The Cushy Prisons for Murderers Act of 2025

by · Jul 11, 2025 8:23 am

Just when one thinks that the California Legislature has already maxed out its soft-headedness on crime, it goes and demonstrates that there is no limit. A bill has passed the California Senate by a wide margin declaring that “life inside prison should be as close to life outside of prison as much as possible.” [Sic.] As amended in the Assembly, Senate Bill 551 now includes this provision*:

The Legislature recognizes that life in prison can never be the same as life in a free society. However, active steps should be taken to make conditions in prison as close to normal life as possible, aside from loss of liberty, and to ensure that this normalization does not lead to inhumane prison conditions.

Unbelievable. Yes, we do not want our prison conditions to be inhumane. But “as close to normal life as possible”? It’s supposed to be punishment. And since the 2011 realignment, nearly everyone in California state prison (as opposed to county jail) is there for serious crimes, multiple repeated crimes, or both.

For premeditated murder, death is justice and anything less is mercy. Mercy is sometimes the right choice, but that does not mean we have to go overboard. A premeditated murderer who gets life in prison with a possibility of parole has already gotten off with less than he deserves. So now we have to take “active steps” to make sure he is comfy and entertained during his too-short time in the slammer? And we spend taxpayer money to do so while far more important functions of government go unfunded?

Who votes for this insanity? Continue reading . . .

A Baltimore Miracle?

by · Jul 9, 2025 8:21 am

Is the infamously violent Baltimore City* on track for a miracle? Joshua Crawford, director of criminal justice initiatives at the Georgia Center for Opportunity, has this op-ed in the Baltimore Sun,** titled “Are we witnessing a Baltimore Miracle in fight against crime?” He notes Baltimore’s sky-high crime rates, followed by dramatic drops beginning in 2023:

Murder declined nearly 22% in 2023, and then another almost 23% in 2024 — erasing all of the post-2014 increases. Through May 1, 2025, homicides were down another 31%, putting Baltimore on pace for its fourth sub-200 murder year since 1970, and the city’s lowest total since the mid-1960s.

This success follows adoption of a three-pronged effort:

First, in January 2022, Mayor Brandon Scott’s office launched its Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS). GVRS is a focused deterrence policing strategy that focuses on violent groups driving violence. It does so by credibly delivering three messages. Respected members of the community convey that violence is unacceptable and must stop, optional services are offered for those who wish to desist from shootings and other gun violence, and finally, predictable, swift, and certain consequences are promised to those whose groups continue to engage in gun violence.

Continue reading . . .

New Cases at the Supreme Court

by · Jul 3, 2025 8:27 am

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court took up five cases for argument next term, two of which are consolidated. None are criminal cases. One case, Oliver v. Brandon, Mississippi involves the scope of the rule of Heck v. Humphrey, which prevents the use of civil litigation to do an end-run around the limits on collateral attack on state convictions in habeas corpus law. We will take a closer look at that one, although on its facts it appears that the plaintiff has a valid complaint.

Quadruple Murderer Pleads Guilty to Avoid Death Penalty

by · Jul 1, 2025 11:41 am

Bryan Kohberger, the criminology student charged with the brutal murders of four University of Idaho co-eds in 2022, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for four consecutive life-in-prison-without-parole (LWOP) sentences.  CBS News reports that in a letter delivered prior to Kohberger’s upcoming trial his attorneys asked for the plea deal, which includes a waiver of his right to appeal.  Overwhelming evidence pointed to Kohberger as the person who, early on the morning of November 13, 2022, entered an unlocked home in Moscow, Idaho and stabbed college friends Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21,  and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 to death while they slept.

Continue reading . . .

Japan Executes Serial Killer

by · Jun 27, 2025 5:14 pm

Junko Ogura and Chris Lau report for CNN:

Japan has executed a man dubbed the “Twitter killer,” who was convicted of murdering and dismembering nine people, mostly women, in the country’s first use of capital punishment in nearly three years.

Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged Friday at the Tokyo Detention House. He was sentenced to death in 2020 after pleading guilty to killing the nine people – eight women and one man. Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Nixes Nationwide Injunctions

by · Jun 27, 2025 8:09 am

The Supreme Court held today that the statute that grants federal courts authority in “suits in equity” does not empower a court to issue an injunction against enforcement of a statute or executive order that applies nationwide, as opposed to one that only protects the plaintiffs in the case.

The high court based its opinion on the statute only, not Article III of the Constitution as the government had requested. That means that Congress can still enact a new statute spelling out when, if ever, nationwide injunctions can be ordered. Bills are pending in Congress, as I noted in this post. Congress should proceed with that effort. Sometimes such injunctions are needed, but swift review must be provided so that a single judge does not halt enforcement on a dubious theory, especially where the same theory has been rejected by other district judges.

Continue reading . . .

NBC: “Ice Has Arrested Only 6% of Known Immigrant Murderers”

by · Jun 26, 2025 11:09 am

Despite President Trump’s pledge to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) catch and deport the worst illegal alien criminals, NBC news reports that so far the administration has only caught and arrested 752 illegal alien murderers. According to the story, new data obtained by NBC News shows that from Oct. 1 to May 31, ICE arrested 752 people convicted of homicide and 1,693 people convicted of sexual assault, meaning that at the absolute most, the Trump administration has detained only 6% of the undocumented immigrants known to ICE to have been convicted of homicide and 11% of those known to ICE to have been convicted of sexual assault. The obvious conclusion is that the Trump administration is failing to keep its promise. The article goes on to suggest, that based upon an anonymous source, ICE is now arresting and deporting “anyone who does not have legal status.”

Continue reading . . .