The Criminological Mind

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/nj-police-drug-user-who-recently-got-custody-of-toddler-son-decapitates-him-kills-herself/2012/08/22/9b565092-ecbf-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html

This article’s title just gives me the chills.  I can’t believe what i was reading. Apparently, this woman just recently got custody back of her kid because previously she had left her 2 year old unattended in a car while going to smoke marijuana and passing out in a nearby park.   First of all, how did she even REGAIN custody back?  This is just ridiculous.  What was the judge and jury doing.  They should have waited for the woman to actually pass a drug test and make sure she was clean for at least a year until they let her have the kid back.  Now look what has happened?  This kid was innocent and he fell into the hands of a mom who was a drug addict and just a mess.  This world is just so messed up that there are no words to describe it.  This legal system?  That is a whole different issue.  I do not have a child but my sister just had a baby boy and I cant even imagine putting my hands on him.  How could she have done that?  She was probably under the influence but why would she even do drugs in the first place knowing there is a baby under her care?  I am just so furious that the state even let her regain custody in the first place.  It should have never happened.

http://listverse.com/2011/05/14/top-10-young-killers/

This artice took me shock.  I couldn’t even believe that these young faces were killers.  How can they even have the imagination or the technique to kill someone so cold blooded?  Well, of course the answer is pretty obvious.  It’s the media.  It’s the shows and movies they watch, the games they play, the way they were raised, and the friends they hang out with.  Of course age doesn’t justify anything.  If a 40 year old killed someone, it doesnt make it okay but for a 13-18 year old? That’s just insane.  I guess in a way they don’t really know how to think for themselves yet and they’re are still very easily influenced by everything around them.  I guess at the end of the day, it’s the parent/guardian’s fault in a way for their actions.  They really need to supervise what types of shows they’re watching and what type of games they’re playing.  Number 7 on the list is Lionel Tate and his reason for murder was “I was imitating the professional wrestlers”.  I know plenty of boys that try to copy wrestling moves but I guess some take it further to the next step.  He was wrestling with a little girl.  He had her in a headlock and slammed her head to the table… she wasn’t breathing afterwards.  How can he not have known that it was far too rough to do that with a little girl?  I have a baby cousin and I just can’t imagine him even cursing!

http://www.cracked.com/article_17040_the-6-most-insane-moral-panics-in-american-history.html

What is a moral panic?  It’s when the society feels threatened or anixiety from a certain issue or situation.  We have seen plenty of them but this article talks about 6 of the most insane ones that have occured.  One of them included comics and how they are influencing the minds of kids.  Some of the content is not suitable for kids and parents are stressing over the fact that some comics include homosexuality.  I honestly don’t feel that comics should even portray such an adult topic but I don’t think it is such a huge deal that there should be a moral panic.  Another moral panic involves the game Dragon and Dungeons.  This game is suppose to be a group game that is suppose to be fun but people believe that it is actually a dangerous fantasy that would cause kids to commit suicide or crime and even start to belive in Satan.  I think this is just too carried away.  Honestly, everything is just how you make of it.  All it takes is a few people to feel a certain away and spread the word.  I just think people in general lets these certain things take a hold of them faily easy and some of us may even want these sort of things to happen so there is something to hype about and talk about.

In the Newark Foot Patrol Experiment there was an article about how foot patrol may not reduce crime but it definitely does reduce citizen’s fear of crime because people in the community feel much safer when they see police being out in their areas. “Researchers then began comparing reported crime, arrest and victimization rates, citizen fear and satisfaction with police services, as well as the attitude of foot patrol officers and officers on motorized patrol.” Within this experiment, the researchers have found that by introducing foot patrol back with a different mix of police strategies it has increased people’s safety in their neighborhoods. The positive effects from this were: people knew when officers were patrolling their neighborhoods, they felt safer that they would be able to spot a crime easier than just by being in a car, they felt safer and less likely to be victimized if they knew officers were in the area at that time, and they were a little bit more satisfied by police services than from before. The researchers have realized that even though foot patrol did not exactly lower the rate of the crimes as they have hoped for, but they did realize that maybe people would not commit crimes in those areas if they knew that officers are around almost at every other corner and they would be easily caught right away. Also, in this article, it has been noted that close contact between police and the people helps the former develop first-hand information about crime and possible criminal behavior. Information system such as this is more likely to have a positive long-term impact.

