CA Sex Trafficking Crackdown: Hundreds of arrests have been made state-wide over the past two days in the course of a concerted effort to combat sex trafficking. According to San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Dana Littlefield the third annual "Reclaim and Rebuild" operation took place across California resulting in hundreds of arrests. More than 160 law enforcement personnel from 16 agencies worked together on the operation. Officers recovered 28 minors who had been sexually exploited and 27
adult female victims. 142 men were arrested and on charges of
solicitation, and 238 women were cited for prostitution.
Judge Upholds Inmate's Death Sentence: A federal judge upheld the death penalty Thursday in the case of a man who assaulted and murdered a corrections officer. Joe Dolinsky at Times Leader reports that habitual felon and gang member Jessie Con-ui, 39, faces trial later this year for the 2013 murder of 34-year-old corrections officer and Nanticoke resident Eric J. Williams. Williams was stabbed death at the base of a stairway inside U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Wayne County. Defense counsel claims thatt there is insufficient evidence but prosecutors note that surveillance footage clearly shows the defendant assaulting the officer and stabbing him with multiple handmade "shanks".
Missouri Executes 1998 Murderer: One of the men responsible for the 1998 murder of a woman and her two children was put to death Tuesday in Missouri. Jim Salter at the St. Louis Post Dispatch writes that in 1998 Mark Christeson and his cousin approached the home of 36-year-old Susan Brouk, her 12-year-old daughter, Adrian, and 9-year-old son, Kyle, armed with shotguns with the intention of stealing the mother's vehicle. Finding the woman and her children at the home, Christenson took the mother into a bedroom and raped her, while his cousin tied up her daughter and son with shoelaces. The men then took their three victims to a pond where Christeson slit the mother's throat. As the mother lay bleeding Christeson cut the son's throat and drowned him in the pond, then choked the girl to death. The men then tossed the still alive mother in the pond where she drowned. Christenson's death by lethal injection took eight minutes...far less time or suffering than his victims.
Alaska May Reverse Alternative Sentencing Law: Provisions of a sentencing reform law passed last year to reduce the consequences for co-called low level offenders are being targeted for repeal in the Alaska legislature. Zaz Hollander of Alaska Dispatch News reports that, according to law enforcement, last year's reforms which sharply cut sentences for thieves, bail jumpers and some felonies, are already causing increased crime. While the state's Sentencing Commission promised last year that it was only recommending reforms that were "evidence based and backed by data," the short term effect has been negative. Like California and other states which have embraced "evidence based" alternative sentencing, the money saved by the projected reduction in prison and jail inmates is supposed to be used to fund rehabilitation programs. In California, the projected savings for its massive sentencing reforms never materialized and the state's prison budget has actually increased significantly, along with the crime rate and the operating cost for local jails.
Judge Upholds Inmate's Death Sentence: A federal judge upheld the death penalty Thursday in the case of a man who assaulted and murdered a corrections officer. Joe Dolinsky at Times Leader reports that habitual felon and gang member Jessie Con-ui, 39, faces trial later this year for the 2013 murder of 34-year-old corrections officer and Nanticoke resident Eric J. Williams. Williams was stabbed death at the base of a stairway inside U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Wayne County. Defense counsel claims thatt there is insufficient evidence but prosecutors note that surveillance footage clearly shows the defendant assaulting the officer and stabbing him with multiple handmade "shanks".
Missouri Executes 1998 Murderer: One of the men responsible for the 1998 murder of a woman and her two children was put to death Tuesday in Missouri. Jim Salter at the St. Louis Post Dispatch writes that in 1998 Mark Christeson and his cousin approached the home of 36-year-old Susan Brouk, her 12-year-old daughter, Adrian, and 9-year-old son, Kyle, armed with shotguns with the intention of stealing the mother's vehicle. Finding the woman and her children at the home, Christenson took the mother into a bedroom and raped her, while his cousin tied up her daughter and son with shoelaces. The men then took their three victims to a pond where Christeson slit the mother's throat. As the mother lay bleeding Christeson cut the son's throat and drowned him in the pond, then choked the girl to death. The men then tossed the still alive mother in the pond where she drowned. Christenson's death by lethal injection took eight minutes...far less time or suffering than his victims.
Alaska May Reverse Alternative Sentencing Law: Provisions of a sentencing reform law passed last year to reduce the consequences for co-called low level offenders are being targeted for repeal in the Alaska legislature. Zaz Hollander of Alaska Dispatch News reports that, according to law enforcement, last year's reforms which sharply cut sentences for thieves, bail jumpers and some felonies, are already causing increased crime. While the state's Sentencing Commission promised last year that it was only recommending reforms that were "evidence based and backed by data," the short term effect has been negative. Like California and other states which have embraced "evidence based" alternative sentencing, the money saved by the projected reduction in prison and jail inmates is supposed to be used to fund rehabilitation programs. In California, the projected savings for its massive sentencing reforms never materialized and the state's prison budget has actually increased significantly, along with the crime rate and the operating cost for local jails.
Leave a comment