The General Blog of Crime

Most Long Overdue Crime News Ever?

2010-07-30T09:32:00.004-04:00

CONGRESS PASSES BILL TO REDUCE DISPARITY IN CRACK, POWDER COCAINE SENTENCING DISPARITY

From WaPo:

Congress on Wednesday changed a 25-year-old law that has subjected tens of thousands of African Americans to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient treatment to those, mainly whites, caught with the powder form of the drug.

The House, by voice vote, approved a bill reducing the disparities between mandatory crack and powder cocaine sentences, sending the measure to President Obama for his signature. During his presidential campaign, Obama said that the wide gap in sentencing "cannot be justified and should be eliminated." The Senate passed the bill in March.
The measure changes a 1986 law, enacted at a time when crack cocaine use was rampant and considered a particularly violent drug. Under the law, a person convicted of crack cocaine possession got the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The new legislation reduces that ratio to about 18 to 1.

The bill also eliminates the five-year mandatory minimum for first-time possession of crack, the first time since the Nixon administration that Congress has repealed a mandatory minimum sentence. It does not apply retroactively.

This is exceedingly welcome news, even if it does mean I have to revise my cocaine unit for my drug policy class this fall!

I know that many folks are displeased that the ratio wasn't equalized at 1:1, but given the highly-charged political nature of the federal cocaine sentences, I think we should be happy that the disparity was cut by a factor of five. It's progress, no doubt.

I'm surprised not to find a lot of commentary on the legislation from around the blogosphere (save for this post from Outside the Beltway, a political science blog). I did find a related article about the War on Drugs and America's new racial caste system at The Crime Report that is worth a read.

I will update with more commentary as it becomes available.

Rape by Deception

2010-07-30T09:24:00.006-04:00

In Israel, a Palestinian man has plead guilty to "rape by deception"--admitting he lied to a woman in order to have sex with her.

What were Sabar Kashour's lies? There were actually two. First, he told her he was single. Second, he claimed he was Jewish, when he is actually an Arab Palestinian.

Mr. Kashour claims she assumed he was Jewish based on his nickname, which is commonly used for men named David (pronounced da-VEED in Hebrew, and a common Jewish first name). He also claims she only went to police after discovering he was really Arab. Of course, one has to wonder if he would be charged with this crime if he was a Jew who had sex with a Palestinian woman.

Historically, rape laws have been more likely to be applied when the accused is in a minority group and the victim is in the majority. For decades after the end of slavery in the United States, black men accused of raping white women suffered harsh penalties, including execution. White men accused of raping black women rarely faced such penalties.

[Here's an interesting legal discussion entitled Rape, Racism, and the Law.]

Putting aside issues of bias against Arabs, Mr. Kashour makes an excellent point:

"I did not say anything or commit anything wrong," he insisted, adding that he did not understand how his misrepresentations could result in a rape charge. "If I told the woman I was a pilot and later she finds out that I was not a pilot, then she goes and says that 'He raped me'? If I told her that I was a millionaire and it turns out that I am a poor man, then she goes and says that 'He raped me'?"

[Mr. Kashour actually DID admit to doing something wrong, as he plead guilty in this case.]

This law is rarely used, so it is not possible to systematically analyze the pattern of enforcement. It is notable that the only other case of this type in Israel involved a man pretending to be a housing official, who coerced women into sex by promising he would provide them with benefits in exchange. Is there a difference between a man preying on poor women in need of benefits and a man pretending to be single? Certainly, these two behaviors differ significantly on the "scale of sleaze", but should the criminal law apply in both cases? Did Mr. Kashour behave unethically? Certainly. Does he deserve to be incarcerated for it? Probably not.

In the United States, the only type of "consensual rape" that can be charged is statutory rape. Given that a minor in this country cannot consent to sex (nor drive a car, vote, drink alcohol, become a party in a contract etc.), this seems logical. Unfortunately, even in the U.S. the issue of consent has been murky. Consider the case of Genarlow Wilson, a 17-yeard-old boy sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting "consensual" oral sex from a 15-year-old girl. (He ended up serving only 2).

Perhaps Israel should change the name of this law to the "Sexual Regret" law. Have regrets the next morning? Call the police.

[Update: after writing this piece, I found an interesting web site that analyzes stories from several different media outlets. I might have to check this site more often.]

Another Wrongful Conviction: This Time, Close to Home

2010-07-29T11:38:00.003-04:00

Carolyn Kronenberg’s murder was one of Lansing’s most notorious murder cases. A professor at Lansing Community College (LCC), she was preparing to teach a 9am class on January 23, 2005. Sometime between 8:30am and 8:45am, she was assaulted and raped in her classroom. A student in her class found her, clinging to life. She died soon after.

Eventually, LCC student Claude McCollum was convicted of her murder. The primary investigator in Kronenberg’s murder was an LCC detective who had never investigated a homicide. He has been accused of making several errors in judgment, including one extremely troubling ethical violation: he was aware of exculpatory video evidence showing McCollum sleeping (yes, sleeping) in another part of campus at the time of the murder. He is alleged to have hidden this evidence and neither disclosed it to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office (allegedly) nor McCollum’s defense attorney. A report from the Michigan State Police arguing that McCollum could not have committed the crime was never introduced at his trial. He was found guilty by jury and sentenced to life without parole.

Throughout the trial, McCollum steadfastly maintained his innocence. He likely wasn’t surprised, when in 2007, Matthew Macon confessed to her murder. Matthew Macon was convicted of killing two Lansing women and was suspected in four other homicides. All of Macon’s victims were middle-aged, white women. All were raped. One survived her attack, and helped to convict Macon of his crimes.

Today, McCollum’s legal team reached a $2 Million settlement with LCC, which will be paid out in installments over several years.

Clearly, wrongful conviction greatly harms the lives of those incarcerated erroneously. McCollum was certainly deserving of a settlement, and most of those released from prison after wrongful convictions never seen any compensation.

The media attention to these cases puts the alleged offender in the spotlight, as it should. However, we often fail to remember the first victims: Carolyn Kronenberg, who suffered horribly at the hands of a serial killer and rapist; and her family, who sat through McCollum’s trial hearing the gruesome details of their mother’s death only to have it all count for nothing. When they heard that the wrong man had been arrested, they were devastated and feared having to face a new trial. Thankfully, Macon’s confession erased such a need.

If you’d like to read more about this case, the Lansing State Journal has a compendium of major stories available online.

Attorney General and the New Black Panther Party

2010-07-02T14:03:00.004-04:00

A former DOJ prosecutor assigned to the Civil Rights Division has gone public with his allegations that Attorney General Eric Holder dropped voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party for politically motivated reasons. J. Christian Adams, part of the team of prosecutors assigned to the case, reports that Holder ordered them to drop the case although the team of prosecutors believed there was ample evidence for prosecution, including several sworn affidavits and videos of the alleged actions. Adams paints a picture of a Justice Department where the Attorney General refuses nearly categorically (never exactly states this, but certainly implies it) to prosecute cases involving defendants of color and white victims. He has recently appeared on Fox News to discuss the case.

Thoughts on this case?

Pap & Patch make the Times. Again.

2010-06-28T20:00:00.004-04:00

Pap & Patch's cyberbullying research appeared in yesterday's New York Times. An excerpt:

Schools these days are confronted with complex questions on whether and how to deal with cyberbullying, an imprecise label for online activities ranging from barrages of teasing texts to sexually harassing group sites. The extent of the phenomenon is hard to quantify. But one 2010 study by the Cyberbullying Research Center, an organization founded by two criminologists who defined bullying as "willful and repeated harm” inflicted through phones and computers, said one in five middle-school students had been affected....

Studies show that online harassment can begin in fourth grade. By high school, students inclined to be cruel in cyberspace are more technologically sophisticated, more capable of hiding their prints. But that is also when older students may be more resilient:
“By high school, youths are developing more self-confidence, engaged in extracurricular activities and focusing on the future,” said Sameer Hinduja, a professor at Florida Atlantic University and an author of “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard.”
“Their identity and self-worth come from external things that don’t revolve around social relationships.”

This is their second appearance in the NYT. To quote The Trailing Spouse, "It's no Coffee Talk on Wisconsin Public Radio, but it'll do."

Finally!

