Criminal Victimization, 2004, US Department of Justice , released September 25, 2005 . Excerpt: Taken together, the 1-year (2003-04) and 2-year (2001-02 to 2003-04) change estimates indicate that crime rates remain stabilized at the lowest levels experienced since 1973. Read the full text of the report here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Gun control advocates are set to start an intensive media campaign to alert travelers about a new Florida law that allows people to respond to threats by using guns at home or in public . The NRA-supported "force with force" or (to opponents) "shoot first" law formally takes effect Saturday. Peter Hamm of the Brady [...]

Egyptian judges Monday ordered opposition leader and recent presidential candidate Ayman Nour to appear in court again Tuesday to answer charges connected to the submission of forged signatures when his party applied for official recognition last year. Nour's wife and spokesperson, Gameela Ismail, suggested that the timing of the trial session deliberately coincided with the [...]

UN human rights officials have accused the government of Togo of using over-zealous force at the time of the heavily disputed April presidential elections , saying that government security and armed forces killed 400-500 people and wounded thousands more. A report released Monday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [...]

In Monday's environmental law news, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has announced a proposed settlement with Colonna's Shipyard Inc. for polluting the Elizabeth River. Colonnas has agreed to pay a $40,000 fine for mistakenly flushing thousands of gallons of wastewater contaminated with tributyltin into the river. Tributyltin is a paint additive used to control [...]

Joseph Serugendo, the former Technical Chief of Rwanda's Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM) , nicknamed “Radio Machete” for inciting its listeners to commit murder, has been transferred to a United Nations detention facility in Tanzania after being arrested in Gabon last Friday. Serugendo has been charged with five charges including genocide and conspiracy [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, UN Special Representative on the Prevention of Genocide Juan Mendez has slammed the domestic war crimes court set up in Sudan earlier this year, saying it has failed to deal with "the major crimes committed during the conflict." Mendez said that the reports about the court received by the UN pointed [...]

Leading Monday's states brief, Connecticut has became the first state to challenge the new federal Energy Policy Act , allowing the developers of power projects to appeal directly to the federal government when state officials deny or delay permits. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a motion to dismiss a federal petition filed by the backers [...]

Oregon Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond heard oral arguments Monday in the latest case to challenge the constitutionality of Measure 36 , a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by Oregon voters on November 2, 2004. Representing Basic Rights Oregon , Portland lawyer Mark Johnson argued that Measure 36 revised rather than amended the Oregon Constitution [...]

AP is reporting that Pfc. Lynndie England has been convicted on six of seven counts in court-martial proceedings for her role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal . 4:35 PM ET – After some two hours of deliberation the military jury of five officers found England guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts [...]