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Today In Criminal Justice
The Justice Dilemma: When the Cure is Worse Than the Disease
Most States Still Deny Juveniles Access to Counsel, 50 Years After Gault Ruling: Report Ex-FBI Chief Mueller to Lead Special Probe on Russia Special Federal Investigators: How Do They Differ? Lieberman, Keating Join The FBI Director Mix Generational Divide Among Prosecutors: Who is Right? Methamphetamine Use Surging in Many Areas Jury Clears Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby In Fatal Shooting Immigration Arrests Soar to More than 400 Daily Milwaukee Sheriff Clarke Going to U.S. Homeland Security Chicago Police Announce New Use-of-Force Policy
Sacramento Mayor Wants More Police Video Released
How Overhauling Obamacare Could Hurt Crime Victims
Louisiana Deal Bolsters State Criminal Justice Reforms Top Story
The Justice Dilemma: When the Cure is Worse Than the DiseaseWe’re now paying the price for simplistic assumptions that establishing “control” is a requisite for tackling the roots of criminal behavior. Could sensible, evidence-based approaches help make communities safer? The Crime Report Most States Still Deny Juveniles Access to Counsel, 50 Years After Gault Ruling: Report A National Juvenile Defense Council report finds “large discrepancies” across the U.S. in the guidelines and procedures used to determine juveniles’ access to counsel. In the report, entitled, “Access Denied,” it calls on state authorities “recognize interrogation as a critical stage of juvenile proceedings requiring a publicly funded defense lawyer to protect children from potential abuses of authority.” The Crime Report Ex-FBI Chief Mueller to Lead Special Probe on RussiaDeputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has named Robert Mueller, a former prosecutor who was FBI director from 2001 to 2013, to investigate possible coordination between Trump associates and Russian officials seeking to meddle in last year’s election, the Washington Post reports. The action was a concession by the Trump administration to Democratic demands for the investigation to be run independently of the Justice Department. Calls for a special counsel mounted after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
“I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,’’ Rosenstein said. “My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted.” Mueller will resign from his law firm to avoid any conflict of interest. Rosenstein is overseeing the Russia probe after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself. Democrats have challenged Rosenstein’s impartiality in the Russia probe because he wrote a memorandum used as the rationale for Comey’s firing. Under the order Rosenstein signed, Mueller is tasked with investigating “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump’’ as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.’’ Mueller is authorized to prosecute any federal crimes he finds. Washington Post Special Federal Investigators: How Do They Differ?USA Today explains the difference between special counsel and special prosecutors, after Robert Mueller’s appointment to head the probe of Russian ties with the Trump campaign. The terms are largely interchangeable to refer to someone appointed to investigate allegations that could involve a conflict of interest within the Department of Justice. The manner in which they are appointed and why has changed over time. The president has always had the authority to name a special prosecutor. After the Watergate scandal, Congress created “independent counsel” who could be appointed by a three-judge panel. After the experiences of the Iran-Contra investigation and the probe into the Clinton’s Whitewater land deal, there was bipartisan support to abandon that law. Now, the attorney general, as well as the president, has the power to appoint special counsel.
The law on special counsel says the attorney general, or acting attorney general in cases where the attorney general is recused, can appoint a special counsel when a case presents a “conflict of interest” for the Justice Department, or “other extraordinary circumstances.” In this case, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was able to appoint Mueller because Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself. In 1999, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO) to investigate the FBI handling of the raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tx. USA Today Lieberman, Keating Join The FBI Director MixThe mix of candidates to succeed James Comey as FBI director is changing, as President Trump met with four finalists, including former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), as well as current acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, former FBI official Richard McFeely and former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a well-known Republican, the Wall Street Journal reports. Trump may choose a new director, who must be approved by the Senate, before he leaves on a nine-day foreign trip tomorrow.