2010-06-23T20:49:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, almost nine months after President Obama selected him to head NIJ, John Laub was confirmed by the Senate. The Crime Report has more:

Two key Obama appointees in the Justice Department have been confirmed by the Senate: John Laub as director of the National Institute of Justice and James Lynch as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. They were among more than 60 nominations whose confirmations were delayed by Senate Republicans in a dispute over a presidential recess appointment.
Laub, a professor in the University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, will be the first criminologist in four decades to serve as director of NIJ. His research areas include crime and deviance over the life course, juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, and the history of criminology. Lynch, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, previously chaired the department of Justice, Law, and Society at American University. He has focused on measurement issues in criminal justice data and statistics. His worked with Al Biderman on the nation’s two crime measures—the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report and BJS’ National Crime Victimization Survey [emphasis mine].

This is long overdue -- and very welcome -- news.

Utah Killer Executed by Firing Squad

2010-06-18T08:51:00.003-04:00

Making the rounds this morning is news that a Utah man was executed early this morning by a 5-person firing squad:

Convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed early Friday by firing squad, the Utah Department of Corrections said.
Gardner, 49, is only the third person in 33 years to die by firing squad in the United States.

He was killed at 12:20 a.m. MST (2:20 a.m. ET), a Corrections Department spokesman said.

A hood was placed over Gardner's head and a paper target pinned to his chest. He was heavily restrained as a five-person firing squad took aim at the target and shot him, witnesses said...
Gardner, 49, was convicted for the shooting death of attorney Michael Burdell during a botched escape attempt from custody in 1985 at a Salt Lake City, Utah, courthouse.

There is some discussion about the extent to which Gardner moved after he was shot, indicating that his death may not have been immediate (and certainly not painless). There has also been debate about whether firing squads are preferable over other, more common forms of execution like lethal injection.

Happy stuff to be pondering on a sunny Friday morning, I know.

Adventures in Armchair Profiling

2010-06-14T10:29:00.006-04:00

I thought I'd piggyback on ShockProf's post about the still-unsolved Natalie Holloway murder with a story about an unsolved murder in metro Detroit.

First, a brief history: Last year, 5-year old Neveah Buchanan was abducted from her apartment complex in Macomb, Michigan. Her body was later discovered in a shallow, concrete-covered grave along the River Raisin. Though police initially identified three "persons of interest" -- including a man named James Easter -- no suspect has ever been arrested in Neveah's slaying and her murder remains unsolved.

To commemmorate the one-year anniversary of Neveah's murder, the Detroit Free Press is running a three-part series about the case. (You can read part one and part two now; part three will appear tomorrow.)

For this series the Freep has posted a 9-minute video containing excerpts of interviews with James Easter, whom police questioned at length but who was ultimately released without being charged.

This video is generating some interesting comments from readers, many of whom are analyzing it for clues as to Easter's guilt or innocence. Particularly disturbing for many people is a passage of the video (which is transcribed in the first article) in which Easter describes in detail how Neveah's killer might have carried out her burial. A glimpse:

He suggests the killer might have needed more concrete to finish the job and cover Nevaeh's body."Maybe, you have a second bag and you get some water from the river and start mixing some more and put it," he says...

Equally unsettling for some are the...unsavory aspects of Easter's life: he was convicted of indecent exposure some years ago; from his home police confiscated X-rated videos, among other items; he has been methodically pulling out his own teeth; he collects newspaper articles about Neveah's death. If the reader comments are any indication, those facts alone are enough to convict him, but to date the police have not had enough evidence against Easter -- or anyone else, for that matter -- to make an arrest in the case.

Scrolling through the reader reactions to the video of Easter's interview, I was reminded how familiar the general public is (or thinks it is) with criminal profiling and homicide investigation. For example, some readers wondered whether Easter revealed details of the murder not publicly available in the autopsy report, while others questioned whether he removed his teeth to avoid dental record matching. Still others have speculated that by advocating for the hanging death of the perpetrator, Easter is deflecting his own guilt. All of this gleaned from a rambling, 9-minute video on a newspaper website.

