Results tagged “criminaljustice”

The Daily News put together a map detailing the number of stop-and-frisks on the subway - and the racial breakdown of these stop-and-frisks. As the accompanying article makes clear (as well as interviews with people who have been stopped - 1, 2) how cops can stop anyone , though black and Hispanic riders make up about half of the subway riding population, 88% percent of the people stopped are black or Hispanic. The NYPD told the News, "Subway crime is down, in part, because of stops. Officers make stops based on reasonable suspicion, and the numbers reflect the times, places and circumstances where those observations take place."

The defense for the man on trial for murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown opened its case by presenting a DNA expert. The Daily News says Dr. Lawrence Koblinsky, who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, "attacked the investigation but seemed to bore jurors."

The summer of 1977 was host to a serial killer, a day-long blackout and a crime rate around 75% higher than today's. The NY Sun reports that "politicians, police officers, and reporters are gathering together to remember that time and celebrate." John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Eugene O'Donnell is the one holding the press conference today which will focus on the anniversary of the capture of David Berkowitz, aka the " Son of Sam."

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced new recommendations for police procedure; the recommendations were made by a special panel formed after the shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed Queens man. The police press release (which is mis-dated according to the NY Times' CityRoom blog) reveals that there are nineteen recommendations in total, the most notable one stating that breathalyzer testing will be mandatory for all on and off-duty police officers whose "firearm discharge results in injury or death."

Long before people cried out against 50 shots in protest of Sean Bell's death at the hands of the police, they decried 41 shots. We were surprised to hear that Kenneth Boss is still an officer with the NYPD. Seven years ago he fired five of the 41 shots that killed unarmed Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He was acquitted of murder charges by an Albany jury, along with three other officers who subsequently left the job. Other cops now call Boss "Kenny No-Gun" because the department will no longer let him carry one. Disarmed, he fills his days fixing tools and playacting as a participant in police drills. Boss returned from a seven-month deployment to Iraq with the Marines last year, where he earned a Navy Achievement Medal. Earlier this year, he filed a federal lawsuit against the NYPD asking that it fully reinstate him and give him his gun back. He tried this back in 2002, when he filed essentially the same suit in a State Supreme Court, which eventually decided that the Police Commissioner had the right to determine which officers on the force could be disarmed.

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments):

How much of an emergency is getting back to the Governor's mansion for a meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team? Because the NJ State Police confirmed that Governor Corzine's SUV, which crashed last Thursday along the Garden State Parkway, was going 91 MPH, well over the 65 MPH speed limit.

Governor Eliot Spitzer has reached the 100-day mark of his term as New York's highest official - now, just about 1360 more to go! His biggest battle thus far has been getting a budget passed (the final budget was a couple billion more than what he proposed and many deals were made secretly, but it was only a few hours late) while one of the most vocal fights has been the televised war of the words between the hospitals union and Spitzer over the hospital closings. Naturally, Spitzer is pretty pleased with himself, as he tells the Post:

My reflection on the first three months and as we move into the first 100 days is that we've accomplished virtually the entire agenda we set out to accomplish in this time frame. We've made significant steps forward on a range of issues that were tough and will bare fruit. There's much work to be done in the context of both government reform, energy...and interests not addressed in the budget such as a judicial [pay raise] agenda."

The city's murder rate so far has dropped dramatically. There have been 84 murders through Sunday, and the Post reports that's an "average of roughly one per day - an astonishing figure compared to the early 1990s when six New Yorkers were killed during a typical 24-hour period." For reference, last year, there were 117 murders during the same period.

At 7AM, the three detectives indicted in the shooting of Sean Bell last November turned themselves. WNBC reports that Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper will be fingerprinted and processed before their arraignment this afternoon.

City Councilman Eric Gioia will be demanding that the NYC Housing Authority explain why over 200 registered sex offenders are living in public housing. NYCHA policy - and federal law - prohibits sex offenders from residing in Post puts it, "they are filled with children and other vulnerable targets and in the past were havens for criminals." And the Daily News notes that this past week, a registered offender attacked a woman at the Ravenswood Houses in Long Island City.

+ Happy 106th Birthday, Nancy DeLise, who believes in home Italian cooking ("You never know what they put in the food" at restaurant, her 79 year old daughter explains)

Today, John Jay College of Criminal Justice masters student Johanna King Vespe will receive the first Imette St. Guillen Scholarship. The fund was created in honor of St. Guillen after her February murder. According to the Daily News, which donated money to the fund, more than $250,000 has been raised. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer at The Falls (the bar and restaurant where St. Guillen was last seen alive), was indicted for St. Guillen's murder.

Police believe that Imette St. Guillen, the John Jay College graduate student who was murdered last Saturday, was probably targeted by a stranger. After confirming that St. Guillen was last at The Falls, a restaurant and bar on Lafayette Street just south of Spring (near the Andre Balazs Kenmare Square development, across the street from La Esquina) where she headed after the Pioneer Bar, witnesses say she left the restaurant alone. The current theory: A fake livery driver picked up St. Guillen around 4AM - especially considering how easy it seems to be to pose as a livery driver (just a few weeks ago a woman was assaulted by someone she thought was a livery driver). People in SoHo were surprised, with one resident told WABC: "It's surprising that this is something that happened in this part. Down Bowery and down Canal it gets sketchy." Well, unfortunately anything goes - just because a neighborhood is gentrified doesn't mean there isn't crime. Criminologists and experts have been weighing on all media outfits on the grisliness of the murder - and what it means about the killer - here's one look.

The Post says the police have dusted the payphone at a diner on Linden Boulevard for prints - they think this is where the 911 call may have been made. The Daily News has gruesome details about how she was found, with the murderer "brutally raping her, chopping her dark hair and stuffing a tube sock down her throat. Then he wrapped her face in tape and dumped her nude, bound body off a Brooklyn road."

There are three strange deaths - two murders, one maybe murder - from this weekend:

The killing of police officer Daniel Enchautegui (left)continues to be investigated, as the two suspects, Daniel Armento and Lillo Brancato, were charged with second degree murder. Police now believe that Armento, 48 years old, and Brancato, 29 years old, were searching for Valium when they broke into a Bronx home. Enchautegui, who was off-duty and at home next door, had heard the break-in. Police believe that Echautegui identified himself as a police officer, but was still shot by Armento; though wounded, Echautegui managed to shoot both men. Armento and Brancato had started the night at a Bronx strip club, Crazy Horse, but went on the prowl for drugs. They broke into a house where they had previously purchased Valium; the Post reports that Armento was too fat to squeeze through a window, so Brancato had to go in. What they didn't know was that the owner had died and the house was empty. The two men are recovering at Jacobi Hospital, with the police and DA's office waiting to take them into custody.

Ida Dupont, Professor of Criminal Justice, Women's Advocate

It's wonderful to spend the weekend reading a lengthy article about Law & Order and Dick Wolf in the NY Times Magazines, but there's very little new information for us (Dick Wolf created it with syndication in mind, survived cast changes, etc.). Gothamist agrees with McGrath's asessment that while L&O may not thrill viewers, but rarely does it disappoint; however, if we'd like to add that if you're a New Yorker, you do thrill in knowing that it's street McCoy and Sotherlyn (ew) are walking down.

Wow, it's been a long time since Roger Ebert hasn't given stars to a movie, but in his review of The Life of David Gale, you'd think the usually star-happy critic would have loved this star vehicle. Or at least given it 2 stars. Or 1-and-a-half. Or 1. The last film he hated this much was Slackers, but you'd almost expect that, as you would the zero stars he awarded Freddy Got Fingered and Tomcats. He gave our hero, Larry David zero stars for Sour Grapes - think hard about Larry David making fun of the food critic for the thumbs up and thumbs down restaurant reviews in the third season finale. But the most withering review I can remember of Ebert's is his review of North, directed by Meathead and starring Frodo: