Detroit Tigers outfielder was arraigned in a Manhattan courtroom last week after being accused of a hate crime for allegedly yelling anti-Semitic slurs at four men and tackling one of them, according to a report from USA Today.

The 26-year-old baseball player was reportedly heavily intoxicated when he had a confrontation with four men outside a New York hotel. The Tigers were in New York for a weekend series with the Yankees when the incident occurred.

Sources indicate that the criminal charges leveled against Young carry a maximum punishment one year in jail. Young was later released on a $5,000 bond, and sources say that Major League Baseball will allow the court system to investigate the matter before it issues any punishment.

In a statement released after the incident, Young apologized for his actions, saying that he “sincerely” regretted his actions. The statement, which was released by Young’s criminal defense attorney, also said that Young plans to “improve” himself “as a person and a player.

Young’s charge, aggravated harassment, carries a higher possible punishment because it was labeled a hate crime, due to Young’s statements that allegedly disparaged the religion of the people with whom he tussled.

Of course, in the American judicial system, defendants are innocent until proven guilty, and Young has yet to give his version of the story.

According to Young’s defense attorney, there are “many false allegations” in the case and he believes that “the legal process will separate fact from fiction and discredit these reports.”

The reports to which Young’s attorney refers claim that that confrontation between Young and the four men began at 2:30 a.m., after the men reportedly spoke outside the hotel with a panhandler who was wearing a yarmulke.

At one point, Young allegedly called the men a “bunch of (expletive) Jews” and tackled one of the men to the ground, reportedly causing minor injuries to the man’s elbow. After the altercation, Young followed the men into the hotel, where the hostilities eventually stopped.

In response to the allegations, the Detroit Tigers have remained silent, citing team policies that do not allow the franchise to comment on pending legal matters.

Sources say that neither the Tigers nor Major League Baseball are likely to issue punishments against Young until his case his processed through the legal system.

Of course, if Young is indeed convicted on the hate crime charge, the loss of playing time will be the least of his concerns.

The old adage suggests that crime doesn’t pay, but if a recent United Nations report is to be believed, crime generates roughly $2.1 trillion across the world in an average year, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), global crime accounts for almost 4 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, and officials expect these criminal statistics to continue to inflate in the next few years.

In the words of Yury Fedotov, the leader of UNODC, these figures reveal that “criminal business” is “one of the top 20 economies” in the world, which is a serious threat to the security and economic development of the global community.

Two major areas of criminal concern are human trafficking and corruption. The UNODC report estimated that up to $40 billion is lost each year to corruption in developing countries and that more than $32 billion in illegal income is derived from human trafficking each year.

Shockingly, according to Fedotov, “[a]ccording to some estimates, at any one time, 2.4 million people suffer from the misery of human trafficking, a shameful crime of modern day slavery.”

In addition to corruption and human trafficking, sources say that other major criminal enterprises include organized crime syndicates, which can be difficult to bring criminal charges against because they often operate across national borders in shrouds of secrecy.

And, more disturbingly criminal enterprises have displayed an “impressive adaptability” to international law enforcement efforts and are constantly discovering new sources of revenue.

International crime, especially that which occurs across state borders, often poses severe logistical challenges for law enforcement agencies, since criminal justice has traditional been meted out at the national, not international, scale.

The International Criminal Court has tried to fill this void, but the transnational body spends most of its time prosecuting war criminals and other figures who commit large, violent crimes on a broad scale, not organized crime groups or corrupt officials.

And Fedotov fears that international crime may be spreading, although he admits that to corroborate this belief he needs to collect and analyze more data.

In the meantime, international police will have to improve at tracking and apprehending members of criminal organizations that “bear no resemblance to the hierarchical organized crime family groups of the past.”

If law enforcement officials aren’t able to adapt to the changing nature of international crime, then organized crime may continue to act as a serious drain on the global economy.

In bad news for both young criminals and the American judicial system, federal funding for state and local juvenile justice programs may soon see drastic cuts, according to an investigation by The Crime Report.

Sources say that the House Committee that distributes funding to the Justice Department has proposed cutting the amount of cash it provides for juvenile justice programs from $424 million to $209 million in the next fiscal year, which starts at the beginning of October.

These cuts are just a small portion of the massive reductions in so-called discretionary spending by the Republican-controlled Congress. And these reductions come on the heels of a decade of decreased spending.

According to sources, federal money targeting juvenile crime has already fallen more than 50 percent to its lowest level in more than ten years and funding continues to take a dramatic dive.

If states continue to lose federal funding for their juvenile programs, they may no longer be able to comply with an important 1974 juvenile justice statute, which requires states to separate juveniles and adults in jail and to keep minor offenders out of state custody.

In response to states’ need to comply with this important criminal law, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice has asked Congress to set aside $80 million in “formula grants” to help states keep juvenile defendants separate from the adult jail population.

The House, however, is only willing to provide $33 million for these programs, and some observers speculate that states may simply refuse all federal funding, which would allow them to skirt federal regulations.

This solution, though, could have a severe impact on juveniles in custody, as many of them may be placed in general jail populations, where children are much more vulnerable to abuse.

Fortunately, the news is not all bad. Sources say the Senate is much more supportive of keeping funding for juvenile justice programs, and is not likely to agree to the House’s terms.

A recent press release from Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who controls the purse strings for the Justice Department on the Senate side, pledged $278 million for juvenile programs.

While this number still represents a significant drop from funding in the past, it would still be much more substantial than the relatively paltry sum being offered by the House.

The final funding amount will likely fall somewhere between the House and Senate estimates, but sources expect the funding to end up closer to the Senate’s figure.

This week, police in Beverly Hills, California announced that they have concluded their investigation into the death of Whitney Houston and found no signs that any crime occurred, according to a report from the Chicago Sun Times.

In a report on Wednesday, Lt. Mark Rosen said that the police reviewed the full autopsy report of the iconic singer, and the coroner’s report revealed no signs of foul play. As a result, the police will not be bringing criminal charges against anyone involved in Houston’s death.

Sources say that the autopsy performed on Houston revealed that she died of an accidental drowning. In addition, officials from the coroner’ office said that heart disease and cocaine use also contributed to her death.

Thanks to her popularity, Houston’s life was always a hot topic in gossip magazines, which were usually quick to observe when she found herself in trouble with drugs. This, unfortunately, occurred fairly often.

Houston’s cocaine use was well documented, but the 48-year-old singer seemed to have gotten over some of her demons before her untimely death.

In fact, before she died, Houston was planning a major comeback attempt, which had begun with her starring role in the remake of the film “Sparkle,” which won’t be released until later this year.

Her film role and recent singing performances suggested Houston was back on the rise, which made her death in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills hotel on the night before the Grammy Awards all the more surprising.

Still, despite her history of drug use and apparently failing health, many observers were quick to speculate that someone else may have been behind Houston’s death.

Many of the fears were likely a result of Michael Jackson’s very public death, in which his doctor faced serious criminal charges for overdosing the pop star with prescription medications.

In this case, however, Beverly Hills police found no evidence that doctors had administered lethal doses of a drug to Houston, and thus her doctors won’t have to worry about mounting a criminal defense.

This information may provide a bit of peace to Houston’s family, as her death may have been harder to stomach had the family known that foul play was involved. It seems instead that Houston’s death was simply a result of bad decisions and bad luck.

In his statement, Lt. Rosen did extend the police department’s condolences to Houston’s family after revealing that her death was due to an accidental drowning.

The federal government’s crackdown on marijuana possession, even in states that allow marijuana consumption for medical reason, is threatening to destroy a pot-growing university in California known colloquially as the Princeton of Pot and the Harvard of Hemp.

The glibly named Oaksterdam University, a college in Oakland that has taught 15,000 students about cannabis cultivation over the last five years, has recently experienced rapidly plummeting enrollment, according to a report from the Sacramento Bee.

Sources say that the university has made a tangibly positive impact on the area’s economy, which has provided a boon for a city that is famous for taking a liberal stance on marijuana use. Sources say the college’s new batch of students hail from places as diverse as Japan and Puerto Rico.

But in recent months, the four U.S. attorneys who are stationed in California have waged a successful war on dispensaries that sell medical marijuana, which is legal under California criminal law but still deemed illegal under federal law.

In years past, the federal government had turned a blind eye to dispensaries in California that sold medical marijuana, but the Obama Administration’s newfound interest in cracking down on marijuana production has put a major dent in the bottom line of dispensaries across California.

However, despite the closure of hundreds of dispensaries in other towns, Oakland has remained obstinate, and plans to open four new marijuana stores in addition to the four establishments that are already in operation.

The move is partially a result of the financial boon offered by the dispensaries for the city. For example, the four stores currently in operation provide an annual $1.7 million in tax revenue for the economically distraught city.

Still, representatives at Oaksterdam University are nervous that the federal crackdown will have a harmful long-term effect on the college, which offers classes on cannabis cultivation, marijuana law, cooking, and other horticultural activities.

Oddly, though, many students who were interviewed by the Sacramento Bee were reluctant to give their full names to the newspaper. A fear of prosecution seems to hang over the university, which does not bode well for its efforts to increase enrollment.

But the promise of potential jobs in other states, even if the marijuana industry in California collapses, seems to serve as enough incentive for hundreds of students to continue to flock to the university.

