Even in Kyoto

Making a bad situation worse in California. As thousands of National Guard troops surge into Los Angeles — sent by President Donald Trump over objections from state and local officials — history teaches us that heavy-handed policing and militarized responses to civil unrest tend to make protests more volatile. That conclusion was first reached in 1967 by the Kerner Commission, which sought to understand the cause and effect of U.S. “race riots.” Law enforcement agencies largely failed to heed the lesson five years ago, during the height of the protests in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. TMP’s Jamiles Lartey puts the political story playing out on Los Angeles’ streets into context. The Marshall Project

More on the Battle of Los Angeles. The Pentagon said it’s sending 700 U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to back up National Guard troops sent there over the weekend to quell protests over heavy-handed federal immigration sweeps. The Associated Press The White House said late Monday that it’s also sending an additional 2,000 troops to the city. BBC California has sued the Trump administration over the National Guard deployment. Politico Trump endorsed the idea of arresting California Gov. Gavin Newsom for allegedly obstructing federal agents. USA Today More: Some protesters are peacefully marching for friends and neighbors. The New York Times Day laborers on the ICE raid at Home Depot on Friday. The Washington Post

Witness to the executions. Journalist Elizabeth Bruenig, whose own family has felt the sting of murder, has witnessed many executions over the past decade. The experience, surrounded by the consequences of what she considered sin and the capacity for redemption, has changed the nature of her opposition to capital punishment. “I wanted to be on the exact right side of things: opposed to capital punishment for principled reasons involving the dignity of human life, but at the same time opposed to defending murderers in any way that might seem to downplay the seriousness of their crimes.” Bruenig writes. “It felt like a precarious position.” The Atlantic

Immigration nation. Even before the protests in Los Angeles, federal immigration officials were planning to deploy thousands of National Guard troops. NPR Witness an immigration arrest? There are things you may and may not lawfully do. The Boston Globe The founder of Latinas for Trump decries the latest immigration raids. Miami Herald A DACA daughter has to say goodbye to her mother, who is undocumented and fearful of ICE raids. Miami Herald More: Immigration raids were rare in Puerto Rico. No longer. The Trump administration has detained more than 500 people there since the beginning of the year. The New York Times

“Caught in a trap of their own making.” For years, FBI Director Kash Patel, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi embraced and promoted conspiracy theories shared by their many followers within the MAGA movement. Now that they are in charge of the FBI and the Justice Department, the trio suddenly find themselves disappointing their supporters, including the president, because there is no evidence to support those conspiracy theories. The suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, in a federal jail in New York, is one example. “He killed himself,” Bongino was recently forced to admit. The New York Times

The children of Washington, D.C., are afraid of gun violence, especially after it soared there in 2023. Many have already lost family members to it. Nearly two dozen middle schoolers share some of their experiences, from selecting “under-the-radar” clothing to being especially aware of their surroundings at all times. The Washington Post More: How the district’s failure to address truancy led to a crime surge. The Washington Post

A new lawsuit seeking class-action status challenges a Louisiana law that permits justices of the peace to have a financial incentive to order evictions. The judges are allowed to pad their salaries with eviction fees. That’s a violation of the due process and equal protection rights of the state’s tenants, the lawsuit argues. Bolts

Scott Panetti, whose execution was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark ruling about the death penalty and mental illness, died in a prison hospital in Texas last month. He was 67. The New York Times TMP Context: Crazy or faking it? The Marshall Project More: Latavious Johnson died in an Arkansas prison last week. He was on the state’s death row for the 2012 murder of a prison guard. The Associated Press

A California jury last week awarded more than $3 million to a former Orange County prosecutor who says she was retaliated against by her district attorney for trying to protect other women in the office from retaliation for reporting alleged sexual harassment. The Associated Press

Frederick Newell became the first person to be convicted of felony wage theft in Minnesota earlier this year. Last week, he was sentenced to three years of probation for stealing $37,000 in wages from five employees at an affordable housing development. Minnesota Reformer

A dress rehearsal. The White House’s approach to the Los Angeles protests presages an attempt to use police powers to corrupt the upcoming midterm elections. The Atlantic The White House is spoiling for a fight. The New York Times More: About that federal immigration agents wrongly arrested a union leader during the California protests. Los Angeles Times Update: David Huerta was released from immigration detention on Monday. He has been charged with impeding a law enforcement officer. The Associated Press

Toward capital sentences for non-capital crimes. “It is reasonable to expect that the current Supreme Court, if presented with the opportunity,” would overturn precedent and “declare that capital rape statutes are generally consistent with the U.S. Constitution.” Sentencing Matters

An educated guess as to why the murder rate continues to fall. “When I think about the main factors behind declining murder, a strong investment in communities from private and public sources after the shock of the pandemic stands out as a major cause,” writes criminologist Jeff Asher. Jeff-alytics

Behold a White House pushing for even more presidential immunity. The Trump administration plans an entirely bogus and dangerous investigation of former President Joe Biden’s mental state. The Atlantic

Judicial immunity and the case of Wisconsin’s Hannah Dugan. “If judges are alleged to have made errors while acting in their official capacity, these are properly addressed through the appellate process or disciplinary proceedings, not the executive branch bringing criminal charges.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Thomas Crooks affair. Little is known about the young man’s slow descent into mental illness that led to his assassination attempt on Trump last summer in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks went “from a meek engineering student critical of political polarization to a focused killer who tried to build bombs.” The New York Times

IQ tests and capital punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next term focusing on the use of IQ scores in determining whether a person may be eligible for the death penalty. The question in the Alabama case of Joseph Smith is what weight lower courts should give to multiple IQ tests at or near the level that would preclude execution. The Washington Post

A landmark acquittal. A Peruvian woman who crossed into the U.S. illegally was acquitted last week in Texas on charges that she accessed a newly designated “National Defense Area.” Federal judges have been skeptical of these sorts of cases. The Associated Press

Good news for the police-scanner scanners among you. New York legislators passed a measure last week preserving media access to police radio feeds. Law enforcement agencies have tried with growing frequency to encrypt their communications. The Associated Press

Meet the folks who are training public defenders to run in judicial elections. “Our goal as the Defenders of Justice is to get people who have traditionally not been represented on the bench to run for office.” Inquest