Steve Smith

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Read the concerning numbers in the 2022 Crime in California report

California’s 2022 Annual Crime Statistics Released – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

On June 30th, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released his 2022 Crime in California report as well as several other mandated statistical reports covering hate crimes, juvenile justice, and firearms. What the statistics tell us, like they have for the past three years, is that crime continues to rise.  Violent ...
Blog

Learn about CA's retail theft problem

Rampant Thefts – The New Normal

Calvin McDonald, the CEO of Lululemon, the athletic wear brand, took fire recently for terminating two employees who intervened in an organized shoplifting snatch and grab. Known as “educators,” sales staff in Lululemon stores are told not to intervene during a shoplifting incident.  In store video footage, the educators are ...
Blog

Read latest on Titan submarine tragedy

The Loss of the Titan

(Note: PRI senior fellow Steve Smith, a former Coast Guardsman and merchant mariner, shares his thoughts on last week’s Titan submarine tragedy.) Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. ...
Blog

The Fentanyl Resurgimiento— A Drug Like No Other

On January 11, 2023, Dr. Rahul Gupta, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) declared a small victory. He reported new figures from the Center for Disease Control estimating that nationally there was a 2.57 percent decrease in the number of fatal drug overdoses for ...
Blog

Juvenile Justice – A Crisis in the Making

On July 1,  California will close its three remaining juvenile justice facilities.  Located in Stockton and Ventura, the three facilities house just 300 juvenile offenders – down from a system high of 8000 ten years ago.   Once closed, the 300 inmates will be returned to the county from which they ...
Blog

Read latest on CARE Courts

AB 1708 and Care Courts – A Step in the Right Direction

In the mid 1980s, I lived in Traverse City, Michigan, where I was a student at Great Lakes Maritime Academy.  In the downtown, there was a diner eponymously named for its proprietor, head waitress, hostess, and friend to everyone, Stacy.   Like a thousand diners in a thousand small towns, ...
Blog

Has Criminal Justice Reform Gone Too Far?

Why is California experiencing more crime victimization?

The latest California crime trends in California are not encouraging. In 2022, Los Angeles had a sobering 2,106 more aggravated assaults compared to 2021, 41 percent of which were committed with weapons – for a total crime increase of over 11 percent. Police in the San Francisco Bay Area’s 15 most ...
Blog

Read the latest on the Chinese Communist Party

The People’s Republic of China “Police Stations” a Gulag of Transnational Repression

International police cooperation is a vital component of the rule of law. International organizations like INTERPOL, bilateral prisoner transfer treaties and international law enforcement cooperation help ensure that transnational criminals and fugitives can find no safe haven almost anywhere in the world. In addition to treaty signatories, it is common ...
Blog

Read about the latest Calfiornia crime nightmare

The Firearms Enforcement Debacle – Res non Verba

Background The Attorney General’s office is tasked with enforcing the Armed and Prohibited Persons System known as APPS which is designed to track firearms transactions in California.  Unfortunately, it has been widely regarded as a failure as the list grew and grew without abate.   Shoddy reporting and record keeping ...
Blog

CA has over one million victims...

The Mythical Crime Reduction Dividend

This week in the opinion pages of the Orange County Register, UC Santa Cruz Professor Craig Haney and Prosecutors Alliance of California founder Christine DeBerry made the case for further closings in California’s prison system. Using the tired trope of “mass incarceration,” they declare that California has been squandering the ...
Blog

Read the concerning numbers in the 2022 Crime in California report

California’s 2022 Annual Crime Statistics Released – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

On June 30th, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released his 2022 Crime in California report as well as several other mandated statistical reports covering hate crimes, juvenile justice, and firearms. What the statistics tell us, like they have for the past three years, is that crime continues to rise.  Violent ...
Blog

Learn about CA's retail theft problem

Rampant Thefts – The New Normal

Calvin McDonald, the CEO of Lululemon, the athletic wear brand, took fire recently for terminating two employees who intervened in an organized shoplifting snatch and grab. Known as “educators,” sales staff in Lululemon stores are told not to intervene during a shoplifting incident.  In store video footage, the educators are ...
Blog

Read latest on Titan submarine tragedy

The Loss of the Titan

(Note: PRI senior fellow Steve Smith, a former Coast Guardsman and merchant mariner, shares his thoughts on last week’s Titan submarine tragedy.) Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. ...
Blog

The Fentanyl Resurgimiento— A Drug Like No Other

On January 11, 2023, Dr. Rahul Gupta, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) declared a small victory. He reported new figures from the Center for Disease Control estimating that nationally there was a 2.57 percent decrease in the number of fatal drug overdoses for ...
Blog

Juvenile Justice – A Crisis in the Making

On July 1,  California will close its three remaining juvenile justice facilities.  Located in Stockton and Ventura, the three facilities house just 300 juvenile offenders – down from a system high of 8000 ten years ago.   Once closed, the 300 inmates will be returned to the county from which they ...
Blog

Read latest on CARE Courts

AB 1708 and Care Courts – A Step in the Right Direction

In the mid 1980s, I lived in Traverse City, Michigan, where I was a student at Great Lakes Maritime Academy.  In the downtown, there was a diner eponymously named for its proprietor, head waitress, hostess, and friend to everyone, Stacy.   Like a thousand diners in a thousand small towns, ...
Blog

Has Criminal Justice Reform Gone Too Far?

Why is California experiencing more crime victimization?

The latest California crime trends in California are not encouraging. In 2022, Los Angeles had a sobering 2,106 more aggravated assaults compared to 2021, 41 percent of which were committed with weapons – for a total crime increase of over 11 percent. Police in the San Francisco Bay Area’s 15 most ...
Blog

Read the latest on the Chinese Communist Party

The People’s Republic of China “Police Stations” a Gulag of Transnational Repression

International police cooperation is a vital component of the rule of law. International organizations like INTERPOL, bilateral prisoner transfer treaties and international law enforcement cooperation help ensure that transnational criminals and fugitives can find no safe haven almost anywhere in the world. In addition to treaty signatories, it is common ...
Blog

Read about the latest Calfiornia crime nightmare

The Firearms Enforcement Debacle – Res non Verba

Background The Attorney General’s office is tasked with enforcing the Armed and Prohibited Persons System known as APPS which is designed to track firearms transactions in California.  Unfortunately, it has been widely regarded as a failure as the list grew and grew without abate.   Shoddy reporting and record keeping ...
Blog

CA has over one million victims...

The Mythical Crime Reduction Dividend

This week in the opinion pages of the Orange County Register, UC Santa Cruz Professor Craig Haney and Prosecutors Alliance of California founder Christine DeBerry made the case for further closings in California’s prison system. Using the tired trope of “mass incarceration,” they declare that California has been squandering the ...
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