Top Story
After a summer punctuated by high-profile shootings and other crimes involving young people, officials in Maryland are weighing whether the state’s juvenile justice system should be reformed. Some argue that the system, which has moved away from carceral punishment in recent years, should be overhauled and better hold young people accountable.
But Department of Juvenile Services head Vincent N. Schiraldi says perceptions of a youth crime wave are overblown, pointing to a new report showing that overall youth violence has been declining for more than a decade. [The Baltimore Banner/The Washington Post]
Politics
New Mexico’s temporary gun carry ban has, justifiably, gotten a lot of attention since Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration ordered it last week. The ban — which is applicable only on public and state property in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County — is largely unprecedented, and it received immediate pushback from gun rights and gun reform proponents alike.
While there is some limited evidence that such an approach could curtail gun violence, New Mexico’s gun carry ban isn’t a long-term solution. And the order raises some more pressing questions: Is the ban enforceable? Is it constitutional? And what does the order actually do? The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia and Chip Brownlee explain.
The Trajectory
Public libraries have always sought to build stronger, more resilient communities. These days, they’re playing an important role in gun violence prevention: The library system in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, for example, offers free gun locks at all of its branches. That’s in addition to an array of programs that foster community well-being, like GED classes and computers on loan — initiatives that aim to alleviate social conditions associated with gun violence.
Libraries across the country offer services like these, Chip Brownlee reports in the latest edition of The Trajectory. And there’s research showing that, even as they face political and financial challenges, libraries are uniquely equipped to help improve public safety.
What to Know Today
A federal judge tossed out the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s challenge to Delaware’s “public nuisance” law, which enables the state’s attorney general or a private citizen to sue gun companies for failing to follow laws governing the industry’s sales and marketing practices. The judge said it was too soon to rule on the law because it had not yet been used in litigation when NSSF filed its challenge. [Reuters]
Florida’s extreme risk protection order law allows police to confiscate weapons from people deemed a threat, but it’s not an automatic process. Could it have saved 24-year-old Dayana Hurtado, whose boyfriend allegedly shot and killed her two weeks after she told law enforcement her life might be in danger? [Miami New Times]
As the manhunt for Danelo Cavalcante — a convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison on August 31 and was recaptured this morning — entered its 11th day, private citizen Ryan Davis sat in a Wawa parking lot in Chester County, carrying a firearm and operating a drone that scanned the surrounding area looking for movement. He was one of a handful of amateur sleuths, many of them armed, who took the search for Cavalcante into their own hands — much to the displeasure of police. [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Crime data can be difficult to parse, not in small part because of poor reporting practices and inexact definitions of what constitutes a crime. A recent story about gun violence in Canada that conflated “shootings” with the crime of “discharging firearm with intent” provides a cautionary tale. [Jeff Asher]
Federal judges rarely throw out evidence based on Fourth Amendment challenges. But in Memphis, where police waged an intense campaign to get guns and drugs off the streets in recent years, the number of successful Fourth Amendment challenges appears significantly higher than in the rest of the country — an indication that the department has a problem with overzealous policing. [The Marshall Project]
The University of Chicago’s Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy officially kicked off this week, welcoming a cohort of community leaders into a six-month program designed to enhance violence interruption initiatives by providing guidance on program management, staff retention, evaluation, and more. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Archive
Violence Interruption Programs Are Receiving Millions. This Initiative Wants to Make Sure They’re Prepared: Chico Tillmon, the director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s new leadership academy, discusses the challenges facing community-based organizations — and the tools they need to succeed. (June 2023)
