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
Lawmakers Demand Answers About Illegal Immigrant Gang Member Who Assaulted Police Officer
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has 10 days to complete a homework assignment. But this assignment, given to him via a strongly worded letter by the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, doesn’t involve math, science, or literature: it involves telling the truth about the violent criminal past of a known MS-13… -
opinion
New York Attorney General Tries to Criminalize Scientific Dissent on Climate Change
Everyone reading this should do the attorney general of New York, Eric T. Schneiderman, a big favor: buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution, highlight the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights with a bright yellow or orange Sharpie, and mail him a copy. Schneiderman obviously needs a remedial lesson in the fact that… -
opinion
Put the Brakes on Bangladesh’s Flawed War Criminal Process
The Bangladeshi authorities are set to execute two senior opposition politicians for alleged war crimes committed 45 years ago—by an International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) that has been deemed “flawed” by international human rights organizations. The convictions and death sentences of senior Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) politician Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, and senior Bangladesh National Party politician Salauddin… -
opinion
People Who Sell Jelly With Six Fruits or More as Food Are Criminals
Pushing the boundaries of jelly science is risky. You may sell food labeled as “jelly” only if it has a combination of two, three, four or five fruit juice ingredients pursuant to the specifications in paragraph (b)(1) of section 150.140 of title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations. You are free to sell a… -
opinion
This Ohio City Council Made Possession of Cigarettes for Those Under 21 a Crime
Should a 20 year-old’s possession of cigarettes within any 1.33-square-mile area be a crime? Lawmakers in Grandview Heights, Ohio, thought so until some vocal opponents changed their minds. One lesson of overcriminalization is that federal, state and local legislators, prosecutors, agency regulators and even judges can contribute to making virtually any conduct a crime. If lawmakers don’t… -
opinion
Lois Lerner Won’t Be Facing Criminal Charges. Here Are the Problems With the ‘Investigation’ That Cleared Her.
In an eight-page letter last week to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Justice Department informed Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., that it was closing its investigation of the IRS targeting scandal, claiming there is not sufficient evidence to “seek any criminal charges” against Lois Lerner or any other IRS officials. However, there… -
news
Poll Reveals What Americans Fear the Most: Corruption of Government Officials
Chapman University in Orange, Calif., recently conducted its second annual survey on fears possessed by Americans in order to pinpoint what Americans fear the most. The fear that ranked the highest among Americans surveyed was corruption of government officials at 58 percent. Cyber-terrorism ranked second at 44.8 percent and corporate tracking of personal information was… -
news
San Francisco Passes Resolution Upholding Sanctuary Policies Despite Kate Steinle Murder
San Francisco officials declared Tuesday that the city’s sanctuary policies would remain intact, shutting down critics who blamed the protections for enabling the high profile murder of Kathryn Steinle by an illegal immigrant in July. The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution that encourages the sheriff not to alert U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement… -
news
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Defends Man Charged With Criminal Vote Fraud
The original headline incorrectly described the person facing criminal charges. A client of Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa is facing 16 criminal charges of rigging votes in a Rio Grande Valley election. Lupe Rivera Sr. illegally handled ballots and envelopes in his closely contested Weslaco City Commission race, according to the state attorney general’s… -
news
Sanctuary Cities on the Rise, Releasing More Than 9,000 Criminals in US Illegally
The number of sanctuary cities in the United States has risen to 340, resulting in the release of roughly 1,000 detained illegal immigrants each month despite objections from the federal government, according to a new study. The Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit organization that advocates for decreased immigration, reported that local authorities acting in these… -
news
House Judiciary Rolls Out Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform Bill
Lawmakers in the House Judiciary Committee stamped their mark on a criminal justice initiative to reform federal sentencing. With bipartisan signatures of support, Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., says the committee has pursued “responsible, common sense reforms to ensure our criminal justice system reflects core American values.” Goodlatte and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich.,… -
opinion
Education Department’s Sex Assault ‘Agreement’ With UVA Shows Need for Campus Reform
The U.S. Department of Education has issued a press release crowing about its “agreement” with the University of Virginia, “ensur[ing] that the university’s handling of sexual violence and sexual harassment complies with the requirements of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.” You might remember that the University of Virginia was falsely accused of… -
opinion
How Will the DOJ Respond if Volkswagen Knowingly Deceived the EPA?
The Environmental Protection Agency recently sent a Notice of Violation to Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., alleging that “VW manufactured and installed [software] in certain model year 2009 through 2015 diesel light-duty vehicles equipped with 2.0 liter engines.” The software “senses whether the vehicle is being tested or not based on various inputs including the… -
opinion
Michigan Lawmakers Win on Overcriminalization Reform
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said even a dog knows the difference between “being stumbled over and being kicked.” Our criminal law traditionally distinguished between stumblers and kickers: those who commit a morally blameworthy act, called an actus reus, along with an “evil” frame of mind, known as mens rea or scienter. Legislators maintained that distinction… -
opinion
Pa. Democrat Attorney General Has License Suspended
In a historic move, all five justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have voted to temporarily suspend the law license of the state’s attorney general, Kathleen Kane, based on the recommendation of the court’s 13-member disciplinary board. This leaves the office of the state attorney general in limbo, since Pennsylvania’s constitution requires that the attorney… -
opinion
Senator Hatch Pushes For Criminal Justice Reform That Includes ‘Mens Rea’
This afternoon, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, delivered an important speech on the Senate floor arguing that any criminal justice reform effort that is truly worthy of the name ought to include mens rea reform (also referred to as criminal intent). I recently argued, as have other Heritage scholars, that there is a pressing need for… -
opinion
The Ahmed Clock Controversy Shows One Thing, Overcriminalization
“It made me feel like I wasn’t human. It made me feel like a criminal.” That’s what Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, said after police handcuffed him and brought him to a juvenile detention center for mug shots, fingerprints, and interrogation; all because he brought his home-made digital clock to school to impress his teacher. This is… -
news
Ahmed Mohamed Wasn’t the First: 9 Other Times Schools Treated Students Like Criminals
Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old student in Irving, Texas, made headlines yesterday after local authorities arrested him for bringing a homemade clock to his high school. According to news reports, the teen showed his creation to an English teacher before being taken out of school in handcuffs. Mohamed is not the first student to face the… -
news
Meet 3 Women Who Spent More Than 15 Years in Prison for Nonviolent Drug Crimes
Stephanie George has never used drugs, but she earned a prison sentence of life without parole for a drug-related crime. Today, by the luck of a commutation from President Obama, George is living again, learning to mother her 24-year-old daughter and working in a restaurant because her criminal record impedes her hair-stylist ambitions. “I thank… -
opinion
Why ‘Sagging Pants’ Should Not Be a Criminal Offense
The war on bad fashion has a new battlefront: Dadeville, Ala. Members of the Dadeville City Council are considering an ordinance to punish people wearing sagging pants or revealing miniskirts in public. “I am ashamed to see all the sagging pants around here,” said Frank Goodman, the councilor who proposed the law. “We are going…