Monthly Archive: February 2025

Mexico Extradites Killer of US DEA Agent, 40 Years Late

by · Feb 28, 2025 10:06 am

US DEA Agent Enrique Camarena was murdered in Mexico in 1985. Now Mexico has extradited drug boss Rafael Caro Quintero, who is wanted for the crime, along with 28 others. Santiago Pérez and José de Córdoba have this story in the WSJ.

Better late than never.

It would be understandable for a country to refuse to extradite its citizens if it had a functioning justice system that could and would impose a just punishment domestically. But that is not the case in Mexico when it comes to the drug gangs. Continue reading . . .

NYPD Commissioner Demands End to Zero Bail

by · Feb 27, 2025 2:03 pm

The head of the New York City Police Department spoke out Wednesday demanding that state politicians repeal the 2020 bail reform laws that have turned the criminal justice system into a “revolving door.” Michael Dorgan of Fox News reports that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told attendees to an annual breakfast meeting that “your cops are out there doing their jobs, and in 2024, they made the most felony arrests in 26 years. But before they can even finish that paperwork, they are immediately returned to the neighborhood and the people that they just victimized.”

Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Allows OK AG to Take a Dive

by · Feb 25, 2025 8:09 am

A short-handed and divided U.S. Supreme Court today decided the case of Glossip v. Oklahoma, taking the side of convicted murderer Richard Glossip. The Oklahoma Attorney General had taken his side as well. CJLF filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of upholding the state court decision. The Court also appointed an amicus to make the argument the state AG should have made.

A bare majority of the Court held that the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision did not rest on adequate and independent state courts and further found that Glossip had established his claim that the state had used and failed to correct perjured testimony, despite serious factual questions on the latter point. Rather than simply send the case back to state court for an evidentiary hearing, the Court ordered a new trial.

Justice Barrett concurred on the first point, partly concurred on the second, and dissented on the third. Justices Thomas and Alito dissented from the entirety. Justice Gorsuch was recused, having participated in the case during his time on the Tenth Circuit. Continue reading . . .

Study Suggests Drunk Witnesses Are Less Likely to Remember a Suspect’s Face

by · Feb 19, 2025 6:09 pm

The University of Portsmouth, England, has this press release announcing this unsurprising result. “New research has revealed that alcohol can impair the ability of eyewitnesses to accurately recall a suspect’s facial features, particularly key details such as the eyes, nose, and mouth.”

It’s easy to laugh and say “of course” (and I did), but there is some value in research that confirms the obvious. Every once in a while such efforts actually contradict the obvious, and those incidents are important in the progress of science. The research also fills in some details that are not quite so obvious. Continue reading . . .

When “Violence Interrupters” Threaten Violence

by · Feb 19, 2025 11:54 am

The movement to defund the police is not new. While it gained traction in 2020 following the death of George Floyd, it has been the mantra of civil rights groups and race-hustlers for decades, and is rooted in the fiction that the entire criminal justice system is systemically racist.  One of the alternatives to police pushed by progressive academia has been to replace police officers with “violence interrupters.” For the past several years cities controlled by democrats including Chicago, Minneapolis and Los Angeles have diverted funds from police departments to non-government organizations (NGOs) which employ ex-gang members to interact with local street gangs, supposedly to counsel for non-violence and “restorative justice” programs. Restorative Justice is an alternative to punishment which involves putting crime victims and the criminals who attacked them together with counselors to help them heal emotionally and forgive each other. In places that have diverted funds to these programs law enforcement decreased while crime increased.

Continue reading . . .

Thanks to Soros Funded DA, Murder Suspect Released on $200 Bail

by · Feb 18, 2025 1:16 pm

An Austin, Texas man charged with the October 2024 murder of a 20-year-old with a gunshot to the back of the head, was released on $200 bail last Saturday. Brian Slupski of the Lawyer Herald reports that a judge reduced Stephon Martin Morson’s bail from $800,000 to $200 based on a Texas law that allows reduced bail if the District Attorney fails to bring an indictment against a violent offender withing 90 days of arrest.  Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza has not yet indicted Morson, who was arrested for the murder on November 6, 2024.  Garza is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America whose campaign was largely financed by socialist/progressive billionaire George Soros.  Failing to indict an accused murderer and thereby allowing his release is a profound dereliction of a district attorney’s obligation to enforce the law.  Stepheny Price of Fox News reports, elected leaders outside of Austin are outraged.

Continue reading . . .

Texas and Florida Execute Murderers

by · Feb 14, 2025 11:22 am

Two murderers, both who killed multiple victims, were put to death Thursday.

Michael Dorgan of Fox News reports that Richard Tabler mouthed the words “I’m sorry” to his victims’ relatives just before he was executed by lethal injection. Tabler was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2004 Thanksgiving Day murders of two men in Killeen, Texas. He lured the co-owner of a club (where he once worked) and the co-owner’s friend to a remote area on the pretense of buying stolen stereo equipment. Both were shot to death. Two days later, Tabler killed two teenaged girls (an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old) who worked at the club because he thought they would tell police that he murdered the two men. He admitted to killing the two teen girls to police after his arrest. While his attorneys argued that Tabler was mentally incompetent for execution, he had repeatedly asked the court to stop the appeals. Continue reading . . .

The Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Programs: Do they really work?

by · Feb 13, 2025 8:33 am

For over a century, policymakers and researchers have tried to rehabilitate criminal offenders. Despite these efforts, recidivism rates remain stubbornly high.

A newly-released report by the Manhattan Institute challenges optimistic claims about rehabilitation programs. The authors argue that most programs’ success is exaggerated by political rhetoric. In reality, many programs do not operate as intended and have less than ideal success rates. While some high-rate offenders do turn their lives around, the authors stress that predicting who will desist from criminal activities—and when—remains a complex challenge.

Continue reading . . .