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Crime and Justice News

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime & Justice News -- January 12, 2009

January 12, 2009

Today's Stories

--Guns, Corrections Among Top State Legislative Issues

--Cleveland May Release Drug, Theft Suspects To Save Money

--Amid National Officer Shortage, Cities Seek Cops In Michigan

--Extensive Training Can't Prepare Police For All Deadly Threats

--S.F. Cameras Have No Impact On Violent Crime: Study

--Obama May Reduce Emphasis On Immigration Prosecutions

--Obama, Calderon Meet To Discuss Drugs, Other Issues

--National Academy To Study Why Crime Rates Change

--Houston's New Mental Health Court: A Different Success Standard

--Bloomberg Pooh-Poohs Significance Of Petty-Crime Ticket Drop

--Critics: N.C. Probation Decisions Guided By Revocation Rates

--Speedy Trial Test From Vermont Reaches Supreme Court

Guns, Corrections Among Top State Legislative Issues

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Guns and corrections are two of the top 10 issues

expected to be debated in state legislatures this year,

says Governing magazine. The U.S. Supreme Court's

ruling last June that established a private right to own

firearms left some room for gun opponents to make a

new case before legislatures. Brian Malte of the Brady

Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence believes the case

could help the cause of gun control. Now that the court

has said guns can't be banned entirely, the NRA can't

cast milder restrictions on gun ownership, such as

safe-storage laws, as steps toward government

taking people's guns away. For the first time in years,

gun-control advocates are on offense in legislatures.

They're pushing for expanded background checks for

gun buyers and for "microstamping" firearms -

technology making it possible to identify the gun that

fired a bullet.

On corrections, budget crises have a way of making

the politically impossible suddenly possible. Prison

populations have grown at a far faster rate than the

population as a whole. Nowhere is the problem more

pronounced than in California, which faces an $8

billion federal court order to improve health care for

prisoners. Some states have been stressing

alternatives to incarceration, in the belief that

rehabilitation programs would prove more effective.

The tenor lately is about cutting costs, and quickly.

Pennsylvania and Kentucky expanded early release

programs last year. Even in conservative South

Carolina, the corrections chief is asking legislators to

approve early releases. Brad Williams of the Detroit

Regional Chamber of Commerce hopes Michigan -

which spends more on corrections than on higher

education - will join the trend. The chamber is getting

involved in corrections policy in the hopes that

changes can stabilize the state budget and make

business tax cuts possible. Williams wants a

commission to overhaul sentences. He'd also like to

see prison food services privatized, and to remove

political appointees from parole boards, because

career employees are more likely to grant parole.

Governing - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmUBjRXS4p-bBshKbLAacbyrNps0sMWbaZkZFW2rhiqq_xTSPS5rPrkuOLwo3FKxO0WiSfL05oyDNmF8r_Zld4AOn5Kc2EunNOcUhH4CXv4Q5xXtYBRGbbk7nQTtm49XbBo=

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Cleveland May Release Drug, Theft Suspects To Save Money

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Hundreds of suspected thieves and drug users could

be back on the street if Cleveland Sheriff Gerald

McFaul follows through with his threat to cut costs by

releasing low-level offenders from jail to save money,

reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. McFaul, who must

pare $4 million from his $81 million budget, said he

may be forced to stop sending nonviolent criminals to

jails in neighboring cities and counties.

McFaul wants to cut spending by no longer paying

those jails to house county prisoners. That would

mean releasing some low-level offenders. An

analysis by The Plain Dealer found that the least-

dangerous criminals appear to be drug abusers and

thieves. Judge Timothy McGinty has long wanted to

streamline criminal cases to speed up the county's

justice system. McGinty said that could be done by

quickly assigning attorneys to low-level drug abusers

so they could be diverted into treatment programs. "If

they had counsel early, we could eliminate 10 percent

of the jail population," McGinty said. He also has long

argued that inmates could be quickly dealt with by

getting treatment for the ones who are mentally

disabled or mentally ill. The Plain Dealer analyzed the

sheriff's roster of 1,809 inmates in custody last

Tuesday. Inmates charged with drug-abuse crimes

accounted for 171 of the county's inmates last week,

joined by 111 accused of the more serious drug

trafficking. Some 173 were in custody for theft-related

offenses. The majority of the inmates are awaiting trial

for violent crimes, violating parole or probation, or

failing to appear in court.

