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Coronavirus Crime Criminal Justice Government Health Opinion

Should you call the cops on people not keeping their social distance?

I was in a long line at the grocery store, as we’re all prone to do these days, and as the line was inching closer to the checkout, the lady behind me was inching closer to me clearly ignoring the bright yellow Xs on the floor. I couldn’t tell her to step back because the guy behind her had moved up, almost in the spot she should have been in.

With everything else going on, it wasn’t worth being too bothered by it. I saw a report out of New York City of the number a calls the police are getting for people violating social distance rules and people are obviously very bothered by it. The number of calls were well over 1000 and I wonder what people expect the police to do.

I normally don’t report on news out of Canada, but this story caught my eye because it deals with police response to social distance calls – ‘Crackdown on coronavirus rule breakers could have consequences.

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Coronavirus Criminal Justice Submission

COVID Crisis Linked to Decline in Youth Detention

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A new survey shows that as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country, the number of young people being held in juvenile detention dramatically decreased. 

Congregate settings such as juvenile detention facilities can rapidly spread coronavirus infections to the youths, the staff and the community at large. 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation survey found the juvenile detention population across 30 states declined 24% in March, as much as the seven years from 2010 to 2017.