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Today In Criminal Justice
AP: Trump May Use 100K Guard Troops in Immigrant Roundup Minor Crimes, Major Challenges Auto Fatalities Topped 40,000 Last Year, a 10-Year High NRA Loses ‘Docs vs. Glocks’ Appeal on Gun Counseling PA Governor Floats Pay-to-Play Fee for State Police Protection
Kentucky Forms Special Unit to Investigate Police Shootings Report: Prisons Can’t Solve America’s Violence Problem 3 Supreme Court Cases Could Impact Trump Immigrant Plans Trump Berates Jewish Journalist Who Asked About Hate Crimes St. Louis Cop Says He Was Told to ‘Tone Down Your Gayness’
Oakland Police Announce and Rescind Warehouse Policy
Famed Gymnastics Coaches Accused in Sex-Abuse Lawsuit
Top Story
AP: Trump May Use 100K Guard Troops in Immigrant Roundup The Trump administration is considering a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press. The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Ore., and as far east as New Orleans. Four states that border on Mexico are included in the proposal — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — but it also encompasses seven states contiguous to those four — Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. (White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied the report, calling it “100 percent not true.)
Governors in the 11 states would have a choice whether to have their guard troops participate, according to the memo, written by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general. While National Guard personnel have been used to assist with immigration-related missions on the U.S.-Mexico border before, they have never been used as broadly or as far north. The memo is addressed to the then-acting heads of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It would serve as guidance to implement the wide-ranging executive order on immigration and border security that President Donald Trump signed Jan. 25. Such memos are routinely issued to supplement executive orders. Associated Press Minor Crimes, Major ChallengesAggressive police enforcement of misdemeanor crimes is a major reason for clogged courts and racial tensions. A research network announced yesterday at John Jay College to study data from seven cities is aimed at helping policymakers and law enforcement authorities explore different approaches. The Crime Report Auto Fatalities Topped 40,000 Last Year, a 10-Year HighThe number of people killed in car crashes last year exceeded 40,000 for the first time in a decade, reversing a trend that saw traffic fatalities dwindle for several years, reports the Washington Post. Officials attribute the increase mostly to the improved economy and lower gas prices, which have led to more people driving for work and pleasure. The statistics released by the National Safety Council offer the first full picture of fatalities on the country’s roadways in 2016, and the numbers were significantly higher than those projected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The safety council data includes traffic deaths that occurred more than 30 days after a crash and those that happened on private property, like driveways or parking lots. “Our complacency is killing us,” said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president of the National Safety Council and former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Americans believe there is nothing we can do to stop crashes from happening, but that isn’t true. We lag the rest of the developed world in addressing highway fatalities. We just haven’t been willing to do what needs to be done.” The Washington Post NRA Loses ‘Docs vs. Glocks’ Appeal on Gun CounselingIn a major defeat for the NRA, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has struck down key portions of a Florida law that barred medical professionals from asking their patients whether they owned guns, reports The Trace. The ruling finds that the Firearms Owners Privacy Act (FOPA) — known as “Docs vs Glocks” — violates medical practitioners’ free speech rights under the First Amendment. Advocates of the law, which took effect in 2011 after intense NRA lobbying, had argued that prohibiting doctors from discussing firearm ownership with their patients was necessary to protect Second Amendment freedoms.
The court roundly rejected that argument, ruling that questions from a physician cannot in any way be construed as infringing upon an individual’s gun rights. “The Second Amendment right to own and possess firearms does not preclude questions about, commentary on, or criticism for the exercise of that right,” the court wrote in its majority decision, with one dissent. It reversed a 2015 decision by a three-judge panel that upheld the controversial law. The Trace PA Governor Floats Pay-to-Play Fee for State Police ProtectionShould Pennsylvania towns that rely on state police for routine patrols pay a special fee of $25-per-resident for that service? Gov. Tom Wolf has floated that idea to help close a $3 billion budget deficit and to fund new hires of troopers, reports Pennlive.com. Nearly half of Pennsylvania’s 2,500 municipalities rely solely on state police protection. Critics of the arrangement say some of these communities are able to afford their own police forces and have instead taken advantage of an outdated system. They argue that taxpayers statewide have been forced to subsidize those services — often while also paying for their own local cops.
Towns that use state police say the trade-off is slower response times and often fewer available officers. The two largest municipalities that use state police, Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County and Hempfield Township in Westmoreland County, both have median incomes above the state average. Under Wolf’s proposal, the townships would have to pay the state $25 per resident, or about $790,000 and $1 million in 2017, respectively, for state police services going forward. For context, their budgets totaled $13 million and nearly $15 million in 2016. Pennlive.com Kentucky Forms Special Unit to Investigate Police ShootingsThe Kentucky State Police agency has formed a special unit to investigate shootings of civilians by state troopers as well as by police officers for other departments in the state, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal. The Critical Incident Response Team – made up of three lieutenants, two sergeants and a detective – will automatically investigate when a state trooper shoots somebody. It doesn’t have the legal authority to force other law enforcement agencies to cede control of their own investigations but will intercede if asked. The team, stationed in Frankfort, has investigated five cases this year.
State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders emphasized that the unit isn’t tasked with determining whether a shooting was justifiable. Commonwealth’s attorneys decide if a case goes to a grand jury. “Our objective is just to gather the facts,” he said. State officials said the team’s focus is on conducting quality, transparent investigations into police shooting cases, which in recent years have attracted significant public scrutiny, sparked debates about the use of force by police and amplified calls for independent investigations. Louisville Courier-Journal Report: Prisons Can’t Solve America’s Violence ProblemA new report by the Brooklyn-based advocacy group Common Justice urges “a new vision” to address the “inextricably connected” issues of violence and mass incarceration in the U.S. The report, “Accounting for Violence: How to Increase Safety and Break Our Failed Reliance on Mass Incarceration,” says research shows that rates of violence and incarceration can decline in tandem–as they have in New York over the past 20 years, for example.