Selecting Lieberman—who served as a Democrat and later as an independent, and endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election—would allow the White House to characterize the choice as a bipartisan one. Lieberman, 75, has served as attorney general in Connecticut but has no federal law-enforcement experience, unlike past FBI directors. Lieberman works at a law firm whose founder the Trump Organization has referred to as its go-to lawyer, Mark Kasowitz. Keating, 73, served as Oklahoma governor from 1995 to 2003, and oversaw the state’s response to the Oklahoma City federal-building bombing in 1995. He had previously served as a U.S. Attorney in Oklahoma and was a top Justice Department official under Ronald Reagan. McFeely, a former longtime official at the FBI, is now director of investigative services at Ernst & Young. Wall Street Journal Generational Divide Among Prosecutors: Who is Right?Is there a generational divide among U.S. prosecutors? The Christian Science Monitor poses that question, citing Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ support for mandatory minimum sentences and a “different breed of often younger prosecutors, who believe that a more nuanced approach is needed, especially regarding nonviolent drug offenses.” In Houston, for example, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said that most marijuana cases would no longer be subject to arrest or prosecution. Instead, offenders would pay a fine and enter a diversion program. The debate, especially over how to prosecute nonviolent drug offenses, comes amid troubling spikes in violence in cities from Los Angeles to Baltimore, from Chicago to Memphis. It also comes after studies that show disproportionate penalties for minorities caught in the criminal justice system.
“Sessions and the U.S. Attorney’s office are going backward in the direction that we came from, which is kind of sad,” says Robert James, a former DeKalb County, Ga., district attorney. He spearheaded an Anti-Recidivism Court, where participants, ages 17 to 25, take part in an intensive one-year life skills program. All charges are dropped on graduation. At the same time, he led an anti-gang task force that prosecuted national gang figures trying to consolidate smaller youth gangs in the county. Other former prosecutors think Sessions is right to take a harder line. “During the era of a criminal justice system with mandatory minimum sentencing, the crime rate plummeted,” says Bill Otis, a former federal prosecutor in Virginia. Christian Science Monitor Methamphetamine Use Surging in Many AreasThe opioid epidemic has killed tens of thousands over the last two years and driven major reforms in state and local law enforcement and public health policies. Now another deadly but popular drug, methamphetamine, is also surging in many parts of the nation, Stateline reports. Federal officials say that, based on what they learned as opioids swept the U.S., methamphetamine is likely to spread even further. “The beginning of the opioid epidemic was 2000 and we thought it was just localized,” said Kimberly Johnson of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “Now we know that drug outbreaks aren’t likely to stay localized so we can start addressing them sooner and letting other states know of the potential for it spreading.”
From Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma to Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota and all across the South, inexpensive methamphetamine is flowing in from Mexico. The surge is fueling what police and epidemiologists say is an alarming increase in the number of people using the drug, and dying from it. Nationwide, regular use of the inexpensive and widely available illicit stimulant increased from 3 to 4 percent of the population between 2010 and 2015. At the same time, heroin use rose from 1 to 2 percent of the population. The number of people using methamphetamine, also known as meth, crystal meth, crystal, crank, ice and speed, has been among the highest of any illicit substance for decades. Despite the stimulant’s harmful long-term effects on the body — including rotting teeth, heart and kidney failure, and skin lesions — its overdose potential is much lower than prescription painkillers and other opioids. Stateline Jury Clears Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby In Fatal ShootingIt took less than five seconds for embattled Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby to leave the courtroom last night after jury of eight men and four women deliberated for nine hours before acquitting her of manslaughter for killing Terence Crutcher last September, reports The Frontier. Crutcher was unarmed, but video showed he was not complying with Shelby’s commands to stop moving. An autopsy report later found PCP in his system. Jurors sent a note to Judge Doug Drummond after six hours of deliberating, asking the judge if they could make a statement to explain their verdict. Drummond said no, and the the jury deliberated for another three hours.
