The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/viewpoints/)
The former AG, whom President Trump has nominated to return to his old job, is likely to continue the hardline policies of his official predecessor Jeff Sessions. Americans hoping for justice reform deserve better, writes one of the nation’s leading criminologists.
Sex workers—and sex-trafficked women—continue to be victimized by the justice system despite efforts to change how they’re treated by law enforcement and the courts. A TCR columnist wonders whether we’re really serious about giving them the protection and support they need.
The official shutdown of the Justice Department’s Science Advisory Board was announced in a terse message to members this week. One member says it’s a step backwards from an ambitious attempt to apply scientific and evidence-based thinking to the federal justice structure.
Since 1980, the U.S. has recorded 248,933 unsolved homicides, and the number is growing ominously each year. An expert on cold-case investigations writes that a forthcoming federal “Best Practices Guide” offers a path forward—if police are willing to take it.
The large number of federal judicial openings this year represents an opportunity to pick judges who can make sure police live up to legal precedents that prevent them from treating young people as adults, argue two youth advocates.
Correctional institutions now offer a wide range of rehabilitative programs like Yoga classes to help inmates endure their time. But finding ways to channel quiet anger as prizewinning prison writer Arthur Longworth has done, may be the best survival mechanism, writes a Washington State inmate.
The First Step bill isn’t the only piece of justice legislation stalled in Congress. A bill to overhaul the Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act—affecting 45,000 children held in custody– is still awaiting the Senate’s OK.
As the number of states allowing recreational or medical use of marijuana grows, law enforcement is gearing up for the challenge of detecting drivers who may be a danger to themselves or others. But it’s impossible to set an accepted standard for measuring impairment, argues a TCR columnist.
Today’s community supervision systems damage the lives of the formerly incarcerated and are a poor use of taxpayers’ dollars, say two policy researchers. A bill currently being considered by the Pennsylvania legislature is a promising effort to change course.
Constitutional guarantees of equal protection look hollow to poor, working-class Americans who are forced to turn to under-funded and overworked public defenders’ offices when they are in trouble with the law.