A measure designed to ease stubbornly high rates of violent crime, including rape and sexual assault, within Indian reservations will be signed into law by President Obama on Thursday. Advocates of the Tribal Law and Order Act, which took three years to put together and passed the Senate last week, say it will ensure that more crimes, including murders and serious assaults, are reported and prosecuted amid worries that many cases go unpunished.

The measure gives tribal courts tougher sentencing powers and sets stricter rules to gather and collect more data on crimes. Special U.S. prosecutors will be appointed to tackle what advocates of the law describe as an epidemic of violence.

The president is due to sign the bill into law during a ceremony at the White House on Thursday afternoon. Supporters said the current congressional session was the most active in decades in improving conditions for Indian reservations. Earlier this year, Obama signed a law that boosted health-care provisions for Indian communities.

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Imagine walking out of your front door and leaving it open, whilst you jet off on holiday for a week. Or parking your car in central London and leaving all of the windows open and your laptop on the front seat. Or even walking around town with your wallet hanging out of your pocket and your iPod on so loud that you couldn’t hear an airplane, let alone a pick pocket walking behind you.

You are probably thinking, “Why would I do that, I am not stupid! “.

It is true to say, the majority of us would never do any of the things mentioned in my opening paragraph, because they are the basic security measures of life. Lock your front door, keep your windows closed when away and don’t leave anything worth pinching in your car.

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Crime has plunged to its lowest level since 1981, with the number of thefts, burglaries and fraud cases tumbling. The British Crime Survey yesterday revealed that the number of offences fell from 10.5 to 9.6 million - the first time the total has dropped below 10 million since records began.

Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the figures showed Labour had delivered on their promise to be "tough on crime" during the party's 13 years in power. Warwickshire Chief Constable Keith Bristow, a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers, called the results "a strong indication of our commitment to cutting crime".

He added: "Like many sectors, policing will be expected to deliver more for less. We recognise the challenge and remain resolutely committed to protecting the public." Across England and Wales, crimes recorded by police in 2009/10 fell by eight per cent, from 4.7 million to 4.3 million.

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The level of crime in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest since records began in 1981, figures showed on Thursday. The British Crime Survey (BCS) showed offences fell by 9 per cent to 9.6 million in 2009/10, allaying fears a deep recession would cause a jump in offences.

The BCS is a collation of people's perceptions of crime and is one of the largest social surveys conducted in Britain. It is not related to actual crime figures, however. Actual crimes recorded by police forces across England and Wales fell by eight per cent to 4.3 million offences, a separate report showed.

Home office officials said there had been a "notable" fall in theft, burglary and fraud, but that levels of violent crime were largely unchanged. Both sets of crime figures show the number of offences is lower than when the last Labour government came to power in 1997.

While social networking and micro-blogging sites are great tools to stay connected, they are also easy to misuse. And mostly, it’s women who are the victims, say the cyber crime police. An increasing number of women are approaching the cyber crime cell with complaints that fake profiles of them with obscene content have been posted on sites such.

In 2009, the police received was 268 applications of fake profiles, obscene content and defamation, but only nine cases were registered. They have received 160 applications till June 30 this year, but only six cases have been registered so far. Though such incidents are on the rise, few victims are willing to register a case.

Explaining this, cyber security consultant Vijay Mukhi, who often works with the police in such cases, said victims are afraid to proceed with complaints as that could lead to exposure and social humiliation. “Most victims want the obscene profiles deleted after which they are not interested in proceeding with complaints.”

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The former chief prosecutor for the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal for Sierra Leone said African countries have the political will to enforce the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.

David Crane, professor of law at Syracuse University, told VOA he was impressed and encouraged by the positive response and contribution of African countries at a recent two-week conference that was held in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

The conference reviewed the Rome Statute focusing on the crime of aggression. Professor Crane said there is a need for justice for the people of Darfur. “The arrest warrant related to the genocide charge captures the entire event that took place in Darfur and the Sudan. It is important for justice that all of the crimes that were committed in Darfur actually be charged so that the full truth can come out. So, I think this is a rounding out, a natural extension of what has taken place in Darfur,” Professor Crane said.

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THE MASSIVE increase in visible policing around the World Cup has had the effect of reducing crime in many of South Africa’s urban areas, according to a private security company and Fifa’s local organising committee. As well as creating a safe environment for most of the hundreds of thousands of foreign fans, the increased police presence has also been accredited with reducing house break-ins and violent crime in suburbia.

Officials from ADT, one of the country’s most high-profile armed response security companies, told South African newspaper Beeld that reported crimes in Pretoria and Johannesburg, where many of the matches were played, have dropped by up to 70 per cent.

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Like many senior citizens, this group of elderly Englishwomen keeps a close eye on goings-on in their neighborhood. What makes them a little unusual is their use of hidden cameras, telescopes, night-vision equipment and the Internet to try to drive out troublemakers from the area.

The women, aged between 67 and 92, are part of a community group that wants to harness social networking and covert surveillance to keep tabs on litterbugs, drug dealers and others. They claim they're using technology and people-power to transform lives. Others say they're simply snoops, and question how effective their actions are.

David Lawson, the only man in the group and the only member willing to speak publicly, says "myself and the ladies" are simply "trying to do something about the issues that were blighting our neighborhood — litter and graffiti, but also more serious crime."

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New figures show that violent crimes have dropped in both the city and county of Los Angeles. Police say the overall number of violent crimes reported dropped more than 11 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same six months in 2009. There were 151 homicides in the city—a 3 percent increase—but that included the slayings of four people during a fight at a North Hollywood restaurant in April.

In the county, the Sheriff's Department says violent crime for January through June dipped by nearly 4 percent compared with the same 2009 period. There were 85 homicides reported—a 17 percent drop. That continues a five-year trend of declining homicide rates in unincorporated areas and 40 cities policed by sheriffs.

A retailers group says it will get behind government moves to tighten up on knife crime. Justice Minister Simon Power said yesterday maximum sentences for possession of a knife would increase by a year to three years jail. Education would also be beefed up and restrictions placed on the sale of knives.

Barry Hellberg from the NZ Retailers Association told TV ONE's Breakfast programme retailers will probably be more in favour of voluntary approaches than mandatory regulations. The government wants retailers to sign a voluntary accord to restrict the sale of knives to young people.

"I think that retailers will see this as an issue that they need to deal with and I think will generally be supportive of the concept." But he says the effectiveness of the moves will come down to individual retailers. "To a large degree it will come back to the approach of the management of the business and the discussions they have with their staff about how they deal with this issue."He says some retailers already refuse to sell knives to young people unless they are with an adult.

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