Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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Newport News School Officials Should Be In Trouble
by Kerry Dougherty Sue them. Sue them all. This is my unsolicited advice to the parents of two Newport News high school students who were shot last September by a violent criminal who should never have been allowed in their school in the first place. Sue the school. Sue the superintendent. Sue the school board.…
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Curfews Coming for Norfolk Nightclubs?
by James A. Bacon Norfolk police are cracking down on downtown nightclubs in the aftermath of another shooting incident, this one resulting in a sheriff’s deputy and three others being wounded. The city will expect all businesses in the entertainment district to explain why they deserve the “privilege” of operating, reports The Virginian-Pilot. City Manager…
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Virginia Pre-Trial Release: the True Risks of Recidivism and Failure to Appear for Trial
by James C. Sherlock The goals, good ones, of Virginia’s Pre-trial Services Agencies (PSA) is to advise courts on pre-trial release risks; to supervise the population on pre-trial release to reduce recidivist crime and failures to appear (FTAs) and through both efforts to help assure public safety. By the government’s own evidence, those goals have…
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Triumphs in Criminal Bail Reform and Restorative Justice
by James C. Sherlock George Soros wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday July 31. Title: “Why I Support Reform Prosecutors.” Subtitle: “Justice or safety? It’s a false choice. They reinforce each other.” Mr. Soros proudly proclaims he has supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform.…
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Windsor Traffic Cops Broke No State Laws
by James A. Bacon Town of Windsor police officers won’t face state criminal charges for pepper-spraying a Black Army lieutenant during a traffic stop, but they aren’t off the hook yet. Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell, named as special prosecutor in the Isle of Wight case, has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to open a…
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Does Fairfax Have a Criminal-First, Victim-Last Mindset?
by James A. Bacon Dozens of current and former Fairfax County police officers belonging to the Fairfax County Police Association gathered in a town hall last week with Attorney General Jason Miyares. Their message: recent Virginia legislation combined with a change in prosecutorial policies by the county’s Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, are making it harder…
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No Sympathy for Drunk Drivers
by Kerry Dougherty With newspaper reporting being as poor as it is these days, it can be dangerous to weigh in on stories gleaned from dailies. But what the heck, let’s give it a go today. Over the weekend the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the case of a 24-year-old Chesterfield woman convicted of manslaughter and…
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The Public Housing and Education Debate – Who, Exactly, are the Racists?
by James C. Sherlock There is agreement on both sides of the political divide in Virginia and the rest of the country that public housing projects were and are hellholes. I have written that the bipartisan response, vouchers, run into lack of supply virtually everywhere. Cue the debate about causes and solutions. Let’s take a…
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Mitigating Nurse, Teacher and Police Officer Shortages in Virginia – An Illustrative Example
by James C. Sherlock Virginia is currently dealing with big shortages of nurses, teachers and police officers. If any one doubts that, please consult other conversations that have already been presented on this blog. We have also written here about working conditions for all three professions. Those need to be addressed and, again, have been…
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Violent Crime Now the Top Public Health Concern
Community violence and crime constitute the No. 1 “public health issue” that concerns registered voters in Virginia, finds the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) in a poll released today. Fifty-one percent of the 800 Virginians polled selected the issue. The No. 2 concern was healthcare work shortages, which logged the top vote from 25%…
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Richmond Police Unveil Anti-Violence Strategy
by James A. Bacon Shootings and homicides are surging in Richmond this year, and city police have a new strategy to bring the situation under control. They’re compiling a list of “shooters” and potential shooters. In a Monday press conference, Major Ronnie Armstead, who is leading the initiative, said the list includes “violent people that…
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Debunking Another Junk Study from the Left
by James A. Bacon The Prison Policy Initiative, a group dedicated to exposing “the broader harm of mass criminalization,” has published data detailing the incarceration rate of communities across Virginia. Among Virginia’s 95 counties and 38 cities, 26 are missing at least 1% of their population to incarceration, finds “The geography of mass incarceration in…
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Carjackings by Teens Skyrocket, Resulting in More Killings
by Hans Bader Carjackings — especially carjackings by teens — have spiked in cities across the country over the past two years. NewsNation describes the “nationwide rise in carjackings”: A pastor gunned down in a carjacking outside her home in Memphis. A thief runs up a driveway with a weapon drawn in New Orleans. An…
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Strange Things Are Afoot
by Jon Baliles The story of the July 4th Dogwood Dell Mayoral and Police Chief press conference grows stranger with each day and subsequent stories. Noted philosophers Bill & Ted may have put it best when they said: “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” (That’s a 7-11 for all you locals). The July…