Cleveland Plain Dealer - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmWSzPoN8D4cIcO57f8DEFLr4g1pr6YV1i8QIpkQNpUAI4EU-5_Xz_azJpnxPXX0_eCiw00N3L1ul4QSxcr_suegTsMAlx_53cl_qxEF6jdQRM8i9JX9eU-2MUS-u--K2S-rLJgTqViICH-yYOorFUpwDGjN9U5KS0tLvHZsQtChR39F4niUmAMX

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Amid National Officer Shortage, Cities Seek Cops In Michigan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police recruiters from Anchorage, Alaska, will visit Ann

Arbor Mi., next week in hopes of luring experienced

officers north, says the Detroit News. As with police

departments throughout the U.S., Anchorage is having

a hard time finding qualified candidates to patrol its

streets. It hopes to take advantage of Michigan's

economic troubles by enticing veteran officers with

offers of higher pay, better perks, and job security.

Recruiters from Fort Lauderdale, Fl., were in Detroit

last month. Denver, a couple of towns in Wyoming and

the Nevada State Police all have come calling.

There is a law officer shortage nationwide. Rosters

have thinned as more retire or take buyouts. Some

budget-strained departments aren't filling open

positions, leaving a bigger workload on fewer officers.

In Michigan, demand for workers -- even police

officers -- is in decline. Dwindling tax revenues and

cutbacks, with the threat of layoffs, have young officers

looking for work before the ax falls, said James

Tignanelli, president of the Police Officers Association

of Michigan. Anchorage's first stop, Ann Arbor, is

considering layoffs. "I don't think guys are going to be

considering Alaska just because they are really into

hunting or Fort Lauderdale because they like

beaches. They are going to take those jobs because

they think they'd better go. If you are 10, maybe even

30 from the bottom of the seniority list in a place like

Ann Arbor, you're looking." Experts say the nationwide

police officer shortage is driven by several other

factors as well: Low pay and the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan, which have tempted able-bodied, public-

service-minded young people into joining the military.

Detroit News - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmXsWi8rMaMLZiugtN4OcJocmh9XPt10QuCBUo9fDArgsvGuV9_zNHuU1I6bRSXB1ovjHJm8gkvAITif4Px6ROlUYDEQiIf4dhFEuBIjKn1SDqIpyfpaAWmQaVnuR2RX8C43UxbT6tciVbSufpA8gPfiWEAHKQ5t3FTXnJYhY4HCbLstJUbBpiwnNKlrS0HzmLjhBu9zQDfPv7inzqJ0Ol1A

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Extensive Training Can't Prepare Police For All Deadly Threats

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It takes 1,300 hours of training over 32 weeks before a

recruit can graduate from the academy and join the

Dallas police force - a schedule that mixes long

hours of class work with intensive field training, says

the Dallas Morning News. No lesson plan can

completely prepare someone for the unpredictable

nature of police work, where an ordinary traffic stop

can go south in a split second. On a week that saw

the violent death of a police officer, recruits spoke not

about looking for a job with a steady paycheck, but of

answering a calling that might require them to knock

on the door of a gun-wielding drug dealer.

At 44, Thomas Coval had spent years in soul-

deadening jobs that had taken him far beyond his

boyhood dream: to become a police officer and help

his community by putting away the bad guys. He

drifted into sales - first with cars, then advertising.

Last May. Coval took several months to get in shape

and quit smoking, dropping 20 pounds. He started at

the academy last fall. "I am not a Dallas police officer

yet, but there is a bond of brotherhood," he said,

especially after the death of a colleague. "You feel for

the officer's family. It's one of your own." Lt. Vernon

Hale, 39, who took over as commander of basic

training in November, said there is no specific set of

traits he and other instructors look for in recruits -

primarily because there are so many types of police

work: "It's an extremely diverse group of traits. We're

not trying to create robots, we're trying to create police

officers." "If you're just here for a paycheck, it's going to

be very difficult for you. Those motivated by money

don't stay very long. Are you mentally able to survive? If

you do find yourself in a deadly-force confrontation, will

you be mentally ready to fight through that?"

Dallas Morning News - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmU9j46VufDNGaIQZVmZF9Toe2deR5VOkhZozJKwkl3Ya-dqzRtsDhvdcae81E-c9C02jM-2YxKJXAMEQf_hP0UBOASCpIkQT7A6Q4GsbZ_fH8rsC6TsJU1MKqGIHTF7lKqvpBQSq61zg7r-Az8IZi3EdlqtneRe0RVzqeg3197FLS7OgeSTuTWhYMJ820GEjzS_CxD6FQRwoZmyfhI9MYkl

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S.F. Cameras Have No Impact On Violent Crime: Study

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A long-awaited study of San Francisco's surveillance

cameras in high-crime areas shows that the effort

fails in its primary goal of reducing homicide and other

violent crime, but succeeds in reducing such offenses

as burglary, pickpocketing, and purse-snatching, the

San Francisco Chronicle reports. The study found that

the program, started by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2005,

is hampered by a lack of training and oversight, a

failure to integrate footage with other police tactics,

inadequate technology, and what may be fundamental

weaknesses of cameras as devices to stop violent

crime.

