Crime News
The Daily Signal reports on crime news with analysis and commentary on policies, crime rates, and policing debates.
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opinion
Trump Is Leading the Way on Conservative Criminal Justice Reform. Here’s the Proposal.
This past May, the Trump administration’s leadership on meaningful, conservative criminal justice reform helped the House to pass the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person (or First Step) Act by a vote of 360 to 59. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced his support for the Senate’s amended version of the First… -
news
Justice Department Memo Says Whitaker Appointment Is Legal
The Department of Justice issued an advisory opinion confirming the legality of Matthew Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general Wednesday, as legal authorities across the ideological spectrum suggested the move violated a federal statute and the Constitution. The memo, prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel, reveals that the Justice Department previously counseled President Donald Trump on… -
news
12 Potential Trump Nominees for Attorney General
Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned Wednesday, creating a vacancy in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and the opportunity to confirm a new leader at the Department of Justice. The question facing Trump is whom he might pick as the next attorney general. The Heritage Foundation’s John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government and… -
news
12 Times Florida County’s Elections Supervisor Has Been ‘Incompetent and Possibly Criminal’
As both parties scrutinize the vote count in Florida’s Broward County, with the state’s gubernatorial and senatorial races closing in on a tie, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the county’s elections office has a history of malfeasance. “This is at a minimum a pattern of incompetence. Voters deserve better,” the Florida Republican said Thursday on “Tucker Carlson… -
opinion
Jeff Sessions Put the Justice Department Back on Course
There is no question that Attorney General Jeff Sessions—who was fired Wednesday—had a rocky relationship with President Donald Trump, tied to Sessions’ recusal from the investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. But Sessions’ firing on orders of Trump should not diminish the fact that… -
news
Democrats Protest Trump’s Naming Critic of Mueller Probe as Acting Attorney General
With Jeff Sessions’ resignation Wednesday as attorney general, Democrats immediately began attacking his interim replacement. President Donald Trump tapped Sessions’ chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, to be acting attorney general. Sessions, a former Alabama senator and early Trump supporter who angered the president by recusing… -
opinion
How the Justice Department Is Getting Smarter on Corporate Crime
The Department of Justice recently issued a revamped policy for using and selecting corporate monitors to resolve criminal matters with corporations and businesses. Corporate monitors are private firms—such as law firms and consulting companies—selected by the government to act as an internal regulator within corporations and businesses that the Justice Department has accused of, or… -
news
Hate Crimes Among Charges in Killing of 11 at Pittsburgh Synagogue
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Saturday that the Justice Department is filing federal hate crime charges that could lead to the death penalty for Robert Bowers, the 46-year-old man who allegedly murdered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. “These alleged crimes are reprehensible and utterly repugnant to the values of this nation. Accordingly, the Department… -
news
Suspect Charged With 5 Federal Crimes in Mail Bombs Sent to Trump Opponents
The Florida man arrested Friday in connection with 14 suspicious packages sent to Democrat politicians and other public figures has been charged with five federal crimes and faces up to 48 years in prison, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. Cesar Sayoc Jr., 56, from the Miami suburb of Aventura, was charged with threats against former… -
opinion
Fabricating Hate Crimes Is a Byproduct of Victimhood Ideology on College Campuses
Anna Ayers, a student government leader at Ohio University, reported finding threatening messages in the drawer of her desk a few weeks ago. Ayers, an LGBT student, said the three notes were “hateful, harassing,” according to The Post Athens, a student-run news outlet, and made specific attacks on her sexual identity. “Senate will never be… -
opinion
Unsealed Choke Point Documents Show Obama Was Far From Scandal-Free
In February 2018, Barack Obama infamously claimed his presidential administration was scandal-free. “We didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us,” Obama said about a year after leaving office, during closed-door remarks leaked to the press. Conservatives, however, often point to Operation Fast and Furious, the Benghazi terrorist attacks, the IRS tea party scandal, and many… -
news
FBI Director Christopher Wray: Terrorists Likely to Use Drones to Attack ‘Mass Gatherings’
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Wednesday that the odds of terrorists using civilian drones in the U.S. to attack “mass gatherings” is “steadily increasing.” Wray offered the dire warning in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. “The FBI assesses that, given their retail availability, lack of verified identification requirement to procure,… -
opinion
I Was a Crime Reporter in Maryland in the Early ’80s. I Never Heard of Teen Gang-Rape Parties
“Oh, I think everyone in the county remembers these parties,” Julie Swetnick says with a smile during her nationally televised interview. Um, not me, Julie. I had my first job as a reporter in Montgomery County, Maryland, at the time Swetnick claims Brett Kavanaugh and other teenage boys routinely were drugging and gang-raping girls at… -
opinion
Why a Florida Man’s 20-Year Sentence for Stealing Cigarettes Isn’t a Case for Criminal Justice Reform
Robert Spellman Jr. last week received a 20-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him on burglary and grand theft charges for stealing $600 worth of cigarettes from a Florida convenience store. It’s a sentence Spellman, of Pensacola, Florida, well deserves. Spellman’s sentence has become a national (and international) story in part because of robust… -
opinion
Twitter’s Initial Classification of ‘Illegal Alien,’ ‘Criminal Alien’ as Hateful Shows Social Media’s Censorship Potential
Twitter made headlines recently when it denied the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan group, the ability to promote four tweets that—according to Twitter—contained “hateful content.” What was that hateful content? The legally correct phrases “illegal alien” and “criminal alien.” To be clear, those who follow the Center for Immigration Studies on Twitter were able… -
news
New Batch of Strzok-Page Emails Suggests FBI Use of Unsecure Devices
Email messages between two FBI officials suggest widespread use of unsecure communications by the bureau, according to records obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Judicial Watch, a Washington-based nonpartisan government watchdog organization, announced Thursday that it received 47 pages of records from the Justice Department that show FBI officials used “unsecure devices” while… -
news
Evidence of Crimes Irrelevant to Impeaching Trump, a Texas Democrat Insists
High crimes and misdemeanors are irrelevant to whether President Donald Trump should be impeached by the House, despite the Constitution, a Texas lawmaker said. “The people who say, ‘What law did he break? What rule did he break?,’ they are perpetrating upon you a belief that is totally inaccurate,” Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, said Thursday… -
news
Twitter Rejects Ads Using the Words ‘Illegal Alien’ and ‘Criminal Alien,’ Calling That ‘Hate Speech’
Twitter rejected four tweets from a Washington-based immigration research center’s advertising campaign as “hate speech” Tuesday because they used the legal terms “illegal alien” and “criminal alien.” The rejected tweets by the Center for Immigration Studies, proposed for its Twitter Ads campaign to attract more followers, generally provided a statistic or factual statement and pressed… -
opinion
Newly Disclosed Strzok-Page Texts Shed New Light on ‘Media Leak Strategy’ at FBI, Justice
Peter Strzok has been fired from his job at the FBI, but the hits from his text messages to his former mistress, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, just keep on coming. In the latest development, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., has written a letter to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, disclosing that the latest documents… -
opinion
Bolton Is Right to Repudiate International Criminal Court’s Jurisdiction Over US Military, Government Officials
National security adviser John Bolton didn’t mince words in a speech on Monday as he outlined U.S. policy toward the International Criminal Court. In that speech, before the Federalist Society, Bolton said: The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens, and those of our allies, from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate…