Tag: justice

Criminal Law

Child shooting deaths in New York reignite debate over criminal justice reform plan

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An 11-year-old was shot and killed on Jan. 16 while buying a gallon of milk in Syracuse, N.Y. Brexialee Torres-Ortiz, the Blodgett Middle School class president, was caught in the crossfire of a suspected gang-related shooting in a disturbing trend that the city’s mayor called “senseless” and “brutal.”

In 2022, nearly 150 shooting victims younger than 18 died in New York City, which is about a 100% increase over a five-year period, New York Police Department data showed. Now, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm over the lack of criminal justice reform.

Torres-Ortiz’s tragic killing is “not unusual in New York State,” and a “failure on so many levels,” Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., tells Fox Digital. Tenney said she has also been a victim of crime while living in the area. 

“My car was broken into, my neighbor’s house was broken into. My other neighbor

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Criminal Law

NYPD dealing with new ‘deficient’ juvenile criminal justice system

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Big Apple cops are grappling with a “deficient” juvenile criminal justice system that treats young offenders with kid gloves — even as the city faces a twofold jump in the number of underage accused killers, NYPD officials told The Post.

Authorities said the state’s “Raise the Age” statute has led to a decline in overall arrests and more slap-on-the-wrist “juvenile reports” — the equivalent of a ticket that carries no criminal consequences for suspected teen offenders.

“We’ve been able to take 16- and 17-year-olds in Raise the Age and not criminalize it by doing juvenile reports,” outgoing NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kevin O’Connor, in charge of the department’s youth division, said in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

“We’re not even giving them a little timeout, so to speak. And that’s where Raise the Age is really failing our kids. The recidivism is skyrocketing.”

O’Connor spoke just hours after Commissioner Keechant Sewell warned

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Advertising

Justice Department sues Google to break up its advertising empire

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The U.S. Department of Justice and eight states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google (GOOG, GOOGL) on Tuesday, seeking the breakup of the company’s online ad business.

This latest action comes more than two years after the agency and a group of state attorneys general joined in another suit alleging Google’s search and search advertising businesses violate U.S. antitrust laws.

The Justice Department’s alleges that Google’s suite of online advertising tools prevents competitors from entering the online advertising market and blocks publishers from monetizing their own content.

The department further claims that Google is illegally using, or trying to use, its monopoly power, and should be required to divest a host of entities that allow it to carry out the allegedly offending behavior.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the Google I/O 2019 keynote session at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California on May 7, 2019. (Photo by Josh Edelson

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Criminal Law

Lawmakers want to ditch criminal justice cost estimates

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For nearly a decade, the state’s Legislative Research Council (LRC) has produced prison-jail cost estimates for bills that would impact the inmate population.

This session, lawmakers will be asked to repeal the law that requires them.

At least one of the law’s initial backers says that’s a bad idea for taxpayers.

House Bill 1003, the third bill on the House of Representatives docket for the 2023 session, was filed on behalf of the Legislature’s Executive Board. The bill includes an emergency clause, which means it would take effect immediately, rather than on the typical post-session enactment date of July 1. 

The bill comes on the heels of a report by the LRC that says it lacks the data sources and time it needs to produce reliable cost estimates, and that some of its previous estimates have proven wildly inaccurate. 

“You never get any good information out of them. If you’re

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Criminal Law

Another vital criminal justice fix that Hochul’s ignoring

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“A glaring weakness in our effort to combat gun violence is the fact that you have Raise the Age that still permits 16- and 17-year-olds to possess loaded firearms,” Albany District Attorney David Soares told The Post in a critique of the public-safety goals Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined in her State of the State speech.

Right on: It’s another huge omission when Hochul’s claiming to put public safety first.

Soares, a George Soros-backed progressive, has long flagged the issues with Raise the Age, a 2018 law that sends most teen criminal defendants to Family Court rather than the adult justice system.

He’s also blasted Hochul and the Legislature over the no-bail law and other reforms that Soares feels have “normalized” violence. “No meaningful legislative action has been taken to address bail reform, and Raise the Age, which have demonstrably impacted violent crime in our most vulnerable neighborhoods,” he thundered after

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Criminal Law

Want to improve public safety? Focus on criminal justice reform.

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In 1996, I was convicted of a first-time, nonviolent drug offense and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. I was devastated, and most people might believe the ordeal left me full of rage and resentment. Instead, my experience has left me filled with hope for a transformed criminal justice system that emphasizes compassion and rehabilitation so that more incarcerated men and women can return to their families and communities.  

My journey from prison to freedom relied on the community of people inside the prison system who never let me give up hope and those outside who fought for me to have a second chance at life. They were vital to my survival and I pray I have made them proud, as they have inspired me to help others caught in the system to transform their lives by advancing evidence-based programs and reforms that will help

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