Monthly Archive: June 2022

Attempted Robbery Is Not Violent?

by · Jun 21, 2022 9:02 am

The U.S. Supreme Court continued its chip-by-chip undermining of federal sentence enhancements for violent crimes, making one more narrowing of the definition of “violent felony.” In United States v. Taylor, No. 20-1459, it’s attempted robbery under the Hobbs Act that bites the dust. This will come as no surprise to those who have watched the steady parade of decisions excluding from the term “violent felony” crimes that common sense would tell us are violent. See, e.g., this post. Continue reading . . .

Court: Police Questioning of Minorities is Illegal

by · Jun 13, 2022 11:37 am

On Friday morning, April 9, 2019,  a police officer patrolling a high crime neighborhood in Pierce County, Washington, noticed a car parked near the entrance to a church with both the driver and the passenger asleep.  The officer knocked on the window for a while and the driver slowly woke up.  The officer asked the driver, Palla Sum, if he owned the car, and the driver responded that the car was not his.  The officer then asked both the driver and the passenger for their names and date of birth.  Sum gave the officer a false name and birthday, the passenger gave his correct name and date.   As the officer returned to his patrol car to check the names, Sum drove away at high speed, running stop signs and multiple red lights before crashing onto a yard.   Police found registration in the car indicating the Sum was the owner.   They also found a handgun.  In a unanimous ruling last Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court held that, because Sum was a minority (Asian), the police questioning of him was illegal.

Continue reading . . .

Go Ahead and Say “Never” on Bivens Extensions

by · Jun 10, 2022 11:32 am

Way back in Reconstruction, Congress created a civil cause of action against state and local officials who violate federal constitutional rights. Today, that statute is 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Congress did not, however, create a parallel right to sue federal agents. In 1971, the Supreme Court made one up anyway in the case of Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents.

The Court extended Bivens to a couple of new contexts in the early years afterward but soon came to realize it had overreached. In Wednesday’s decision in Egbert v. Boule, Justice Thomas notes in the opinion of the Court, “Over the past 42 years, however, we have declined 11 times to imply a similar cause of action for other alleged constitutional violations.” In Egbert, the Court declined to extend Bivens to a claim of allegedly excessive force allegedly used by a Border Patrol agent against an American citizen on U.S. soil. Continue reading . . .

Central Valley DA Race Still Pending Due to Ballot Problem

by · Jun 9, 2022 4:41 pm

We previously reported a result in the race for District Attorney for San Joaquin County in California’s Central Valley. It turns out that was premature because of a massive problem with misprinted mail-in ballots with faulty bar codes. Two days after the election, only a fifth of the total vote has been reported. I have temporarily unpublished the post and will republish it with any necessary corrections when we have a more reliable result.

FBI releases first quarter of crime data for 2022

by · Jun 9, 2022 2:20 pm

Earlier this week, the FBI released the first quarter of crime data for 2022. There has been no official government report published at this time, though I examined the data to get an idea of whether crime increased or decreased relative to the first quarter of 2021. Unfortunately, I was unable to compare the data to quarter one of 2019 and 2020 as those data are not currently available by quarter.

Rates for all types of crime remained relatively stable, though this may change as we head into the summer. Larceny offenses saw the largest increase, which was only a mere 0.08%, and overall property crime increased 0.05%. The largest decrease was for arson, which decreased by about 0.2%. Rates for murder decreased by .08% (see more details in the table below).

FBI finally releases data from the National Use-of-Force Data Collection

by · Jun 9, 2022 10:04 am

On May 31, 2022, the FBI released national-level statistics on police use of force for the first time ever. These data were derived from the National Use-of-Force Data Collection, which is the first national-level dataset to collect data on police use of force. Law enforcement agencies are not required to submit their data though, so participation rates have been a consistent issue that has prevented the release of information up until this point. The FBI has been reporting on participation rates, but because participation rates have been below the required 60% threshold (up until now), it was unclear whether details on actual use-of-force data would ever be released. Relatedly, there was speculation that lack of participation might even cause the database to shut down.

Continue reading . . .

Misleading “study” claims that DA Schubert’s term led to increased crime

by · Jun 8, 2022 2:00 pm

A new report released last week by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) by Mike Males compares crime trends between Sacramento and San Francisco. The report’s narrative is fairly evident in the title: “Tough Talking Sacramento District Attorney Presides Over Homicide and Violence While Liberal San Francisco Enjoys Major Decreases.” To summarize, the report claims that Sacramento has seen major increases in homicide and violence while under the leadership of a conservative District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, while San Francisco has seen major decreases in crime due to their progressive reforms and liberal District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

In other words, CJCJ concludes that liberal leadership reduces crime while conservative leadership increases it. But the report is riddled with methodological shortcomings that render it meaningless in being able to determine cause and effect. In this post, I review the key findings of the report and outline the methodological problems that undermine these findings.

Continue reading . . .

Chesa Boudin Recalled in a Landslide

by · Jun 7, 2022 9:42 pm

Only 45% of the vote is counted at this point, but the NYT has already called the race  —  a landslide win for the recall of pro-criminal San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin.  Boudin’s disastrous policies have been recounted by Kent and Mike many times here.  The people who had to live with them have had enough.  At this point, the recall is winning by slightly more than 3-2.

For what is probably the most liberal city in the country to recall a “progressive prosecutor” by a margin this big, and despite a ton of Soros money, should send shock waves through the forces that want criminals to have a field day.

I don’t know who’s listening, but I’ll bet George Gascon is one of them.