Though homicide investigation -- especially of violent, unsolved child murders -- constitutes such a small percentage of police work, it captures the public imagination and invites ordinary citizens to apply what they've learned from the movies and true crime TV to real life. I guess this explains why when I tell people that I'm a criminologist, they often ask, "Do you work for the FBI?" or say, "Oh, like on CSI?" Thank you, Truman Capote.

van der Sloot Confesses to Murder in Peru

2010-06-08T09:42:00.004-04:00

Brief update:

Joran van der Sloot has confessed to the murder of Stephany Flores, a young woman he met in Peru.

I would expect his prison stay to be quite uncomfortable, and there's a good chance he'll pick up tuberculosis. Then again, given his class status he has probably been inoculated. Still, Peru's prisons are overcrowded and the Peruvian inmates are likely to give him a hard time.

Holloway Suspect May Have Killed Another Woman

2010-06-03T12:13:00.003-04:00

A brief news update:

Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch citizen who was implicated in the disappearance of Natalie Holloway, is now a suspect in the death of a Peruvian woman. She was killed on May 30, 2010, exactly five years after Holloway's disappearance.

Police are now searching for Van der sloot, who left Peru quickly after checking out of his hotel.

Different from the Holloway case, police have a body and therefore a significant amount of forensic evidence. It's unlikely that his father (the judge) can bail him out of this one--he died in February.

"That Ship Has Sailed"

2010-05-25T13:42:00.003-04:00

A fitting coda for career crook Kwame Kilpatrick:

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was fired from his job [at Compuware] today after being sentenced to prison for probation violation....

Earlier today, a frustrated Detroit judge ordered Kilpatrick to serve 18 months to five years in prison, declaring that Kilpatrick had lied while on probation and maliciously hid money that was supposed to go toward repaying the City of Detroit $1 million in restitution....
The judge appeared to give no weight to Kilpatrick’s lengthy and emotional court oration, in which he apologized for his lies in the text-message scandal, but said he is a different and better person today.
As Kilpatrick spoke, the judge mostly looked at papers on his desk.
"Probation is no longer an option," Groner said when Kilpatrick had finished. "That ship has sailed."....

P.S. I forgot to mention that I find this an immensely satisfying turn of events. I do not believe Kwame Kilpatrick has ever uttered a truthful word in his life. He is as slimy as they come (in Blago territory, if you ask me), so I'm pleased as punch that he's headed to the clink.

Insert Your Own Joke Here!

2010-05-24T09:44:00.006-04:00

In the spirit of Patch's annual criminology limerick contest and last year's "caption this photo" contest, I'm offering up an "insert your own joke" contest for this hilarious headline:

"Man accused of smuggling 15 pounds of cocaine in candy"

Not just any candy, mind you, but Ferrero Rocher -- one of Pap's faves!

Here's CNN's anemic attempt:

"Being a drug mule isn't usually such a sweet deal."

Bah! GBOCers can do better, I know it! I'll go first:

That's taking the term "nose candy" a bit literally, don't you think?

Your turn!

High Court strikes down Juvenile LWOP for non-homicide cases!

2010-05-17T11:17:00.005-04:00

This is welcome news for a Monday morning!! SCOTUSblog recaps the Graham v. Florida decision:

In Graham v. Florida (08-7412), the Court reverses and remands, in an opinion again by Justice Kennedy. The vote is 6-3, with Justice Thomas dissenting, joined by Justice Scalia and in part by Justice Alito. Justice Alito files a separate dissenting opinion for himself. Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, concurs, even though all three join the majority opinion, and the Chief Justice concurs in the result alone.
Holding: It is unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile offender to life in prison without parole when the crime does not involve murder, given the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment.

Read the opinion here.

UPDATES:

Today's Talk of the Nation featured a discussion with Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project (and Kansas solicitor general Stephen McAllister) about the Graham holding, as well as the Court's decision about civil commitments for sexually dangerous inmates. Read the transcript or listen to the program here.

Also, read more Graham commentary from the Sentencing Law & Policy blog here.

Another Obama SCOTUS Nomination...

2010-05-10T10:30:00.003-04:00

First Sonia Sotomayor, and now Elena Kagan. Thoughts?

Here's what the folks at Sentencing Law & Policy and SCOTUSblog -- the latter of whom are liveblogging the announcement -- have to say about the nomination. Some thoughts from the right here and here. Meanwhile, Ezra Klein's wonders if we know what to ask the new nominee, while Marc Ambinder addressed the pink elephant in the room: the gay "whispers".

