The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/policy-politics/page/2/)
An Arizona legislative committee advanced a bill on Monday that would create a new crime called “violent or disorderly assembly” in response to recent protests against police and enact harsher penalties for certain crimes when committed during a violent or disorderly assembly.
The New Jersey senator will be the first Black chair of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. Booker has made championing reforms of America’s broken criminal justice system a top priority during his time in the Senate and was one of the key architects of the First Step Act, one of the most sweeping overhauls of the criminal justice system in decades.
In the wake of this weekend’s impeachment acquittal of Donald Trump, calls for a bipartisan commission to investigate the administrative and law enforcement failures that led to the mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and recommend changes to prevent another siege are gaining traction.
Multiple bills supported by Democrat lawmakers range from more training for officers in de-escalation techniques and a ban on using choke holds during arrests, to more complicated overhauls including a citizen-led review board for officer-involved shootings and outlawing private prisons.
Criminal and racial justice groups are pushing back against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff’s pitch for the job of California Attorney General, citing his record of being “not only supportive of, but deeply invested in, creating our current system of incarceration.” Schiff led Democrat House members in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Prosecutors in Fulton County have launched a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s failed attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results. The inquiry makes Georgia the second state after New York where Trump faces a criminal investigation.
The former Confederate state is by no means unique in shouldering the legacy of racial discrimination, but is taking the necessary steps to account for the residual effects of discriminatory practices.
Some 147 million court records and 101 million arrest records have been posted on the Internet just in the past 10 years—amounting to a minefield for individuals hoping to reintegrate into civil society, according to a new study. Much of the data will remain online forever unless authorities find a way to balance public access with privacy rights, the authors warned.
Nearly all the remaining federal prosecutors that former President Donald Trump appointed across the country are set to be removed by President Joe Biden. Accommodations have been made to allow a couple of attorneys handling highly sensitive investigations to continue with their work.
In a ruling Monday, LA County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant decided that George Gascon’s attempt to bypass California’s Three Strikes Law and order prosecutors to dismiss strike sentencing enhancements is unlawful. It’s the latest round in a campaign led by critics against the reform-minded prosecutor.