Canada is studying the use of
private companies to deliver some prison services as it cuts
spending and imposes tougher sentences on criminals, which may
benefit companies like GEO Group Inc. (GEO)
Correctional Service Canada, which oversees federal
prisons, “may consider” partnerships with private firms to
provide “basic institutional services such as cleaning and food
preparation,” says a memo prepared for Public Safety Minister
Vic Toews in advance of a May 14 meeting with Crispin Blunt,
U.K. Minister of State for Prisons in London.
Officials in the department urged Toews to discuss Canada’s
“interest in considering the privatization of penitentiary
services on a limited basis,” according to the memo obtained by
Bloomberg News under Canada’s freedom-of-information law.
Public Safety officials were lobbied by the GEO Group as
the government was preparing legislation to introduce or
lengthen mandatory sentences for some types of crime. The annual
budget of Correctional Service Canada, which reports to Toews,
will fall to C$2.86 billion ($2.81 billion) by the year
beginning April 2014 from C$3.03 billion in the current fiscal
year, according to agency planning documents.
Read on...
Your resource for news, research, opinion and comment in the world of Criminology and Criminal Justice, brought to you by the Criminology Library, Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto
Fact-Check: How the NYPD Overstated Its Counterterrorism Record
The NYPD is regularly held up as one of the most sophisticated and
significant counterterrorism operations in the country. As evidence of
the NYPD's excellence, the department, its allies, and the media have
repeatedly said the department has thwarted or helped thwart 14
terrorist plots against New York City since September 11.
In a glowing profile of Commissioner Ray Kelly published in Newsweek last month, for example, journalist Christopher Dickey wrote of the commissioner's tenure since taking office in 2002: The record "is hard to argue with: at least 14 full-blown terrorist attacks have been prevented or failed on Kelly's watch."
The figure has been cited repeatedly in the media, by New York congressmen, and by Kelly himself. The NYPD itself has published the full list, saying terrorists have "attempted to kill New Yorkers in 14 different plots."
As Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in March: "We have the best police department in the world, and I think they show that every single day and we have stopped 14 attacks since 9/11 fortunately without anybody dying."
Is it true?
In a word, no.
Read on...
In a glowing profile of Commissioner Ray Kelly published in Newsweek last month, for example, journalist Christopher Dickey wrote of the commissioner's tenure since taking office in 2002: The record "is hard to argue with: at least 14 full-blown terrorist attacks have been prevented or failed on Kelly's watch."
The figure has been cited repeatedly in the media, by New York congressmen, and by Kelly himself. The NYPD itself has published the full list, saying terrorists have "attempted to kill New Yorkers in 14 different plots."
As Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in March: "We have the best police department in the world, and I think they show that every single day and we have stopped 14 attacks since 9/11 fortunately without anybody dying."
Is it true?
In a word, no.
Read on...
Romney Supports Voter ID Laws That Could Disenfranchise 25% Of African-Americans
Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention. He will purportedly
focus solely on the economy, steering clear of addressing the
controversial voter identification laws that the civil rights
organization sees
as “systematically suppressing voters of color, students and the
elderly.” Indeed, Romney has previously backed the very efforts the
NAACP opposes, saying,
“I like Voter ID laws by the way… more of them,” ignoring the evidence
that voter ID laws disproportionately disenfranchise African-Americans:
- A Center for American Progress investigation concluded that “these laws hinder voting rights in a manner not seen since the era of Jim Crow,” given that minorities (along the young and the poor) are more likely to be unable to acquire photo identification.
- Indeed, 25 percent of African-American voters lack the type of ID required to vote under these laws.
Who would Jesus taser?
I'm sure there was absolutely no other way to deal with this:
The religious ruckus happened at Victory Church at 1515 N. Kelly Ave in Edmond.
A woman was apparently playing a tambourine too loudly during Wednesday night services.
When she refused to stop, the woman was escorted out by an off duty Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Deputy.
Myers said, “He had to physically escort her outside the church. Once outside, she broke free from the deputy and tried to go back inside, there became a physical confrontation.”
According to the arrest report, the deputy was forced to pepper spray and tase the unruly woman.
Read on...
Florida ‘first offender’ gets 161 years in prison
MIAMI—Quartavious Davis is still shocked by what happened to him in a U.S. federal court two months ago.
“My first offence, and they gave me all this time,” said Davis in an interview at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. “Might just as well say I’m dead.”