Ode to the Tea Baggers

2010-04-29T11:28:00.005-04:00

A while back we had an exchange on this blog about how much institutionalized hatred there is to anything conservative in academics. Some of my more liberally-inclined friends seemed a bit surprised (shocked) that conservatives would report a sense of strong institutional forces against their viewpoints, and therefore, quite unwelcomed in the Academy.

So I am in a lunch meeting yesterday with several faculty/administrators talking about new faculty orientation – this is a University committee. I leave for a second to get lunch (yes, life has not changed….I love to eat) and I return to a conversation about those “tea baggers.” I still am not sure why these conversations surprise me, but the level of presumed comfort that academics have with assuming political views of their colleagues is simply incredible to me. In the conversation about the “tea baggers” (which I found just a tad of irony was from a homosexual colleague…just struck me as somewhat ironic), another started to explain simply how stupid and uninformed those darn people are. After about 2 minutes of this I interjected, and in the end, we had a very thoughtful but spirited debate about the issues surrounding this “movement.” I really enjoyed the conversation but it got me thinking (which is painful for me).

What struck me as so obvious during that conversation is how “Tea Baggers” is now the newest version of the words redneck, hillbilly, cracker, and just about any other pejorative term to denigrate non-minorities (read: those stupid, hateful, inbred white people). It struck me as so obvious about how any hint of disparaging group-level images directed at protected classes is met with SUCH righteous indignation, but is not only tolerated but celebrated when it is directed at other groups. My liberal friends often damage their hands congratulating each other on how creative they can get with the Tea Bagger metaphors. I have gone back to read what is still one of the greatest assigned books I read in grad school, The Redneck Manifesto, by Jim Goad. One of the only good things Kevin Kelly ever taught me!

Institutionalized bias remain alive and well in the Academy. That should help some of you sleep very well tonight!

The new Arizona illegal immigration law...a pre-coffee analysis.

2010-04-28T09:31:00.004-04:00

Guten morgen Arizona. There will be a new criminal statute going into effect in approximately 4 months down in the desert. You may have heard a little something about it on the news.

In essence, the law establishes a new state crime for several things, including being in the country illegally and for blocking traffic to pick up illegal workers for jobs with knowledge that the person is illegal. It also includes a portion that allows government agencies to be fined between $1000 and $5000 per day for not enforcing the new statute (an attempt to short-circuit systemic non-enforcement of the statute by various agencies). Governor Jan Brewer, who signed the law into effect, stated that racial profiling is illegal in Arizona, that the new law will not be used to racially profile individuals, that law enforcement officers will receive additional training on how to implement the law, and also stated..."I don't know what an illegal immigrant looks like."

While I could spend days (and have already) discussing what I think the failed politics and not-so-subtle race issues of the law are, I shall endeavor to point out what I think the biggest problem is with the new law: that it literally cannot be effectively enforced without racial profiling.

The new law mandates (in its most controversial portion) that on any lawful contact by law enforcement where reasonable suspicion exists that a person is an unlawful alien, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine his/her immigration status. Several landmines here.
1. a lawful contact includes the ability of a police officer to approach anyone in public at any time to start a conversation. Although a person is free to go about his/her business unless reasonable suspicion exists to conduct an investigatory stop, a police officer can talk to anyone he/she wants in public. So, a police officer can, at any time approach anyone in public to see if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is illegal.
2. Reasonable suspicion, what is it? Reasonable suspicion is a highly nebulous and one of the most fought over terms in criminal law. If a cop doesn't have it, a person can't usually be stopped even for brief questioning. Reasonable suspicion, legally, is an articulable indication or basis that a crime has, is being, or is about to be committed. It is reviewed by the court under an objective standard. In practice, reasonable suspicious varies GREATLY in what is acceptable to one court as opposed to another. While some factors seem to pop up all the time, there is no set list that the indications have to be on. It is whatever a law enforcement officer and a prosecutor can convince a judge of, as to the combined reasons why the officer's suspicion was raised enough for the officer to stop the person and investigate.
3. "Shall" under the law means required, not optional. In this law, the police must, when practicable on any law enforcement contact, attempt to determine immigration status where they have reasonable suspsicion of a person's illegal status.