The author, Danielle Sered, executive director of Common Justice, proposes four principles to “guide policies and practices that aim to reduce violence: They should be survivor-centered, based on accountability, safety-driven, and racially equitable.” Sered concludes, “It is time to put those values more powerfully and visibly into practice than ever before. That means answering to crime survivors. It means taking accountability seriously. It means being relentless in prioritizing safety over politics. And it means insisting that every advance we make also advances racial equity.” The Crime Report 3 Supreme Court Cases Could Impact Trump Immigrant PlansThe U.S. Supreme Court will decide three cases in coming months that could help or hinder President Trump’s efforts to ramp up border security and accelerate deportations of those in the country illegally, reports Reuters. The three cases, which reached the court before President Obama left office, all deal broadly with the degree to which non-citizens can assert rights under the U.S. Constitution. They come at a time when the court is one justice short and divided along ideological lines, with four conservatives and four liberals.
The justices will issue rulings before the end of June against the backdrop of high-profile litigation challenging the lawfulness of Trump’s controversial travel ban on people traveling from seven predominantly Muslim countries. The most pertinent of the three cases for Trump involves whether immigrants in custody for deportation proceedings have the right to a hearing to request their release when their cases are not promptly adjudicated. The long-running class action litigation, brought by the ACLU, includes both immigrants apprehended at the border when seeking illegal entry into the United States and legal permanent residents in deportation proceedings because they were convicted of crimes. The case also could affect long-term U.S. residents who entered the country illegally and have subsequently been detained. Reuters Trump Berates Jewish Journalist Who Asked About Hate CrimesJake Turx, a correspondent for an Orthodox Jewish magazine in Brooklyn, was berated by Donald Trump at a news conference Thursday while trying to ask the president about a wave of bomb threats last month at Jewish venues. Trump stopped Turx, saying it was “not a fair question.” “Sit down,” the president commanded. Trump said, “So here’s the story, folks. No. 1, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life. No. 2, racism, the least racist person.”
But Turx was not accusing Trump of anti-Semitism, reports the New York Times. It was a legitimate inquiry about coordinated telephone bomb threats on three separate January days to Jewish synagogues, community centers and schools across the country that led to evacuations and FBI investigations. The Anti-Defamation League responded, “It is mind-boggling why President Trump prefers to shout down a reporter or brush this off as a political distraction.” Turx told the Times, “Regretfully, today was a day I wish we could have done over.” New York Times St. Louis Cop Says He Was Told to ‘Tone Down Your Gayness’A 22-year St. Louis County police veteran who was once picked to become the department’s liaison to the gay community is now suing the department for discrimination, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In his lawsuit, Sgt. Keith Wildhaber claims a former St. Louis County Police Board member told him to “tone down your gayness” if he ever wanted to be promoted. (Wildhaber declined to comment.) The sergeant ranked third among 26 people who took a promotions test in February 2014, and also was third in a second round of tests in February 2015, according to the lawsuit.
But Wildhaber has watched as virtually all of his peers were promoted, even though his written performance reviews show that he “exceeds standards” or is “superior” in all rated categories, the suit says. “Defendant believes plaintiff’s behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance do not fit the stereotypical norms of what a ‘male’ should be,” according to the lawsuit. Last April, Wildhaber filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Missouri Commission on Human Rights. St. Louis Post-Dispatch Oakland Police Announce and Rescind Warehouse PolicyOakland’s assistant police chief ordered officers Thursday to immediately begin reporting unpermitted parties and illegally converted warehouses to their superiors — but in an erratic about-face, city officials rescinded the policy four hours later, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Assistant Police Chief David Downing sent a directive about 2 p.m. to the rank and file telling them to inform supervisors when they come across unsanctioned structures or events.
But City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, who oversees the police department, sent a brief statement around 6 p.m. saying the directive was sent prematurely and that the city was still working on a policy. Now, the police are back to having no policy on how to deal with potential hazards they see while on calls. Questions over what officers do when they come across dangerous properties were raised last week after newly released city documents showed that officers had been in and out of the Ghost Ship warehouse on many occasions in the years before the building burned Dec. 2, killing 36 people during an unpermitted music event. San Francisco Chronicle Famed Gymnastics Coaches Accused in Sex-Abuse LawsuitFormer U.S. national team gymnasts claim a doctor associated with famed coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi sexually abused team members, reports USA Today. Her attorney asserts a “toxic” environment created by the couple enabled Dr. Larry Nassar to befriend gymnasts he intended to abuse. What Nassar did at the couple's camps, and whether the Karolyis were aware of it, has brought the two most decorated gymnastics coaches in the history of the sport into a lawsuit filed in October against them, USA Gymnastics and the gymnast’s personal coaches. The Karolyis are not accused of direct involvement, but they are portrayed as partly responsible for failing to monitor Nassar.
Nassar was a national gymnastics team physician from 1996 to 2015. He was charged in November with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13 by the Michigan attorney general. Those charges stem from his time at Michigan State, which also is being sued by at least 40 women or girls. He is also charged with federal child pornography crimes. USA Today | |
| | On every business day, The Crime Report (TCR) and Criminal Justice Journalists (CJJ) provide a summary of the nation's top crime and justice news stories with Internet links commentary, and New & Notable research in the field. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the Langeloth Foundation and the Urban Institute. Today's report was prepared by David Krajicek and Isidoro Rodriguez. Please send comments or questions to alice@thecrimereport.org. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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