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
Justice Department Opens Civil Rights Probe of Violence in Charlottesville
The Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the violence surrounding an aborted white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hours after a young man said to have white supremacist sympathies drove a car through a group of counterprotesters Saturday in the city's downtown, killing a woman, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a late-night… -
opinion
How Did the Democrats’ IT Scandal Suspects Get Here?
Here is a radical proposition: The public has a right to know the immigration status and history of foreign criminal suspects. Their entrance and employment sponsorship records should not be treated like classified government secrets—especially if the public’s tax dollars subsidized their salaries. In March, I contacted the D.C. offices of House congressional Democrats Joaquin… -
news
Chicago Sues Justice Department Over Withholding Funds to Sanctuary Cities
The city of Chicago filed a lawsuit Monday against the Department of Justice, claiming its policy of withholding federal funding to sanctuary cities is unconstitutional and constitutes blackmail. The suit names Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the defendant. It contests Sessions’ July announcement that the Justice Department will not provide Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program… -
opinion
Corruption Is Holding Back Democracy and Prosperity in Ethiopia
Ethiopia, a huge and beautiful country that straddles the Great Rift Valley just north of the equator in Africa, traces its history to biblical times. Blessed with a long growing season and rich agricultural land, it is also a nation in political turmoil—albeit also one that is a key U.S. ally and partner in the… -
news
Florida Republican Asks Attorney General to Look Into Former House IT Aide’s Finances
A House Republican from Florida this week urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to determine whether any U.S. financial institutions have reported suspicious banking activity by a former information technology aide to a Florida Democrat who until last year headed the national party. Imran Awan; his wife, Hina Alvi; his brothers; and his best friend are… -
news
Jeff Sessions Warns Sanctuary Cities About Missing Out on Help to Fight Crime
Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited a reported sexual assault by an illegal immigrant in Portland, Oregon, to explain why the Justice Department will continue cracking down on sanctuary cities that receive federal funds. “Cities and states with so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe,” @JeffSessions says. If a municipality wants access to its… -
news
New Calls for Criminal Investigation of Obama Aides in ‘Unmasking’ Scandal
New calls are coming in for the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation into the “unmasking” scandal swirling around a cluster of former Obama administration officials. The calls came as House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., identified a fourth Obama national security official as a “person of interest” who improperly… -
news
4 House Republicans Seek Answers on FBI Probe of Clinton Emails
As President Donald Trump calls for the Justice Department to probe the actions of his vanquished opponent, Hillary Clinton, four Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee want another look at the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton email scandal. The four Republican lawmakers—Florida’s Matt Gaetz, Arizona’s Andy Biggs, Ohio’s Jim Jordan, and Louisiana’s Mike Johnson—filed an… -
news
Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested by FBI on Way to Pakistan After $300K Wire
The top information technology aide to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was arrested Monday attempting to board a flight to Pakistan after wiring $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to that country. The former Democratic Party chairwoman's IT aide attempted to leave the country hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group revealed that he is the target… -
news
FBI Seized Smashed Hard Drives From Wasserman Schultz IT Aide’s Home
FBI agents seized smashed computer hard drives from the home of Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s information technology administrator, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. Pakistani-born Imran Awan, longtime right-hand IT aide to the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, has since desperately tried to get the hard drives back, an individual whom… -
opinion
How the Justice Department Helped Bring Down the Largest Criminal Marketplace on the Internet
The Department of Justice announced the shutdown of “the largest criminal marketplace on the internet.” The site, AlphaBay, was launched in 2013 after authorities shut down a similar dark web marketplace known as the “Silk Road.” According to the Justice Department, AlphaBay has been hosting over 200,000 users and at least 40,000 illicit vendors. While… -
opinion
Corruption in Brazil Starts at the Top
The former two-term president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, was sentenced July 12 to nearly 10 years in prison. It is the most dramatic chapter to date in the saga of public corruption scandals that has plunged South America’s largest country into political chaos. The crimes for which Lula was found guilty—including money… -
opinion
As Justice Department Ramps Up Fight Against Violent and Drug Crime, Property Owners Put at Risk
This week, the Department of Justice unveiled a new directive ramping up federal civil forfeiture. The new policy restarts so-called “adoptive” forfeitures as part of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ focus on addressing and reducing violent and drug-related crime. This renewed attention on combatting violent crime and supporting law enforcement officers cannot come at a better… -
news
Legal Experts Weigh in on Trump’s Right to Be Riled at Sessions, DOJ
Jeff Sessions will likely continue to lead the Department of Justice, despite the public clash between President Donald Trump and his choice for attorney general. “Sessions should un-recuse himself and get rid of Mueller,” @TomFitton says. But Trump’s frustration with the direction of the Russian probe and the special prosecutor are understandable, said Tom Fitton,… -
news
Trump’s Son in Less Legal Jeopardy Than Son-in-Law Over Russia Meeting, FBI Veteran Says
Even if Donald Trump Jr. helped set up a meeting last year with a Russian lawyer in hopes of learning dirt on Hillary Clinton, the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and another official Trump campaign operative could face greater legal problems, a former FBI official says. “For today, and this could change tomorrow, but today I… -
news
6 Takeaways as Senators Question FBI Nominee Christopher Wray
President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next FBI director said he wasn’t aware of Donald Trump Jr.’s email chain about a Russian lawyer that has consumed the media, but did stress the need for the FBI’s independence. “I do not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch hunt,” Chris Wray says. Christopher Wray… -
opinion
Malpractice in America’s Crime Labs Is Putting Innocents in Jail, Letting Convicts Off the Hook
Junk science endangers lives. Forensic junk science in the hands of overzealous prosecutors, ignorant police detectives, and reckless experts threatens liberty. There is a crisis in America’s government-run crime labs—and it’s not just the result of a few rogue operators. The problem is long-festering and systemic. In April, Massachusetts state crime lab chemist Annie Dookhan… -
news
What a Former Colleague Thinks About Chris Wray Becoming FBI Director
“Chris Wray is extremely intelligent, very principled, very hardworking,” said a former colleague of President Donald Trump’s FBI director nominee in an interview with The Daily Signal. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing for FBI director nominee, Christopher Wray, on Wednesday. John Malcom, The Heritage Foundation’s vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government… -
news
House Passes Kate’s Law, No Sanctuary for Criminals Act
The House of Representatives passed two bills Thursday focused on illegal immigration. One bill, Kate’s Law “enhances the current maximum sentences for illegal reentry into the United States, serving as a strong deterrent for deported felons seeking to come back to the United States,” according to its sponsor, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. It passed 257-167. The other… -
opinion
The Double Murder of Otto Warmbier
We may never know what brutal torture and malign neglect American student Otto Warmbier suffered at the hands of North Korea’s dictatorship before losing his life this week at the age of 22. But it wasn’t the first time the free-spirited Ohio native died. More than a year before succumbing to the unknown illness or…