criminal justice

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Senate Passes Sweeping Criminal Justice Overhaul

Trump says he looks forward to signing it

(Newser) - The Senate passed a sweeping criminal justice bill Tuesday that addresses concerns that the nation's war on drugs had led to the imprisonment of too many Americans for non-violent crimes without adequately preparing them for their return to society. Senate passage of the bill by a vote of 87-12...

Trump Supports Sweeping Criminal Justice Reform Bill

'Did I hear the word bipartisan?'

(Newser) - "Did I hear the word bipartisan?" President Trump asked Wednesday as he announced his support for a major reform of prison and sentencing laws. The First Step Act, which the AP calls the "first major rewrite of the nation's criminal justice sentencing laws in a generation,"...

Pregnant Inmate Raped by Guard Gets $6.7M

Ex-inmate says she was repeatedly assaulted; Milwaukee County plans appeal

(Newser) - A federal jury in Milwaukee has awarded $6.7 million to a former inmate who charged she was repeatedly raped by a jail guard while she was pregnant, the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal reports. The woman filed a civil lawsuit alleging the guard, Xavier Thicklen, began assaulting her shortly after she was...

How American Justice System Collapsed: Harvard Law Professor
 How American Justice 
 Went Wrong 
opinion
Sep 25, 2011 4:29 PM CDT

How American Justice Went Wrong

Lack of jury trials at heart of the problem: Harvard law prof

(Newser) - The American criminal justice system is collapsing, right? So says Harvard law professor William J. Stuntz in a new book excerpted in Salon . His evidence: a soaring prison population, high murder rates, and whites who avoid prison while blacks serve time. The problem: too much power in the hands of...

Crime Doesn't Rise During Full Moon

Legendary link is just that—a legend: criminal justice experts

(Newser) - Crime rises with the temperature and climbs during weekends—but not during the time of the full moon, illuminating new research reveals. Crime statistics for San Antonio helped criminologists shed some light on the deeply entrenched belief in what the researchers called "the lunar-crime relationship," reports USA Today ...

Innocent Man Free After 35 Years

DNA evidence clears him of rape charges

(Newser) - James Bain left prison today after serving 35 years for a crime he didn’t commit. The 54-year-old Florida man, cleared by DNA evidence of the 1974 rape of a 9-year-old boy, appeared relieved as he left the courthouse after a judge signed the order vacating his conviction. A bit...

China Says It Will Slash Executions
China Says It Will Slash Executions
Jul 29, 2009 10:58 AM CDT

China Says It Will Slash Executions

With 72% of the world's capital punishment, they've got a ways to go

(Newser) - China holds more executions yearly than any other country—but this week, state media announced China will be more forgiving, the New York Times reports. Only “an extremely small number” should be executed, said the vice president of the Supreme People’s Court. In 2008, Amnesty International claims, China...

Greek Convicts Stage Daring Prison Break—Again

Fugitives use helicopter to escape Athens facility, as they did in 2006

(Newser) - Two Greek criminals escaped the most secure prison in Athens for the second time, the BBC reports. Vassilis Paleokostas and Alket Rizai fled the Korydallos prison after accomplices picked them up using a helicopter they landed on the building’s roof. The escape is similar to their 2006 breakout, when...

Bush 'Murder' Book a Bestseller, Despite Blackout

Neglected by mainstream media, tome sells 130K copies

(Newser) - When he served as a prosecutor in Los Angeles, Vincent Bugliosi racked up a perfect record in 21 murder trials, including the Charles Manson case in 1971. As a writer, he's scored three No. 1 bestsellers; his last, about the Kennedy assassination, is being made into an HBO miniseries. But...

Cold Case 101: College Sleuths Try Their Hands

Holloway, Levy cases among high-profile whodunits for students

(Newser) - A college club is using cold cases to instruct criminal-justice students in techniques of investigation—and perhaps uncover that crucial piece of evidence missed by police, CNN reports. The Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, counting students at three Southern schools, uses high-profile cases like Natalee Holloway and Chandra Levy, to...

Sharpton: Bell Verdict 'Abortion of Justice'

Feds will look into civil-rights charges against NYPD officers

(Newser) - Rev. Al Sharpton blasted today's acquittal of three NYPD officers who killed an unarmed man in a 50-slug fusillade in 2006, CNN reports. "Justice didn't miscarry," Sharpton said. "This was an abortion of justice. Justice was aborted." Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged citizens to respect the “...

DNA Used to Nab Criminal Kin
 DNA Used to Nab Criminal Kin 
Apr 21, 2008 12:51 PM CDT

DNA Used to Nab Criminal Kin

But questions arise over genetic privacy of innocent relatives

(Newser) - Law-enforcement agencies are using DNA of family members—often without their consent—to identify and convict criminals, the Washington Post reports. Privacy advocates object that it turns family members into unwitting informants, and subjects innocent relatives to “lifelong genetic surveillance” because someone in their family committed a crime. But...

Lover Airs NIU Shooter's Letter
Lover Airs NIU Shooter's Letter
Feb 18, 2008 6:48 AM CST

Lover Airs NIU Shooter's Letter

'Don't forget me,' killer told girlfriend in final love letter

(Newser) - The girlfriend of the gunman who murdered five students at Northern Illinois University Thursday talked to him every day last week, including the night before the shooting spree, and detected nothing amiss. "He wasn't erratic. He wasn't delusional. He was Steve; he was normal," Jessica Baty, 28, told...

Police Piece Together Shooter's Trail
Police Piece Together Shooter's Trail
Feb 16, 2008 10:43 AM CST

Police Piece Together Shooter's Trail

Kazmierczak spent two days in motel room before shooting

(Newser) - Before his shooting rampage at NIU, Steven Kazmierczak spent two days in a motel, taking cold medicine and drinking Red Bull, the Chicago Tribune reports. He left behind no note, only a sealed duffel bag filled with gun ammo. Kazmierczak, who had stopped taking medication for anxiety, also sent his...

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