Davis was convicted of his role in a string of armed robberies in the Miami area in 2010. His accomplices testified against him, saying he carried a gun during their crimes and discharged it at a dog that chased them. But Davis was not convicted of hurting anyone physically, including the dog.
Davis would occupy no place at all in the annals of crime if not for his sentence. Now 20 years old, he was sentenced to 1,941 months in prison — 162 years and a bit — without the possibility of parole.
Read on...
“My first offence, and they gave me all this time,” said Davis in an interview at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. “Might just as well say I’m dead.”
Davis was convicted of his role in a string of armed robberies in the Miami area in 2010. His accomplices testified against him, saying he carried a gun during their crimes and discharged it at a dog that chased them. But Davis was not convicted of hurting anyone physically, including the dog.
Davis would occupy no place at all in the annals of crime if not for his sentence. Now 20 years old, he was sentenced to 1,941 months in prison — 162 years and a bit — without the possibility of parole.
Read on...
UC Berkeley Purchases Armored Personnel Carrier
From CampusReform.org
Wonder what the UofT police think of this? Tom
The University of California - Berkeley Police Department (UCPD) has acquired a $200,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase an "Armored Response Counter Attack Truck," a police department spokesman told Campus Reform on Friday.
The eight-ton vehicle, commonly referred to as a "Bearcat," is used by U.S. troops on the battlefield and is often equipped with a rotating roof hatch, powered turrets, gun ports, a battering ram, and a weapon system used to remotely engage a target with lethal force.Read on...
Lt. Eric Tejada, a spokesman for UCPD, said the university plans to use the vehicle along with neighboring counties in dangerous situations that could involved heavy weapons.Tejada said that although he does know of any incident in the university's 144-year history in which such a vehicle would have saved a life, the police department would have have liked to deploy it in an incident last year when they mistakenly believed a man had an AK-47 assault rifle.
Wonder what the UofT police think of this? Tom
NYPD Posts ‘Wanted’ Flyer Targeting Couple That Legally Videotapes Stop-And-Frisks
The New York Police Department has put out a “police advisory” flyer
warning cops and residents to look out for two “professional agitators,”
a Harlem couple who film officers stopping and frisking young New Yorkers of color.
DNAinfo reports that Matthew Swaye, 35, and his partner Christina Gonzalez, 25, came across the poster, complete with mugshots and the official seal of the NYPD’s intelligence division, taped to a podium in the 30th precinct’s public hearing room while attending a precinct council meeting. The flyer listed the home address of the couple and warned:
DNAinfo reports that Matthew Swaye, 35, and his partner Christina Gonzalez, 25, came across the poster, complete with mugshots and the official seal of the NYPD’s intelligence division, taped to a podium in the 30th precinct’s public hearing room while attending a precinct council meeting. The flyer listed the home address of the couple and warned:
Be aware that the subjects are known professional agitators that live at [home address]. Above subjects mo is that they video tape officers performing routine stops and post on youtube. Subjects purpose is to portray officers in a negative way and too deter officers from conducting there responsibilities. Above subjects also deter officers from being safe and tactical by causing unnecessary distractions. Do not feed into subjects propaganda.Read on...
"We can't afford it"
States across the country are revisiting three-strikes laws and other
tough mandatory minimum sentencing laws, particularly for low-level drug
crimes. Of the 24 states that passed three-strikes laws in the early
1990s, at least 16 have since modified them to give judges more
discretion in sentencing or narrow the types of crimes that count as a
“strike,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures
(NCSL).
At least 14 states in recent years also either eliminated mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level drug offenders, or gave judges more discretion to consider alternatives to incarceration, according to the NCSL.
Read on...
At least 14 states in recent years also either eliminated mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level drug offenders, or gave judges more discretion to consider alternatives to incarceration, according to the NCSL.
Read on...
Stand your ground or circular firing squad?
“[Stand Your Ground] states have a higher percentage of black population, more likely to have a Republican governor, higher incarceration rates and more police officers. These states also tend to be more urban, and have a higher poverty rate.”
and yet:
Using homicide data from 2006 to 2008, the years after a wave of legislatures passed such laws in 2006, the researchers found that “Stand Your Ground” laws, which provide protection for deadly use of force in self-defense in a public place, results in a “significant increase in the number of homicides among whites, especially white males.” The results are found to be specific to “Stand Your Ground” laws and the effect doesn’t extend to other laws passed in the interest of self-defense.Read on...
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