Tag: Criminal Justice System

Mayoral transition plan for transportation echoes priorities of advocates, including 20/10 mph speed limit

Last week, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team released a sweeping 223-page report of policy recommendations across multiple sectors, including transportation. 

The transportation subcommittee that penned the corresponding section of the report is comprised of transit agency representatives, community stakeholders and advocates, including members of Active Transportation Alliance, Access Living, and Better Streets Chicago—three of six organizations that banded together as the Safe Streets for All Coalition, which formed to amplify the call for safety for people on foot and bikes in the months leading up to the mayoral election. The subcommittee is chaired by state representative Kam Buckner, whose mayoral run featured the most progressive and comprehensive transportation platform of the nine candidates. 

The resulting twenty pages of transportation recommendations in the report reflect the priorities of a group committed to transforming our current car-centric roadways into a safer, healthier, more equitable system for all. An introductory context section acknowledges how the combined damage of transit disinvestment, destructive highways and a concentration of industrial freight in low-income Black and Brown neighborhoods has saddled residents with poorer health outcomes and less connection to the necessities of life. It also acknowledges the blow Covid-19 dealt to public transportation in ridership and revenue, and the urgent need for new, consistent sources of funding to restore and improve Chicago’s transit system.

Read more HERE

2023 Mayoral Transition Report HERE

Crime, a Symposium: Looking Back, Looking Forward

What happened in 2022 and why? Where are we headed in 2023?  Ten experts weigh in:

Articles in this symposium:

1. Fix Public Policy or Pay a Price – Peter Moskos and John Hall 2. Please Stop Blaming Bail Reform – John Pfaff 3. What Crime Trends Are in Store This Year? – Thomas Abt 4. The Bronx is Combining Accountability and Rehabilitation – Darcel Clark 5. The Smart Path to a Safer Brooklyn – Eric Gonzalez 6. Act Now, or Expect More of the Same – Charles Fain Lehman 7. A Tale of Two Divergent Paths – John K. Roman and Anthony Washburn 8. Our Crime Debate Remains Tragically Shortsighted – Jeffrey A. Butts

See the original article HERE

Arrests in Philadelphia nosedive while reported incidents increase

Interesting article on what is going on in Philadelphia. Is it the Krasner Effect? Read and decide.

Reported crime is up, arrests in Philadelphia are down. Experts disagree on the cause. A. Benjamin Mannes and Todd Shepherd break it down.
— Read on broadandliberty.com/2023/07/12/arrests-in-philadelphia-nosedive-while-reported-incidents-increased-over-last-five-years/

Lawsuit Challenges Unequal Response to Mental Health Emergencies in Washington, DC | ACLU of DC

The lawsuit is to prohibit Police from responding to Mental Health Emergency Calls.

We’re representing Bread for the City in a federal lawsuit challenging the District’s practice of sending police to mental health emergencies instead of mental health professionals.
— Read on www.acludc.org/en/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-unequal-response-mental-health-emergencies-washington-dc

Perfect Example of the Damage to Police from a Progressive Prosecutor – Commentary

Incident

This is one copy of the video of the incident found on Twitter. The incident allegedly began with an argument between Jeremy Brown and Carlishia Hood. The argument escalated with Brown punching Carlishia Hood. Apparently Carlishia Hood was able to contact her 14 year old son to bring her firearm and come in the hotdog stand to help her. The son entered the establishment saw the altercation and shot Brown. The according to news reports (below) Carlishia Hood instructed her 14 year old son to go after and continue to shoot Brown and then attack another patron that was laughing during the incident.

The Arrest

There was a decision to Arrest Carlishia Hood and her 14 year old son. I don’t know all the facts in the case but I can see how Chicago PD (CPD) made this decision. The main issue is Carlishia Hood having her 14 year old son shoot Brown and then when the threat stopped have her son continue to pursue Brown and kill Brown. Then if the allegation is true to have he 14 year old son to attack a second person for laughing during the incident, which was asked but didn’t happen.

It makes sense that CPD would arrest Carlishia Hood and her 14 son for the death of Brown and then Carlishia Hood for endangering the welfare of her 14 year old child. Then the prosecutor would prepare a case against Carlishia Hood and then it becomes the defendant’s burden to raise the motion of self-defense and prove it. By the prosecutor dropping the case it opens up the police officers involved and police department to a lawsuit even though they acted lawfully when they made the arrest.

Keep in mind that (this is only looking at the video) Carlishia Hood had to text her 14 year old son to get the gun before she was punched. No one reacted in the video by leaving or running away until the 14 year old son shot Brown. Was anyone in fear of their life?

Video about the arrest: https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/woman-14-year-old-charge-in-fatal-shooting-on-far-south-side/

Charges dropped

This is an example of a slippery slope for police that Progressive Prosecutors artificially create. This is an example of one instance that police act lawfully and the prosecutor should have followed through with the charges, however they drop the charges leaving police officers and the police department exposed to civil liability. It appears that the police officers acted improperly, but they didn’t.

There are other examples like when Progressive Prosecutors make their own special policy on which crimes or under what circumstances they will prosecute arrests. The law hasn’t changed just the prosecutor’s discretion.

For example in New York is a person shoplifts and during the shoplifting crime and the offender’s escape the offender displays a hammer and says “If you try to stop me I’ll smash your head in”. This act would raise the shoplifting to a robbery, but not in Manhattan under DA Bragg. In DA Bragg’s “Day One Memo” he stated:

a) An act that could be charged under PL §§ 160.15 (2, 3, or 4), 160.10(2b), or 160.05 that occurs in a commercial setting should be charged under PL § 155.25 if the force or threat of force consists of displaying a dangerous instrument or similar behavior but does not create a genuine risk of physical harm.

So if the NYPD made the correct arrest they would have arrested the offender for robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, and larceny. Who knows how DA Bragg’s assistant prosecutors would have handled the case. They might drop the whole case which would leave the NYPD and the officers open to a civil lawsuit.

Video about charges dropped: https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/charges-dropped-against-mother-and-14-year-old-son-in-fatal-shooting/

Lawsuit

Video about the lawsuit: https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/mother-in-deadly-maxwell-street-express-shooting-expected-to-speak-after-charges-dropped/

Report shows persistent racial disparities in Kentucky juvenile justice system | WKMS

Despite reforms to Kentucky’s juvenile justice system over the last decade, data shows Black kids continue to disproportionately end up in youth detention compared to white and Hispanic children.
— Read on www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-06-21/report-shows-persistent-racial-disparities-in-kentucky-juvenile-justice-system