Law and Order

Policeman

Lincoln’s lowering standards for police officers is a trend worth watching.

By Justin Katz | May 20, 2021 |

If the development on which Nicole Dotzenrod reports for the Valley Breeze begins appearing in other communities, it could be a sign of a worrying trend.  In the town’s most-recent hiring effort, five applicants met the minimum standards, one chose a different career path, another didn’t pass the interview and background check, and one rejected policing…

Juan Carlos Martinez

Problems arise when we forget that putting people in prison protects the community.

By Justin Katz | May 20, 2021 |

John DePetro reports on the disturbing case of Juan Carlos Martinez: Martinez ( status unknown) was sentenced to forty years at the ACI but was let out in March without officials notifying I.C.E. Martinez is accused of luring female illegals into his house of horrors’ in Providence where he would sexually assault them. Martinez would…

RI State House over caution tape

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Progressives Without Answers

By Justin Katz | May 19, 2021 |

For this week’s conversation, John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss Rhode Island progressives’ inability to come up with solutions for problems that their policies have created.

Scene of the shooting

Majority of People Injured in Thursday’s Gang Shooting Were Known to Police

By Justin Katz | May 18, 2021 |

When a bunch of gang members already on the authorities’ radar engage in perhaps the largest mass shooting in Providence history with illegal guns two months after city police announce the end of their gang-member database, perhaps more gun control isn’t the missing ingredient.

Tiara Mack talks with John DePetro

John DePetro’s interview with Sen. Tiara Mack on Providence violence should be a media example.

By Justin Katz | May 17, 2021 |

DePetro caught up with Mack on the streets of Providence while covering the recent spate of shootings there, and it’s a must-watch five minutes.  DePetro was respectful, but really pressed Mack on her beliefs about what’s going on in Providence and the effects of her own public statements. In a nutshell, to Tiara Mack, violence…

Gavel with a speech bubble

On big rights issues, the courts are like a backup fail-safe, not a strategy.

By Justin Katz | May 12, 2021 |

Ethan Yang, in a post for the American Institute for Economic Research, asks, “Why Have the Courts Been Deferential to Lockdowns?”  Yang addresses legal principles and tests, such as “rational basis” and “the narrowly tailored standard” and writes: Hollow phrases such as “the common good,” “the public interest,” and “reasonable” give enormous discretion to judges…

A mailbox

Why is Rhode Island so often on “ten worst” lists?

By Justin Katz | May 3, 2021 |

The Foundation for Government Accountability has published a short report titled, “Top 10 Examples of Outrageous Unemployment Fraud in 2020 — And How to Fix It.”  Most of the blurbs concern specific fraud rings or techniques, but Rhode Island’s entry is more general: Ocean State Drowns in Fraud As recently as October 2020, Rhode Island…

Signs & security at BLM rally

We have to face the more-difficult questions of minority killings.

By Justin Katz | April 26, 2021 |

Nonviolence Institute Executive Director Cedric Huntley’s incredible honesty is refreshing, in an article by Amanda Milkovits for the Boston Globe: “In Rhode Island, it’s not the police killing our children. It’s Black and brown children killing each other,” said Cedric Huntley. “And the community is traumatized.” Just in the last week of what’s becoming a violent…

State laws on self defense

Rhode Islanders have to run away from danger.

By Justin Katz | April 21, 2021 |

Eugene Volokh has posted a quick updated review of state laws concerning when residents have a right to use deadly force to defend themselves.  And wouldn’t you know it, Rhode Island is one of only twelve states that fall in the “duty to retreat” category.  The rest of the states are some variation of “stand…

United Way RI tweet on Chauvin case

Justice is supposed to be about the facts of the case.

By Justin Katz | April 21, 2021 |

We agree on the rules and the process, in light of inalienable rights, and justice is the result.  If the system manifestly is not producing justice, then we adjust the rules and the process.  But the process cannot simply be a show we put on to give the impression of rules. That is the context…