The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/)
An inmate contemplating release comes to terms with the fact that the realities of life on the “outside” mean that for most returning prisoners, the American Dream has already been foreclosed.
President Trump and his team continue to poke needles at the former Alabama senator, who at times during the presidential campaign was the rare politician of national standing willing to stand beside Trump. That history has not saved him from the petulant president’s ire.
Gun charges in New York that hinge on officer testimony often don’t lead to jury convictions. To change that, the city is pursuing an ambitious and expensive plan to collect and test DNA from every gun recovered to build cases based on physical evidence.
The state’s prison boss said she experienced an epiphany two years ago during a visit to Halden, the Norwegian facility known as the world’s most humane prison. “We’re hurting people,” she said.
A provision slipped into a funding bill would prohibit the ATF from using any funds to enforce a rule requiring gun dealers in Southwestern border states to report bulk sales of rifles and shotguns. Bulk purchases are considered red flags for possible gun trafficking.
Courts have ruled that a secret list of about 300 L.A. County deputies who have lied, stolen and tampered with evidence must remain confidential. So an advocacy group has launched theproblematic.org, an online gallery of deputies “involved in serious misconduct.”
A federal task force is expected to release a report next week that criminal justice reform advocates fear will link marijuana to violent crime and recommend tougher sentences for those caught growing, selling and smoking weed.
A survivor offered a gripping account of the 150-mile big rig ride from the border to San Antonio, with overheated passengers taking turns at a single air hole in the packed trailer. The driver’s fiancee says he has no idea how the illegal immigrants got in his truck.
An increasing number of cities are using the Safe Passage program pioneered in Gloucester, Mass., where drug users who present themselves to police are fast-tracked into rehab. The program is drawing many takers in some Illinois cities–but very few in others.
An off-duty officer was wounded June 21 when he was shot by a police colleague. Though friendly fire incidents are rare, St. Louis is considering whether further training is needed.
Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing was charged with killing an unarmed black man during a traffic stop two years ago. Two trials ended with jurors unable to agree on a verdict. Tensing could still face prosecution under federal civil rights laws.
The Colombian government’s order should resolve a prison logjam that had become a threat to implementation of the nation’s peace accords. It is designed to pave the way for quick amnesties and pardons for thousands of members of the demobilizing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Officer Mohamed Noor, who fatally shot Justine Damond last week, graduated in 2015 from the city’s accelerated police cadet program. Before turning to law enforcement, Noor had worked as a hotel manager and in property management.
The driver of the Iowa-registered 18-wheeler is expected to face federal human-trafficking charges in Texas after nine illegal immigrants in his rig died amid the searing heat of San Antonio. Advocates say the tough new policies of the Trump administration are pushing illegal immigrants to attempt increasingly dangerous journeys into the U.S.
The Post-Dispatch reports that officers used paper and tape to cover up cameras monitoring a police office in a light rail commuter station. The county police boss said he would look into the allegations, which he implied were prompted by “politics and infighting.”