Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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Failed Twice by the Criminal Justice System
by James A. Bacon The most basic and essential of all government services is to administer justice and protect the citizenry. If government can’t do that, it fails at the most profound level. So, now we read about a murder trial in Petersburg in which a young felon was accused of gunning down a 19-year-old…
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Curse Thee, Demon Smart Meter!
Smart meters could be a key contributor to America’s evolution to an energy-efficient future. The devices measure gas and electricity consumption, helping consumers reduce energy consumption, save money and reduce the CO2 emissions implicated in global warming. The widespread use of smart meters could enable power companies to offer incentives for consumers to shift their electricity…
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Uber and Lyft Are Wonderful, but Not that Wonderful
It makes a great story: The Department of Motor Vehicles registered some 86,000 drivers under new “transportation service company” rules in 2015, Virginians are availing themselves of Uber and Lyft ridership services in record numbers, and the rate of alcohol-related automobile crashes declined markedly last year. It stands to reason, more Virginians are taking rides with…
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Bacon Bits: Virginia, Fifth Safest State in the Union
Virginia is one of only five states in the country where fewer than 200 violent crimes were reported per 100,000 inhabitants last year, according to MSN Money. That makes it the safest state in the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic. Higher incomes and a lower poverty rate were big contributors, contends the less-than-authoritative commentary to accompany…
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What Virginia Millennials Are Looking For
by James A. Bacon Three out of four Virginia Millennials (belonging to the 18- to 36-year-old age cohort) are largely satisfied with the quality of life in their communities. But local quality-of-life indicators often fall short of what Millennials are looking for, and many are open to moving to other parts of Virginia or even to other states.…
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Blankenship Convicted
Bacon’s Rebellion readers will remember that former long-time contributor Peter Galuszka devoted much of his time and energy to chronicling the activities of former coal mogul Donald L. Blankenship. Although Blankenship was better known in West Virginia where he lived and worked, he had a Virginia connection as CEO for many years of Richmond-headquartered Massey Energy. Blankenship…
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Virginia’s Heroin Epidemic
by James A. Bacon Catelyn Weems was a typical kid from a middle-class family, healthy, outgoing, having everything to live for, when a soccer injury sent her life spiraling into hell. A series of operations to fix teeth damaged in the accident led to overuse of prescription pain killers. Catelyn tried to shake her addiction, repeatedly…
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The Virginia Way Rides On
There you go again. Yesterday, Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms was charged with five counts of violating the state’s Conflict of Interest Act. The Virginian-Pilot’s article on the matter can be found here. Mayor Sessoms is accused of casting votes to benefit the borrowers of the bank where he served as president. To state what is…
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Time to Reform Juvenile Justice
by Chris Braunlich If the evidence showed that taking a particular medication actually made the disease worse, would you keep on taking it? Of course not. But a recent paper, Juvenile Justice Reform, co-issued by Justice Fellowship, Right On Crime, and the Thomas Jefferson Institute makes the case that, when it comes to Virginia’s juvenile…
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Breaking the Cycle of Debt and Suspended Licenses
by James A. Bacon Joe Herbin has always been a hard worker. When he was 15 years old, he’d accumulated the $1,200 it took to buy an old Cadillac. The fact that he didn’t have a driver’s license — or was too young even to get one — wasn’t a deterrent. He installed a bad-ass sound…
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Mass Incarceration (Part II)
by Sarah Scarbrough My last blog post established that crime has gone down since mass incarceration began but that mass incarceration was not responsible for that decline. Studies have shown no significant correlation between the increase in the prison population and the decrease in crime. Attitudes toward mass incarceration are changing. In an initiative endorsed by…
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Mass Incarceration (Part I)
by Sarah Scarbrough Are we using prison and jail too much? Do we put people behind bars with long sentences as a means to attempt to curb the crime rate? Many refer to this as mass incarceration. First, though, let me first start by framing this and giving you a bit of context and background……
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Tough on Bad Drivers
The latest from WalletHub… Virginia is the third strictest state in the country when dealing with high-risk drivers. The Old Dominion is consistently among the tougher states for Driving Under the Influence penalties and prevention, speeding enforcement and reckless driving enforcement. For what it’s worth: Red states are slightly tougher on at-risk drivers than blue…
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Alpha Natural Resources: Running Wrong
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka Four years ago, coal titan Alpha Natural Resources, one of Virginia’s biggest political donors, was riding high. It was spending $7.1 billion to buy Massey Energy, a renegade coal firm based in Richmond that had compiled an extraordinary record for safety and environmental violations and fines. Its management practices culminated in a…
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Memories of a Klan Rally
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Electoral process, Energy, Federal issues, Government Finance, Gun rights, Immigration, Labor and Workforce, Media, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka I was looking through a some old clips today and spotted this Golden Oldie that ran in the Jan. 30, 2000 edition of BusinessWeek magazine where I worked for about 15 years. Bloomberg now owns rights to it and I hope they don’t mind me re-running it. Mindful of the lofty rhetoric…