Recently in Crime Category

Why do some people not report crimes?

What happens to all of the crimes that are not reported?

This  website goes through the unrecoreded and unreported crimes.  It also explains what the dark figure of crime is. 

Read this article and blog about why you think that some people do not report crimes and what crimes do you think are the most unreported?

Two years ago, there was a stampede at the Nassau county Wal*Mart that lead to a workers death. 

How would you try to bring charges for a man killed in a stampede?

Read this article and blog about how you would try to figure out who killed the Wal*Mart worker.

Watch the way you walk, you could be watched by a psychopath and may be targeted as an easy target to be mugged or to be attacked.

To learn how psychopaths choose their victims and the characteristics that make a person vulnerable to being chosen.

Here is the website:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/extreme-fear/201010/how-psychopaths-choose-their-victims

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101018/ap_on_re_us/us_post_office_shooting

Here is a link to a shooting that happened Monday October 18, 2010 in Henning Tennessee. Two gunmen opened fire at a post office. No arrests were made and postal officials are pleading with anyone who may have information to come forward.  This article does go through how the police are investigating the shooting.

I am writing this Post because I knew Ben during middle school back home in Des Moines. Although we weren't friends, his death is one that shocks me. As I knew Ben and remembered him from middle school I would never have guessed him out of all people for this to happen to. Ben was a very nice guy, very smart and loved to debate. I know that he was very avid in his community and volunteered a lot. He was also one to never put himself in any situation that had danger...from what i remeber and have heard by his friend.

The allogations of his death go like this:

He was found on Highway 65/69, which is a stretch from Indianola, Iowa right into Des Moines. He was reported slumped over the bridge and someone called in. We now know that he was shot in the head. They have switched the ruling from homicide to possible suicide. His parents and friends knew that he was fearing for his family's life. He had recieved threats...or so people think, about his family and himself. His family and friends think that he witnessed a crime or was made to think he did. They threatened him if he told police or anyone else.They also found him tied up with plastic zipper ties...which now is being said that Ben bought those himself a few hours before his death.

The whole community is shocked as to why Ben would committ suicide. He is known to have a ver happy life and  he was very successful. My question is what kind of fear would make a person kill themselves to save their family. Also, how does an investigation go in this kind of case. What determines the change in homocide to suicide knowing his circumstances.

This case has touched the southside of Des Moines greatly and I know that his family and friends will do everything they can to find out the underlying cause of his case. In a recent report by the DCI, it almost seemed like they were going to slow down the investigation now that they have some answers. I really hope they keep working hard to find out everythig possible

Below are links to various sources about Ben's death

http://www.kcci.com/news/23420314/detail.html

http://www.kcci.com/news/23286009/detail.html

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100504/NEWS01/5040372/-1/archive/DCI-says-student-shot-self-no-threat-evidence

 

There are many more articles, these are just a few

With Hollywood hype in certain movies such as "Boon Dock Saints" and numerous comic book heroes, how do real vigilantes fair up? Psychologically, these individuals typically inspire hope and a sense of justice to criminals that evade the long arm of the law. The vigilants themselves feel it is up to them to assist or serve justice that the law will not or cannot provide. Criminals feel added fear by someone being a "hero." However, in law, these vigilants are typically frowned upon by the government or seen as criminals themselves. Sometimes, vigilantes help society by ridding the neighborhood of criminals. Like in the comic book stories, however, they can cause damage while doing so.

In the case of Robert Bell and Gary Sellers, they accidentally killed the wife of a known pedophile while setting their car and house on fire. Why did they do this? Bell and Sellers wanted to do the community a favor by ridding a known pedophile. They accomplished this by making Timothy Chandler homeless, penniless, and now a widow. Did these vigilantes admit to their actions? Yes and with remorse.

There are other vigilantes that take more careful actions, however. For example, there are internet vigilantes out there who attempt to regulate the lack of control on the world wide web. These people will find online scams, phishing scams, and immoral content. After doing so, they will gather information on their target and inform the local law of their target of their misbehavior. On a less web-based example of positive vigilantism would be the Guardian Angels. These people are a non-profit international organization that do group patrols in dangerous neighborhoods, raise awareness to communities on safe practices, teach adults on how to make a citizen's arrest, and so on.

