Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
The U.S. is on course to end 2023 with one of the largest annual drops in homicides on record, according to preliminary figures from AH Datalytics, a data analysis firm.
Yet more than three-quarters (77%) of Americans believe crime has increased in the U.S. since last year.
Full story: Homicides in U.S. to drop by record numbers in 2023
New statistics released Thursday show law enforcement line-of-duty deaths decreased by 40% in 2023, including a sharp decrease in those shot and killed, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).
NLEOMF is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that tracks law enforcement related statistics.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, 136 federal, state and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty compared to 224 officers in 2022.
Forty-seven officers were shot and killed in the line of duty in 2023. That represents a 25% decrease compared to the 63 officers who were shot and killed in 2022.
Full story: Line-of-duty officer deaths decreased almost 40% in 2023 – ABC News
After decades of declining fatality rates, dangerous driving has surged again…
Full story: Why Are American Drivers So Deadly? – The New York Times
State and local leaders are proposing to roll back part of the nation’s pioneering drug decriminalization law and step up police enforcement…
Full story: To Revive Portland, Officials Seek to Ban Public Drug Use
Social media firms relying on AI for moderation generate unviable reports which hamper authorities from investigating cases…
Full story: Revealed: US police prevented from viewing many online child sexual abuse reports, lawyers say
The Justice Department says police officials who responded to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, “demonstrated no urgency” in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation…
Full story: The police response to the Uvalde shooting was riddled with failures, a new DOJ report says
A court filing shows that the U.S. Department of Justice agrees that BPD is now fully compliant on two sections of its consent decree with the federal government…
Full story: Baltimore Police Department federal consent decree: 2 sections now in compliance – The Baltimore Banner
State police and other agencies rescued the college students via helicopter Monday…
Full story: State police rescue students stranded in the snow while camping
A woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande on Friday while trying to enter the U.S. near a section of the southern border where Texas National Guard soldiers have prevented federal Border Patrol agents from processing and rescuing migrants.
Federal officials and a Texas congressman said National Guard soldiers deployed by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not allow Border Patrol agents to attempt to rescue the migrants. Earlier this week, Texas National Guard soldiers abruptly seized control of a public park in Eagle Pass that Border Patrol had been using to hold migrants, marking the latest escalation in an intensifying political and legal feud between Abbott and President Biden over U.S. border policy.
Full story: 3 migrants drowned near area where Texas has denied entry to federal border agents – CBS News
The Supreme Court has agreed to review lower-court rulings that make it harder for cities in the western United States to prevent people from sleeping on the streets when there aren’t enough beds in homeless shelters…
Full story: The Supreme Court will decide whether local anti-homeless laws are ‘cruel and unusual’