Steve Smith
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
Crime in Oakland – More Mass Victimization
Criminals in Alameda County just caught a break. Newly elected District Attorney Pamela Price has issued a draft memorandum to her staff requiring them to seek probation in nearly all felony cases with the exception of murder and some sex crimes involving children. Further, it requires that more severe ...
California
Fallen Selma officer is California’s criminal justice reform’s latest victim
On the morning of Jan. 31, Officer Gonzalo Carrasco of the Selma Police Department was flagged down by a homeowner reporting a trespasser on her property. Carrasco stopped and approached the suspect, who fired several shots, striking Carrasco and allegedly killing him. Responding to the tragedy, Fresno County District Attorney ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Crime in Oakland – More Mass Victimization
Criminals in Alameda County just caught a break. Newly elected District Attorney Pamela Price has issued a draft memorandum to her staff requiring them to seek probation in nearly all felony cases with the exception of murder and some sex crimes involving children. Further, it requires that more severe ...
Fallen Selma officer is California’s criminal justice reform’s latest victim
On the morning of Jan. 31, Officer Gonzalo Carrasco of the Selma Police Department was flagged down by a homeowner reporting a trespasser on her property. Carrasco stopped and approached the suspect, who fired several shots, striking Carrasco and allegedly killing him. Responding to the tragedy, Fresno County District Attorney ...
