California v. National Crime Trends

by · 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 . . .

U.S. Supreme Court Opens New Term

by · 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 . . .

Obstructing Justice on the Pretense of Redressing Discrimination

by · 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 . . .

Under Construction

by · 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.

Big City Shootings Up, Researchers Unsure Why

by · 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.”

Continue reading . . .

LA Police Shooting Suspect Identified

by · Sep 30, 2020 2:33 pm

A 36-year old habitual criminal was charged today with the September 12, ambush shooting of two Los Angeles police officers.  CBS News reports that detectives identified Deonte Lee Murray as the man caught on video running up to a parked patrol car and firing multiple times at the two officers inside, seriously injuring them both.  Murray was arrested three days after the shooting, for the September 1 armed carjacking of the same Mercedes he used to flee the police shooting scene.  During the carjacking Murray shot the car owner in leg with a rifle.  Murray, who police say is affiliated with a street gang, has priors for drug trafficking, burglary, illegal firearm possession and terrorist threats.  I wonder how many times he has been arrested and released under California’s compassionate sentencing reform laws.

Debate: Much Heat and Only a Little Light

by · Sep 30, 2020 1:12 pm

Last night’s presidential debate was a disappointment, to put it mildly. It could have done much more to illuminate the differences between the candidates on policy. Instead we got much boorish behavior, much evasion of questions and issues, and much less illumination than we should have gotten.

For what it’s worth, here are a few notes. A transcript is available at the Daily Mail. Video is available at C-SPAN. Continue reading . . .

Buying A District Attorney

by · Sep 29, 2020 2:46 pm

For the last three election cycles, ultra liberal hedge fund billionaire George Soros has been bankrolling the campaigns of district attorneys across America.  In 2016 he financed progressive, pro-criminal Kim Foxx’s election to Cook County State’s Attorney, the top prosecutor in Chicago.  Two years later his Illinois for Safety and Justice group underwrote  Larry  Krasner’s takeover of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.  Crime in both cities has skyrocketed.  As reported by Katie Grimes in the California Globe, this summer Soros dropped $2.5 million into the Los Angeles District Attorney’s race to put an anti-law enforcement progressive in  Office.  The candidate, former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, presided over that city’s transformation into an open air sewer, with thousands of drug-addicted homeless sleeping and going to the bathroom on the streets.

Continue reading . . .