crime

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Filling Jails Doesn't Cut Crime
Filling Jails Doesn't
Cut Crime

Filling Jails Doesn't Cut Crime

Study concludes that longer sentences don't make streets safer

(Newser) - Getting tough on criminals through longer prison terms—at an annual cost of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars—hasn't made a major impact on crime, concludes a study released yesterday. The US prison population has increased 800% since 1970—giving the nation has the world's highest incarceration rate—...

Vick Gets a Jump on Jail
Vick Gets a Jump on Jail

Vick Gets a Jump on Jail

Disgraced QB reports to prison 3 weeks before dogfighting sentencing

(Newser) - Scandal-dogged quarterback Michael Vick reported to federal custody today, starting his sentence before his Dec. 10 sentencing hearing so he can get out as soon as possible, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. "From the beginning, Mr. Vick has accepted responsibility for his actions and his self surrender further demonstrates that...

Hate Crimes Up; Racial Incidents Dominate

FBI figures show 8% jump for 2006

(Newser) - Hate crimes in the US rose 7.8% in 2006, with racially motivated attacks accounting for more than half of 7,722 reported incidents. Religious bias represented one-fifth of hate crimes, and cases of sexual orientation discrimination nearly 16%, the AP reports. Victims of racial bias are overwhelmingly black, according...

Missing Hoop Star's Body Found in Brazil

Police consider suicide, homicide in ex-WSU player's death

(Newser) - The body of a former Washington State University basketball star who had been missing in Brazil was found yesterday, reports the Seattle Times. Tony Harris' death is being investigated as a suicide, but police "are not ruling out homicide," a spokesman told the AP. Harris, 36, was in...

Detroit Named Most Dangerous City in America

But experts blast list for hurting cities and distorting perceptions

(Newser) - Motor City sped away as the nation’s most dangerous metropolis, according to the latest crime statistics examined by a private research firm that named Detroit worst of the worst. But city officials and crime experts slammed the annual ranking as worse than useless. A spokesmen for the FBI, whose...

Peterson Threatened My Life: 2nd Wife
Peterson Threatened My Life: 2nd Wife

Peterson Threatened My Life: 2nd Wife

Spouse of 10 years says ex-cop 'had a disease to his ego'

(Newser) - Drew Peterson's second wife says the ex-cop under suspicion in the disappearance of his current wife threatened to kill her and make it look like an accident, the Chicago Tribune reports. Vicki Connolly says of suspicions that Drew Peterson might have killed his foutth wife, Stacy Peterson, "He has...

You'd Better Silence That Spray Paint

SoCal city installs sensors that can hear graffiti artists

(Newser) - If you’re going out to tag in Montebello, Calif., consider using a paintbrush. The Los Angeles neighborhood has spent $1 million on an anti-graffiti system that can hear aerosol cans up to 80 feet away. The 25 “tagger traps” employ sound sensors to catch graffiti artists red-(or blue-...

Wire's Architect Begins His Final Chapter

David Simon put whole life, love of Baltimore into HBO's hit drama

(Newser) - The final season of HBO critical darling The Wire lands in January, and will revolve around the newsroom—the last unscripted setting from creator David Simon’s own experience. The show has tackled drug runners, cops, dockworkers, and inner-city schoolchildren “with sociological precision,” reports New Yorker’s Margaret...

Judges Condemn Sentencing Guidelines

High court, Mukasey may give them leeway

(Newser) - Judges across the country are condemning federal sentencing guidelines, 1980s-era anti-drug laws that force them to impose “irrational” sentences, the LA Times reports. “When I have to sentence a midlevel drug dealer to more time than a murderer, something is wrong,” said a judge forced to sentence...

'Ghost Ship' a Case of Intrigue on High Seas

Charter found near Cuba, crew missing; 2 survivors being held

(Newser) - The sea is telling no secrets about an abandoned charter boat found 30 miles north of Cuba this week, missing the young couple who owned it and two crewmembers. But Newsweek reports that the two men who chartered the boat, found floating miles away in its life raft, are failing...

