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I was watching the show Forensic Files on night and I saw this case about a woman killing her husband. I found this case to be relevant to this class because of what she did when she murdered him.
The night that she decided to kill him, she called the police in a panic claiming someone had broken in to their home and was robbing it. During the 911 call she was crying and at one point (if you watch the video links below) she yelled at the him to not go upstairs to her children. During the call she said he had a gun, and by this point she was screaming to not shot her husband, and then fires were shot.
The police rushed to the Bosley's home and the house looked like it had been ripped apart like that from a break in. The window to the kitchen door was broken and the cabinets were all opened.
The police search went on for the man that broke in and killed Mr. Bosley. But it soon became focused on the evidence that was around the home. The window that was broken was found to have been broken from the inside instead of the outside. And another things just weren't adding up.
Also, Amy didn't think about her two young children who were still in the home. They became witnesses to what actually happened in the home that night. Which brings about the topic or children as witnesses in criminal cases and how much they know what is really going on.
This is an interesting case and the video provided below isn't from Forensic Files but from another show called Snapped.





Part #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkwaROqDNQ0&feature=related

Part #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZJCXMjvS_8&feature=related

Part #3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em2da4vnGjU&feature=related

Also, here is an article about the case as well:

http://www.wlwt.com/news/4540332/detail.html

"April 10, 2010-A letter from 1985 shows Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- the future Pope Benedict XVI -- actively delayed in defrocking a priest who had been charged with molesting several young boys. One reason, according to the letter, which is signed by Ratzinger, is that the Vatican needed to "consider the good of the Universal Church."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125803561



     Imagine you occupy a high-ranking position within the Roman Catholic church, and it is your duty to address allegations of pedophilia involving Catholic priests.  In recent years, odds are you'd be hard pressed to make time for a vacation.

     In the last few weeks, documents have surfaced that seem to indicate prior to his appointment as the Holy Father, then Cardinal Ratzinger delayed the defrocking of a priest charged with molesting boys.  Should we be outraged?  Doesn't Pope Benedict deserve some sort of reprimand, or owe someone an apology?  I submit no, he does not. 

     Consider what we have been exposed to throughout this course, which I believe can be surmised in one word: DOUBT. 

     I remain in some sort of psychological Purgatory on my position or regard for the criminal justice system.  Things that I thought could be trusted, have been demonstrated to be untrustworthy.  Protocol and procedures I believed to be reliable and valid have been shown to be unreliable and false.  Issues that I previously thought to be "cut and dry" have been observed to be "loosey goosey". 

     In short, the "good guys" don't seem as good, and the "bad guys" don't seem as bad anymore.  There is always more to every story than anyone could ever know. 

     Back to the issue at hand, I submit the following scenarios, and plan to circle back to the Holy See.

SCENARIO #1: 
     Father Kiesle manipulates and endangers 6 young boys, molests them, gets caught, and pleads no contest to the charges.  This scenario is essentially what is presented in the article linked above.  "Bad guy" is caught, justice is served. 

SCENARIO#2: 
     During one of the "darker" times in the history of Psychology as a discipline, the creation of false memories of previous abuse were not that uncommon.  Dr. Samuel Saint, a young, aspiring, and charismatic school psychologist reads an article in the Times about a Catholic priest facing sexual abuse charges.  Samuel knows that many of the children in his school attend catechism classes at Our Lady of the Rosary parish, where Father Kiesle is a priest.
     Over the next few weeks, Samuel starts to pay close attention to the boys who frequently attend classes at Our Lady of the Rosary parish, and notices one of the boys, Nathan, is very quiet and distant, almost melancholy.  He asks Nathan's teacher, Mrs. Beckett about his performance in classes.  Mrs. Beckett tells Samuel "Nathan used to be one of my best students, always engaged in classwork, very eager to learn" she explained.  "In the last few months though, Nathan's performance has plummeted.  I've sent a few letters to his parents, asking about his situation at home, and offering extra help, but I've never received a response". 
     "Hmmm, something seems wrong here" Samuel thinks to himself, stirring a cup of stale Maxwell House in the teachers lounge.  Samuel writes a quick note to Mrs. Beckett, and drops it in her mailbox, asking her if she would mind sending Nathan to his office for a few minutes Thursday at first recess.
     In the days leading up to his meeting with Nathan, Samuel spends hours investigating pedophilia.  He reads accounts about the ways children are manipulated, and told to keep quiet.  He trudges through transcripts taken from interviews with convicted sex offenders, that reveal in tragic detail how these offenders touched, molested, and abused their victims.  In a phone call to his mother, Samuel remembers saying "If I find out one of my students has EVER been abused like this, I'm going to find the son of a b----- who did it, and make them pay". 
     Thursday morning, Mrs. Beckett peeks through the mini-blinds covering Samuels' office door, and Samuel motions her in.  "Nathan is here to see you Dr. Saint".  Nathan was wearing a red and yellow checkered shirt with what appeared to be a grape jelly stain on the sleeve.
     "Hi Nathan, I'm Sam, thanks for coming to see me" Samuel says in an upbeat voice.  "I've been speaking with Mrs. Beckett, and she tells me you're usually a great student, but lately you haven't been doing as well as she thinks you can.  My job here at the school is to talk to students, find out how they're doing, and see if there is anything we can help with" he explained.  "Has anything out of the ordinary happened that may be affecting your schoolwork?" 
     "No, everything is fine" Nathan replied quickly.  "Oh, well that's good to hear" said Samuel.  "You go to Our Lady of the Rosary right?" he asked Nathan.  "I used to, but I don't go anymore".  Samuel could feel his pulse through his shirt, "Why don't you go anymore Nathan?".  "Can I go to recess now?" Nathan asked.  "Sure, but would you mind meeting with me again next week?  I'd like to get to know you a little better, and if you come back you can have anything you want out of my candy jar" Samuel said quickly.  "Yeah, okay" replied Nathan.
     As Nathan walked to the playground, he wished that his Dad had never lost his job.  He wished that his Mom hadn't run out on them.  He wished that his Dad would start taking him to church again, as he missed his time with the kind and welcoming staff who worked there. 
     As soon as Nathan had left the office, Samuel picked up the phone and dialed.  "Our Lady of the Rosary parish, how can I help you" said the voice on the other end. "Yes, I'd like to talk to Father Kiesle please"....