It’s unclear what the acquittal means for the fractured relationship between police and District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler. He was criticized by the local Fraternal Order of Police throughout the trial, and local police officers were seen in the courtroom supporting Shelby. Tulsa Police Department Fraternal Order of Police Chairman Jerad Lindsey said “this is not a celebratory moment.” He added, “We’re very glad for our member that she’s been vindicated. That’s something we’ve believed from the very beginning was going to happen. But there’s still a family that’s been greatly affected, and that’s the Crutchers … just because our member here has been found to be not guilty, it in no way diminishes our heartfelt sympathy to that family.” The Frontier Immigration Arrests Soar to More than 400 DailyFederal immigration agents are arresting more than 400 immigrants daily, a sharp leap from last year that reflects one of President Trump’s most far-reaching campaign promises, the Washington Post reports. In Trump’s first 100 days in office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 41,318 immigrants, up 37.6 percent over the same period last year. Almost 3 out of 4 of those arrested have criminal records, including gang members and fugitives wanted for murder. The biggest increase by far is among immigrants with no criminal records. “This administration is fully implementing its mass-deportation agenda,” said Gregory Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “They’re going after people who have lived here for a long time.”
The arrest increase is one of the Trump administration’s few victories on immigration this year, after federal judges halted parts of his entry ban and “sanctuary city” crackdown and Congress refused his initial requests to fund a border wall. Advocates for undocumented immigrants say the numbers will add to the fears of longtime and otherwise law-abiding residents who felt spared from deportation under the Obama administration. Acting ICE director Thomas Homan said the statistics show that agents still prioritize lawbreakers: 30,473 criminals were arrested from Jan. 22 to April 29, an 18 percent increase from the same period in 2016. Arrests of immigrants with no criminal records more than doubled to nearly 11,000, the fastest-growing category by far. “Will the number of noncriminal arrests and removals increase this year? Absolutely,” Homan said. “That’s enforcing the laws that are on the books.” Washington Post Milwaukee Sheriff Clarke Going to U.S. Homeland SecurityDavid Clarke, the controversial sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wi., says he has accepted a position at the Department of Homeland Security, Politico reports. Clarke said he will be an assistant secretary at DHS’ Office of Partnership and Engagement, which coordinates outreach to state, local and tribal officials and law enforcement. The position does not require Senate confirmation.
Clarke, who plans to step down as Milwaukee County sheriff next month, acknowledged that he’ll face a “steep learning curve” at DHS, but he said his experience as a sheriff will help him act as a liaison with local, tribal and state officials. A vocal Donald Trump supporter, he has come under fire over the deaths of several inmates at the Milwaukee County Jail, including Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration last year. A grand jury has recommended criminal charges against several jail staffers over Thomas’ death. DHS has not announced the appointment. Politico Chicago Police Announce New Use-of-Force PolicyChicago police officials announced policy changes intended to cut back on questionable shootings and other uses of force that have haunted the department for years, the Chicago Tribune reports. The changes, made after months of back-and-forth revisions, will tighten rules that experts and advocates have criticized as too permissive of unnecessary uses of force. The policy changes — expected to take effect this fall — are a milestone for a department upended nearly 18 months ago by the release of video of a white officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times. The revised rules do not go so far in some respects as the rules proposed by police Superintendent Eddie Johnson in October, when the department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced more intense federal scrutiny amid the immediate fallout over the video.
The final version of the department’s main use-of-force policy substantially resembles the scaled-back proposal Johnson made in March after rank-and-file police complained that his first proposal was too extreme. In one key change, the policy says an officer can’t shoot a fleeing person unless that person presents an imminent threat to police or others. The rule that has been in place says an officer can shoot any person fleeing after committing or trying to commit a felony using force. The new policy also calls on officers to use their new de-escalation training to try to defuse incidents. The adopted language is less strict than Johnson’s first proposal, though. Officers have to try de-escalation only “when it is safe and feasible to do so.” Chicago Tribune Sacramento Mayor Wants More Police Video ReleasedSacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said this week that police should release “as much video as possible” to increase trust, transparency and officer morale in a department with fractured relations in some neighborhoods, reports the Sacramento Bee. Steinberg and Tim Davis, head of the Sacramento police officers union, said police are frustrated that a new city policy requiring release of video in extreme confrontations unfairly portrays their department. In the most recent example, an officer was captured on tape last month tackling a pedestrian to the ground and repeatedly punching him. A city policy approved last year requires that footage of “critical incidents” with police be released to the public within 30 days.
