Author Archives: yana.krayzel

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

This week in class we read about psychopaths, I have been reading articles about a horrible tragedy that happened last summer with Leiby Kletzky. A year after this horrible tragedy, Levi Aron pleads guilty this week for murdering Leiby Kletzky. Last summer, Leiby lost his way when going back home, so he asked a stranger, who ended up being Levi Aron, for directions. Levi told the boy he will take him to where he needs to go to, but instead he took him to some wedding and then back to his place. The parents later on started to get worried. They did not know where their child was, so they have formed a search team with the neighborhood and police as well. When Levi saw the posters about the missing child he started to panic and began to smother the boy with a towel and then cut his body for easier disposal. There was evidence by the medical examiner that the boy was drugged before as well. With the lead that the police got, it lead them straight to Levi Aron’s apartment, over there they found some of Leiby’s remains in the freezer, suitcase and in trash bins about two and a half miles away from his place. In my previous law class, I remember reviewing this case and our professor showed the confession that he wrote, writing out step by step what he exactly did at the time of the crime. In this confession it showed that he was clearly a psychopath and he needed a lot of help. The way he wrote and spoke showed all the basic signs of a psychopath. Also, in this article it mentioned that the court ordered a psychological exam and they found that he does have a psychological disorder but he was competent to stand trial.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/nyregion/leiby-kletzkys-killer-levi-aron-pleads-guilty-to-murdering-8-year-old.html?_r=1

This week in class we watched the movie “Witch hunt” and they showed all kind of cases with false convictions. These false convictions have never stopped and the rate just keeps going up. In an article from New York Times, a former New York police officer used a racial slur while bragging about falsely arresting a black man last year was sentenced in prison for violating the man’s civil rights. This police officer, who was white, was recorded before by his friend over the phone when he told him all about how he has falsely arrested a lot of people mainly because of their race. Mr. Daragjati, the police officer, was only sentenced to prison for nine months, which I believe is unfair. He sent so many people to prison that were sentenced for more than five years just because of his false arrests. Then there was this other article I read also from the New York Times, it was about how a woman from Australia has been accused of lying, convicted of murder and sent to prison. On August 17, 1980 an Australian wild dog, also known as a dingo, dragged a baby from a tent as her parents sat by the campfire. Her body was never found until this year in June. The mother of the baby, Lindy Chamberlain, spent nearly three decades in prison because no one would believe her. “This case has showed examples of poor forensic science, anxiety about evil mothers and suspicion of religiosity. The Chamberlain family is members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church which was wrongly portrayed as an infant slaying cult.” There also have been rumors that Azaria, their daughter, meant “sacrifice in the wilderness, in Hebrew, not blessed of God”. About 76.8 percent of Australians said that Lindy was guilty and because of that the investigation did not go on so long. No one wanted to believe her that her baby has been dragged by a wild dog, until this year when a death certificate has been issued that stating that Azaria Chamberlain’s death was because of a dingo attack. Lindy Chamberlain has served in prison for almost three decades because no one wanted to believe her and because people thought she was unfit to be a real mother. This is another example of false conviction and also poor investigations once again.

I have read this research study about delinquency. According to this article, there are two types of delinquencies. They are classified into two categories, overt and covert delinquency. Overt delinquency refers to violent offences such as attacking someone with or without a weapon, threatening, murder, and rape. Covert delinquency refers to non-aggressive acts such as shoplifting; pick pocketing, arson, vandalism and selling drugs. Overt aggressive and more serious offences are more common in early delinquents. They are characterized by problems more from their childhood. There has been a study that shown the link between father and mother parenting to adolescent’s delinquency may differ for several reasons. The quantity of time the parents spend with their children is an important factor in their lives and also there are indications that parental involvement is also based on qualitatively different how a child will grow up later on. Covert non-aggressive delinquency on the other hand is found more often in non-persistent adolescent delinquents who have relatively normal backgrounds. In this research they have mentioned about the gender, that males are more involved in delinquent behaviors than female are. The reason for this is because males may be more vulnerable to risk factors for delinquency such as inadequate parenting than females. As mentioned before, it is important on the quantity and qualitatively of time the parents spend time with their children from the beginning of their childhood, it all depends on them. Also, it has been said that the longer antisocial fathers live with their families, the higher the risk for their children’s antisocial behavior and also a possibility that children have the tendency to model the behavior of the parent with the same sex. It is important for parents to talk to their children and have a good relationship with them in order to prevent delinquency later on because it all begins at an early age.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2708328/

According to the article “Fingerprints: Infallible Evidence?” the FBI rely too much on the fingerprints. It is easy to make a mistake, especially with fingerprints. There was a case with Rick Jackson and he was accused of murdering his friend. The police said that they had his bloody fingerprints at the crime scene and that was the reason why they arrested him. Jackson’s attorney decided to call his own experts one of which who was a retired FBI examiner to look over the evidence, and when he did he said they did not match at all. The second expert who had over 75 years of fingerprint experience has said the same thing, that it is not even a close match. Usually police lift off only a partial of a fingerprint at the crime scenes, and they can be contaminated or distorted. Most examiners in the United States don’t even use a point system unlike Italy, who says that they need to see 16 to 17 points of similarity on a fingerprint, or like in Brazil who need a 30 point match to make sure. There are a lot of cases that have innocent people being convicted because of faulty fingerprint identification. The issue of fingerprints being used as evidence alone to convict the person needs to be looked over. The examiners need to be a certified experts and also when testifying in court. They have to be certain of their result and make sure we can rely on it as reliable evidence. People could spent years or even a lifetime because of a mistake examiners make just based on fingerprints that might not even be a close match as they have sworn it is. In my opinion, I believe that you can not depend on fingerprints as evidence alone, it is very easy to make a mistake.

Article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-563607.html