The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/policy-politics/)
The massive anticrime law passed by Congress in 1994 is known as a “tough on crime” measure. Its “safety valve” provisions have allowed for the reductions in many federal drug penalties, a new analysis finds.
According to a new poll, support for New York’s recently passed law has dropped from 55 percent to 37 percent since April. That follows a storm of criticism from legislators, victim rights groups and others who say eliminating cash bail endangers public safety.
Groups composed of federal, state and local officials will help the new presidential commission on law enforcement and justice. Several observers expressed disappointment that the commission consists entirely of law enforcement members.
New jails built to accommodate the rising number of federal immigrant detainees and drug offenders awaiting trial are generating income for cash-strapped rural authorities, but they also create financial risk—and skew local priorities, says the Vera Institute of Justice.
Since an historic bail reform law went into effect Jan. 1, New York State lawmakers and commentators have been calling for amendments. Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears to be listening.
Destroying cultural property not only violates international conventions signed by the U.S., but it’s a really good way to lose a war — something the Tweeter-in-Chief should have considered when he threatened this month to hit Iranian “culture” sites, warns a professor of art crime at John Jay College.
Darlene Hutchinson Biehl of Alabama has left her post to become a “senior advisor of victim affairs” in the agency. An employee union has accused her of political bias in choosing people who review the agency’s grant applications.
The Appeal has tracked state-level criminal justice reforms throughout 2019. Its maps of what happened where show a host of measures, some that passed, some that didn’t, and an overall active but uneven year.
Insiders say the more than 20 percent spending cutback is due mostly to concern in Congress that the overall crime-victim fund should not be unduly depleted. The fund has received significantly more money from Congress in recent years.
“It’s the biggest amount the federal government has ever put into firearms research,” said Dr. Mark Rosenberg, former head of the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, adding that “it signals an end to the drought of knowledge about preventing this significant problem.”