Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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One Man’s “Domestic Terrorist” Is Another Man’s Social Justice Warrior
Del. Marcia Price, D-Newport News has teamed with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office to add “domestic terrorism” to the state’s list of criminal charges. Her bill, HB 1601, would make it illegal in certain cases for people associated with domestic terrorist groups to hold a meeting, reports the Daily Press. Price refused to comment for…
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“A significant failure that has diminished the City’s faith in its elected leaders”
I haven’t had time to do anything more than scan Timothy Heaphy’s report on the tragic events in Charlottesville on Aug. 11-12, but I’ve seen enough to know that it provides a sober, just-the-facts-ma’am narrative of events leading up to the Unite the Right rally, a blow-by-blow account of the rally itself, and critical context to…
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Business As Usual in the Old Dominion: Gridlock, Greed and Confusion
After LaHood report, more squabbling over Metro’s future. In the wake of recommendations by former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., are edging toward compromises that would reform the ailing mass transit system’s governance system and shore up its financing. LaHood’s proposal to shrink the Metro board from six seats to five is…
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Second Year Running: Lowest Recidivism of Any State
When Virginia ranked last year as the state with the lowest recidivism rate in the country, it wasn’t a fluke. The Old Dominion has repeated the performance. Of the 11,576 offenders released from prison in 2013, only 2,588 wound up back in jail by 2016. The percentage of felons readmitted to state-responsible incarceration within three years was…
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Plugging “Mercy” into the Judicial System
Just when it looked like the country was so locked in partisan gridlock that no one could agree about anything, along came the Republican-dominated General Assembly, the Democratic governor, and the Virginia Supreme Court to put into place reforms that make it easier for people owing court fines to keep their drivers licenses and continue…
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“I Love Mankind. It’s Just People I Can’t Stand.”
On Sept. 9, 12-year-old Bethany Harper and her nine-year-old friend Solai Coleman were sitting on the front porch of their house on Fifth Avenue in Richmond. Bethany heard the crackling pop of gunfire, and a random bullet struck Solai in the hip. “We had nothing to do with the transaction [that led to the shooting]…
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Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t
The Charlottesville City Council, City Manager and Police Chief have been tearing themselves apart with blame shifting as citizens demand accountability for the passive behavior of the police force that appeared to “stand down” as the white supremacist rally on Aug. 12 spiraled out of control. Nexus Caridades Attorneys Inc., an Augusta County law firm…
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Authorities Warned about Charlottesville Clashes
State and local officials had plenty of warning before the infamous white-supremacist rally that led to a fatality and multiple injuries earlier this month. Politico quotes a Department of Homeland Security warning that an escalating series of clashes had created a powder keg that would likely make the event “among the most violent to date”…
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Bacon Bits: Bristol, Big Ships, and Blue on Blue
Petersburg, Meet Bristol. The City of Bristol has been identified as “City A” in the recent report by the state Auditor of Public Accounts that scored even lower than Petersburg in a rating of fiscal stress, reports the Bristol Herald-Courier. Bristol hasn’t experienced the dramatic budget deficits of its fiscally challenged counterpart on the Appomattox…
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It Takes Two to Tango
The discourse over Saturday’s events in Charlottesville has evolved so rapidly that it is hard to keep up. If there’s one thing that most of us can agree upon, it’s that the mayhem and murder may have taken place in Virginia, but it does not define Virginia. Heather Heyer, victim of the car attack, was…
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Sustaining the Biggest Public Nuisance in Richmond
Republished from Cranky’s Blog. Not satisfied at maintaining the largest public nuisance in Richmond – the one that just led to the shooting death of a State Policeman – the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RHHA) now proposes to do nothing realistic about it: Fencing and gates. RRHA says this remedy is “largely . . .…
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Bringing Social Science Rigor to Jailhouse Programs
Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody spent his early career as a policeman and detective putting people behind bars. As sheriff, he has made his mark by trying to keep people out of jail. One of the smartest things Woody did was bring on Sarah Scarbrough as director of internal programs at the city jail to deliver…
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Falling Apart: Rockbridge County Edition
Here’s a story where America’s fraying social fabric intersects with near-criminal bureaucratic indifference. For context, read about the social breakdown of white America as described by sociologist Charles Murray in “Falling Apart.” After seven months of investigation, a special grand jury has found dysfunction and incompetence “from top to bottom” at the Rockbridge Area Department of…
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The Left’s War on the Poor: Sanctuary City Edition
In February a debate erupted over the City of Richmond’s approach to dealing with illegal immigrants. Mayor Levar Stoney issued a directive reiterating a city policy prohibiting police from asking people about their immigration status in the normal course of business. But that wasn’t good enough for protesters who called for the city to declare…
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Cats Laying Down with Dogs
When former attorney general Ken Cuccinelli agrees with Governor Terry McAuliffe’s proposed criminal justice reforms, it’s a sign that conservatives and liberals actually might be able to overcome their differences and get something useful done. In a Washington Post op-ed last week, Cuccinelli made the case for raising the felony theft threshold from $200, tied for lowest in…