The study was conducted by the University of

California Center for Information Technology

Research in the Interest of Society. It represents one

of the most thorough reports on public surveillance, a

trend that has swept the nation in recent years. San

Francisco's camera program is different from other

cities' because, in a nod to privacy concerns, police in

San Francisco are not allowed to monitor cameras in

real time; investigators must instead order footage

after a crime is reported. Researchers examined

everything from camera locations and police requests

for images to the number of times the images were

used to bring charges. "We find no evidence of an

impact of (the cameras) on violent crime," the report

stated. "Violent incidents do not decline in areas near

the cameras relative to areas further away (and) we

observe no decline in violent crimes occurring in

public places."

San Francisco Chronicle - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmVyPAtAoYfwbzhtgD-BX78zOMygx0dIuFkXwCSv0YyFRNMCDOQt-iNUbdu9QB9zbT3UvCkAdemWR6azdsyaLbUZKimIxo4ziyIq97AIK6KgBQmdYEwCF5CT6osMx1v0ZaaAsCEfUjjNUN57QQmHa3kD4A5VRhE2A6c21XxDLCGqor5O4qXOz7Jb_a8XLEklP-PII2smmkhSaQ==

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Obama May Reduce Emphasis On Immigration Prosecutions

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Federal prosecutions of immigration crimes nearly

doubled in the last fiscal year, reaching more than

70,000 cases, says the Transactional Records

Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The

emphasis, many federal judges and prosecutors tell

the New York Times, has siphoned resources from

other crimes, eroded morale among federal lawyers,

and overloaded the federal court system. Many of

those other crimes, including gun trafficking,

organized crime and the increasingly violent drug

trade, are routinely referred to state and county

officials, who say they often lack the finances or

authority to prosecute them effectively.

Bush administration officials say the focus on

immigration crimes is an outgrowth of its

counterterrorism strategy and vigorous pursuit of

immigrants with criminal records. Federal

immigration prosecutions have steeply risen over the

last five years, while white-collar prosecutions have

fallen by 18 percent, weapons prosecutions have

dropped by 19 percent, organized crime prosecutions

are down by 20 percent and public corruption

prosecutions have dropped by 14 percent. Drug

prosecutions - the enforcement priority of the

Reagan, first Bush and Clinton administrations -

have declined by 20 percent since 2003. "I have seen

a national abdication by the Justice Department," said

Attorney General Terry Goddard of Arizona.

Prosecutorial priorities are expected to change after

President-elect Barack Obama takes office, said Mark

Agrast of the Center for American Progress, a liberal

policy institute that is closely associated with the

transition team. "There will be a reassessment of

whether aggressive targeting of criminal aliens

through the use of federal criminal statues is an

effective use of scarce law enforcement resources,"

he said.

New York Times - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmXwsAiC2l5O2HlTVDOcDYaQgqwg2HwTQG6Bb9xsEc2pTjCCjkPNGj6c3Dr_x9CgLPUgfTsujRY-Hb6Ta1o6UN-YxWZOMaCeNAB_OOamctWDsd3heWPS10JijnQH-jsB0eCFYlPLYgVk68YWXPGj0NDtSUTyFzV7tQHbghb9vqQvTmCOqNqhiLtf

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Obama, Calderon Meet To Discuss Drugs, Other Issues

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

President-elect Barack Obama today meets with

Mexican President Felipe Calderon as Mexico's drug

violence escalates and spills into the United States,

reports the Associated Press. Mexico's drug war has

increasingly defined the relationship between he two

countries. U.S-Mexico ties remain strong, but

immigration and trade concerns loom along with

security matters.

Drug-related homicides doubled in Mexico last year,

led by rising murder totals in cities across the border

from the U.S. The Justice Department calls Mexican

cartels the biggest organized crime threat to the U.S.

Calderon, whom U.S. officials praise for deploying

troops to fight cartels and capturing drug kingpins has

won a multimillion-dollar anti-drug aid package from

Washington. Obama supports that plan, known as the

Merida Initiative, and promises to take up another

Calderon cause: reducing gun smuggling from the

U.S. to Mexico.

