Policing
Do Federal Consent Decrees Reduce Police Misconduct?
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A study by three researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas offers cautious support to arguments that federal consent decrees prod police departments into reducing racial basis.
Courts
Insurance Firms ‘Corrupt’ U.S. Bail System: Report
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In a special report, the ACLU and Color of Change say just nine insurers underwrite the majority of bonds issued in the U.S. Another report from Texas A&M University , which compares pretrial strategies in two Texas counties, says “automated risk-assessment” tools are fairer for defendants, cost less and improve public safety.
Policing
Police Vehicle Chases Killed One a Day Over 20 Years
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Federal highway data shows more than 7,000 deaths resulting from police vehicle pursuits between 1996 and 2015. A Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis shows that fatalities peaked in 2006 and 2007, but USA Today has reported that the data likely understate the death toll because some police reports don’t disclose chases.
Capital Punishment
Report: Death Row Population Declined Slightly to 2,881 in ’15
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It was the 15th consecutive year in which the number of condemned inmates in state and federal prisons had declined, according to a new statistical brief by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Guns
Californians Respond to Mass Murder by Buying Guns
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A medical journal says gun purchases increased by more than 50 over normal rates in California during the six weeks following the 2012 mass murder at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Handgun purchases in the state rose 41 percent after the 2015 murders of 14 people in San Bernardino.
Domestic Violence
Report: Nearly Half of Domestic Violence Goes Unreported
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The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics says an average of 716,000 instances of nonfatal domestic violence were reported to police annually over the past decade. But 582,000 instances went unreported, or 44 percent of the 1.3 million annual total.
Policy & Politics
Trump Voters Want Criminal Justice Reforms: Survey
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The Administration’s hardline approach to crime gets scant support from Americans, including those who voted for Donald Trump in the last campaign, according to a survey released to coincide with the President’s first 100 days in office.
Policy & Politics
Will Trump ‘Chill’ Sentencing Reform?
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In a critique of the Trump administration’s first 100 days in office, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University complains that the president and Attorney General Jeff Sessions talk about a “nonexistent crime wave.”
Policy & Politics
Criminalizing Citizen Videos of Police is ‘Bad Policy,’ says Texas Group
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Citizen recordings are critical tools to hold police accountable for their actions, and efforts to limit them undermine First Amendment rights of free speech, says the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Guns
More Gun Carrying Means ‘More Thefts’
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“There may be something about people wanting easy access to guns that makes them more susceptible to the theft of their guns,” said Deborah Azrael of the Harvard School of Public Health, co-author of a study in “Injury Epidemiology.”