♪ john: tonight on "pbs news weekend"... a new report looks at the state of crime in america and best practices for curbing it. >> it involves police and communities working together, particularly our communities -- our most, most vulnerable. john: then... with the women's world cup underway, we look at efforts worldwide to achieve equity in the sport. and... an oklahoma death row inmate's case reignites the debate over capital punishment. ♪ >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that

helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of the "newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening. i'm john yang.

summer 2023 has become the summer of superlatives -- scientists say the first two weeks of july were the earth's hottest on human record. in the southwestern u.s., phoenix has never been this hot for this long. and the heat has spread to places like boise, idaho, where today's high is forecast to be above 100. across the southeast, a new wave of heat and humidity will make it feel as hot as 115 degrees in some places. more than 90 million americans are under heat alerts. and in europe, greek firefighters are battling dozens of wildfires. an intensifying heat wave stretching from spain to greece is setting records. ukrainian officials said its drones hit an ammunition depot early today in the illegally annexed crimean peninsula. it forced evacuations and the brieclosure of a key bridge that connects crimea and the russian mainland. it was the latest in an series of aerial assaults from both sides. it began monday when ukraine blew up two sections of that

12-mile-long bridge, a crucial russian supply line. two people were killed. then came days of deadly russian barrages against ukrainian ports. moscow pulled out of a deal to allow safe passage through the black sea of ships carrying ukrainian grain, crucial to the world's food supply. and, the u.s. women's soccer team beat vietnam 3-0 in its first gamef this year's world cup. forward sophia smith had two goals and an assist in her first world cup game. and, in its first world cup game, haiti narrowly lost to european champion england, 1-0. haiti qualified for the first time this year, despite not having any sponsors or playing any home games because of the turmoil and violence there. still to come on "pbs news weekend"... pay equity and the women's world cup. and... a disabilities advocate's brief but spectacular take on learning differently. >> this is "pbs news weekend"

from weta studios in washington, home of "the pbs newshour," weeknights on pbs. john: as the covid 19 pandemic spread across the country, crime rates surged to highs not seen in decades. but now crime trends appear to be sfting. ali rogin has the latest on what new research says about the state of crime in america and the best practices for curbing it. ali: a new report from the council on criminal justice provides new insight on crime levels for the first half of this year. data from 37 cities shows that most crime has gone down coared to last year, but levels are still higher since before the pandemic. the most notable exception is the large increase in motor vehicle theft. at the same time, the number of homicides dropped sharply over 9% lower than the first half of 2022. adam gelb is the founder, president and ceo of the council on criminal justice, whicha nonprofit think tank focusing on criminal justice reform.

and thaddeus johnson is a senior resear fellow for council on criminal justice, who studies policing, crime, control and governance equity. thank you both so much for joining me. adam, let's start with you. walk us through some of the main findings of this report.[0.0s] adam: the headlines here are that we have a significant decrease in homicide, 9%. it would be his to work if it stays that way throughout the year. and then a significant increase in motor vehicle theft. the rest of the crimes are pretty flat trending downwards, somewhat slightly. and we do still see, unfortunately, elevated levels of homicide and violent crimes in particular. and with respect to auto theft, doubling of the rate of auto theft today compared to two -- compared to 2019. ali: what are the factors behind

that? adam: this is one of the most interesting things about what's what's happenedver the last couple of years. it takes three things to to have a crime. you've got motive, means and opportunity. with the motor vehicle theft, it really highlights the role that opportunity plays. that is particularly with two types of models of car the , hyundai is and kia's became a lot easier to steal and there was a tiktok video that showed you how to do that in a very simple way. and so all of a sudden we see this significant rise in auto theft, not because people have different reasons for doing it but it's just easier to do. ali: thaddeus, i want to talk to you about crime reduction methods. what are some of the proven methods that you have seen in some of these communities that really work? and w much can we attribute these declines in the in the cities that this report looked at to those crime reduction methods? thaddeus: that is the billion dollar question. and it's difficult to really pinpoint the exact causes of the crime trends, but at a fundamental level, we can think about the pandemic and the associated shut downs. they disrupted the way police, the service providers were able to engage and serve our communities, especially those at

