Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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Is U.S. 460 Really a “Race Trap” for Blacks?
by James A. Bacon On April 17 The Virginian-Pilot published an article with the following headline: “Not a speed trap, a race trap: Black Virginians say they’ve been racially profiled in and around Windsor for decades.” The highly publicized traffic-stop encounter in which two white policemen pepper-sprayed Caron Nazario, a black army lieutenant, on U.S.…
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Culture Wars and the Law
by James C. Sherlock We have reported here significant evidence of the criminal harassment of two conservative students, one a student council member at the University of Virginia and the other a soccer player at Virginia Tech, for their political views. Both have been treated as administrative matters at the two universities. That is a…
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Mentally Ill in Jail, Part 2 — State and Local Efforts to Address the Issue
by Dick Hall-Sizemore (Note: This is the second installment of a discussion on mentally ill people in Virginia’s jails. Part 1 of this series set out the scope of the problem.) Although senior policymakers are aware of the large number of mentally ill people in jails and acknowledge the seriousness of the problem, the state…
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Journalism, Confirmation Bias and the Presumption of Racism
by James A. Bacon People believe what they want to believe. They seek information that affirms their worldview, and they downplay or ignore evidence that conflicts with it. Psychologists have term for this proclivity: “confirmation bias.” Confirmation bias is extremely well documented in the psychological literature. Everyone falls prey to it. It doesn’t matter how…
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Mentally Ill in Jails, Part 1–The Scope of the Problem
By Dick Hall-Sizemore (Note: This was not intended to be a long post, but, during its development, it grew like Topsy. Being painfully aware of my tendency to be wordy and the limitations of a blog regarding long essays, I have broken the post into three parts or installments. The first examines the extent of…
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Here’s What You Look Like to a Traffic Cop
by James A. Bacon After a recent incident in which two Windsor policemen stopped black army officer Caron Nazario, pepper sprayed him, and forced him out of his car and onto the ground, the driving-while-black phenomenon is back in the news. Most people would agree that the behavior of the senior officer, Joe Gutierrez, was…
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Ralph Rescues Reefer
By Don Rippert Warm up the bongs. Adults in Virginia will be able to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational use starting July 1. The bill originally passed by the General Assembly would have delayed that date until July 1, 2024. However, Governor Ralph Northam amended the bill and, after some…
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Justice For All
by Michael D. Purzycki I commend Dick Hall-Sizemore for his column of April 10. I agree with his outrage at the behavior of police in Windsor. There is no reason for an officer to point a gun at a person, or pepper-spray them, for anything to do with a license plate. And I agree that…
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Two Police Officers Made Windsor Famous
by Kerry Dougherty Looks like Windsor, Virginia, is finally on the map. For all the wrong reasons. The tiny incorporated town in Isle of Wight County, just west of Suffolk, is home to about 2,758 people. It’s not a place that makes much news and the folks there probably like it that way. But a…
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Driving While Black
By Dick Hall-Sizemore If anyone ever doubted there was a need for society to address the problem of police officers stopping Black drivers, a recent event in the town of Windsor should dispel those doubts. The incident is reported in today’s on-line Virginian-Pilot. Like incidents at Virginia institutions of higher education that have been recently…
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Is an 18-Month Sentence Too Little, Too Much, or Just Right?
by James A. Bacon By way of a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, Bacon’s Rebellion has learned of a heinous case in which a certain Amber Nelson has been sentenced to 18 months and ordered to pay restitution of $19,200 for elder neglect and abuse. I would invite readers to weigh in on…
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Selling Virginia Pot? Expect A Union Label
by Steve Haner When Virginians begin to buy marijuana from state-licensed providers, if Governor Ralph Northam has his way, along with his smiling visage on every baggie of grass you may also find a union label. I’m kidding about getting high with the governor’s image on the package but using the legalization bill to promote…
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Yes, the Virginia Beach Gang Shootings Should Be Investigated
Delegate Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, and other state legislators have called upon Attorney General Mark Herring to conduct an investigation into the shooting death of Donovon Lynch by a Virginia Beach police officer during a wild exchange of gunfire at the Oceanfront a week ago. Herring had said he supported a Virginia State Police investigation, but…
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Broken Windows
by Kerry Dougherty Maybe it’s time to admit that bicycle cops high-fiving gangbangers isn’t the best way to protect the public at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. I mean no offense to the police officers who patrol that wild 10-block area. They have a tough job. It’s time we let them do it. For years, the…
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Big Brother Has Been Curtailed
By Dick Hall-Sizemore A recent TV series, Person of Interest, centered on the ability to use large databases of personal information coupled with extensive audio and video surveillance to identify any individual and pull up extensive data on that individual. A small team of good guys used this capability to identify threats to individuals and…