The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/policy-politics/)
Five Democratic senators file a brief questioning whether the high court’s conservative majority is motivated by partisan intent. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called it an extraordinary threat from one branch of government to another.
Legislation proposed this summer would have made New York the first state to remove prostitution from the criminal code. Although the bill never got to a vote, advocates say it opened up a long-needed conversation about how police treat sex workers—particularly transgender women of color.
Attorney General William Barr’s criticism of reform prosecutors this week was not only “ill-informed”—it would lead us back to the failed tough-on-crime era, warns one of the nation’s leading criminologists.
Nearly 2,000 hate crimes have been referred to U.S. attorneys since 2009, but just 15 percent have resulted in prosecutions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. So far, in 2019, just 17 cases—of 99 referrals under the five hate crime statutes on federal books—have been prosecuted.
The widespread practice of barring individuals with criminal records from voting disproportionately affects African Americans, and removes an important tool for reducing recidivism, said a Washington and Lee law professor.
Applicants for jobs with federal agencies need no longer disclose participation in a pretrial diversion program that helped them avoid prison, the White House announced Wednesday. A proposal requiring broader criminal background checks for job seekers was also withdrawn.
In a televised statement Monday, the president called the mass shootings in El Paso, Tx., and Dayton, Ohio “a crime against all of humanity” and signaled he will ask for legislation making “hate crimes” and “mass murders” subject to the death penalty. Critics, noting he offered no new proposals regarding gun control, called his remarks “empty promises.”
An International Criminal Court ruling expected this month could revive a decade-long investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans during the conflict in Afghanistan.
Massive street demonstrations fueled by social media have tumbled Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló from power. But no one is sure what comes next, as officials struggle to deal with allegations of widespread corruption. Here’s TCR’s eyewitness account, with videos and a photo gallery.
With the 2020 election looming and the possibility that attitudes towards criminal justice reform could switch from approval to hostility, the Council on Criminal Justice opened for business last week with a pledge to steer policymakers toward pragmatic solutions.