Vigilantes that work outside the law have proven that fair justice cannot be served in most cases. However, when working in legal bounds, these individuals can do good. However, should civilians be allowed to operate without legal approval? Do these vigilantes do more harm or good? Would you feel safe knowing a vigilante could be watching what you do? Vigilantes: Menace or Heroes? You decide.

When I was in a social psychology class, we learned about the bystander effect. This is simply the fact that when with others, individuals act differently than they would alone. A huge case involving the bystander effect is the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. Kitty was 21 years old living in New York City. She managed a bar close to her apartment. One night, she was walking home late from work. Right outside her apartment, she was attacked and stabbed twice. She screamed but no one came to help her. The perpetrator left but returned 10 or so minutes later to find Kitty lying, barely conscious, by the back door. He continued to stab her, rape her, steal her money, and then leave. One man saw the first attack on Kitty and didn't call the police. Quite a few of the other tenants in the apartment building heard Kitty's screams but did not call the police either. This is the reason why this case is so well known. Many of the apartment tenants said they didn't want to get involved.

Four years after the murder, two psychologists did a study to try and figure out what the effect of bystanders had on people. They placed people in one room and were to speak through a microphone to the person in another room. The person on the other side, the confederate of the experiment, started to pretend he was having a seizure and even mumbled the words about dying. The psychologists found that the more people that were present, the longer it took for someone to act for respond to the person having the seizure. The people who didn't report the seizure said that the reason they didn't report it was because they wanted to abide by the rules of the experiment by staying in the other room apart from the confederate.

I think the bystander effect relates a lot to psychology and law. If someone is witnessing a crime, it's way less likely they'll report it if other people are present. It makes me wonder though if the bystanders being strangers has an affect on if people act or not. If I was surrounded by my friends, I think I would almost always react to someone getting murdered or having a seizure. People care a lot about what others think and sadly, this can have some negative effects.

This website is where I read about the bystander effect.

The UCMJ is the military law. For the most part, it spells out what is considered a crime, the military legal system, acceptable punishments, and so fourth. When a crime is being referred to or for the purposes of documentation, they are marked as Articles. For example, Article 86 is AWOL (Absent Without Leave), Article 112 is Drunk on Duty, and so on. The two major sections for military crimes are Punitive Charges and Non-Judicial Punishment Charges.

However, unlike civilian law, there are Articles that exist in which aren't crimes outside the military. For example, Article 125 - Sodomy. Simply put, the act itself is a crime, whether it is consensual or not. Article 134:24 - Gambling with a Subordinate. In short, you can only gamble with people of the same rank. There are many strange Articles in which limits the freedoms of service members for both good and the strange. The second link is a website that spells out some of the court-martial offenses.

Imagine being a single soldier who had consensual sex in one of the two soldier's rooms. Guess what? You've violated the UCMJ in one way or another, which states the door must be open when a member of the opposite gender is present. If you've done this, then you've violated Article 134-29 (Indecent Acts with Another). Let's take a common situation. Imagine having some time off, and getting a little sun. You've spent a little too much time outside and were sunburned. Congratulations! You've violated Article 108 - Damage or Destruction of Government Property. In many cases, being guilty of any of the articles can include any or all of the following: Loss of rank, loss of pay, loss of leave, loss of responsibility, restrictions on locations, dishonorable discharge, and/or prison time.

Psychologically, many soldiers have fears of the UCMJ. Granted, there are many Articles that are violated, but swept underneath the rug. It all depends on a soldier's chain of command (their bosses all the way up to the President) if they wish to pursue these charges or not. Some believe that the chain of command has a personal grudge against them, which has been proven in the past. There is an Article for this as well. Some chains of commands are extremely "by the book" and will punish soldiers under the UCMJ for crimes that don't exist outside the military. Do soldiers really have to fear their law more than the combat zone they could be in? Does the UCMJ protect the soldier against others, or does it create more control for the government?

 

UCMJ:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ucmj.htm

 

Punitive Charges of the UCMJ:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm.htm

I've always been interested in what exactly causes crime rates to go up. I searched google and found a reasonable answer. It stated that the reasons people commit crimes can either be because 1) poor parenting skills, 2) peer influence, 3) drugs and alcohol, 4) income and education, 5) tv violence, 6) easy access, and 7) hot weather.
All of them seemed to make sense to me, until I got to #7. Hot weather? Really? So I looked further into in and found out this interesting facts...
Crimes increase about 10% during the summer months- murder=16% increase and rape is a 13% increase.
There are several reasons for this. The most obvious one being that kids are out of school, bored, and have nothing do to. My general go to was just to watch TV, but apparently for some kids that isn't enough. Another reason the crime rates go up in summer is because of the heat. It can mess with your cerebral cortex, and cause you to do things you wouldn't otherwise do. It stated that most peoples common sense goes out the window when they're overheated-thus causing them to do something stupid...like commit a crime.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/278337/summer_crime_rates_does_crime_take.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8376295/Causes-of-Crime

Gangs have been around since all of us can remember. Anywhere from the Blood, Crips, and the 18th Street. Gangs account for much of the violence in today's society, and they're only getting bigger. Most gangs are found in larger cities, however they're becoming more popular across the nation. In the website I found, it says that there are approximately 800,000 gang members in America.The reason for joining a gang is different for every member, however it's most common that young adults join because they're not getting enough attention at home or they have a bad family life. People also join a gang that fits their specific race/beliefs, this is another way that the members feel connected with each other. The age of gang members keeps on decreasing as well, kids as young as 10 years old are starting to join gangs for 'approval'. However, most of the kids that join gangs will die at a young(er) age due to the impeccable amounts of violence they're exposed to. I think it's extremely sad that these kids feel the need to join a gang to belong, however to them it's just something ordinary that they're use to. They know they're going to get beat up, and possibly killed but it's a price they're willing to pay.    Here are two websites that say more about gangs:
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-gangs

http://www.helpinggangyouth.com/statistics.html

I've always been interested in the amount of crimes that occur while influenced by either drugs or alcohol. As I was researching this, the results were slightly shocking. I found out that less than half of committed crimes were caused by people who were either on drugs, or drinking. One statistic showed that about 25% of all crimes are drug induced. Although this may not seem like a lot, it's still 1/4 of all crimes. Another statistic showed that the first time a person commits a crime, they're more likely to be sober. However, if that same person commits a second crime, the person is more likely to be influenced by a drug/ alcohol. Another statistic I found rather interesting is that 19% of all inmates are in jail because they tried to attain money from drugs. It also said that 81% of drug arrest were due to possession. I think that's pretty nuts, I mean you'd think they'd learn to hide it more or just not do it to begin with. 
Here's the link where I got all my information...
http://www.safetycops.com/drug_related_crimes.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/01/12/scotus.sex.offender.law/index.html

In the article it gives a first hand account of a boy that was kidnapped and sexually assulted that is now an advocate for others that have also been sexually assulted.  They support a procedure that many states already have in place and that is a detention sort of program for sex offeneders when they get out of prison and what it does is it serves as a coaching program on how to cope in the world around them now that they are out and they oppertunity is there for them to commit a crime again. The program is state funded and has psychological staff on hand to help these previous offenders fight their urge soon as they are out of prison. But they also get into the other side of things and have previous sex offenders that advocate civil rights and say that the right due process is being over turned.  The basic question is, is it legal to hold someone even after they serve their time for the crime they commited? My personal opinion is in the case of sexual predators YES. They not only broke a law but they aslo violated another person against their will. They deserve to be thought how to control those anti-social behavior because jail time alone does not deter offenders from reapting those crime in most cases it simple puts their fantasizes on ice until they get out again.  

·         In 2008, 7,703 children under age 18 were held in American adult local jails.

·         3,650 children under the age 18 were held in American adult state prisons.

·         22 states allow children as young as 7 to be tried as adults.

·         Every year, nearly 80 children age 13 and younger are judicially transferred to adult court.