The ultimate question then becomes, what objective indicators will be acceptable to courts as indicating that a person is illegal? Lest there be any confusion about intent of the law, Arizona borders Mexico, and illegal immigrants from Mexico are the focus of the law even if unstated. Nobody in the capital was debating illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. So knowing that Mexico was the focus, the Governor has indicated that racial profiling will not be part of enforcement. That should take skin tone out of the equation, theoretically. What other articulable indicators, minus brown skin (which is a misconception about all Mexicans having the same brown skin tone) are left? Spoken language. Spanish. However, this also presents a problem for the courts because plenty of American citizens in Arizona speak Spanish, a large number are Spanish/English bilingual. So, will the courts accept a cop hearing a person speak Spanish as one of the objective indicators that constitute articulable reasonable suspicion? Some will and some will not. Aside from skin tone and spoken language, what other indicators might give suspicion of a person's illegal status? This is where I draw a blank. What is an objective indicator that differentiates an American citizen of Hispanic descent from a Mexican citizen?

Chew on this...I live in Yuma, Arizona and can see Mexico from the corner of my street. Literally. If I want Mexican food for lunch, I actually go to Mexico to get it. What would be an objective indicator that would differentiate someone who lives 5 miles away on the other side of a fence from a person who lives on my block and speaks only Spanish? Perhaps not being able to speak intelligently about who plays first base for the Yankees, a certain difference in clothing, how they smell?

My opinions about the undertones of the law aside, it will prove to be highly unworkable. Aside from Equal Protection and Due Process arguments, it will also be challenged under a Supremacy Clause theory, as in the federal government intended to occupy the entire sphere of immigration enforcement and penalization, thereby disallowing the States to pass their own immigration laws (although the state will argue back that the bill is a criminal statute, not an immigration law).

(Also, in the interest of disclosure, I did once intern in Gov. Brewer's Election Services Office as a law school intern, when she was previously Secretary of State for Arizona, but did not work for her directly. An ironic FYI.)

I expect that I will be seeing my first charge under the new law in late August or early September. Then get ready for the fireworks.

Pap on Fox

2010-04-27T13:17:00.003-04:00

I always knew I would eventually see Pap on Fox News...

Patch on Wisconsin Public Radio!

2010-04-22T22:02:00.015-04:00

Continuing the string of media appearances by GBOCers (see here, here, here, and here), Patch appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio earlier this week to discuss cyberbullying with WPR's Joy Cardin.

You can listen to the full interview here. Naturally, Patch rocked the house.

