US leads the world in long prison sentences: Study

Tori Richards

December 20, 05:32 PM December 20, 05:32 PM

The United States imposes the world’s lengthiest prison sentences and is also a leader in the number of people spending decades behind bars, according to a recent study.

The Council on Criminal Justice completed the first academic study comparing prison sentences among the world’s developed nations and found that American sentencing policies are more aligned with those of Latin America and the Caribbean than industrialized European countries.

“Sentences reported in the U.S. differed from the sentencing outcomes reported in European nations and were more on par with those of less developed countries,” the report said.

“The variation was especially striking when comparing the U.S. to the Netherlands, where legal practitioners estimated the probable sentences for both burglary and drug importation as three to five months, compared to five or more years under American sentencing policies.”

Forty percent of the world’s population of people serving life in prison are in the U.S., along with 83% of inmates serving life without the possibility of parole.

CALIFORNIA GUN CONTROL LAW STRUCK DOWN BY FEDERAL JUDGE

However, the amount of time people serve before becoming eligible for release could factor into the lengthy sentences. In Belgium, Denmark, and Finland, it’s 12 years or less. In Georgia, it’s 30 years, and in Texas, it’s 40 years.

While the U.S. imposed the longest sentences for homicide and rape, people on average served half their sentences before being released.

“U.S. states punish more severely than countries that contend with higher levels of violence,” the study said. “The U.S. has a lower overall homicide rate than most Latin American nations but incarcerates more people and for longer periods of time.”

However, European countries might catch up in the future. The use of long sentences has been increasing in places such as Germany, where the number of prisoners sentenced to life was up from 21.4% in 1995 to 30.2% in 2012.

Idaho student murders: Video appears to show victim talking about ‘Adam’ shortly before death

Brady Knox

December 18, 12:38 PM December 18, 12:38 PM

A newly uncovered video might provide fresh clues into the murder of four University of Idaho students.

The surveillance video, provided to WHD News by a Facebook group scrutinizing the murder, appears to show two of the victims walking in downtown Moscow, Idaho, with an unidentified man shortly before the murders, the outlet reported. One of the two can be heard talking about a man they call "Adam."

IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS: ALL THE CLUES, EVIDENCE, AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ONE MONTH AFTER VICIOUS KILLINGS

"Maddie, what did you say to Adam?" one of the women asks.

"Like, I told Adam everything," the other answers.

The man in the footage appears to be the same man spotted with the two by a food truck — their last stop before returning home, where they were murdered along with two others. Police have said previously that the man isn't a suspect.

Some of the administrators of the Facebook group are urging caution.

"We can all scrutinize those couple of minutes at the food truck, but we just have to remember there was an entire evening before this. There’s more than just that one time stamp that we have into that evening," Kristine Cameron told WHD News. "People are drawing the conclusion that [the man in the video is] creepy from that [few] minutes, and I want to give a bigger picture. He wasn’t just staring at them. … He was with them prior."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE

The two women and two of their roommates were murdered with a "fixed blade" knife, police said, approximately one hour and a half to two hours and a half after the video was taken.

Man charged with grandfather's murder after attempting to toss 'suspicious' trash

Jenny Goldsberry

October 27, 06:17 PM October 27, 06:17 PM

An Ohio man was arrested on a $1 million bond for the murder of his own grandfather, who was identified Thursday.

The Ironton Police Department was alerted to Kace Pleasant, 22, after it reported a call from sanitation workers about him attempting to throw away "suspicious" bags of trash. Officers on the scene reported discovering bloody clothes in the bags. Pleasant took off in his car when he saw police approaching his home, but he was ultimately arrested on the charge of fleeing and eluding by the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office in Lucasville.

Police would go on to discover a body under Pleasant's deck, wrapped in a rug, following a search warrant on the residence. The victim was identified as Pleasant's grandfather Harold Pleasant, 73, who lived in the house.

MOTHER ACCUSED OF MURDERING SON AND STUFFING HIM IN SUITCASE STILL AT LARGE

Kace Pleasant was first charged with fleeing and eluding by Scioto County Sheriff’s Office in Lucasville, and on Thursday, he faced additional charges of murder, failure to comply with a police officer, and tampering with evidence.

He is currently in the Lawrence County Jail on a $1 million bond.

3 gentlemen billed in 2018 killing of gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger

Brady Knox

August 18, 11:27 PM August 18, 11:27 PM

Three males have been charged in the 2018 murder of Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Two fellow inmates in the Hazelton jail, wherever Bulger, 89, was slain, have been charged with murder, although a 3rd former inmate was billed with conspiring with the pair to commit the murder, according to the Boston World. Bulger's legal professional and family members termed the fees "inconsequential," as they believe that it was the govt that killed him.

“Unless there’s a name or names of Justice Office officers and Bureau of Prisons officers who are dependable for his dying, then it is inconsequential,” lawyer Hank Brennan reported of the indictment. “It was demise by proxy. The system used to murder him was truly irrelevant. It is the folks who allowed it to take place that want accountability most.”

'WHITEY' BULGER'S SUSPECTED KILLERS Experimented with TO GOUGE HIS EYES OUT, Lower HIS TONGUE OFF: REPORT

Steve Davis, brother of Debra Davis, one of Bulger's murder victims, praised the adult men accused of killing Bulger.

“I’d kiss his hand like he was the godfather. I’m heading to send him a $500 canteen reward,” he said of a person of the adult males.

Bulger's household has submitted a lawsuit in opposition to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons alleging the mobster "was subjected to a possibility of sure death or critical bodily damage by the intentional or intentionally indifferent steps" by jail officers. While the suit was dismissed by a federal judge in January, a federal appeals court docket is selecting on an attraction from the relatives. Bulger was the 3rd murder victim in the system of 6 months in the prison, nicknamed "Distress Mountain," according to the .

Bulger was one particular of the most popular gangsters in U.S. record, applying his relationship with his childhood mate and FBI agent, John Connolly, to consider in excess of Boston's profitable drug trade. The FBI employed Bulger to consider out Boston's Italian mafia but in change propelled him to grow to be the most strong crime lord in Boston, resulting in the biggest informant scandal in FBI record, in accordance to Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Offer.

Simply click Below FOR A lot more FROM THE

The gangster was sentenced to life in jail in 2013 for killing 11 people today in the course of his time operating the Irish mob in Boston from the 1970s to the 1990s. Owing to his place as a previous informant and recurrent health troubles, Bulger was retained in protective custody for most of his tenure. Even so, in 2018, he was inexplicably transferred to Hazelton prison. Inside of 12 hours of his arrival, the wheelchair-sure inmate was beaten to loss of life by Fotios “Freddy” Geas, 55, and Paul DeCologero, 48, with a padlock stuffed in a sock. The killers also attempted to gauge his eyes out and lower his tongue off with a shiv.