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
New Documents Implicate Justice Department in IRS Conservative-Targeting Scandal
Obama’s Department of Justice may have been involved in the IRS scheme to target conservative non-profit organizations, according to newly-released documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents reveal that Lois Lerner met with attorneys from the Public Integrity Section (including its chief) of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
Obama Grants Clemency to 46 Nonviolent Prisoners in Push for Criminal Justice Reform
President Obama today commuted the sentences of 46 prisoners forced behind bars for nonviolent drug crimes, marking the latest move in a bipartisan push to relax harsh sentencing laws. Obama said the inmates granted clemency were serving punishments that “didn’t fit the crime” in a video announcement posted to the White House Facebook page Monday…Natalie Johnson -
- News
Sanctuary Cities Ignore Detainer Requests, Release Over 8,000 Criminal Illegal Immigrants
Over the course of eight months in 2014, sanctuary jurisdictions released more than 8,000 criminal illegal immigrant offenders the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was seeking to deport, according to a new report released by The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Out of the 8,000 released, approximately 1,900 were arrested for a successive crime during…Diana Stancy -
- News
Megyn Kelly: Why Is Obama Silent About Murder of Kate Steinle?
In the wake of 32-year-old Kate Steinle’s murder by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco, the Obama administration has remained silent, Fox News host Megyn Kelly pointed out. “Surrounded by friends and family, it does not appear at this hour that anyone from the Obama administration was in attendance,” Kelly said of Steinle’s funeral services…Chelsea Scism -
- Opinion
How Sanctuary Policies Have Directly Led to Thousands of Crimes Against Americans
There has been a fiery debate over the past few weeks about illegal aliens and crime, which has intensified with the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by a seven-time felon and five-time deportee as the direct result of the city’s sanctuary policy. What seems to have been overlooked in the back and forth…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
How San Francisco Aided and Abetted the Murder of Kate Steinle
After admitting to shooting and killing 32-year-old Kate Steinle, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal alien, was asked why he had come to San Francisco. He responded that “he knew San Francisco was a sanctuary city where he would not be pursued by immigration officials.” “Sanctuary cities” are cities within the United States that refuse to…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
How Unusual Is Francisco Sanchez Case? The Facts About Illegal Immigrants and Crimes
An illegal immigrant federal officials claim was convicted of seven felonies and deported five times shot a woman on the San Francisco waterfront last Wednesday. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who was arrested an hour after the attack, admitted he shot 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle, but claimed the incident was an “accident.” Lopez-Sanchez, also known simply as Francisco…Diana Stancy -
- Opinion
Export-Import Bank Connects US Taxpayers to Foreign Scandal
Marcelo Odebrecht, a Brazilian industrialist of immense wealth and power, was arrested and jailed recently on charges of corruption. He and dozens of other businessmen and politicians are accused of swindling the state-controlled oil company Petrobras—the largest business enterprise (by market capitalization) in the Southern Hemisphere. American taxpayers have a stake in this scandal: Both the…Diane Katz -
- News
IRS Employees Erased 422 Backup Tapes Containing 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s Emails
Investigators at the Internal Revenue Service are looking to agency employees as the reason thousands of emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner were lost, and the agency’s watchdog said today their actions were a mistake. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform…Leah Jessen -
- Opinion
Brazil: Corruption Scandals Will Cast a Shadow over Obama–Rousseff Meeting
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will visit Washington next week, her first visit to the U.S. since taking office in 2011. President Obama says they will discuss “a whole range of issues, including climate change, energy, educational exchanges, and science and technology.” But for Rousseff, the Obama meeting will provide a welcome distraction from the unrelenting…James M. Roberts -
- News
After Deaths of Veterans, Federal Agencies Stonewall Probe of ‘Candy Man’ Doctor
A congressional investigation into a “Candy Land” physician who allegedly “doped up” and “zombified” veterans has uncovered disturbing new details. The probe has faced stonewalling and hostility from federal agencies, according to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (See full report at the bottom of this story.) In January 2015, reports surfaced…Sharyl Attkisson -
- News
Law Enforcement Seizes $11,000 From 24-Year-Old at Airport Without Charging Him With a Crime
It was Feb. 17, 2014, and Charles Clarke, 24, just wanted to get home. After spending several weeks with family in Cincinnati, Ohio, Clarke arrived at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., for a flight back to Orlando, Fla., where his mother lived and where he would be taking classes at the University…Melissa Quinn -
- News
Senators Want Answers: 121 Illegal Immigrants Avoid Deportation, Now Charged With Murder
More than 100 convicted criminals who remained in the U.S. despite receiving deportation orders between 2010 and 2014 now face murder charges, according to the agency charged with carrying out such deportations of illegal immigrants. U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement reports that 121 convicted criminals who were never removed from the country face murder charges today….Diana Stancy -
- Opinion
How Gillibrand’s Military Sexual Assault Legislation Could Hurt Victims
The good news is that the number of sexual assaults in the military is going down. According to the RAND Corporation’s recent study, there has been a 27 percent decrease. No doubt, that is a direct result of the comprehensive reforms to the military justice system put in place a couple of years ago by…Cully Stimson -
- News
Study: US Arresting Fewer Criminally Convicted Illegal Immigrants
The Center for Immigration Studies recently released a report stating that arrests of non-citizens who have been convicted of a crime decreased by 32 percent since this time last year. However, the Center for Immigration Studies says this does not indicate there are fewer criminally convicted illegal immigrants in the United States, but rather, the government…Diana Stancy -
- Opinion
Why One of the Country’s Toughest Cops Says We’re Overcriminalizing America
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was known as one of America’s toughest crime fighters. Then, as he details in his new book, “From Jailer to Jailed,” Kerik found himself convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years behind bars. This experience has turned Kerik into an advocate for criminal justice reform….Genevieve Wood -
- News
In Wake of Freddie Gray’s Death, Baltimore Sees Record Month for Murders
May marked Baltimore’s deadliest month in more than 40 years as three men were fatally shot yesterday, bringing the month’s homicide toll to 43. The Baltimore Sun reported the two separate shootings Sunday—the first killing two men after they were fatally shot in the head, the second killing one man and leaving another injured after…Natalie Johnson -
- Opinion
Loretta Lynch Faces Her First Test as Attorney General
A decision earlier this month by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given new Attorney General Loretta Lynch her first public test: Will she break from Eric Holder’s policies by enforcing voting rights law on a race-neutral basis, as Congress intended, or will she continue Holder’s non-neutral enforcement policy? For those who don’t remember, in…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
Senator Again Calls for Ending Justice Department’s Operation Choke Point
Comparing Operation Choke Point to Tom Cruise’s “Minority Report,” a film where police use “psychic technology” to arrest alleged murderers before they actually commit a crime, Sen. Mike Crapo today made another attempt to end the Justice Department’s controversial program. “To explain [Operation Choke Point], I want to remind everybody of a movie that came…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
Newly Passed Human Trafficking Bill Only a Start to What US Must Do to Combat Trafficking
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. If signed by the president, the bill would create a domestic fund for victims of child sex trafficking from fines levied against traffickers. Fines collected from traffickers will bolster local law enforcement training and capabilities, among other capacity building…Olivia Enos