     Now, I don't claim that this scenario is what happens every time.  I don't mean to exonerate every allegation against a priest.  And I certainly don't mean to negate or lessen or overlook those that have experienced such damaging and hurtful things as abuse. 
     But its possible that SCENARIO#2 could happen.  Maybe Father Kiesle was counseled by his superior, and was told "Hey, this is a ticking time bomb Father Kiesle.  If you plead guilty, we'll relocate you somewhere, and this will be behind you forever.  This guy, Dr. Samuel Saint is on some sort of crusade against us.  You just need to sign here and...."
    
     Now you're Pope Benedict, and you get a report about this situation on your desk.  You see the predicament?  As we have seen in the case with Michael Peterson, things may not always be what they seem.  So what do you do?  Maybe you will "consider the good of the Universal Church", while also considering the good of Father Kiesle. 

I remain, in "psychological purgatory" uncertain of who's right, who's wrong, who to believe, who to disregard, and looking for effective ways to address a science that shall ever be imperfect.   

This is an interesting story I found regarding the arrest of two 10 year old boys that brutally beat and killed another 2 year old child. This happened in Liverpool in 1993. After serving eight years in prison, Jon Venables, (who is 27 now) has just been returned to prison for violating conditions of his release. The re-surfacing of this case has brought about outrage amongst the British public (once again) because of the fact that Jon was released but is now being re-called into custody - reasons for which are uncertain (although law enforcement did mention that these details will be released in the future). This outrage stems from the seemingly lenient government not keeping both gentlemen locked up for a longer amount of time (and rightfully so if you are family of the victim).

I found this interesting because this case happened many years ago but still has the power (via peoples memory and knowledge) to bring out anger and despise even though the case was completed over a decade ago. Both mens whereabouts have been kept secret because of the fear of death threats towards them.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03/03/uk.bulger.venables/index.html

http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/53e20d44-fbf6-11de-9716-001cc4c002e0.html

Iowa is trying to pass a law to stop the sending of explicit images through a phone known as sexting. Teenagers tend to forget the consequences and just get up in the moment of sending images like that to the ones they like or want. Under the state's current laws, a teenager engaged in sexting could face an aggravated misdemeanor or a felony charge typically meant for child pornography cases. The proposal would give prosecutors the option of charging teenagers with a simple misdemeanor if they disseminated sexually explicit material to another teen. Many teens can even be put on the sex offenders list if they were to be caught with pictures of underage teens on their phones. A boy who was 17 at the time, was sent many naked pictures from his girlfriend who was a year younger than him. When he was 18 and she was 17, they had an argument and around 3 in the morning he woke up and sent those naked pictures of her to everyone she knew, friends, family, parents, grandparents, over 70 contacts saw them. The boy was arrested and put on the sex offenders list. He has to get counseling as if he was the owner and viewer of child pornography, he can't get a job, can't live with his parents because they live next to a school. His life was ruined by the push of a button.

In a program series called Discovering Psychology, Philip Zimbardo narrates a particular program called Applying Psychology in Life.
 In the program, Research Psychologist Stephen Ceci is interviewed about child witness testimony. He discusses how investigators can inadvertently alter a child's memory by asking leading questions. His research has also laid down groundwork for interviewing children in many jurisdictions.
 This segment was extremely interesting to me and I encourage you all to watch it. It's roughly 7 minutes long but it is filled with a lot of  useful and interesting information.

http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1521
*Please note, this video link is for the entire show. You may need to download Media Player 11 to watch it. To get to Ceci's segment, pull the video's progress bar to 12 minutes and 40 seconds into the video. Also, directly following the segment is a different segment about conflict management that begins with images from the Columbine incident (this begins around 19 minutes and 20 seconds). Please note that this segment is entirely different and strictly pertaining to conflict management among youth and not the judicial system.