These are absolutely shocking statistics. The book, "From Time Out to Hard Time: Young Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System," tells of how the nation treats pre-adolescent children (age 12 and under) who commit serious crimes.

This report recommends a few things to keep children out of the harsh conditions in prisons. The first is that we should work to keep our children in the juvenile justice system. The second is that parole opportunities should be given to young children regardless of the length of the sentence. The article says that in Florida and Pennsylvania, children as young as 7 can serve life in prison without parole.

The final recommendation is that children in the adult system should not be housed with adult criminals, but instead in a juvenile facility. This I would absolutely agree with. Most seven year olds are raised by their parents in a cozy and safe environment. I can only imagine the psychological impact that growing up in a prison amongst adult criminals would have on a seven year old.

Here is a news article about a 12 year old boy being charged as an adult for the murder of his father's pregnant girlfriend:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/21/jordan-brown-killed-fathe_n_168862.html

My view on this is that I think our system takes it too far when trying children as adults. I understand that they do some very adult things, but I can't help but feel that we aren't realizing they are children. If we simply look at how they are developed emotionally we can see that they by no means act in adult ways. It scares me to think of my little brothers, who are around the age of 12, going to prison. Not only that, but spending their life there around the other people in prison. I believe our law system needs to get a better grip on children and charging them as adults. Any one of us can think back to the stupid things we used to do when we were kids. I even read old diaries and think, "Wow, that isn't even like me! I was so stupid!" Children at age 12 are still being molded, and I think by placing them into a prison, with adult criminals, is going to mold them in a very negative way.

Sleep walking is a common sleeping disorder. However, have you ever thought someone could actually commit a crime while sleeping? Parasomnia describes many different types of disorders, such as: nightmares, sleep terrors, sleep walking, confusion arousal, REM disorder, and sleep enuresis (aka bed wetting). The only one that is related with certain crimes is sleep walking. Can you imagine going to bed then waking up with the police knocking at your door and a dead body on your floor with no recollection of anything? It'd be pretty dang scary. And how would you, as a jury, come up with a verdict in a situation like this. Here are a few court cases dealing with sleep walking crimes.
http://www.usnews.com/health/family-health/sleep/articles/2009/05/08/7-criminal-cases-that-invoked-the-sleepwalking-defense.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/business/05psychic.html?emc=eta1

Here is a New York Times article about a "highly reputable" psychic trained by Nepalese monks in the art of time travel, precognition, and remote viewing.  Claiming to be able to predict the stock market Sean David Morgan and his wife took in millions of dollars from investors, funneling the money through a number of religious and spiritual businesses owned by Morgan.

 

Where's the psychology?  First, why do people continue to buy into these things?  Even in the face of no evidence for anything the least bit psychic a vast majority of people still believe that these abilities are possible and that some people already do possess these skills.  Credulity?  Faith?  Ignorance? 

Second, isn't it amazing that even Morgan himself refuses to admit he's wrong?  I believe that he truly does believe that he can predict the future, and his inability to predict this lawsuit and the impending fines, jail-time, etc. are not viewed as counter-evidence, or failures in his mind.  Instead he explains these away as being malicious attacks on his person, such that he could not have predicted them, etc. etc.  This is a common tactic used by psychics, when they are right it's proof, when they are wrong (and this is frequent) it's because of other people or some flaw in the universe and not seen as a counterexample or possible evidence against their viewpoint.

Thirdly, what if he really is seeing into the future and he made a mistake in interpretation?  It does seem like purposefully manipulating people is a far worse crime than trying to help, and simply making a mistake.  Which is going on here?  And how do we know that?  Given the large number of people who believe in this type of thing why ought we assume he's a fraud?  Is he any different than any other investor who makes a mistake? 

Does this article call into question all psychics and their claims, or merely the claims of this one man?  Do claims regarding the success of one psychic demonstrate the existence of psychic phenomena in general, or are they merely a statistical oddity to be explained in light of other evidence?

