Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
-
UVa Takes Steps to Protect Students from Increasing Crime in Charlottesville
by James C. Sherlock The University of Virginia has to be careful what its officials say because of the ongoing lawsuits over the November massacre. But the school is taking concrete steps to address the spike in violent crime in Charlottesville. I congratulate them. UVA Today ran an article on those initiatives on March 15th. In…
-
Why Shouldn’t Virginia’s Felons Have To Ask Their Voting Rights Restored?
by Kerry Dougherty Lemme make sure I understand this: Virginia’s ACLU, that left-wing organization that sat on its derriere during Gov. Ralph Northam’s unconstitutional closure of churches and businesses, is suddenly active again. Its lawyers want Virginia’s convicted felons to automatically get their voting rights back, even if they haven’t made restitution to their victims…
-
Correction on Departure of Balow
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In comments to the post about the resignation of Jillian Balow as Superintendent of Public Instruction and her severance pay, I asserted that her appointment was subject to the pleasure of the Governor. I was wrong. The heads of almost all agencies, by law, serve at the pleasure of the Governor. (There…
-
Recruitment, Training and the Otieno Tragedy
by James A. Bacon Earlier this month, five Memphis police officers were charged with the murder of Tyre Nichols, a young Black man, after severely beating him during a traffic stop. Predictably, the mainstream media framed the story as an example of systemic racism in policing, even though all five police officers also were Black.…
-
RVA 5×5: Heard the Noise, Seen The Light
by Jon Baliles Well, it seems Mayor Levar Stoney has finally picked up on a problem on Richmond’s streets that many of us have known about for three-plus years. If you live downtown, or in the Fan, Oregon Hill, Jackson Ward, the Museum District, Randolph, Scott’s Addition, Byrd Park, Malvern Gardens, parts of Northside, Monroe…
-
Soft-On-Crime Va. Democrats’ Offal Proposal
by Kerry Dougherty Oh look. Another garbage bill courtesy of Virginia’s soft-on-crime Democrats! Want to see what’s coming our way if Dems regain control of the General Assembly and Governor’s Mansion? Check out SB1080. Yep, a gaggle of Virginia’s leading lefties pushed a measure that would classify felons younger than 21 as JUVENILES. Virginia law…
-
Virginia Democrats Want to Deal With Criminals 18-20 in the Juvenile Justice System
by James C. Sherlock I received an update yesterday from the NAACP on legislation that caught their interest in the 2023 General Assembly. One bill that did not pass, but got party line Democratic support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, in turn caught my eye. It was SB 1080 Juvenile and domestic relations district courts;…
-
Putting Victims First. For A Change.
by Kerry Dougherty Imagine for a moment that you are the victim of a violent crime. The perpetrator has been arrested and you thought he was about to go on trial when you learn that your local prosecutor — one of those squishy soft-on-crime types who was bankrolled by George Soros — already entered into…
-
Norfolk’s Progressive Prosecutor Comes Under Fire
by James A. Bacon Excellent reporting by the Virginia Mercury’s Jim Morrison highlights the debate in Norfolk over the rising homicide rate since 2020. In this two-part series (here and here) he describes how the city’s “progressive” Commonwealth Attorney Ramin Fatehi, who campaigned on the premise that structural racism is the root cause of criminality,…
-
School Discipline: Inflexible Rule or Common Sense?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore During the height of the war on drugs, schools adopted “zero-tolerance” policies. No student was allowed to possess any drug of any kind, even an aspirin or a prescription medication for which he had a prescription. Any such products had to be deposited with the school nurse and taken in the presence…
-
What Do We Owe To and Expect from a Special Ed Teacher?
by James C. Sherlock On February 16, USA Today published a story by Jeanine Santucci. That is the latest in an excellent series of reports on the shooting of Newport News first grade teacher Abigail Zwerner. Her article, “Virginia 6-year-old who shot his teacher exposes flaws in how schools treat students with disabilities.” raises questions that Virginians…
-
Virginia Law Enables School Violence – School Board Policies Can Correct It
by James C. Sherlock In 2019, the National Education Association (NEA) published Threatened and Attacked By Students: When Work Hurts, urging lawmakers to address the crisis of unsafe behaviors in schools. Read about Chesterfield schools in that article. Unfazed, progressives in 2020 in full control of the General Assembly, led by now-Congresswoman-elect Jennifer McClellan, looked…
-
Stop Coddling Bad Kids
by Kerry Dougherty I have a new hero. I don’t know her real name but in her Southeast Washington D.C. neighborhood, they just call her “Grandma.” Last Friday Grandma was on her way to chemo when a 15-year-old punk walked up and ordered her to hand over her car keys. “I have a gun,” he…
-
General Assembly: Status of Selected Issues
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on Saturday, February 25. Time to check on the status of some issues that have been discussed on this blog. Budget bill. The budget bill contains not only the usual appropriations, but also all those tax cuts proposed by the Governor. There is activity behind…