by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 7, 2020 1:58 pm
The U.S. Solicitor General has filed a certiorari petition asking the Supreme Court to review the Marathon Bomber case. The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit had overturned the death sentence of the surviving bomber brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. See this post. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · Oct 7, 2020 12:05 pm
As part of an ongoing effort to catch and deport criminal aliens, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have recently arrested 128 illegal aliens in California. Adam Shaw of Fox News reports that the operation, conducted last week, targeted San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to identify and arrest the illegal aliens, of whom 122 had criminal records for crimes including murder, sexual assault, child molestation, weapons offenses and domestic violence. This latest operation followed similar sweeps in cities across the country in recent weeks which resulted in the arrest of over 2,000 aliens from 20 countries. 85% of those arrested had felony convictions or outstanding warrants.
by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 6, 2020 4:02 pm
Here is an update of the post two years ago comparing California’s crime rates with those of the country as a whole.
The trend remains as I noted it then. Since California began its reckless drive to reduce prison populations regardless of the consequences, it has not shared in the property crime drop to the same extent as the rest of the country. For violent crime, the 2015-2016 increase was much larger, and it has not receded to the same degree as the rest of the country. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 5, 2020 11:57 am
One third of persons released during an emergency zero-bail period in one California county were rearrested for a new crime within a six month period, Walter Makaula reports for KCRA, Sacramento. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 5, 2020 9:17 am
Today is the First Monday in October, the first day of the new term for the U.S. Supreme Court. As usual, the new cases the Court has taken up in its opening conference were announced last week, see this post, and today’s orders list contains a very long list of cases turned down. Along with shooting down the Stairway to SCOTUS suit against Led Zeppelin, there are a few other items of interest from the orders list. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 2, 2020 4:15 pm
The criminal justice system takes too long and costs too much. That is why the much-criticized practice of plea bargaining is a necessary evil. That is why actually carrying out the just, deserved sentences for the very worst murderers is the exception and not the rule.
So what did California Governor Gavin Newsom do Wednesday? He signed a bill to make the problem worse, layering a large, expensive, and time-consuming new burden on the already staggering system. The pretense for AB 2542 (now Chapter 317, Statutes of 2020) is redressing racial discrimination, but it will not do any good along those lines, while it will do much harm. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 2, 2020 1:11 pm
We are making some changes to the blog regarding comments. Please do not attempt to leave a comment until we announce that comments are open.
by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 2, 2020 8:31 am
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a short orders list this morning with cases it decided to take up at its conference Tuesday. They are all civil cases. Amy Howe summarizes them on her blog. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · Oct 1, 2020 1:34 pm
With shootings and homicides up in 27 of the nation’s largest cities, researchers are trying to come up with a reason, according to this story Richard Winton in today’s Los Angeles Times. Winton reports that the authors of a new study by the non-partisan Council on Criminal Justice believe that the increase has been caused by either police social distancing during the pandemic, or the distrust of police resulting from the George Floyd killing, causing people to turn to “street justice.”
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