ArcaMax

The season for potentially violent street protests is upon us, sparked by the latest police shooting of a Black man in a suburb of Minneapolis.

Officers in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, pulled over a car because it had an expired registration tag. They discovered the driver, Daunte Wright, 20, also had an outstanding warrant, reportedly for ...Read more

As a child, I was taught to respect authority figures. As it was explained to me, clergy, teachers, police officers and others help shape and maintain a just society.

To this day, I still have a profound respect and appreciation for the 99% of law enforcement officers who literally put their lives on the line every day to keep the rest of us ...Read more

A few weeks ago, this column focused on the need for citizens who are unhappy with the state of our political and justice systems to speak up about their concerns.

Your opinion can't be counted if you stay silent, I wrote. Or as one of my readers put it, "We now have the government that we have earned but not the government our children deserve...Read more

And now there are 11. Eleven jurisdictions in the United States have now legalized the act of suicide when it is the product of consultation between a terminally ill patient and a qualified medical person.

New Mexico's legislature is the latest to approve such a bill called the End-of-Life Options Act. Other states -- California, Colorado, ...Read more

It sometimes feels as though our democracy is broken, and I wonder if it is our own fault. We have the right to know what our government does on our behalf, but we have become an apathetic citizenry, apparently not caring enough to speak up when we don't like how politicians run the government or spend our tax dollars.

When was the last time ...Read more

Your loyal columnist is not in the habit of saying, "I told you so," but may I remind readers about a column I wrote a few weeks ago in which I warned that the U.S. was in for a bumpy immigration ride ahead.

"Massive human caravans from Honduras are already headed this way," I wrote the first of February following President Joe Biden's 100-day ...Read more

This is an open letter to District Court judges in Harris County, Texas. But honestly, it could apply to any number of judges across the country.

Citizens from all walks of life are begging you to close the revolving door at the courthouse! In your zeal to embrace the idea of doing away with cash bail, you judges are granting bond to too many ...Read more

Given that this is a crime and justice column, it is pretty safe to say this will likely be the only time I do a movie review. But considering the subject matter of the new movie "I Care a Lot," this film is right up my alley.

As longtime readers may remember, I have frequently written about the nationwide evils of exploitative elder ...Read more

Quick, name some national politicians you trust. What's that you say? You're struggling to think of any trustworthy politicians in Washington? You are not alone.

Pew Research reports 80% of us say we do not trust the federal government to do what's right "always or most of the time." And 81% of us think members of Congress act ...Read more

The death penalty in the United States is on the verge of being snuffed out.

The commonwealth of Virginia, which has executed more convicts than any other state in U.S. history, is now poised to abolish capital punishment. This is a big deal, as Virginia would become the first Southern state to eliminate the death penalty. Many see this ...Read more

OK, I have good news and bad news about the murder rate in America.

First, the good news. The homicide rate is not as bad as it once was. In 1995, the U.S. murder rate was about twice as high as it is now.

Now for the bad news. While final statistics for 2020 are not yet completely compiled, preliminary figures indicate that, last year, there ...Read more

In the movie "Field of Dreams," the lead character hears a voice while standing in his cornfield. "If you build it, he will come." So, the man builds a baseball field. The ghost of his ballplaying father appears, and so does a whole group of famous dead baseball players.

Its antithetical to former President Donald Trump's plan to build ...Read more

In the brand-new year ahead, get ready for some brand-new moves to change the nation's criminal justice system as we know it. In some states, it's already happening.

You'll hear about several proposals in the coming months. Among them: Cut the U.S. prison population by more than half; close all private prisons; shutter all private immigration ...Read more