At a homicide investigators conference in Las Vegas this week, there are several displays of many high-profile crimes.  For instance, there are exhibits on the OJ Simpson case, Marilyn Monroe's death, Robert Kennedy's assassination, Sharon Tate's murder (and the other Manson family's crimes), the Black Dahlia murder, and a few notable shootouts.  Included in these exhibits are actual evidence (a rope from Sharon Tate's murder, gloves from OJ Simpson's trial, etc), video footage and photographs.
This all sounds interesting; however, it is quite the opposite according to the victims' families.  Maxwell Kennedy, Robert's son, calls the display of his father's assassination "part of a macabre publicity stunt" and "a cheap bid for attention" because they were displaying the suit that was worn by Kennedy at the time of his death.  Debra Tate, Sharon's sister, says "A little warning would have been nice so we could prepare ourselves emotionally, ...It's part of the insensitivity the department shows toward victims. We're being victimized over and over again."
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and District Attorney Steve Cooley say they never intended to compound the grief of murder victims' families. They say they sought to depict the horror of homicide in hopes of deterring violence.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_oMgmSp4WdDuvbkginjpqkNb-3wD9E80TMG0

The Kennedy family complained about the clothing being on display, and the LAPD have since removed items that the family does not  want to be displayed.  Debra Tate plans on filing a complaint, but doesn't seem to expect anything to come of it.

The Movie takes place in Mexico City, it starts off with a rich man having to pay for his son's ransom, and that is what the whole movie is about, it is about money and kidnapping.  A Body Guard is hired and is being payed very low because of his alcohol problem.  He is hired to escort a daughter named Pita by a Wealthy man.  His wife took a liking to the Body Guard immediately all because he was an American.  The Body Guard had many related skills relating to being a Body Guard, however he had never protected children before.  At first the Body Guard does not want to develop a friendship with the little girl but later on he does anyway.  The Pita (the little girl/daughter of the rich guy) informs the Body Guard that there has been 24 kidnappings in the last six days, four each day.  He is some how psychologically damaged from his past, he dislikes his job so much, he tries to fit in God into his life and wonders if God would ever forgive him (because of his psychological damage I can see why he has a drinking problem). Later on both the Boday Guard and Pita take notice of a car behind them, they both write down the license plate number.  Pita is at her piano classes, the Boday Guard is waiting outside, a dog is let loose the Body Guard puts it back in the car from where it came from and all of a sudden he sees the familiar car pull up where Pita was coming out tries to kidnap her but the Body Guard pulls out his gun unfortunately cops get in the way, Boday Guard shoots and kills two, kidnappers kidnapped Pita.  Turns out the cops were not on duty and yet still had their uniform on and exactly at the scene of the crime so they were crooked cops.  A ransom was offered but no successful, later on turns out the head of the dapartment of anti-kidnapping stole half of the ransom money which was 5 million in total 10 million, but the head stole 5 million of paper not money, the other million went to the Pita's father's lawyer and the kidnappers and in a way he got some money back to help him out of debt but everything was placed on hold because the other half was fake. Of course the Body Guard discovered all of this by going back to the scene of the crimes going around asking questions to witnessess or suspects like a detective.  He builds an alliance with a newsreporter named Maria and his old partner during his lasts jobs.  The Father committed suicide and he made a deal with the kidnappers, "A life for a life."  In exchanged the main Kidnapper's brother and the BodyGuard for Pita, Pita returned safely.  Can you actually imagine going through all of that?  Of course the movie is a bit exagerated, you just wouldn't be blowing off anyone's head off out of anger.  Kidnapping happens every where in this world at any time and any place but rich people are the ultimate targets all because of the economic issues that a person faces that or because of greed.

Recently, a New Jersey man was charged with kidnapping and endangerment after locking and abandoning his 20-month-old daughter in a restroom of a gas station in Delaware.  The child seems to be okay and is currently in a foster home.  The thing I find interesting about the case is that it is linked (although officials aren't saying how right now) to another recent crime in New York.  A young woman was killed and burned in a parking lot.  It is speculated that the young woman is the child's mother, although that information hasn't been released. 

What could possibly make someone do this? Now, I'm not a parent, but I'm pretty sure most parents wouldn't kidnap and abandon their children.  Especially a 20-month-old. 

