The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/policy-politics/page/2/)
The Urban Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union have developed companion tools aimed at helping states understand the factors that drive their prison populations, and fashion policies that can reduce them without affecting public safety. The ACLU says its tool can help produce “transformational change” in the nation’s prison system.
America’s crusade against alcohol ended over seven decades ago with the 21st Amendment. But Supreme Court decisions aimed at curbing police misbehavior during Prohibition—by excluding evidence obtained unlawfully—have complicated efforts to hold law enforcement accountable for its actions today, according to a new book by a Pennsylvania law professor.
With state attorneys general leading the fight against many Trump administration policies, the 30 seats up for election this year are attracting high spending totals. Republicans have nominated prosecutors in five major open seats.
U.S. Rep. Martha McSally of Tucson will face Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix in the race to replace retiring Jeff Flake. All three Republican candidates ran to the right on border security and issues involving illegal immigration. Arizona has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988.
Criminal justice reforms are under attack in the Trump era and require immediate attention from state and local governments, as well as action from the formerly incarcerated, according to a Yale Law professor.
Elders are often reluctant to press charges for abuse because they don’t want to lose the support of caregivers—even if those caregivers were responsible for the abuse—but prosecutors should try to persuade them otherwise, say some advocates. “A good prosecutor will do everything they can to try and persuade the victim to go forward with the case,” says Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.
In North Carolina’s Durham County, reforms have begun by simply making better pre-trial services available, according to an investigative report by the Smoky Mountain News.
President Trump and congressional Republicans, eager to find an issue that can help minimize losses in the midterm elections, are citing crime, illegal immigration and public safety to paint a bleak picture of how the U.S. would become less safe under a Democratic-controlled Congress. “Democrats do not want to have an election on these things,” said pollster Pat Caddell.
Critics say President Trump’s criticisms of the criminal justice system are mostly unfounded and could have repercussions well beyond the White House.
The reduction in federal funds to support scholarship on gun violence means fewer people are entering the field, according to researchers.