Steinberg called on the city to release video showing “everyday interactions, incidents that occur where the police officer acted in the right,” which he said would boost department morale. He also supports releasing video from lesser confrontations that don’t meet the “critical” threshold under current law. “The police have … rightly complained that with our current video release policy, the only thing the public sees is the controversial shooting. Well, there is a lot more to see,” he said. “Transparency is transparency and we have the technology now to be able to actually do more than we are doing in a way that I think could bridge some of the trust gap that we hear so much about.” Police spokesman Matt McPhail said the department has the discretion to release video in non-critical incidents but does not regularly do so in part because it lacks the manpower to edit the footage. Also, the department has not determined that releasing more video is the best course. “I know it seems really simple to say you have it why don’t you just do it, but there are a lot more calculations,” said McPhail. “The question is by putting that video out, what is the value and what is the potential negative?” Sacramento Bee How Overhauling Obamacare Could Hurt Crime VictimsWhen Washington State expanded health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of thousands gained access to health insurance. It also allowed the state to better serve crime victims. That’s because people haven’t had to rely as much on Washington’s Crime Victims Compensation Program, which helps reimburse medical costs and other expenses for victims of crime statewide, The Marshall Project reports. These programs across the nation are payers of last resort, meaning people who are victims of crime must first exhaust all their options, including health insurance, before turning to the state for help.
Because of this, victims compensation funds have been vital for those with little or no insurance. With the advent of the ACA, however, the funds in some states have had to pay out far less for medical and dental bills, allowing the compensation funds to help victims in other ways. With the effort by Republicans to repeal and replace the ACA, it’s not clear if the savings for compensation funds will continue. In Washington, health-related payments from the funds have dropped by half, going from about $5 million in fiscal year 2014 to about $2.3 million in fiscal year 2016. After the ACA’s implementation, lawmakers increased the maximum benefits from $50,000 total per victim to $190,000, including up to $150,000 in medical benefits. Other states have reported similar outcomes. The federal Office for Victims of Crime says 17 states reported a reduction in the number of victims compensation claims in fiscal year 2015. Eight states recorded recent decreases in claims or payments to crime victims that were likely attributable, at least in part, to expanded health care access under the ACA. The Marshall Project Louisiana Deal Bolsters State Criminal Justice ReformsIn Louisiana, with the nation’s highest incarceration rate, this week Gov. John Bel Edwards struck a deal to reduce sentences and the prison population, saving millions annually, the New York Times reports. If legislators approve the changes, Louisiana will be following more than 30 states, including Georgia, Texas and South Carolina, that have already limited sentences, expanded alternatives to incarceration such as drug treatment, or otherwise reduced the reach and cost of the criminal justice system. Many states say they have saved money while crime rates have dropped. In Washington, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has charted the opposite course, adopting the sort of mass-incarceration strategy that helped flood prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
Sessions’ approach conflicted with a wide agreement that criminal justice could be more effective by becoming less punitive to low-level offenders, treating root causes of crime like drug addiction, and reserving more resources to go after violent criminals. Advocates say the Sessions moves have had little effect on state efforts. “There was a lot of speculation that with the rhetoric from the presidential campaign, there would be a drop in momentum, but we haven’t seen that,” said Marc Levin of Right on Crime. “There have been so many successes in the last several years, particularly in conservative states, that it continues to fuel other states to act.” Legislators in a few places, such as Florida and West Virginia, have gone against the tide, pushing for tougher sentencing related to the epidemic of painkiller addiction haunting many communities. This year, Michigan and Georgia, which previously rewrote criminal justice laws, have approved a new round of changes. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican former prosecutor, has emerged as a leader in the prison reform movement. He has backed several rounds of legislation that reduced punishments for low-risk defendants and slashed juvenile incarceration rolls. Before the changes, Georgia prison rolls were projected to top 60,000 last year but now stand at 52,000, saving at least $264 million. New York Times | |
| | 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 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 Ted Gest and Victoria Mckenzie. Please send comments or questions to victoria@thecrimereport.org. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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