Here are some links to the stories I read:
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100225/NEWS01/100225029/N.J.-man-charged-with-kidnapping-girl-abandoned-in-Del.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/toddler-abandoned-gas-station-bathroom-police-investigating-mother/story?id=9937791

I was on the WCF Courier website when I came across an article about a school shooting in Colorado.  The shooting occurred Tuesday February 23 at 3:30 PM.  This shooting occurred just a few miles from the Columbine high school shooting.  Only two students were shot, Reagan Webber and Matt Thieu.  Both victims were taken to the hospital and both had surgery Tuesday evening.  Reagan and Matt are both expected to be fine. After shooting these two students the gun-man went to reload his high-powered rifle, at that time a math teacher from the school, David Benke, tackled the suspect and prevented him from firing anymore shots.  The gunman was identified as Bruco Eastwood.  They have no motive for the shooting.  Mr. Eastwood had been in the school on different occasion and had been inside the building shortly being the shooting occurred.  One student stated that he heard Mr. Eastwood ask two students if they went to school here.  When the students answered yes, he shot them.

It is sad that school shooting happen.  I'm just happy that no one was killed and the suspect was taken down before more damage could be done.  It was very brave of David Benke to tackle the suspect, but his actions probably saved many lives.  I wonder why this guy decided to shoot kids at this middle school.  Authorities have not released Mr. Eastwood connection to the school if there is one.  The way the shooting took place is just kind of random.  What if those kids said that they didn't go to the school would he have let them go and not shoot them?  I have many questions about this case and I hope that they release more information soon.  What is also scary is that this shooting occurred so closely to the Columbine shooting, which I'm sure, everyone has heard about.

Here is a website from the Courier:

http://www.wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_b964f0a0-212b-11df-9587-001cc4c03286.html

 

For my criminology class I had to read an article about the personality traits of a criminal, and if those traits make certain people more prone to criminal activity.

The article is called "Personality and Crime: Are Some People Crime Prone?" The article was researched and written by many criminologists and psychologists, Avshalom Caspi, Terrie Moffitt, Phil Silva, Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, Robert Krueger, and Pamela Schmutte. The article stated that the researchers found that it's not just genetic factors that lead people to become criminals, but it's genetic factors influenced by environmental factors.

The researchers conducted a study in New Zealand where they did a longitudinal study of kids from birth to age 18. At 18, the kids were given a self-report personality inventory. The researches studied these self-report inventories along with official data sources concerning each individual's delinquency record.

The researchers used a modified version of the Multidimensional Personality Questionaire (MPQ). The MPQ is designed to assess individual differences in affective and behavioral style. "The 177-item version of the MPQ yields 10 different personality scales...The 10 scales constituting the MPQ can be viewed at the higher-order level as defining three superfactors: Constraint, Negative Emotionality, and Positive Emotionality (Tellegen, 1985;Tellegen and Waller, press)..."

People high on the constraint factor usually have conventional social norms, avoid thrills, and act cautiously, and tend to have a restrained manner. People ranking high on negative emotionality have a low threshold for negative emotions (fear, anxiety, anger, etc.), and usually break down under stress. People ranking high on positive emotionality scale have a low threshold for positive interaction in work and social environments, and have a positive outlook on life.

The research shows that "..positive emotionality was not associated significantly with delinquent behavior.." and "...persons involved in serious criminal behavior scored significantly lower on MPQ Constraint and significantly higher on Negative Emotionality..." (Caspi et al, 1994)

The second study the researchers conducted was in Pittsburgh, and they were studying inner-city youths 12-13 years of age of caucasion and African-American races to see if racial or ecological factors influence delinquency. This study used the California Child Q-sort (CCQ), which is a common language personality assessment given to the caregivers (parents, teachers, and self-reports) of the inner-city youths. The results showed that "Across all three data sources, Constraint and Negative Emotionality emerged as robust correlates of delinquency among both black and white adolescents....The negative correlations with Constraint suggested that delinquent adolescents were likely to be impulsive, danger-seeking, and rejecting of conventional values. Positive Emotionality was not associated robustly with delinquent behavior..."

