Tag: Attorney General Session

Sessions’s statistics to back up the claim that Trump is ending ‘American carnage’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website January 25, 2018:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions falsely claimed crime was sweeping the nation and then took credit for fixing it. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“In 2017, we brought cases against more violent criminals than in any year in decades. We charged the most federal firearm prosecutions in a decade. We convicted nearly 500 human traffickers and 1,200 gang members, and helped our international allies arrest about 4,000 MS-13 members. We also arrested and charged hundreds of people suspected with contributing to the ongoing opioid crisis.”
— Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in an opinion article in USA Today, Jan. 23, 2017

When a president is getting ready to deliver a State of the Union address, Cabinet officials often scurry to do a little apple-polishing before the main event. Attorney General Sessions did his part with an op-ed that was titled: “Trump promised to end ‘American carnage.’ Promise delivered.” Continue reading “Sessions’s statistics to back up the claim that Trump is ending ‘American carnage’”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s claim that ‘criminals take notice’ of cities with sanctuary policies

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post site July 17, 2017:

Credit: AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

“When cities like Philadelphia, Boston, or San Francisco advertise that they have these policies, the criminals take notice. According to a recent study from the University of California Riverside, cities with these policies have more violent crime on average than those that don’t.”
— Attorney General Jeff Sessions, speech on sanctuary cities in Las Vegas, July 12, 2017 

In a speech about “sanctuary cities,” Sessions cited research from University of California at Riverside that does not actually support his point. There is little research looking at the impact of sanctuary policies on crime. It’s a difficult correlation to study; many factors affect crime, and state and local law enforcement do not always track inmate citizenship status. Continue reading “Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s claim that ‘criminals take notice’ of cities with sanctuary policies”

Jeff Sessions used our research to claim that sanctuary cities have more crime. He’s wrong.

The following article by Loren Collingwood and Benjamin Gonzalez-O’Brien was posted on the Washington Post website July 14, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits before speaking to federal, state and local law enforcement officials about sanctuary cities and efforts to combat violent crime on July 12 in Las Vegas. (John Locher/AP)

On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech in Las Vegas on sanctuary cities and local law enforcement. He announced, “According to a recent study from the University of California, Riverside, cities with these policies have more violent crime on average than those that don’t.” Almost certainly, the reference is to our study, which we first published here at the Monkey Cage in The Washington Post last October and later in the academic outlet Urban Affairs Review.

The attorney general’s summation of our study, however, is not true. In fact, our study suggests a different conclusion: Municipalities that chose to designate themselves as sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants experience crime rates no higher than they otherwise would. We state this clearly throughout our study. Continue reading “Jeff Sessions used our research to claim that sanctuary cities have more crime. He’s wrong.”

Jeff Sessions finds a shield in executive privilege — but it might not be a strong one

The following article by Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website June 13, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s repeated refusal to answer lawmakers’ skeptical inquiries Tuesday draws on a long legal and political tradition: Private deliberations involving the president and his top advisers often can be kept out of public view.

But analysts disagreed on whether the attorney general was appropriately using executive privilege to advance a worthy goal, or merely suggesting it as a shield to fend off questions he did not want to take. Continue reading “Jeff Sessions finds a shield in executive privilege — but it might not be a strong one”