greatest risk of community violence. key strategies have been focused on a small number of people and places where violent crime is concentrated. for instance, a report showed that in philadelphia that 1% of the population was responsible for about 60 or 70% of the crimes. so police have turned away from the stop and frisk type of policing and have turned to a more intelligence-driven policing that draws on police intelligence, crime mapping, risk, terrain mapping, social network analysis to identify these people. it is not just police, it's not just communities. we need each other. and the most effective strategies are the ones that rely emphasize that relationship. ali: i want to pick up, adam, on another thing you said, which is that crime levels are still higher than they were pre-pandemic. so how should people be looking at this? it seems like it's a mixed bag of results. adam: think that's right. it is a mixed bag. mostly it's coming down, though. and and so i think it's very optimistic. and we could be guardedly optimistic about about where things are headed. there are no magic wands, just

to be clear. but we kw what can work. thad just outlines several of the things and that we now just need the leadership and the political will to do them. ali: thaddeus, i wonder, are there methods that you believe can be replicated across the country or is it very important to make city by city applications of these things and essentially and no one size fits all? thadus: you're absolutely right. it is person based. it's place based. it's time based. it involves communities, it involves the police, it involves technology, it involves data driven, smart policing. and again, i would emphasize it involves police and communities working together, particularly our communities -- our most, most vulnerable. and these are the places that really want the police. despite what the narratives may be nationwide, however the trust , and legitimacy of policing and the history and many of these neighborhoods have been a big issue. and it's hard to build this

without trust. but the right cities and the smart cities have worked to engage and build those relationships because that forms the core. and so it's not really complex. it's about relationships. it's about focus on what's good and tailoring those things for your community based on these principles and evidence based practices. ali: thaddeus, i would like to stick with you. why are communities of color disproportionately impacted by crime? and they're often not part of the conversation when it comes to policing methods. why is that and how can thate changed? thaddeus: unfortunately, black and brown communities bear the brunt of violent victimization and offending. it doesn't mean that these communities are broken, or that these people are inherently more violent. so many times these communities, they don't want to defund the police. they want to have policing there. but we have to get past this actual level of distrust and this history that we have and oftentimes has caused them to be underserved. it has also caused these these

communities to withdraw from the table because they've been disenfranchized. they haven't been empowered. we have to get permission from these communities with these ideas. we can't just come in and act like we're invaders. it's important that we come in as partners and put them first. ali: adam gelb and thaddeus johnson with the council on criminal justice, thank you both so much for joining us. thaddeus: thank you for having us. ♪ john: the u.s. women's national team's first game of this year's world cup is in the books-- a 3-0 victory over vietnam -- is in the books, and the team is preparing to take the netherlands on wednesday. there are important changes for this year's tournament, reflecting the global growth of women's soccer -- or, if you prefer, football -- the biggest number of teams ever is playing for the biggest pot of prize money ever. but some issues haven't changed, most notably, equality with men's teams.

christine brennan is a usa today sports writer and columnist. first off, your reaction to the u.s. first game. christine: a good start for the u.s., not a great start. i'm sure people watched and saw all of the shots that did not go inhe back of the net and you wonder if it could have been 10-0 or something. but the reality was vietnam, first time in the tournament and they played very well defensively and really collapsed on the americans. that u.s. attack, the vaunted offense, could not quite do what it thought it could. but a win is a win, you want to move onto the next one. the young stars from the u.s. shining, showing they belong on the team with veterans. i think it was fine for the u.s., although i know a lot of people wanted to see more goals. john: i think so. vietnam did not have a team until 1997. they are one of the fisheries of

moving from a 2014 format to 32. fifa points out it is the same format as the men did are there other ways they are moving toward the men's tournament? christine: very slowly, for those who believe there should be more equality for women in sports, and certainly the u.s. team fight for equal paywhich was a worldwide phenomenon. finally u.s. soccer paying women equal to the men, the women are the ones who win. now the rest of the world is saying what about us? i think when you see the prize money, the fact that the men are last year's world cup in qatar, $440 million pot, into the women, $110 million. that's 45 cents on the dollar.