According to one student named Maya, she is willing to take a “calculated risk” that the marijuana dispensary job market will continue to grow in other states that are not subject to the same scrutiny that is currently faced by California.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walter, a polarizing Republican leader who made national headlines when he battled with labor unions last year, has set up a criminal defense fund in anticipation of an investigation and possible criminal charges related to several of his former staff members.

According to a recent report from the Huffington Post, Gov. Walker has begun to raise money for the “John Doe” investigation of activities that took place during his tenure as a Milwaukee County executive.

In an official statement released a few weeks ago, Gov. Walker said that officials in Milwaukee County have been “examining issues related to former employees of the County” for almost two years.

He also said that he has “repeatedly pledged” his “cooperation with that inquiry,” and he promised not to use taxpayers’ dollars to assist him in combating potential charges.

In order to avoid using public money for his legal defense, Gov. Walker has established a fund to collect cash to hire a criminal defense attorney to help him defend himself. The staunch conservative would no doubt be embarrassed if he had to rely on public dollars to defend any charges against him.

The investigation, though, has become fairly serious. Sources indicate that the investigation has already led to charges being filed against six of the governor’s top employees.

Apparently, the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office believes that some of Gov. Walker’s former staffers did political work with money that belonged to taxpayers.

Not surprisingly, Democrats in Wisconsin have leapt at the chance to criticize the controversial governor. According to Mike Tate, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Walker is the first governor in Wisconsin history to ever need to create a criminal defense fund.

In Tate’s words, Gov. Walker “has bent and broken the rules that should govern the conduct of an executive. Every citizen, regardless of party, agrees that our government should be free of corruption. It looks very much like Scott Walker has not given Wisconsin this honor.”

While Gov. Walker should be assumed innocent until he is proven guilty, the court of public opinion in Wisconsin seems to already have weighed in on the matter.

A recent poll conducted by the Marquette University Law School found that the governor’ favorability rating had recently dropped to just 46 percent, and that 52 percent of survey respondents said the pending investigation was “really something serious.”

Time will tell whether the governor’s criminal defense fund will even be necessary, but waves of discontent seem to be pouring through Wisconsin.

After a few days of what some called conspicuous silence, President Barack Obama gave strong remarks at a recent press conference about the Trayvon Martin shooting, calling the killing a “tragedy” and observing that if he had a son, “he’d look like Trayvon.”

The president’s words addressed the recent death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a Florida man who claims he was acting in self-defense. Other evidence, however, indicates that Martin was not a threat, and federal officials have intervened and may eventually bring criminal charges against the shooter.

The shooting happened in a gated neighborhood, and the man who pulled the trigger reportedly felt threatened by Martin, who was unarmed at the time he was killed, according to a report from the Miami Herald.

Florida has remarkably robust self-defense laws that allow citizens with firearm to use deadly force if they feel they are at risk of an imminent attack, and do not have the ability to flee from the danger.

Some evidence, however, suggests that the shooter in this case actually pursued Martin while talking to a 911 dispatcher, who advised him not to take the law into his own hands.

Despite this warning, the shooter eventually killed Martin, and several investigations have been launched into the killing in order to determine if the shooter was, in fact, acting in self-defense.

Against the backdrop of this controversial case, which involved Martin, a black teenager, and the shooter, who was an older white man, millions of Americans were awaiting a response from President Obama.

And he delivered this week. In his words, “I can only imagine what these parents are going through.” The president also invoked his own daughters, and said he thought “every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this.”

President Obama also acknowledged the difficult racial elements to the incident, and said that he thought “all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen.”

The president announced that the U.S. Attorney General has launched a criminal investigation into the case, and he also expressed that he was pleased with Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to appoint a task force to examine the circumstances of Martin’s death.

After Obama made his remarks, the parents of Trayvon Martin, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, issued a joint statement, saying that it was “humbling” that the president took the time to acknowledge the death of their son.

This week, a former college student at Rutgers was found guilty of committing a hate crime after he used a computer webcam to film sexual activities performed by his gay roommate, who later committed suicide.

According to a report from Reuters, 20-year-old Dharun Ravi could face up to 10 years in prison on his most serious charge, bias intimidation, which was committed against his 18-year-old roommate Tyler Clementi.

Sources indicate that Ravi filmed Clementi’s sexual exploits and invited other students to watch the live feed of the activities from the webcam that was placed on top of his computer.

Three days after Clementi learned that his roommate had filmed and posted the video of his intimate encounter, the beleaguered teenager committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

The tragedy stunned the entire country, and led to a wave of anti-bullying public service announcements. Perhaps the most famous of these efforts is the “It Gets Better” campaign, which was started by activist Dan Savage and quickly went viral.

In his trial, after 12 hours of deliberations, a jury convicted Ravi on 15 different criminal counts, including bias intimidation based on sexual orientation, invasion of privacy, and tampering with evidence and witnesses.

