Leonard Sipes

Baltimore, Washington

Wrote, "Success With the Media" (Amazon). Over 50 national awards. 35 years of media-public relations. 20 years-hosting TV and radio. https://t.co/8fd5l5hzKd

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Articles

Is it possible to safely release violent prison inmates early?

1 week ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. This is a national story as several states contemplate reducing sentences for violent offenders. Per the Bureau Of Justice Statistics, 62 percent of all persons imprisoned by states had been sentenced for violent offenses. 66 percent of male inmates are serving time for violent crimes. If we consider criminal histories, the great majority of incarcerated people have backgrounds of violence or are multiple repeat offenders.
How to get answers to your crime and justice questions

1 month ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. Most in state and local justice systems find USDOJ material difficult or impossible to find, read, and comprehend. Getting answers to common crime questions is tough. This article explains why and offers solutions. Finding a trusted expert who will summarize the data and give you both sides of any issue seems to be the solution.
Parole and probation: Dangers, realities, and the need for change

1 month ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. There’s no national consensus as to what we want from parole and probation employees or agencies. Parole and probation agents supervise and assist people with long histories of violence, substance abuse, and mental health backgrounds. What could possibly go wrong? I was the director of public information for the Maryland Department of Public Safety for 14 years.
Cops and crime control: Does society know what it wants? And is it already too late?

1 month ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. We must decide what we want from law enforcement before we lose thousands of additional cops and endanger public safety. At the moment, proactive policing is the only modality we have providing hard evidence of reduced crime. I get questions regarding the connection between the police, crime control, and public safety.
We ignore the USDOJ’s 44 percent increase in violent crime - but why?

1 month ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Repubilshed with permission. “The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the nation’s primary source of information on criminal victimization,” the US Census Bureau. No one is saying that about national FBI crime data. Advocates claim they want an evidence-based approach to crime yet they ignore the best available data. We are dismissing a chance to create better, safer communities.
More criminals are being arrested and locked up. So why are crimes not being solved?

1 month ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. For the first time in many years, incarcerations and arrests, seem to be increasing with a slight expansion of police officers after losing 25,000 cops. Crimes solved, however, remain flat. If you deal with victim rights organizations, they will tell you that accountability for criminal offenders can be either challenging or nonexistent. They suggest that this has a profound impact on people trusting government.
Shock report: The average time served in state prisons is 1.3 years

2 months ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. Critics of what some describe as over-incarceration may need to reevaluate their claims in light of updated data based on a January 2025 publication from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice. For example, today’s Marshall Project news summary states “More than 56,000 people are now serving life-without-parole sentences in the U.S., a population that has grown more than 68% since 2003.
How many crimes are prosecuted in the United States?

2 months ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. Most crimes involve reduced charges or dropped or deferred prosecutions. Concessions through plea-bargains, dropped charges, and limited prison sentences are seen as necessary to keep the justice system functioning. The hard reality is that if we fully prosecuted all people charged and did not engage in plea bargains, the justice system would shut down in a week.
The United States lost over 25,000 local police personnel

2 months ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States lost 25,076 local government police personnel when viewing a high point of 434,698 from November 2019 to November 2023, 409,662. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States lost 18,004 local government police personnel from the calendar year 2019 (431,666) to 413,662 in 2023.
The FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System magically just got way better

2 months ago | lawenforcementtoday.com | Leonard Sipes |Let Cms

Originally written for Crime in America. Republished with permission. Background on the FBI’s “new” National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is available here. It’s a major improvement in the delivery and analysis of crime in the United States. The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program began in January 1930.