Crime News
The Daily Signal reports on crime news with analysis and commentary on policies, crime rates, and policing debates.
-
news
Homeland Security to Tell Local Cops When Immigrant Criminals Are Freed
The Department of Homeland Security is developing an automated system to alert state and local law enforcement when illegal immigrants with serious criminal records are released into their jurisdictions. Two members of Congress from Texas — Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, and Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat — described the plan in a letter sent… -
news
IRS Failure to Search Computers for ‘Missing’ Emails Intensifies Attorney General Nomination
A House oversight committee continues to seek emails related to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tea party and other conservative groups, “but there’s nobody in the Justice Department willing to work with us,” a congressman on the panel said yesterday. That impasse, along with related roadblocks in the Department of Justice’s investigation of the IRS… -
news
Expelled Journalist: ‘Popular Anti-Criminal Revolution’ in Ukraine Worries Russia
Russian authorities never threatened American journalist David Satter. For years, the Moscow correspondent for the London Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal wrote with impunity, regularly filing stories that would have cost his Russian colleagues dearly if they had written them. But last year, Satter’s luck ran out. On Christmas morning, following the instructions… -
opinion
Pastor Charged with Criminal Penalty for Feeding the Homeless
Should a 90-year-old pastor face sixty days in jail and a $500 fine for simply giving food to homeless people? The authorities in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. seem to think so. Arnold Abbott runs a non-profit charity called Love Thy Neighbor, Inc., which seeks to care for the homeless population in the Fort Lauderdale area. Abbott… -
opinion
Corruption Continues to Hurt Honduran Development
After 2009 socio-political turmoil caused by the constitutional crisis, Honduras has been slowly recovering and reintegrating into the international community. However, the deterioration of confidence in public institutions continues, posing a serious threat to the country’s future development. Over the past couple of months, Honduras has experienced several major corruption scandals. This past September, Hondurans… -
opinion
Violent Crime in the US Has Declined Rapidly. What Happened?
From 2000 to 2012, the U.S. violent crime rate fell over 23 percent. Such an improvement in the social fabric would be cause enough for celebration. But the crime drop of the 2000s followed an even larger decline in the previous decade: 32 percent from 1993 to 2000. The 1990s crime drop (in both personal… -
opinion
If a Republican Justice Department Did This, It Would Be Attacked as Borderline Racist
Attorney General Eric Holder has waged a litigation war against voter-ID laws as well as state efforts to reduce early-voting periods and eliminate same-day voter registration. These practical reforms, he huffs, are intended to suppress the votes of minorities. But the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice and a number of civil-rights groups against… -
news
Judge Sides With IRS, Dismisses Lawsuits by Conservative Groups Over Targeting Scandal
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., sided today with the Internal Revenue Service and dismissed lawsuits by tea party organizations seeking redress for improper delays and scrutiny of their applications for tax-exempt status. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled that two lawsuits by True the Vote and Linchpins of Liberty, along with 41 other conservative… -
news
As His Wife Delivers Their Baby, LGBT Group Smears This Pro-Marriage Professor as International Criminal
Having a baby is supposed to be one of the happiest moments of your life. But for Bobby Lopez, an unusual figure in the marriage debate, it was a day overshadowed by fear. His wife was in labor with their second child when Lopez received hateful phone calls and emails from LGBT rights activists. Why? Because… -
opinion
The New Civil Rights Division Head Wants to Decriminalize Possession of All Drugs
So who supports decriminalizing cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamine, ecstasy and all dangerous drugs, including marijuana? No, it’s not your teenage nephew. It’s President Obama’s new acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta. In 2012, Gupta wrote that “states should decriminalize simple possession of all drugs, particularly marijuana, and for small amounts… -
news
Contrary to What You Hear, Obama Is Deporting Fewer, Allowing More Criminals to Stay
Total deportations by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement shrunk by 15 percent between 2013 and 2014, according to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies. Continuing a trend from last year, immigration enforcement activity by ICE officers has declined across the board in areas such as deportations and arrests, with some numbers dropping by… -
news
Republican Lawmakers Demand Answers From Justice Department on Operation Choke Point
Thirty members of Congress demanded today that the Department of Justice launch an “immediate investigation” into the agency’s own Operation Choke Point and those involved in creating and implementing the initiative against enterprises that are out of favor with the Obama administration. Led by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., the 30 lawmakers sent a letter to… -
opinion
Police Beefed Up Capabilities Because a Crime-Weary Nation Wanted Them To
The mid-summer clash between unarmed protesters and heavily armed police in Ferguson, Mo., sparked a renewed discussion on the militarization of domestic law enforcement. Critics were quick to lament the ubiquity of armored vehicles and semi-automatic assault weapons at the disposal of officers not just in Ferguson but throughout the nation. Why has militarization of law… -
opinion
Capital Punishment Works: It Deters Crime
On Sept. 10, Earl Ringo Jr. was executed in Missouri. Before you decide whether or not this is right, consider what Ringo did. In July 1998, Ringo and an accomplice planned to rob a restaurant where Ringo had previously worked. Early one morning, they followed delivery truck driver Dennis Poyser and manager-in-training Joanna Baysinger into… -
opinion
How Long Will It Take to Repair Damage Holder Has Done at Justice Department?
Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Thursday that he is resigning, effective when his successor is confirmed, is welcome news. As John Fund and I outline in our recent book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” every time President Obama has broken, bent, ignored or changed the law, the person at his side advising him how… -
opinion
Eric Holder’s 7 Worst Actions as Attorney General
Attorney General Eric Holder, the first attorney general in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives, surprised the political world today when he announced he would be resigning, effective on the confirmation of his successor. Holder will leave a troubled legacy and many unanswered questions as John Fund and I discovered… -
opinion
Politico Found Lois Lerner. So Why Can’t the U.S. Attorney in Washington?
Politico obviously had no problem finding Lois Lerner for an exclusive interview that it published on Monday. So why can’t the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen, Jr., find Lois Lerner so that a federal grand jury can interview her? Perhaps the Obama administration doesn’t want Lerner answering any real questions… -
news
No Apologies: Lois Lerner Breaks 16-Month Silence on IRS Scandal
It’s been one year since Lois Lerner officially retired from the Internal Revenue Service amid accusations that the tax agency improperly had targeted tea party and other conservative groups. Now, Lerner is speaking out and offering no apologies for her role in the scandal. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lerner told Politico, echoing the few… -
opinion
What’s Behind the Assault on the First Amendment
Today, the Constitution turns 227 years old. To “celebrate” the occasion, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, tried to gut the First Amendment. Last week, he and other Senate Democrats proposed an amendment, related to electoral fundraising and spending, that would have considerably restricted the free speech rights of Americans. Thankfully, the proposed amendment did… -
opinion
The Latest Clue That the Justice Department Investigation of IRS Scandal Is a Sham
Evidence has been accumulating for some time the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the IRS scandal isn’t a real investigation. But the latest indication it may be a sham came to light through an embarrassing but highly revealing error made by a senior communications aide to Attorney General Eric Holder. It occurred when that aide…