http://www.policefoundation.org/docs/newark.html

The New York police department is always looking for ways to make the city safer by upgrading and reforming different methods, methods such as stop and frisk and surveillance camera. With new found technology the New York police department and Microsoft developed the Domain Awareness System, a new surveillance security. The Domain Awareness System uses the surveillance cameras place in the city, retrieves 911 calls and contain criminal data and complaint reports. The system can also detect radiation and read license plates. According to the article “Surveillance city? Microsoft, NYPD team on crime fight system”, Mayor Bloomberg announced in the conference that New York will be “receiving thirty percent of the revenues” when the Domain Awareness System get marketed to other places. Citizens may ask themselves what will New York City do with 30 percent of the revenues?  New York has been known to have corruption in its police department. Although the system was developed to keep the city safer, the system can be used in favor of the officials. In the NYPD Tapes article we read how the stop and frisk technique is used to help officials meet their quotas. The stop and frisk technique is known to be mostly used on blacks and Latinos which raises the issue of racial profiling. The Domain Awareness System can also map crime statistics and as we learn statistics are not always accurate. Some complaints and crimes aren’t always reported; therefore the system would not be aware of crimes committed. The Domain Awareness System can very well help decrease and prevent crimes in New York City but there are always loopholes to every system.

The conference video can be watch on the web link.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57489636-83/surveillance-city-microsoft-nypd-team-on-crime-fight-system/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

This past week in class we were assigned to read an article titled “The NYPD Tapes: Inside Bed-Stuy’s 81st Precinct,” in this article it is revealed that the eighty-first precinct bosses threatened street officers if they failed to make their quotas of arrests and stop- and- frisks. I recently came across the Center for Constitutional Rights website in which they had an article titled “NYPD Stop and Frisk Practice: Unfair and Unjust.” Within this article stop-and- frisk is defined as being the practice by which police officers initiates the stop of a particular individual on the street whom they believe is suspicious of conducting any form of criminal activities. According to the center of constitutional rights stop and frisk procedures do not guarantee the possibility of reducing crime rates. It is also fact that the majority of stop and frisk incidents occur in communities of color, leaving the people  who live in the communities to feel under siege and attacked and harassed by the police. Approximately 576, 392 stop and frisks occur in New York City each year and about ninety percent of those 576,392 individuals are people of color.  Rather than reducing crime the acts of stop and frisks are actually contributing to the fear and mistrust people of color feel towards authority figures (the police) within their communities. The reason for such fear, doubt and mistrust towards the authoritative figures stems from the fact that  there has been a large abundance of racial profiling and major incidents of police brutality occurring everyday in communities of color.

Website Link Below:

http://www.ccrjustice.org/stopandfrisk

This week our class spoke about the Broken Windows therelationship between order and crime. The argument that was introduced in the article revolved around the fact that the more order there was in a particular area, the less crime was an issue. In the article, the writers claimed that because there was more policing of a certain area there was also less disruption. We argued in  class that having more police in one area didn’t necessarily mean that that area was safer depending on where you were at that present time. Unfortuately, the physical policing of an area was also a distinct form of regulation as many were wrongly accused of being a potential criminal and subjected to being stopped and frisked. This form of regulation amongst innocent people reminded me of the issue of thePanoptican in which buildings were constructed to regulate potential revolts from rioters. I ran across a blog post from an individual who described how the Panoptican is being reinvented today through technology. Our government has constantly been trying to overthrow Internet privacy to “prevent potential national security threats” and in several ways they have been mildly successful. Password protection won’t be able to prevent the government from viewing your internet connection and the activities that you participate in while on the web. In other countries the technology panoptican has already prevailed, but the US is the one country that will see the most backlash from this proposal. If this form of regulation is allowed everything that we use on a daily basis will technically become surveilled as our country moves into its most technologically advanced stage yet.