Associated Press/Houston Chronicle - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmWKCzkpMcyFUBZrxrk1jR7EYfmgRZrEYYC6LDB1rIF-ANoN63s4U-IHrTvA4hIqMJuWEJ7t0CKJv1Hg1NyKq1SYzjhWBAySc9WMDoivg741gpTozWUcDTq1Ken0Fx6RgCKFG9nkoMUJskdxoL9ftkAa

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National Academy To Study Why Crime Rates Change

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The National Academy of Sciences will try to explain

why crime rates change, political scientist James Q.

Wilson, chair of the academy's Committee on Law

and Justice, writes in the Los Angeles Times. The

study, Wilson says, will "try to sort out the combined

and complex relations between crime and the

economy, the age of the population, imprisonment,

police work, neighborhood culture and gang activity."

Wilson notes that the Los Angeles Police Department

reported that in 2008, for the sixth consecutive year,

crime fell in the city. At a time when the economy was

reeling and unemployment was rising, serious crime

dropped about 2.5% over the previous year.

Scholars have made great progress in explaining why

some individuals are more likely than others to

commit crimes, but very little in explaining why the

crime rate in a city or nation rises or falls, Wilson says.

Because there is more crime in economically

depressed inner-city neighborhoods than in affluent

suburbs, many believe that if a community becomes

more prosperous, crime rates will go down, and if

income levels decline, crime rates go up. Economists

who have checked this view have discovered that it is

often true, but not always. They have found that the

burglary rate goes up by 2 percentage points for every

1-point increase in the unemployment rate. That

sounds like a big change until you realize that if the

unemployment rate rises from 6% to 8% (about what it

is in California now), the burglary rate will increase by

4%. Because burglaries aren't measured very

accurately (some are never reported, and police vary

in how they report the statistics), it's not certain that we

would even notice so small an increase.

Los Angeles Times - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmX1C6dRGUiyCPt168Gzjn3lQVNqigSJOQzyNXNEd3xXAkp6Ly78R-S7jXxAHk9kIRqXTaoYNEKtzSKwK4U5aC8E6bM6bT077TeKIuwn-tS-Q-wDh3iaJONT5c2nx6HFcFBIFlR_yFxoeh5ASjIgZiY3eHnIxap-rZu2Xfe6CRWw78U-pEosDcqXUq0kNUJduJwQ0QYnZ46o3A==

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Houston's New Mental Health Court: A Different Success Standard

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Houston Judge Jan Krocker vows to put public safety

first and says she's unafraid to mete out tough

sentences. The Republican doesn't take a lock-'em-

up-and-throw-away-the-key approach when it comes

to handling cases of those with mental illnesses,

reports the Houston Chronicle. "Success in these

cases is relative," she says. "If you have someone

who was arrested 25 times for loitering and

trespassing in a year and that person gets on

medication and arrests drop to five times a year, that's

a success."

Krocker will begin to handle cases of the mentally ill

full time in the coming months. The county is following

the lead of scores of other counties across the U.S.

that have created mental health courts with the hope

of decreasing the number of mentally ill coming

through the criminal justice system. Such courts can

save money by diverting the mentally ill from jail into

treatment. Local officials and advocates for the

mentally ill warn, however, that one court will have little

effect if more treatment services for the mentally ill are

not provided in the community. Since 1997, when the

nation's first mental health courts were created in

Indianapolis and Broward County, Fl., more than 150

such courts are operating. Their aim has been to

provide more humane, effective treatment for the

mentally ill and to reduce jail and court costs, said

Allison Redlich, who is studying the effectiveness of

the courts at Policy Research Associates, which

advocates better treatment of the mentally ill.

Houston Chronicle - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmW3tQYHBzVpdAq4dvmVc-Yh5LTtSKF7LOINCo3UPzrLOk5Wps_WjPhf3h7tx297HA5DlCaqe7cMQ9nGtv_-SDqtJH-szUdmc5UD9djEblulM7yebdGl-vtSGV9W3UeSG9ripGU90HcWhhQ7PNs9pivy

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Bloomberg Pooh-Poohs Significance Of Petty-Crime Ticket Drop

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New York City police are writing fewer "quality of life"

summonses because New Yorkers are "behaving

better," says Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pooh-poohing

fears the decline could be a turning point back to sky-

high 1980s crime rates, reports the New York

Post. "Some days, you can't win for losing. We brought

crime down, which means fewer summonses," he

said. "The bottom line is, crime is down in all these

categories. There's better enforcement." He was

speaking in response to police sources telling the

Post the department has relaxed its push to ticket

people for petty crimes.