Being the good friend, colleague, and co-blogger I am, I live-blogged the interview. (Well, it's not really a live-blog because I listened to the recorded interview, but "taped-blog" doesn't have the same ring.) Enjoy! And way to go, Patch!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0:10. Wow. Joy has a serious upper midwest accent. ("Ooooooo Claire, Wis-caaaahn-son.")
1:40. He's an associate professor, Joy, not an assistant professor!
1:57. They could have at least checked your microphone before the interview started. ("Whoops! We got a real hot mic here!")
3:01. Ahh. That's better. Now I can hear you, Patch!
4:42. Joy says of bullying in the days of yore: "There were mean girls doing mean things." Hey, somebody should make a movie about that.
5:50. "Now, everybody's in on the joke." You make a great point about the widening of the bullying audience with new forms of communication technology.
6:03. "He's an associate, or an assistant, professor of criminal justice...." Tenure, schmenure.
7:15. Nice fake-out! She seems to be asking you about whether the teens in the Phoebe Prince case ought to face criminal charges, but when she finishes her sentence it's clear she's asking potential callers! LOL! Never mind what the expert thinks!
9:00. First shout out to Pap!
10:10. The first caller says he's read your book!! Is he a plant? ("A plant? I thought men like you were usually called a fruit.")
12:42. You are relaxed, confident, and clear in responding to the first caller. You rock.
14:25. She's asking listeners to comment on Facebook about cyberbullying. Heh.
14:58. Cyberbullying victims should "keep the evidence". Good advice that applies to all types of harassment and victimization.
16:31. The screener should be fired for allowing the call from the 58-year old who wants everyone to make like the Mennonites and ditch their iPods and cell phones. Objection, relevance! Your "pulling the plug is not the answer" response was spot on, Patch, but I think you should have asked him why if he's so opposed to technology he's calling in to a radio phone-in program! LOL!
18:33. I love your point about the increase in MySpace profiles that are set to private. "Teens are listening," indeed.
19:37. Is there a screener? The third caller is veering in his point, too. Why are we talking about torture? Now I'm certain the first caller was a plant!
21:56. First break. You are doing awesome, seriously.
22:23. And we're back. During the break you went from being a "nationally known" expert to being "internationally known" - impressive!! (Yes, but are you known to rock the microphone?)
24:12. She finally got your title correct. "I thought I got demoted." ROFL! I miss you, Patch!
26:58. You do a great job referencing statistics in an organic, conversational way without sounding like you are reading from a cheat sheet you brought with you. Well done.
27:40. Kids can be "emotionally hurt so bad that it turns into physical hurt." That's a great insight, and a terrific quote.
30:02. No, Joy. We can't blame namecalling by peers on Phoebe Prince's suicide, but we may be able to blame her suicide on namecalling by peers. You were very gracious, Patch -- that was not a great question.
30:55 Just once in my life I want to say on the radio, "I'm a trained criminologist." That's so hot.
35:33. The fourth caller's daughter changed districts because the junior high school wouldn't do anything about her bullying victimization? Really? It seems like there's more to the story than that, if only because the school would be loath to lose out on that revenue. "I don't hear too many examples like Missy's." Ah. Very diplomatic response, Patch.
39:40. A studio audience question! Wait, people actually hauled their cookies to a radio studio at six in the morning to hear you talk about cyberbullying? LOL! That's some serious motivation.
41:43. Final caller, and he makes a great point about controlling who is in your social network by blocking friend requests, using privacy settings, etc.
42:40. Your example about the teen girl "friending" her bully because she felt is was safer than blocking her is both sad and frightening. It makes me anxious for my own girls to become teenagers. (I think Baroness Schraeder was right about boarding school!)
43:40. You did a terrific job, Patch. So proud of you!

RIP, Dixie Carter

2010-04-12T09:22:00.004-04:00

This weekend, Dixie Carter lost her life to endometrial cancer at the age of 70. It just so happens that she portrayed one of my favorite TV characters of all time: feisty, fiercely intelligent Julia Sugarbaker from Designing Women.

The show was ahead of its time, thoughtfully addressing social issues like AIDS when it was decidedly unpopular for a sitcom to do so. In particular, Julia's stinging diatribes against people whose actions she found objectionable often served as the social conscience of the show. Behold one such rant, a delicious dismantling of political pandering that is just as (if not more) relevant today as it was twenty years ago when it originally aired.

Like Julia, I think many of us pray "that people with power will get good sense, and people with good sense will get power." RIP, Dixie Carter.

"Watershed" Bullying Case?

2010-04-05T09:29:00.006-04:00

Waiting for my breakfast sandwich at Starbucks this morning, I noticed the headline in today's USA Today: "A 'Watershed' Case in School Bullying":

Parents might not realize that the stereotypical bully of generations past — a swaggering schoolyard lout, low on self-esteem, quick to lash out, easy to identify — has become as anachronistic as the blackboard at many schools.

Educational psychologists describe a new kind of bullying. The perpetrators are attractive, athletic and academically accomplished — and comfortable enough around adults to know what they can and can't get away with, in school and online.

These bullies are so subtle and cunning it's hard for school staff to know if what looks like bullying really is, and what to do about it. "Some of it is so under the radar that without training, you can't see what's in front of you," says Marlene Snyder, a Clemson University expert on bullying....
Last week, the district attorney here created a sensation when she took a rare step, filing criminal charges against nine South Hadley High School students who allegedly bullied Phoebe Prince until she hanged herself at home Jan. 14.

Felony charges against six of the teens, two boys and four girls, range from statutory rape to stalking and civil-rights violations. Three other girls were charged as juveniles.

I know Scoob has written before about the anti-bullying legislation in Massachusetts. I'm wondering what Scoob, or our resident bullying experts (that'd be Pap & Patch) have to say about this case? Its similarities to the Megan Meier case? Or about the claims of a new "breed" of school bully?