it's better than it was but not where it needs to be. fifa is saying we will get there in the next cycle. that would be great. i'm a little skeptical. john: you mentioned the u.s. team fight for pay equity. they've got a number of other teams this year squabbling with home federations -- canada, england. is there any since the u.s. team has led the way on this and other teams are trying to follow in their footsteps? christine: without a doubt, it goes back to title ix signed by richard nixon. the u.s. understanding we wanted our daughters and nieces and granddaughters to play sports like the boys. we had the u.s. women's world cup, they to me are the role models, people looked at the rose bowl full to capacity for a

women's soccer game. they were a latter-day johnny appleseed. even back in 2000 they were fighting for equal pay, so we remember the recent battle but really the length of century, almost a quarter century, the u.s. women have been leading the battle. john: the disparity between men and women, women oy getting $.25 on the dollar compared to the men. fifa says it wants equity by 2027. how realistic is that? christine: i would love to be wrong but i don't see that as realistic. unless -- we will see great tv ratings again. that's where the battle was lost before, they didn't realize the growth digital of the women to buy jerseys and tickets for games. when we see brazil and argentina and other countries that care so much about the men's game and never cared about the women's game, now they are getting in a

little bit. i think that's where the problem is in the question now is are they willing to make that huge jump in four years? i hope they are but i will believe it when i see it. john: let's get back to the competition on the field. the eight countries making debuts this year because of expansion are haiti, roco, portugal, the philippines, ireland, vietnam and zambia. smaller, mostly poorer countries. a lot of talk today about haiti, they played england in their first game and i think a lot of people expected a lopsided game but it was only 1-0. christine: exactly in haiti had some chances near the end. i think england was in shock. i can only imagine the british tabloids good for haiti. the players have talked about this, the hurricanes, the earthquakes, the incredible political turmoil. your heart aches for the living conditions and the problems and

issues that go on and on in haiti. and yet they've been able to field this team and these women are proud. one or two have been playing overseas. they play at u.s. colleges and they are good. it's the nature of the country as in 70 countries, that kids grow up with a soccer ball on their feet. now they are giving the girls a chance. they haven't had a national teampia probably the biggest underdog -- a national team. probably the biggest underdog of 32 teams, and they almost beat or tied england, one of the favorites to win. i think that's the beauty of this tournament, almost anyone could pull off an upset like that. we could not have said those words eight or 12 years ago. john: christine brennanthank you very much. christine: thank you. ♪ john: nine times since 2015,

richard glossip has had a date with death -- days when he was scheduled to be executed in the oklahoma state penitentiary by lethal injection. and nine times the courts have delayed his execution so legal challenges could be considered. now he's asking the supreme court to throw out his 2004 murder conviction and give him a new trial. and this time he's supported by oklahoma's chief law enforcement officer, attorney general gentner drummond. drummond says that the prosecution at glossip's trial acted improperly, including withholding evidence from the defense and allowing a key witness to lie. throw that evidence out, drummond says, and there's not enough to convict glossip, much less sentence him to death. adam kemp is one of our community's reporters. he's based in oklahoma city. adam, who is richard glossip and how did he get here? adam: right. in 1997, glossop was the manager of a motel that was owned by barry van treese, the murder victim in this case.

he was convicted of a murder for hire plot that justin snead carried out. he said he was paid $10,000 by glossip to murder van treese. since then, it's been more than 25 years of glossip on death row with, as you documente nine different execution dates and three last meals actually for glossip. he had his original conviction overturned by the court of criminal appeals here here in oklahoma. and then in 2004 was convicted again by a different jury. since 2014, glossip has had several execution dates that have come and gone, two different times his case has actually reached the supreme court. john: it is the 2004 retrial that's the subject of all this. and as recently as january, the attorney general filed a brief with the supreme court opposing glossip. but now he's switched. what happened? is there concern about the key witness who testified in that 2004 case? adam: that's right.

after oklahoma lawmakers actually called for an independent investigation into the prosecution of richard glossip, several different concerns came to the forefront about justin snead, the state's main star witness. that included, you know, some testimony from other inmates who were with snead that they said he confessed to doing the murder by himself. those interviews with those inmates were withheld from the jury trial. there was also concern about snead's mental health that he had an undisclosed mental illness that was also kept from the juries. on top of all that, there was a memo that was found in the da's office that detailed how prosecutors were feeding snead information before he would testify. john: in addition to the attorney general of oklahoma, he's getting support from the innocence project and also support from some legal scholars.