For More Information:

http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/ht/ht009661.htm

Travis Shillingford

Foot patrol leads to less crime

In boston the police commissioner decided that bringing back the old police beat way would lower crime rate in certain neighborhoods and he has proven to be correct. According to Jame Wilson and George Kelling implementing the new police beat to sustain order was a good idea and i agree. In class we came across the topic of “roughing up” strangers to the neighborhood or giving them a hard time. Yes in some cases it can seem biased to take one individual and treat him as if he did something wrong just because you are unfamiliar with him. Not saying that i agree with these methods but i do understand where it comes from. Notice how friendly the cops are in that boston neighborhood with the citizens as if they have grown a trust liking for each other. In order to keep “order” things need to stay “normal” in a sense. The local drunks are ok in the eyes of the foot patrol police because they know them and know what to expect. When you insert an unknown variable (a stranger) you put a little fear in everyone around. Who is this stranger? What do they want? What will they do? In order for the police to maintain order they need to ask the same question. Once the people of the neighborhood become doubtful and scared things start to become difficult for the officer to control so the way to keep the order is to find out what this stranger is doing here and if they are safe to be around your neighborhood. Not to be biased but to reassure the citizens of the neighborhood everything is ok.

There is a movie titled “Mississippi Burning” directed by Alan Parker. In the United States, to maintain the fairness, three branches in the American have respective roles, and the three branches are represented by the legislative branch, the executivebranch, and the judicial branch. However, the movie deals with the actual situation of the black who are facing racial discrimination without equality under the law just because they are black. From the scene, it shows policemen’s (sheriffs) racial discrimination against black people who should conduct fairly based on the legislature’s laws. Also, it shows the court, which should fairly decide and judge in accordance with laws, has racial discrimination against blacks. When it comes to NYPD, I think there is no difference between them and sheriffs of Mississippi Burning. After 9.11, New York City allows police to stop and frisk suspicious people in public transportation, and street, but this infringes on human rights by targeting minorities including black.  In addition, 3 years ago, even black polices in NYPD filed a lawsuit for New You State Court claim that they were racially profiled. Aren’t the police supposed to protect civil liberties and rights and maintain social peace and order? This inappropriate use of force by police cannot ensure citizen’s security at all. I don’t think people want to be protected or think that they are protected by police, in this situation that confidence in the police has fallen.

Brooklyn, NY – Detective Blames Racial Clash on NYPD and Shomrim

Jaejung

Child witnesses are sometimes considered to be unreliable sources of information in investigations.  There is an idea that children are impressionable and can sometimes be swayed into saying things that are untrue.  Their imagination may get the best of them and they may start to make up stories that are not true.  Or, their testimonies may be influenced by social workers and attorneys.  In the video, a reporter is telling the story of Caleigh Harrison who disappeared while on a family outing at the beach.  Police say that there is no evidence that she was abducted and that she may have been swept away in the ocean.  Her four year old sister tells a different story.  She insists that there was a mysterious man at the beach that day with her family and that he took Caleigh.  In the video, psychologist Dr. Robin Deutsch speaks of the factors that influence child reliability.  She says that four year olds can indeed be reliable.  Their reliability depends on their ability to recount information.  Reliability also depends on who is asking the questions and when they are asking the questions.  For instance, if it is a family member who does not have training in proper interviewing techniques then they may put untrue information into the child’s mind.  Also, if the child is not asked question about the event in a timely manner, then the child may be exposed to more information about the event and that information may be incorporated into the child’s recollection of the event.  Deutsch also points out that children respond to emotions.  If they are telling their memory of the event and they find that it displeases the person they are telling it to, they may change the story in order to appeal to the person they are talking to.  Child reliability was the issue in the video we saw in class called “Witch Hunt.”  The testimony of a child witness can make or break a case against a defendant.

necn.com/searchNECN/search/v/55991720/search-for-caleigh-are-child-witnesses-reliable.htm