Speaking on his weekly radio program, Bloomberg

denied that the city is abandoning the theory. "You

certainly don't walk away, you know, from the broken

windows theory. We're going after the small crime,"

the mayor said. Neither Bloomberg nor police officials

deny that last year, cops wrote 7 percent fewer

summonses for misdemeanors and 6 percent fewer

tickets for moving traffic violations. Cops are also

writing fewer parking tickets. Bloomberg said he

wasn't worried about fine revenue lost because cops

are writing fewer tickets. He said the losses amount

to "maybe a couple million dollars." A Post analysis

put the actual losses at around $30 million; excluding

parking tickets, the loss is around $10 million.

New York Post - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmXT0nleUq7D3mXImGmybLy49wca-sQfCWXtU86XCZPbg3GQkGmO_Rbq4ja6CN8huxLwjU_MURvakAVR-RsapZoZZj0n228nnZiWLOQX_wuGE0y9srcAu5OQhwJ6JNpizV-ODWEl1z6DxIWPN03uQGgjjeXhZHNijJA8XO75FJiDOqn_tN3Abctw9obMYXXSV1MbPSUp6xAhw1bEd7vNv6-U03gf_3O-DtE=

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Critics: N.C. Probation Decisions Guided By Revocation Rates

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Criminal probation appears to be a simple

agreement: Offenders can avoid prison if they behave;

those who don't will be put behind bars. The Raleigh

News & Observer reports that in parts of North

Carolina that agreement wasn't so clear. James

Fullwood, who oversees probation offices in 22

counties, said superiors discouraged officers from

sending offenders back to prison even when they

broke the terms of their supervision. Fullwood said

probation leaders would discuss the revocation rate --

how many probationers are sent to prison -- for each

of the state's 43 probation offices. Fullwood said the

policy aimed to avoid overcrowding prisons and to

help probationers find jobs, stay drug-free, and go to

school. The policy may have left dangerous offenders

on the street even when their behavior indicated they

were headed for serious crimes.

It also appears to conflict with the get-tough spirit of

recent statements from former Gov. Mike Easley.

Easley said the level of crimes committed by

probationers -- including 580 killings since 2000 --

reflects too many dangerous offenders being placed

on probation instead of being sent to prison. The

probation department's reluctance to revoke the

freedom of repeat offenders drew the angry attention

of a judge and became a flash point in a 2007 murder

case. Judge Frank Lanier, who spent the first five

years of his career as a probation officer, questioned

for years why more probationers weren't having their

status revoked. Four probationers were arrested in

connection with the killing of a 12-year-old girl in 2007.

Some suspects in the death had been accused of

violating probation, but they had not lost their freedom.

That caused the judge to say he was skeptical when

probation officers recommend that probation not be

revoked.

Raleigh News & Observer - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmVvjRX8RUsSis1_5j8e5_h8I33wqQj-MGrOoIHUsLIKweIXu_JswHHGOuGtuA8vyBJNbhz12V-cQ9WnKPEixKiCjT4SCzl3_7WXdat8AsbC1SR22xkPNm9PuHvJ58C5g9mVlCsXAcJnu_5Je6v8Da55

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Speedy Trial Test From Vermont Reaches Supreme Court

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After he was charged with hitting his girlfriend in the

face, career criminal Michael Brillon was jailed without

bail for nearly three years, going through six public

defenders before being tried for assault. The delays

paid off, at least for Brillon, says the Associated Press.

A Vermont court threw out his conviction and freed him

from prison, saying his Sixth Amendment right to a

speedy trial had been violated.

The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the case this

week, trying to decide if delays caused by public

defenders can deprive a criminal defendant of that

right. Can governments be blamed for such delays

since they're the ones who assign and pay the

lawyers for indigent defendants? Forty states and 15

organizations--state governments, county

governments, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and a

victim's rights' group--are backing the Vermont

prosecutor's appeal of the ruling, worried that if it

stands criminal suspects will try to game the system

and get the result Brillon did. "You're greasing that

slippery slope," said David Parkhurst of the National

Governors Association, which filed a friend-of-the-

court brief in support of the prosecutor's

appeal. "That's the big concern here." Brillon, a 46-

year-old construction worker whose criminal past

includes convictions for sexual assault on a minor,

felony obstruction of justice and cocaine possession,

was charged with aggravated domestic assault in the

2001 incident with his girlfriend.

Associated Press/Washington Post - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001cTXVsYXHYmVpoGklYREQldb-0OYyOf8W-RTO4nr2T_ODPWa7CUMK7HyhPDzrglUfKvynQZaGrw-SESoQ30LBXa-JbPfzEj2gPT9PStIayuRreLIwnE1nAsNlKJOGrheKQmFiXmB29czy9LWBf-FNZBVIKE34DR5JSr3uo1SOTmFJt9cW63L8sP2J_7dyItbqN8r-ojXPXXO_XduENMzsqw==

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).