Tag: Policy

Youth in Adult Courts, Jails, and Prisons – The Sentencing Project

Overview

At the turn of the 21st century, it was estimated that 250,000 children every year were charged as adults in the United States. By 2019, that number had dropped 80% to 53,000. This drop is to be celebrated and is the result of legislative changes in 44 states and the District of Columbia, as well as federal funding incentives. However, there is still much work to be done.

The children that remain exposed to the adult criminal legal system are overwhelmingly youth of color. The vast majority serve short sentences in adult jail or prison and return home by their 21st birthdays, the age at which services can be extended to in the youth justice system in the vast majority of states; indicating that many youth could be served, more appropriately, by the youth justice system.
— Read on www.sentencingproject.org/reports/youth-in-adult-courts-jails-and-prisons/

New data fill long-standing gaps in the study of policing | Science

Data limitations have long stymied research on racial bias in policing. To persuasively demonstrate bias, scholars have sought to compare officer behavior toward minority versus white civilians while holding constant all other factors in the police-civilian encounter that might provide alternative explanations for enforcement disparities. These comparisons in “similar circumstances” are also critical in litigation concerning discriminatory policing, which can often lead to court-ordered remedies (1). Such “all-else-equal” scenarios are elusive in many realms of social science, but two challenges have made them particularly difficult to find in the study of policing. On page 1397 of this issue, Aggarwal et al. (2) report using data from the ridesharing service Lyft—having obtained vehicle location on more than 200,000 drivers using highfrequency GPS pings from their smartphones—to analyze speeding enforcement by the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and to show how such data offer a path forward for addressing both challenges.
— Read on www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adw3618

Banning No-knock and Quick Knock Warrants is the Only Way to Prevent More Tragic Killings | ACS

Central problem with this article is that in the case of Breonna Taylor, the officers had a no knock warrant but they treated it as a knock and announced warrant. So the officers actually announced their presence, knocked and waited, and then made entry. All this article does is make bad policy due to this misinformation.

Banning No-knock and Quick Knock Warrants is the Only Way to Prevent More Tragic Killings | ACS
— Read on www.acslaw.org/expertforum/banning-no-knock-and-quick-knock-warrants-is-the-only-way-to-prevent-more-tragic-killings/

NYPD union can’t overturn record police brutality settlement | Courthouse News Service

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal appeals panel on Wednesday affirmed a record settlement resolving a federal class action over so-called “kettling” tactics used by New York City law enforcement to trap civil rights protesters.

A three-judge panel for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a summary order that the Police Benevolent Association, the largest of New York City’s five police unions, failed to demonstrate that it would suffer “legal prejudice” from upholding a lower court’s dismissal of the union’s intervenor claims against the massive settlement agreement and overhaul of NYPD protest policing tactics.

A Manhattan federal district court judge previously rejected the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York’s objections to the settlement as a third-party intervenor, and on appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed the lower court tossing out the union’s safety objections on a motion to dismiss.
— Read on www.courthousenews.com/nypd-union-cant-overturn-record-police-brutality-settlement/

Aurora allows police to pursue stolen-car suspects despite studies exposing danger – Sentinel Colorado

Contradicting decades of national research, Aurora’s police chief has eased restrictions on when officers can chase criminal suspects, allowing for car pursuits linked to stolen vehicles and drunken-driving suspects.

“Over the past several years, the Aurora Police Department has not engaged in pursuits of stolen vehicles, despite auto theft being a felony offense,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said in a statement last week. “This has created a reality where offenders believe they can victimize our community with no consequence, simply fleeing from law enforcement to avoid accountability.”

Aurora police have for years allowed officers to pursue suspects who have committed or are committing a felony and considered a serious risk to public safety if they are not immediately apprehended.  Police policy has also allowed officers to pursue a suspect committing a crime involving a firearm who the officer believes poses a serious threat to the public
— Read on sentinelcolorado.com/metro/aurora-allows-police-to-pursue-stolen-car-suspects-despite-studies-exposing-danger/