Day: April 1, 2021

MN: What last week’s Supreme Court ruling actually said — and didn’t say — about sexual assault and drinking in Minnesota

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[minnpost.com – 4/1/21] A 20-year-old woman was standing outside a Dinkytown bar in May 2017 when a man, along with his male cousin and another male friend, invited her and her friend to a party. They agreed, and the man drove them to a house. But when they arrived, there was no party. After arriving at the house, the woman — who had been denied entrance from the bar earlier for being overly intoxicated — passed out on a couch. She later woke up to the man, Francois Monulu Khalil,…

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Study: When parole, probation officers choose empathy, returns to jail decline

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[lakeconews.com – 4/1/21] Heavy caseloads, job stress and biases can strain relations between parole and probation officers and their clients, upping offenders’ likelihood of landing back behind bars. On a more hopeful note, a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that nonjudgmental empathy training helps court-ordered supervision officers feel more emotionally connected to their clients and, arguably, better able to deter them from criminal backsliding. The findings, published March 29 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show, on average, a 13% decrease in…

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NY: 7-year-old charged with rape, lawyer calls it ‘absurd’

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[wwnytv.com – 3/29/21] BRASHER FALLS, N.Y. (WWNY) – A 7-year-old boy from Brasher Falls has been charged with rape. State police didn’t release much information, but said the unidentified child was charged with third-degree rape on March 23. Troopers say the incident was reported on Thanksgiving. The child was cited and released. The case will be handled in Family Court. Police say the investigation is continuing. We spoke with a New York City attorney, who is with a group that handles youth defense cases. “Instinctually, it shouldn’t happen that a…

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