing

Philly Removes 72 Cops Over Social Media Posts

By Crime and Justice News | 4 hours ago

Elections 2020

Biden Backing of Death Penalty is Softening

By Crime and Justice News | 4 hours ago

Elections 2020

Police Killing of Black Man Called Buttigieg 'Nightmare'

By Crime and Justice News | 4 hours ago

Jails

Cincinnati Jail Offers Drug to Break Addiction Cycle

By Crime and Justice News | 6 hours ago

Cybercrime

Small FL City Paying $600K Ransom to Hackers

By Crime and Justice News | 8 hours ago

Juvenile Justice

NYC Teen Arrests Drop Under 'Raise the Age' Law

By Crime and Justice News | 8 hours ago

U.S. Department of Justice

Michael Dreeben, DOJ’s Criminal Law Expert, Leaves

Homicide

Man Accused in Four Louisiana Random Shootings

Sex Crime

Leader of Sex-Cult Group NXIVM Convicted

Immigration

Trump’s Deportation Idea Called Expensive, Unlikely

Policing

Residents Confront Phoenix Officials Over Police Shootings

Feds Seize 33,000 Pounds of Coke From Philly Ship

DA Krasner Denies Blame for Philly Gun Violence

Denver’s Violent Crime Rate Rising Fast

Prosecutors Back Off on School Threat Cases