TV Was Burglary 101 for Robber
TV Was Burglary 101 for Robber

TV Was Burglary 101 for Robber

(Newser) - Everything he knew, he learned from TV. That's what a slick burglar told police in Richmond, Ky., when he was finally caught for a string of robberies, the AP reports. News of the man's sentencing and guilty plea last week might make Discovery Channel execs think twice before renewing It ...

Six Arrested in Horrific W.Va. Abuse Case

Woman was kidnapped, tortured and sexually assaulted

(Newser) - Six people were arrested in a grisly kidnapping and assault case in rural West Virginia, and two others are still wanted. Police say an internet acquaintance delivered 23-year-old Meghan Williams to her assailants, who held her captive for at least a week, while stabbing, burning, and sexually assaulting her. “...

Dealers, Killers, and a Nobelist: Guatemala Goes to the Polls

Murders mar run-up to Sunday's election

(Newser) - Der Spiegel travels to Guatemala, where this Sunday's elections present an eye-opening array of candidates, from Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú to a less savory slate of cartel leaders, convicted murders, weapons smugglers, and at least one man accused of genocide. Guatemala's crime rate is sky-high, and now the candidates...

Witness Fear Trumps Justice in Baltimore

Juror recounts story worthy of HBO’s ‘Wire’

(Newser) - One witness to a double Baltimore police shooting reversed his story in the courtroom and another was driven to tears before publicly repeating what she’d told authorities after the incident. A juror in the eventual mistrial describes his experience in Oxford American, writing that witness intimidation—the defendant sat...

Americans Losing Taste for Death Penalty

Capital sentences and executions slow as public attitudes change

(Newser) - Capital punishment seems to be dying a slow death in the US. As public sentiment shifts toward life sentences, the number of death sentences has dropped 60% since the mid-'90s and the number of executions has fallen 46% since 1999, reports the Economist. Then there’s Texas, which has carried...

Crime Rocks New Orleans
Crime Rocks New Orleans

Crime Rocks New Orleans

Two years after Katrina, criminals flood city

(Newser) - Only two-thirds of the population of New Orleans has returned since Hurricane Katrina destroyed large parts of the city two years ago—but crime has returned full force. The murder rate in the Big Easy is rocketing, crime is a constant fear among citizens and many are arming themselves for...

Boy, 11, Shot Dead, and UK Press Reels

Youth's murder provokes shock, anger across British media

(Newser) - An 11-year-old boy was shot dead in Liverpool yesterday, leading to soul-searching and recriminations across the British press. Rhys Jones died in his mother's arms, apparently an innocent victim in a showdown between two local gangs. Rhys's photograph is on the cover of almost every newspaper today alongside claims of...

'Barbie Bandit' Fesses Up in Court
'Barbie Bandit' Fesses Up
in Court

'Barbie Bandit' Fesses Up in Court

Teen bank robber enters weepy guilty plea

(Newser) - Saying she wants to take responsibility for her actions, one of the so-called Barbie Bandits entered a tearful guilty plea today despite not having worked out a deal with prosecutors. In February, 19-year-old Heather Johnston and a fellow stripper robbed a Georgia bank of $11,000, using only sunglasses as...

Arrest Marks TJX Hack Case Breakthrough

Ukrainian man captured in Turkey called key to massive scheme

(Newser) - A Ukrainian-born man believed to have helped arrange the sale of credit card numbers stolen from TJX is in custody, investigators say, and his arrest may help crack the largest case of corporate data theft on record. He was selling thousands of  stolen numbers, the Boston Globe reports, but it's...

3rd Suspect Held in NJ Slayings
3rd Suspect Held in NJ Slayings

3rd Suspect Held in NJ Slayings

Two more wanted in connection with three execution-style murders

(Newser) - A teen wanted in connection with the slayings of three college students and the attempted murder of a fourth in Newark was taken into custody today, and authorities are seeking two more suspects implicated in the execution-style homicides. Another suspect, Jose Carranza, pleaded not guilty this morning; the third, a...

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