Crime News
The Daily Signal reports on crime news with analysis and commentary on policies, crime rates, and policing debates.
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news
How 1 State Fared After Enacting the Criminal Justice Reforms Trump Wants to Implement Nationally
Mississippi implemented its second round of criminal justice reforms this year after touting the successes of a previous package in 2014. The first installment focused on sentencing, addiction and mental health treatment, and job skills for when inmates leave prison. State officials point to lower crime, fewer inmates, and savings for taxpayers as signs of… -
news
Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Murder Was Previously Deported at Least 8 Times
An illegal immigrant arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a co-worker in Oregon is discovered to have been deported at least eight times. Deciderio Vargas-Ortiz, 52, was arrested for the alleged murder of Renee Luis-Antonio. The two worked together at a creamery in Milton-Freewater, Oregon—a town in the northeastern part of the state—and reportedly had a long-running… -
opinion
Its Critics Are Wrong. There’s No ‘Loophole’ in the ‘First Step’ Criminal Justice Reform Bill.
Fred Barnes has expressed concerns over the proposed First Step Act and a supposed “loophole” in it that would give “shortened sentences” to dangerous criminals. Barnes, the executive editor of the center-right Weekly Standard magazine, is incorrect on several counts about this substantive criminal justice reform bill. First, the provision that Barnes thinks may be… -
opinion
John Allen Chau’s Crime Was Wanting to Promote ‘Wrong’ Beliefs
“Hey hey, ho ho, Western culture’s got to go.” Those words, chanted by Stanford students in a march led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1987, seem to have won the day, based on the reactions generated by the death of Christian missionary John Allen Chau. Chau, who died during an attempt to evangelize a… -
opinion
Here’s What Opponents of Criminal Justice Reform Get Wrong
Some arguments against the modest prison and sentencing reforms in the Senate’s First Step Act echo an influential claim from the 1970s attributed to the late sociologist Robert Martinson: When it comes to reducing recidivism rates among inmates, “nothing works.” Once taken out of its original context, that claim resounded in legislatures across the country… -
opinion
Right Side of History: Revisiting Scandals of the Clinton Era With Ken Starr
“The Right Side of History” is a podcast dedicated to exploring current events through a historical lens and busting left-wing myths about figures and events of America’s past. On this week’s episode, hosts Jarrett Stepman and Fred Lucas discuss the Clinton era with Ken Starr, the lead investigator of the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals… -
opinion
States Show ‘First Step Act’ Is Pro-Cop, Pro-Borders, and Pro-Criminal Justice Reform
The package of criminal justice reform proposals endorsed by President Donald Trump is not “soft” on crime. It’s tough on injustice. And it’s about time. Known as the “First Step Act,” the legislation confronts the titanic failure of the federal government’s trillion-dollar war on drugs by reforming mandatory minimum sentences, rectifying unscientifically grounded disparities in… -
opinion
How This Criminal Justice Reform Bill Could Make Our Neighborhoods Safer
Do you want the federal inmates released in your neighborhood to be better people, or the same, or possibly worse, than when they entered prison? That’s the key question to ask yourself as you weigh the First Step Act, a bill that would attempt to reduce the currently high rates at which federal inmates reoffend… -
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,…