This article also mentions that a low level of serotonin in the brain produces impulsivity and greater negative affectivity. Inmates in prison have been tested, and inmates who had a history of violence and impulsivity had low levels of serotonin. The effects of low serotonin levels can be linked to low constraint which "generates in turn a vulnerability to criminal behavior." (Caspi et al, 1994)

Unfortunately, you have to sign in to read the full article, but here is the link to get you to the page with the authors' information and an abstract about the article, feel free to sign in if you are interested in reading the full article.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119264723/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

 

Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Krueger, R. F., & Schmutte, P. S. 

     (1994, May). Personality and Crime: Are Some People Crime Prone? Criminology, 32(2), 163-196. 

 

 

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-interrogation-on-film,0,1131791.story

I think that this is a great idea for the exact reasons that the ABA states: it will reduce the allegations by suspects that the detectives coerced them into a confession and it will help detect false confessions when they occur. I don't agree with the DEA that the videotapes will teach the criminals the detectives' techniques because from what I understand, these tapes won't be open to the public, and certainly not to  criminals.

The part that I like best is that it will prevent suspects and their attorneys to portray the police as abusive. I have full confidence that the "roughing up" that you sometimes see in TV shows rarely if ever occurs.

To touch on the innocence project, this could be another method to prove someone's innocence - by reviewing the interrogation tapes to see if they were in any way coerced to confess or if they seem mentally ill.

A 12 year old student at a New York middle school was arrested for writing "I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 :)" on her desk in class.  Instead of getting a detention or a slap on the wrist, the principle called the police to arrest the 12 year old girl.  The police then proceeded to handcuff the girl in front of all her class mates and took her to the police station. The reason for the for the arrest was b/c the principle was following the zero tolerance rule.

This is an example of how the zero tolerance rule is taking way out of context in many schools these days.  The affects that this can have on this young girl can be huge.  She can be more likely to rebel because this is so ridiculous.  she can develop some psychological disorders from the embarrassment that she faced in front of her friends and community.  I just think that people need to think before they start arresting kids for no reason because it can come with some big consequences.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/18/new.york.doodle.arrest/index.html

I've always been interested in statistics, and this website provides stats about school related crimes. I find it interesting that people have the potential of getting seriously injured while they're at school. This blows my mind because I was from a TINY school (graduated with 40 people) and I always felt totally safe while at school. I can't imagine fearing the possibilities of getting beat up at school on top of having to learn. Pressures as a teen are hard enough, it's ridiculous that some teens have to fear their life on a day to day basis. I understand that schools are doing a lot to help this issue, but I feel as though there should be SOMETHING different they can do to ensure safety in the school settings. Not even that, but I wouldn't want to be a teacher in that setting. In one split second if you piss a kid off you could be shot. It's nuts!
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ncvrw/2000/educ.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/18/texas.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T1 

 

A relatively new story that happened just this morning that involved a man that burned his house down and then ran his plane into an IRS building but left behind a disgruntled suicide note.  In the note there were evident signs of a rage against the IRS, but it is still not yet clear if it was a terrorist motive or just one man taking action against the IRS. A possible psychological aspect to the story could be a mental disorder of a manic episode that caused the man to take such extreme action.

 

We've all heard the stories of the girl who reported she was raped- when she wasn't, or those who were kidnapped, but weren't really. False reports happen everyday in the United States and now the law is cracking down.

I called 9-1-1 once when I was little, to see if it worked. It did and I ended up getting a visit from a very nice police officer who sat me down and explained to me how calling for no reason was wrong. Followed by a capital punishment made by the judge/ jury/ executioner: my mom. Being six or seven though- i was merely curious- and the things i learned that day have stuck with me since.

But is there really a differance between a harmless 7 year old calling to see if 9-1-1 was real and a maliscious woman who just wanted to ruin the lives of others? Either way we both took precious time that could be used really saving someone in danger, we both made the choice to call, and we both got punished in the end.

https://secure.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/FalseReporting.pdf

this website shows in minor detail the punishment for all the states where false crimes are reported.