Fortunately for Ravi, though, he was not charged with actually causing Clementi’s death. But the criminal charges may lead to Ravi’s eventual departure from the United States.

Sources say that Ravi is an Indian citizen, although he has lived in the United States for the majority of his life. He will be sentenced in May, and he currently is free on a $25,000 bail, although a judge made him surrender his passport. Because of his foreign citizenship, Ravi may be deported.

While many observers cheered the verdict as an appropriate punishment for Ravi’s actions, others are concerned that the decision wrongly elevates social media bullying from a simple prank to a serious criminal offense.

According to James Jacobs, a professor at New York University School of Law, the decision “illustrates the dysfunction of hate crime laws that were passed with the idea that they would strike out against hate groups and neo-Nazi groups, and instead end up being used in these one-off kind of cases, where immature confused young people act in some way that evidences prejudice.”

But another law professor in New York, Susan Abraham, believes that the decision will have a “deterrent effect” on future cruel acts of bullying and is thus a “very important” decision.

Fans of the rapper Coolio may be disappointed (but not entirely surprised) to learn that he was recently arrested for a crime in Las Vegas. Alas, news of the crime, unlike other activities in Sin City, did not simply stay in Las Vegas.

Coolio’s alleged offense, however, is not as sexy as fans of his music might think. The entertainer was arrested for failing to appear in court for a traffic charge two years ago, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.

The 48-year-old Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., was riding as a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by Las Vegas police a few blocks east of the Strip at 2:20 a.m. last Friday.

When police discovered that there was an outstanding warrant in Nevada for Coolio’s arrest, they immediately took him into custody, although sources say he was released later the next day. No one else in the car was arrested.

Sources indicate that Coolio initially found himself in trouble in June 2010 when police pulled him over for making an illegal stop and driving without a license.

Coolio, apparently, failed to appear in court to face these relatively minor charges, and thus a warrant for his arrest was issued. Almost two years later, police finally discovered him again.

The former rapper may have been able to elude police for so long because he keeps a much lower profile than he did a decade ago.

Still, Coolio, who has taken turns as a musician, actor, and record producer, is still highly noticeable thanks to the trademark thin, sparse dreadlocks rising from his otherwise smooth head.

And his current brush with the law shows the consequences of failing to appear before a court for even a minor offense.

If Coolio had simply made his initial appearance for the 2010 charges, he would have saved himself future legal headaches.

His saga serves as a reminder to others who are arrested for a crime: if you are facing serious trouble with the law, take the charges seriously, and do not try to evade arrest or conviction.

If you try to escape the police, or hide from the court, the long arm of the law will inevitably find you. And judges have little patience for citizens who show a lack of respect for the judicial system by failing to show up for court appearances.

For more information about your legal rights and options after a criminal arrest, contact a local criminal defense lawyer today.

William Bryan Jennings, a senior investment banker with Morgan Stanley, has been placed on leave after Connecticut police arrested him for allegedly stabbing a taxi driver with a pen after yelling racial slurs at the Middle Eastern man, according to a Reuters report.

Jennings, who helps head Morgan Stanley’s North American fixed-income capital markets unit, was arrested last week at his home in Darien, Connecticut and charged with several crimes, including assault, larceny, and intimidation by bias or bigotry, otherwise known as a hate crime.
Sources indicate that the investment banker was released after posting bail and he is scheduled to appear in court later this week.

The alleged dispute occurred in December 2011, when Jennings took a cab ride late at night from Manhattan to his $2.3 million home, which was about 45 miles away.

When the driver and Jennings reached the home, the driver claims that an inebriated Jennings argued about paying the fare. Police claim that the two had previously agreed on a $204 fare, but Jennings claims that the driver instead demanded $300 for the ride.

And, while the two parties do not agree on the terms of the agreement, their stories about what happened later that night also differ.

According to a police report, the taxi driver started driving around the city looking for a police officer, so that he could have an officer resolve the disagreement. According to Jennings’ criminal defense attorney, however, the driver was recklessly speeding and threatening to take Jennings back to New York.

Next, according to the driver, Jennings began yelling racial slurs and threatening the driver. He then allegedly stabbed the driver through an open partition with a pen knife. When the driver tried to close the gap, the 47-year-old banker allegedly stabbed him in the hand.

It seems that Jennings and his lawyer do not dispute that the stabbing took place, but they claim that Jennings was only acting in self-defense. In addition, Jennings also “categorically denies” that he used racial slurs.

After the stabbing incident, the driver apparently stopped the car, and Jennings ran the remaining 1.5 miles back to his Darien home. The driver sought medical attention later that night, and received six stitches for his wound.

The incident comes as an embarrassment to both Morgan Stanley and its star banker, who has worked with the firm for almost 20 years. Sources did not say when, or if, Jennings would return to his work.