All across the country, young people are stealing cars and taking them for joyrides, including teenagers who don’t have driver’s licenses. The trend is dangerous, having resulted in at least 14 recent crashes and eight deaths. And government officials in New York and California know exactly who to blame: carmakers. And for good measure, TikTok. […]
The expected criminal charges against former President Donald Trump in New York reportedly hinge on a violation of federal election law with which Trump was never charged. That fact in itself suggests how dubious the case against Trump is: To convert a state misdemeanor involving falsification of business records into a felony, Manhattan District Attorney […]
Many observers expect New York authorities to arrest former President Donald Trump this week. It’s hard to imagine this being anything but a boon for Trump, who is running for president again. Decisions about whether to bring criminal charges against a politician or authority figure certainly shouldn’t hinge on whether it will help or hurt […]
The Supreme Court this week officially docketed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case Libertarian Party of New York, et al. v. New York State Board of Elections, et al. This means that, sometime after April 17, the Court will decide whether or not to actually hear the case, which challenges a […]
State lawmakers in at least six states have recently introduced bills related to sex work. Some of these measures would decriminalize prostitution, while others would stipulate stronger criminal penalties for prostitution. States considering the former have the right idea. Decriminalizing prostitution has been linked to an array of positive outcomes, from lower rates of sexual […]
Great moments in unintended consequences—when something that sounds like a great idea goes horribly wrong. Watch the whole series. Part One: Tree Decree The year: 2019 The problem: Mexico needs trees! The solution: the Sowing Life project, a $3.4 billion program that pays farmers to plant fruit and timber trees on barren land. Not only will […]
It looks like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, intends to pursue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. But the charges he seems to have in mind, based on a 2016 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, are so iffy that they reinforce Trump’s reflexive complaint that he is, as always, the […]
The New York City Department of Transportation botched a sign for the Jackie Robinson Parkway in Queens. The sign spells the baseball player’s name “Jakie Robinson.” “This spelling mistake is absurd,” City Councilman Robert Holden said. “You don’t have a few eyes looking at these signs? DOT is a mess. The post Brickbat: No. 42 […]
Based on mounting evidence that minors are especially susceptible to false confessions, criminal justice reformers in several states are demanding tighter rules for juvenile interrogations. The latest such push is happening in New York, where reformers hope to pass legislation requiring that minors have access to legal counsel prior to police interviews. Maryland and Washington […]
How did New York City shed its crime-ridden reputation, going from a place with more than 2,200 murders a year, 93,000 violent robberies, and 500,000 annual felonies, to one of America’s safest big cities? That’s the question tackled in Gotham: The Fall and Rise of New York, a new documentary available for pre-order that will […]