When many people, myself included, think of zero tolerance policies in schools we think weapons. Clearly bringing a weapon to school is not something that should be handled by a stern talking to and a don't do it again. However, a 12-year old girl was arrested, as in handcuffs taken to the station the works, for doodling on her desk. Yeah. The was not any profanity or death threats it wasn't even scratched into the desk just written in green marker. Now I'm not saying that there shouldn't be some punishment for this but this is something that should be handled by say making her clean it up and missing recess not a public arrest in front of her classmates and a three day suspension. In the article I read this in there are several more stories of schools engaging in what I can only call disproportionate retribution the punishments unleashed on these students hardly fits the crime. I have great faith in the people who become police officers but it is things like this that remind me why it is best that there be rules in place to keep the police on there leash. You can read the whole story here

With all of this talk about missing people and the Smiley Face murders, I thought it might be a good idea to post a link on how to protect yourself from crime.  On the second page of this article from WebMD, it gives a list on things you can do to make yourself less of a target for potential attackers, although the other information is useful as well! I've gotten tons of emails and heard lots of talks on how to protect myself, but it never hurts to refresh your memory:) Using these strategies, you can make yourself less of a target, and decrease your chances of becoming a victim.

 

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/how-protect-yourself-against-crime

This is a very interesting article about how the point of a finger gave a man a 50 year prison sentence on a rape charge.

Three days after the rape, Detective Gauldin called the rape victim Jennifer Thompson in to do a photo lineup. He lay six pictures down on the table, said the perpetrator may or may not be one of them, and told her to take her time.

Thompson did not immediately identify a photo, taking her time to study each picture.

"I can remember almost feeling like I was at an SAT test. You know, where you start narrowing down your choices. You can discount A and B," Thompson said.
.

I find it so interesting that the flaws of eyewitness identification can be so obvious. When taking a multiple choice test you being narrowing down the answers. When you come down to the bottom two you seem to make an educated guess. When dealing with 50 years in prison, I would hope the question only has one obvious answer, and isn't multiple choice.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/06/60minutes/main4848039_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Throughout this class we have dealt with many aspect of witness identification. Through the construct a line up project I was amazed at how many people actually guessed the suspect right. So not only is this whole process biased in that a person basically picks as a multiple choice guess sometimes, but also that a line up can be very biased. Many line ups are made with an obvious answer to be picked. Many of think us probably think, so what! That person is probably guilty. However, in this above case we see that a man was wrongly picked from a line up and the consequence was major jail time. When picking out of a line up the person is basically choosing the course for the person. We also learned in class that eye witnesses are of HUGE impact to a jury. This can also lead to false testifying which can easily sway a jury. It starts to make you really reflect upon our justice system and the ways that eye witnesses, juries, and even line ups can be extremely biased.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/10/new.york.teen.rape.case/index.html?iref=allsearch

This article caught my eye while I was browsing CNN.  It is about a how a 16 year old, named Ricky Blackman, in Iowa had sex with a 13 year old because he was told the girl was 15.  The girl ran away from home and the cops came to the young mans house looking for her.  This is when he found out she was actually only 13.  He then admitted to have sex with her and was arrested.  He was put on the sex offenders list in Iowa and was told that if completed the treatment, his name would be taken off the list.  His family then moved to Oklahoma to start a new life.  Ricky completed his treatment and was taken off the list in Iowa but he did not come off the list in Oklahoma. 

Rick had a red stripe that said he was a sex offender on his drivers license.  Whenever he went places to buy things that needed an ID to be shown, he would not be served.  He could not even get jobs at Wal-mart and McDonald's.  He was not allowed to go to school and finish high school or get his GED. 

Eventually Oklahoma took the red strip off of Ricky's license but the affects of his poor treatment still take a tull on his everyday life.  He is nervous around children and women because he doesn't want to be looked at like he is doing something wrong.  He doesn't go to his brothers football games because he doesn't want to make people upset that he is there even though he is off the list.

The are so many psychological problems that he could have developed just from not being able to hangout with people his own age and getting treated like crap from everyone in his community.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/11/oklahoma.teen.sex.offender/index.html