Updates | The Week of July 31, 2017
Eve Levin // 8/6/17 //
The DOJ announced that firearm prosecutions were up 23% after Attorney General Jeff Sessions authored a memorandum prioritizing those offenses (Press Release).
In a speech at the Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, President Trump vowed to end gang violence while also endorsing police brutality (NYT).
- The President’s comments are disgraceful and anathema to responsible policing and the rule of law, argues Jonothan Blanks at the CATO Institute.
- President Trump’s comments encouraging police brutality were “police authoritarianism distilled,” argues Jeffrey Robinson at the ACLU.
- President Trump’s remarks are likely in conflict with his oath of office, argues Rachel A. Harmon at the Marshall Project.
- It is chilling that police officers laughed and applauded at President Trump’s police-roughing-up-suspects joke, argues Christopher Wright Durocher at the ACS Blog.
Senator Ron Wyden asked Attorney General Jeff Session to release recommendations from President Trump’s task force on violent crime (Hill).
Attorney General Sessions warned against police misconduct in a recent speech to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, reports Josh Gerstein at Politico.
Criminal-justice reform will proceed despite opposition from the White House and the Department of Justice, argues Ed Kilgore at New York Magazine.