04Jul 2022 by Charles E. Price

The irony of today’s tough-on-crime rhetoric

LAW
America faces a challenge on the issue of crime. Whether we deal with it effectively or not, however, depends on the willingness of leaders from both the left and right to drop the slogans and culture wars and truly put public safety first. "Let them go." "Lock them up." “Defund the police.” “Back the blue.” Conflicting messages from political leaders are not only confusing and divisive, they also miss the point that many people don't feel safe and want solutions that work. Regardless of the historical decline in overall crime rate — a trend that accounts for the current uptick in certain violent crimes — some are demagoguing the broader issue to usher in an era of draconian sentences under the guise of public safety. Ironically, these tough-on-crime proposals can…
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04Jul 2022 by Charles E. Price

Justice Department Braces for Rise in Violent Crime

LAW
Yet the federal government, for all its vast investigative powers, plays a supporting role when it comes to fighting street crime. The Justice Department prosecutes major drug and weapons trafficking cases, provides technical support on gun tracing and the analysis of other evidence, and distributes billions in grants to supplement the budgets of local departments that are mainly paid for by area taxpayers.Over the past year, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has announced a series of steps intended to bolster efforts to counter rising crime rates. It comes at a time when the administration as a whole is anxious about the dire political implications of the perception that it is letting the situation spiral out of control.They include the creation of five “strike forces” that work with local law enforcement…
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