Crime

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INTRODUCTION Policymakers at last are coming to recognize the connection between the breakdown of American families and various social problems. The unfolding debate over welfare reform, for instance, has been shaped by the wide acceptance in recent years that children born into single-parent families are much more likely than children of intact families to fall into… Read more

The word "justice" is on everyone's lips nowadays, and may signify almost anything. We hear the cry "Peace and Justice!" from folk who would destroy existing societies with fire and sword. Other folk fancy that perfect justice might readily be obtained by certain financial rearrangements -- as if anything in this world ever could be… Read more

I don't have to tell you that things are at a critical juncture in our country when it comes to violent crime. We find violence now running at intolerably high levels. The heyday of violent crime was actually in the 1960s and 1970s, and I will describe it in more detail later. It peaked… Read more

This testimony was delivered on June 27, 2007, before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. My name is David Muhlhausen. I am Senior Policy Analyst in the… Read more

Despite a welcome decline in violent Crime rates nationwide, African-American males are still dying from criminal homicides at an alarming rate. According to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), violent Crime in the United States has fallen since 1991.1 Politicians of both parties have hailed the news of this recent decline, but… Read more

Good morning Judge Murphy and Members of the Commission.Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the proposed amendment regarding corporate fraud and, more generally, about the nature of white-collar crime sentencing. For the record, I am a Senior legal Research Fellow in the Center for legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, an independent research and… Read more

Before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate Delivered July 21, 2010 … Read more

Mounting social science research confirms what most Americans already know: The breakdown of the family contributes significantly to many of society's ills, including poverty, crime, drug addiction, school drop-out rates, and poor health. From this same research, Americans also are learning that when fathers are absent from their families, the rate of… Read more

The political pressure to criminalize innocent conduct has proved difficult for most Members of Congress, irrespective of party affiliation, to resist. As a result of these pressures, Congress often crafts criminal legislation that is “misguided, unnecessary, and even harmful.”[1] It is far too easy for a Member of… Read more

For centuries, the concept of a “guilty mind” has been at the core of what makes someone a criminal. Most Americans rightly think that no one deserves criminal punishment unless he intended to break the law or knew that his conduct was unlawful or sufficiently wrongful so as to put… Read more

In the wake of the failed car bomb attack on Times Square, Attorney General Eric Holder has proposed that Congress expand the public safety exception to Miranda. Superficially, carving out more time for law enforcement personnel to question a terrorist suspect before reading the suspect his Miranda rights seems… Read more

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Until recently, it was fashionable for the political left to argue that the United States should not serve as the “world’s policeman.” The international human rights community, heavily dominated by Europeans and other Europhiles, has lobbied so hard for so long to change that school of thought that the… Read more

As American students head back to school, many parents will worry about their children's safety at school during the coming year.[1] School safety will likely be a top concern of families living in Washington, D.C. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education reported that 11.3 percent of D.C.… Read more

Table of Contents: Executive Summary Introduction Chapter 1: Sentencing Under Siege Chapter 2: Manufacturing Statistics: 19-Year-Old "Juveniles" Chapter 3: The U.S. Has a Juvenile Crime Problem Chapter 4: Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders In … Read more

Created in the middle of President Bill Clinton's first term, the Community Oriented Policing Ser­vices (COPS) program[1]  promised to put 100,000 new state and local law enforcement officers on the street by the year 2000. Critics said that COPS would fail to meet this goal. Critics also… Read more

Trimming back the federal criminal code by elimi­nating offenses that should be investigated and prose­cuted by the states has long been a goal of policy experts and good-government advocates.[1] This exer­cise in federalism is worthwhile both for its consti­tutional merits and for its effect on government accountability, as it would clarify… Read more

At first glance, it seems like the least controversial bill ever put before Congress. The Enumerated Pow­ers Act (H.R. 1359) would require all legislation introduced in Congress to "contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority" empowering Congress to enact it.[1] Bills lacking such a statement or containing one… Read more