By Allan Lengel

Violent crimes and property crimes in the U.S. dropped during January to June of this year compared to the same period last year, according to the FBI’s just-released Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report.

The report showed that overall, violent crimes were down 6.4 percent in that period, and property crimes dipped by 3.7 percent.

More specifically, murders were down 5.7 percent; rape dropped 5.1 percent, robbery fell 7.7 percent, and aggravated assault declined 5.9 percent.

To read more click here.

By Allan Lengel

The only question is: What took so long?

After much deliberation and consideration, the FBI’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board voted Tuesday to update the agency’s narrow definition of rape for its Uniform Crime Report, a definition that hadn’t been updated since 1929,  Huffington Post reports.

The crime report is often used as a gauge to determine crime patterns in the U.S.

Huffpost reported that the FBI currently defines rape as “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”

A lower panel recommended to change the definition in October.  FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III must now sign off on this to make it official.

The Huffington Post reported that the new definition expands what rape by taking out “forcible” assault and the requirement that the attack must be toward a woman. It also now includes non-vaginal/penile rape and rape by a blood relative.

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By Danny Fenster

After much talk, an FBI subcommittee made recommendations Tuesday to update the definition of rape for the first time in 80 years.

The recommendations came out of a meeting in Baltimore by a subcommittee of law enforcement officials and will head next to an advisory panel, reports the Baltimore Sun. The advisory panel is expected to sign off on them, and they will then be submitted to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for approval. Details of the recommendations could not be verified at this point.

The FBI has to this point gone by their original 1927 definition of rape: “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.” Womens’ Rights groups and others have criticized the definition as too narrow, excluding anal or oral penetration, male rape and incidents where force is not used.

“This is a huge step forward in accurately reflecting the true number of rapes that are occurring in our country,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement policy think tank. Wexler told the Sun that 80 percent of police chiefs agreed the definition was outdated.

To read more click here.

Are rapes recorded accurately?

Apparently not, which is why the the FBI is in the process of changing the definition of rape for the first time in 80 years, reports the Baltimore Sun.

The Sun reports that critics have insisted the definition is too narrow, resulting in fewer stats and less resources for victims and law enforcement.

The paper reports that a subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Information Service of the FBI plans to address the matter at an Oct. 18 meeting in Baltimore.

Recommendations will go to an advisory board and then to FBI Director Robert Mueller for approval, the Sun reported.

Greg Scarbro, the FBI’s unit chief for the Uniform Crime Report, said the agency has been discussing revisions since last year.

“From the highest levels of the FBI, there’s an understanding that this needs to change, Greg Scarbro, the FBI’s unit chief for the Uniform Crime Report, told the Sun. “We just need to make sure it happens in the right way,” he said.

The paper reports that rape has long been defined “as forcible male penile penetration of a female — which excludes cases involving oral and anal penetration, where the victims were drugged or under the influence of alcohol, and male victims.”

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A South Carolina woman who’s headed off to prison claims a Secret Service agent raped her after her arrest, according to the Associated Press.

The woman alleged in court documents that the agent took advantage of her on a couch in his office after arresting her on embezzlement charges, AP reported. The woman alleged that the agent warned her not to tell anyone or she’d be in bigger trouble.

She is asking that the judge toss out her sentence, and said the judge was never apprised of the allegations.

Ed Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman in Washington, told ticklethewire.com on Monday that the  matter has been referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility for investigation.

The woman ended up pleading guilty and getting sentenced to 15 months in prison, AP reported. She is scheduled to report to prison on Tuesday.

AP did not identify the woman, saying it generally does not identify alleged sexual assault victims.

Violent crimes and property crimes dropped in 2010 compared to the previous year, the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime report showed.

The report, released Monday, showed a 5.5 percent decrease in reported violent crimes compared to 2009. Property crimes dropped 2.8 percent.

The FBI reported that murder declined 4.4 percent , while forcible rape dropped 4.2 percent, robbery 9.5 percent, and aggravated assault 3.6 percent—all when compared with 2009 crime figures.

Geographically, the South saw the largest decline in violent crime (7.5 percent), followed by the Midwest (5.9 percent), the West (5.8 percent) and the Northeast (0.4 percent).

As for property crime, motor vehicle theft was down 7.2 percent, larceny-theft was down 2.8 percent, and burglary was down 1.1 percent. Arson fell 8.3 percent nationally.

To read more stats click here.

ice photo

It may have been a minor oversight the time — but the misstep could have prevented the rape of an 8-year-old girl.

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post reports that immigration authorities failed to enter in a national data base the fingerprints of Salvador Portillo-Saravia before they deported him to  El Salvador in 2003.  So seven years later, because his fingerprints were not in a data base, Portillo-Saravia, who had sneaked back into the U.S., was released from the Loudoun County Jail in Virginia. A month later, Jackman reports, Fairfax County police say he raped an 8-year-old girl.

In a letter to  Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) , Elliot Williams, Immigration and Customs Enforcement  assistant director for congressional relations, wrote that “the agency policy to enroll the fingerprints in IDENT was not followed, thereby reducing ICE’s ability to thwart this terrible and tragic event.” according to the Post. The paper wrote that ” ICE officials could not say why the prints weren’t entered in 2003.”

The paper reported Portillo-Saravia was captured last month in Houston and is now facing the rape charges.

To read more click here.

By The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — THE LATE SEN. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) did not agree on much. So it was remarkable when they joined to champion the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

Enacted in 2003, the landmark law was meant to address the scourge of sexual abuse behind bars that for too long had been accepted as an unavoidable byproduct of incarceration. It is not. Incidences of sexual abuse represent egregious lapses in institutional order and security. They are inhumane and inexcusable violations that scar tens of thousands of adult and juvenile inmates each year, often complicating their ability to reintegrate into society.

Last week, the Justice Department took an important, long-overdue but still inadequate step toward fulfilling PREA’s promise. In releasing draft regulations to implement the landmark legislation, the department closely tracked many of the recommendations of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, the congressionally created panel that spent some six years studying the problem.

To read more click here.

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