Latest from BJS:

Describes the characteristics of human trafficking investigations, suspects, and victims in cases opened by federally funded task forces between January 2008 and June 2010. This report provides information about investigations, persons involved in suspected and confirmed incidents of human trafficking, and case outcomes. Data are from the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS), which was created in response to a congressional mandate in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 for biennial reporting on the scope and characteristics of human trafficking. HTRS is currently the only system that captures information on human trafficking investigations conducted by state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States. The report also describes HTRS data collection procedures and data quality issues.

Highlights include the following:

• Federally funded task forces opened 2,515 suspected incidents of human trafficking for investigation between January 2008 and June 2010.
• About 8 in 10 of the suspected incidents of human trafficking were classified as sex trafficking, and about 1 in 10 incidents were classified as labor trafficking.
• The confirmed human trafficking incidents open for at least a year led to 144 known arrests.

New from BJS:

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act) requires criminal history background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and state agencies on persons who attempt to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer. In 2009, the FBI and state agencies denied a firearm to nearly 133,000 persons due to National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) records of felonies, domestic violence offenses, and other prohibiting factors. Enforcement of the Brady Act, 2009 reports on investigations and prosecutions of persons who were denied a firearm in 2009. The report describes how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) screens denied-person cases and retrieves firearms that were obtained illegally. Statistics presented include charges most often filed against denied persons by United States Attorneys and results of prosecutions. Investigation statistics from two states are also presented. Key statistics are compared for the years 2009 and 2008.

New from the BJS:

Highlights include the following:

• From 2002 to 2009, the rate of nonfatal workplace violence has declined by 35%, following a 62% decline in the rate from 1993 to 2002.
• Between 2005 and 2009, law enforcement officers, security guards, and bartenders had the highest rates of nonfatal workplace violence.
• Among workplace homicides that occurred between 2005 and 2009, about 28% involved victims in sales and related occupations and about 17% involved victims in protective service occupations.

New from TRAC:

The data show that during fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010, and the first three months of FY 2011, just over half of federal mortgage fraud prosecutions — 1,038 out of a total of 2,015 nationally — were filed in only ten of the nation’s 90-plus districts.

Leading the pack: South Florida, Nevada, Western PA, Southern NY, and Southern Cal.

Recent chatter on NPR noted that there’s been a quiet revolution in the Obama Administration re immigration renewals (and prosecution of businesses breaking immigration laws, too). The data appear to confirm. Says TRAC:

Just released figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), however, show that during the first nine months of FY 2010, 279,035 non-U.S. citizens were removed* from the country as a result of ICE enforcement. This number is ten (10) percent more than the same period during FY 2008 — the last fiscal year of the Bush administration. This represents almost a doubling of the rate of removals that have taken place during the past five years.

New:

• From 2000 through 2007, local jail administrators reported 8,110 inmate deaths in custody. Deaths in jails increased each year, from 905 in 2000 to 1,103 in 2007.
• The mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates declined from 152 deaths per 100,000 inmates to 141 per 100,000 between 2000 and 2007, while the jail inmate population increased 31% from 597,226 to 782,592.
• Between 2000 and 2007, the suicide rates were higher in small jails than large jails. In jails holding 50 or fewer inmates, the suicide rate was 169 per 100,000; in the largest jails, the suicide rate was 27 per 100,000 inmates.

From BJS:

• The number of households with at least one member who experienced one or more types of identity theft increased 23% from 2005 to 2007.
• From 2005 to 2007, the number of households that experienced credit card theft increased by 31% and the number that experienced multiple types during the same episode increased by 37%.
• During the 6-month period in 2008 for which identity theft victimization data was collected as part of the regular NCVS, 3.3% of households discovered that at least one member had been a victim of one or more types of identity theft.