is there anyone opposing it? adam: the van treese family themselves has been very vocal against against glossip and has said that, you know, they've filed a friend of the court brief with the supreme court to have his conviction upheld. the van treese's son, derek van treese, has actually said that he believes attorney general drummond has overstepped his bounds in the roleere, saying that the oklahoma court of appeals has already ruled on this and they have chosen to uphold the conviction. on top of all that, governor kevin stitt has said that will not intervene on behalf of glossip and is just waiting to see how this all plays out. john: once glossip lost his case at the state supreme court, the attorney general went to the state clemency board asking for clemency for glossip and lost there as well. now, since the death penalty was reinstated, oklahoma's carried out more death sentences per

capita than any other state. could this case change the way politicians look at the death penalty? adam: it's been a really fascinating look here at lawmakers' choices since this glossip case has reached the supreme court again. there has been kind of a groundswell of support not only to make sure that these death row cases are being looked at, but some oklahoma state lawmakers are even glossip's, you know, top champions, they've come out to really rally for support for him and say that he deserves a new trial. there's been different groups formed. oklahoma lawmakers concerned for e death penalty. that is mainly backed by republicans to not only look at this glossip case, but at other death row cases they believe maybe were not prosecuted fairly. john: we're going to probably going to hear whether the supreme court takes this case early this fall. what happens if the supreme

court says, no, we're not going to intervene here? adam: that would put glossip on track to have that 10th and what we hear is most likely final execution date, as he's been to the supreme court twice now. many law experts believe this is his final chance at possibly getting a new trial. john: communities reporter adam kemp, thank you very much. ♪ allan goldstein is an author and lecturer -- and the guardian of his younger brother fred. fred is a survivor of the notorious willowbrook state school, an institution on staten island for people with disabilities. in 1972, local news reports brought attention to the school's neglect and abuse of its residents. once fred got out, goldstein realized his brother's many talents that had never been nurtured at willowbrook. tonight, he shares his brief but

spectacular take on how everybody can learn. allan: my brother fred is a survivor of the willowbrook state school. it's an institution that was built for 1500 and ended up housing 5400, 5300. it became a dumping ground. it was a school in name only. and he got out when he was 20. so he spent 16 years there. fred has strong emotional intelligence, but if you give him an iq test, he comes off as having neurological impairments. my brother is probably the reason why i do everything i do. ♪ the care for people with intellectual disabilities has changed immensely since the 1950's when fred first went into the state school. when mom died, i became fred's guardian. he was 45, which means i was 49.

it's when i became the guardian that i discovered that fred had been forgotten. he was in a group home for 20 years and we got him out of there. what we found from freddy was an artist. with assistance, he would write poetry. there were many, many talents there. he had learned that he can dictate his future. his poetry is presented at the new york city poetry festival on governor's island in the early 2000's. i think the biggest lesson that i got is that all people can learn and they just learn in different ways. i chose to create this course that puts people with and without disabilities in the same classroom, to start thinking differently. because a lot of the folks may not speak clearly or are not verbal. the students learn how to communicate in a different way. and what i'm stressing is that living differently is natural. and that, you know, doing

everything with two arms and two legs and speaking a certain way is not particularly the only way. that's considered ableism. if we accommodate, everybody can get on with their life. what my students walk away with is that it's okay to be different. accepting difference, diversity, that's the secret for success. my name's allan goldstein and this is my brief but spectacular take on everybody can learn. say goodbye, fred. fred: bye. john: and that is "pbs news weekend" for this saturday. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. see you tomorrow. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can find a plan that fits you.

to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

by pure encapsulations, for over 30 years, pure encapsulaons has used science to develop a comprehensive line of products free from unnecessary additives and many common allergens. brought to you by grail. an innovative health care company developing technologies for early detection. brought to you by timeline nutrition. timeline nutrition is a swiss health science company with a new approach to longevity products. brought you by natural factors. what if there was a way to reach our 70s, 80s, 90s, and 100s and beyond in vibrant health?