Crime

U.S. State Department officials have issued a travel alert prompted by drug violence in the north of Mexico, warning that victims have included foreign visitors and residents. American visitors are advised to be especially alert about their safety in the border region, and to avoid areas where there are high levels of drug dealing and prostitution.

Re "U.S. receiver presses state on prisons," April 15 Looks as if our legislators have painted themselves into a corner. They tripped over each other to pass more tough-on-crime laws and supported three strikes, which metes out life sentences to shoplifters and drug users. Now they get the bill and don't want to pay for their mistakes? They can form a sentencing commission and review thousands of outrageously long sentences for petty crimes and bring California in line with the rest of the nation.

Police found the naked body of Diana Sylvester near her Christmas tree. The 22-year-old San Francisco nurse had been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the heart. She lay on her back, her neck laced with scratches and her mouth open as if frozen in a scream. For more than three decades, Sylvester's slaying went unsolved.

True to a Capitol tradition of legislating by anecdote, lawmakers this year have found inspiration in a grandmother arrested for running a $50 betting pool, a man who called 911 dispatchers 31,000 times and another man who put photos of high school athletes on a pornography website. Legislators have long responded to tragic, offensive or annoying events by trying to change the law -- especially crime laws -- and often succeeding.

A Pomona man who once boasted of being awarded the Medal of Honor pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to lying about receiving the award, the nation's top military honor. A subdued Xavier Alvarez, 50, who sits on the board of directors for the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont, admitted to violating the Stolen Valor Act, a recently enacted federal law that makes it a crime for a person to falsely claim he or she was awarded medals for service in the U.S. armed forces.

Before they fell victim to violence, students who were slain or shot had poor school attendance, according to data released Thursday by the Baltimore school system and health department. Between 2003 and 2007, 115 youths in Baltimore were killed and 405 were victims of nonfatal shootings, health department figures show. The school system was able to retrieve attendance data going back to 1999 for 391 of the 520 victims. The health department pooled the data from the two agencies.

For the fourth consecutive year, Irvine was rated the safest U.S. city with a population over 100,000. The city claimed bragging rights Monday after the FBI released crime statistics for 2007. The agency looked at crimes of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson. Irvine joined Gilbert, Ariz.; Bellevue, Wash.; Cary, N.C.; and Thousand Oaks as the five safest cities in the country. Irvine officials credit making public safety a priority and the community's high standard of living for the success against crime.

Ruling in a "cold hit" murder case, the California Supreme Court decided Monday that prosecutors may tell juries in all cases of the rarity of finding a defendant's DNA "match" in the general population even when a database search has increased the likelihood. The decision, written by Justice Ming W.

Re "Out of jail -- and out of the country," June 22 I do not see the controversy in screening illegal immigrants in L.A. County jails, as long as the screenings are mistake-free. Taxpayers are wasting their money incarcerating illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration is a crime, and one of the consequences of this crime is deportation. Screenings are essential; they lead to the deportation of criminals and put taxpayer money to better use. Every state should implement screenings and try to perfect them.