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			    GENERAL-RKBA Digest 318
Topics covered in this issue include:
  1) CRIMESTRIKE: Kentucky Responds To Crime by NRA Alerts 
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Topic No. 1
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 16:45:12 -0500 (EST)
From: NRA Alerts 
To: general-rkba-real.nra
Subject: CRIMESTRIKE: Kentucky Responds To Crime
Message-ID: 
                        NRA CrimeStrike's
                        CrimeWatch Weekly
 
             Breaking news on critical crime-fighting
                 issues, policies and legislation
Vol. 3, No.  47                                  December 2, 1997
                   Kentucky Responds To Crime     
     At a news conference yesterday in Frankfurt, the Kentucky
Criminal Justice Response Team presented Gov. Paul Patton with
recommendations based on the first comprehensive review of the
state's criminal justice system in 20 years.  After four months
of work, the team offered 150 recommendations for reform,
including passage of Truth-In-Sentencing and life-without-parole
sentencing for capital offenses, as well as construction of new
prisons.  
     In accepting the report, Gov. Patton thanked the response
team for its work, and anticipated that the team's
recommendations would form the basis of his crime package for the
next year's legislative session.  "Being able to feel safe and
secure is fundamental" to freedom, the governor said, warning
that "we must be prepared to isolate violent people from
society." 
     Gov. Patton had just been informed of the shootings at Heath
High School in West Paducah.  In expressing his sympathy to the
victims and their families, Governor Patton condemned the 
"totally irrational act" and reported that the individual
responsible was in custody. 
    Information on Successful Anti-Gang Program Now Available
     Reprints of NRA/ILA Executive Director Tanya Metaksa'a
article from the Nov/Dec issue of The American Rifleman, The
American Hunter and The American Guardian,  "Attacking Gangs, Not
Civil Rights", are now available.  The article outlines "The
Boston Gun Project," the first and only anti-gang measure proven
to be effective. The BGP focuses on the criminal and his actions
instead of over-legislating and threatening the civil rights of
law-abiding citizens.  Thanks to the Boston Gun Project, there
has not been one youth homicide in the city since 1995.
  FBI Lab, A Key Law Enforcement Tool Once Exalted, Now Faulted
     Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and crime victims
nationwide depend on the FBI laboratories to help solve crimes.
     But according to Gerald Lefcourt, president of the nation's
largest association of criminal defense attorneys, this trust may
have been misplaced.  According to the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), case evidence handled by FBI
labs and testified to by FBI agents in court may have assisted
the prosecution at the expense of the truth and justice   and
innocent Americans.  Internal FBI memos obtained by NACDL through
the Freedom of Information Act show, among other things:
     * An FBI lab technician routinely determined whether a
     specimen for analysis came from an African-American suspect,
     and if so, manipulated the analysis to prove guilt.  While
     the FBI agent was fired, no attempt was made to review his
     cases or reanalyze the data.
     * Every FBI technician in the DNA/Serology lab except one
     flunked the proficiency exam.  The supervisor destroyed the
     results and administered a second exam, which all
     technicians passed.
     * The FBI DNA lab is not accredited.  Accreditation is
     granted by the American Society of Crime Laboratory
     Directors. 
     More revelations are likely, since NACDL is in the process
of analyzing some 60,000 documents.  Meanwhile, press reports
hint the trials of Unabomber suspect Ted Kaczynski and Oklahoma
City bombing suspect Terry Nichols may be impacted. 
     In April, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector
General reported on its 18-month investigation of FBI labs.  The
Inspector General found that some scientific work was flawed, and
that some court testimony by FBI agents was biased in favor of
guilt.   In September, the U.S. Senate convened a hearing on the
FBI labs.
     Today In Our Nation's Capital: The Darkness Before Dawn?
     In September, Congress was abuzz with talk of the problems
of Washington D.C., and efforts to set them right, (CWW 9/23/97). 
Highlighting just how sweeping reform will need to be to bring
real change to D.C., three new law enforcement scandals have
surfaced. 
     Last week,  longtime veteran Lt. Jeffrey Stowe was arrested
and charged with embezzlement of funds earmarked for informants,
as well as for what is known as "fairy shaking."  It is alleged
that Stowe staked out area gay bars, looked for cars belonging to
married men inside the bars, took down the license plates, and
used a police computer to run a check on owners' identities.  He
would then threaten to reveal the men's secrets to their wives if
he did not receive cash payment. 
     Two hours before Stowe's arrest, D.C. Police Chief Larry
Soulsby resigned after questions arose concerning his residence  
an apartment whose fair market rent is $1750 monthly, but for
which he pays just $650, in cash, to longtime friend  Lt. Stowe.  
The Chief has admitted no wrongdoing. 
     Yesterday, Carolyn Boggs, a 22-year veteran of the force and
deputy commander of the department's criminal investigative
division, retired amid an investigation into how she received
thousands of dollars in unapproved overtime pay.
                 A publication of NRA CrimeStrike
             11250 Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030
      Tel.800.868.4411; Fax 703.267.3992; http://www.nra.org
               Reproduction permitted with credit.
                   Source materials available.
=+=+=+=+
This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle
Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA.
This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is
available at: http://WWW.NRA.Org
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End of GENERAL-RKBA Digest 318
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