Update: Pap & Patch have been following the Phoebe Prince story on their cyberbullying blog; read more here.

Video games that promote sexual violence against women

2010-04-01T09:12:00.001-04:00

Recent press coverage has been focused on "hentai" video games being produced in Japan and distributed all across the world in an underground manner. Hentai generally refers to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, and video games of this ilk have been available for years overseas. Recently, though, they have been "ripped" from DVD-ROMs and made available in digital format online - for anyone to download regardless of their location and their age.

The major problem with these games is that they seem to promote sexual violence against women, and present it in a way that makes the "player" believe it is a game, or part of a conquest, or a way to flirt, or that girls ask for it by how they dress and behave. In one scene depicted in the CNN story from a game entitled "RapeLay," the player pursues a girl, her sister, and her mom in a subway scene and is able to stalk her, back her into corners, lift her dress, fondle her, and rape her. While genitalia are obscured in the depicted graphics, the scene and action leaves little to the imagination.

Some argue that players "kill" other players in so many video games (Call of Duty, Resident Evil, Grand Theft Auto, Halo 3), and that it is commonplace and even banal. Playing such games has not affected the national murder rate (in any country), and so it is illogical to believe that sexually assaulting a girl in a subway might induce someone to do the same in real life. As such, the argument goes, hentai games should be available as their main purpose and outcome is entertainment for the gamer.

I completely disagree. To be sure, Japan has very high availability rate of violent games/movies/manga/hentai but also has a very low incidence of real-world crime and violence. As a criminologist, this is intriguing and so one wonders if the video games allow for escapism to engage in deviant acts, thereby alleviating a felt need to act out in deviant ways in the real world. Research, though, has not proven a link here and I believe it is due to cultural constraints in Japan where shame and dishonor is used to keep youth and adults in line. The availability of these games to teenagers in America (regardless of whether they are available on store shelves or downloadable from BitTorrent or other P2P sites) is what is concerning to me. This is particularly because youth in our country already seem hypersexualized, and where the phenomenon of dating violence and domestic violence occurs with some regularity.

I was chatting with Dr. Hnk, and she mentioned to me that this is what feminist and anti-violence activists mean when they talk about a "rape culture." It doesn't mean that someone playing RapeLay would automatically go out and rape someone, but games like that make light of rape, normalize, it, legitimize it, commodify it, etc., so that it is not seen as WRONG as it should be. "It's just a joke, haha." "It's just a game, haha." You get the picture.

Yes, we blast others to oblivion in first-person shooter games and have become desensitized to doing so in those environments. In fact, we've watched movies for decades which depict mass casualties and think nothing of it. However, games that encourage sexual aggression and violence against women crosses the line. I had friends in middle school who used to play "Leisure Suit Larry" on their Commodore 64 computers, and while Larry was all about sexual conquests, it was presented in a very cartoonish and far-fetched fashion - and nothing resembling "sexual intercourse" (consensual or otherwise) was ever depicted. Hentai games not only depict actual rape occurring, but do so in a way that celebrates it.

This cannot be tolerated. Women's Rights Groups are requesting that the Japanese government intervene because the gaming industry does not seem to be policing themselves and considering how this is affecting today's young males. If the current generation reluctantly accepts these games, the next generation will view them as normal - and will view the actions therein as endorsed and part of the current cultural milieu.

Way to Go, Pap!!!!

2010-03-26T21:42:00.002-04:00

All of us at the GBOC are thrilled for our colleague and friend Pap, who recently was named Florida Atlantic University Teacher of the Year!!

This is a truly remarkable achievement for a young scholar, and comes on the heels of his win last year for FAU's Researcher of the Year. That's right: in the last two years, Pap has won the top two honors at his university!!

We are so proud of you, Pap!!

MAJOR Development in Federal Cocaine Sentencing Policy

2010-03-20T21:40:00.001-04:00

For a couple of years now I have been lecturing in my drug policy class about the 100:1 ratio in federal cocaine sentence laws. Each time I teach the class, we discuss the likelihood (heretofore rather remote, I think) of the ratio being reduced.

But slow changes have been occuring.

First came news in December 2007 that the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to retroactively apply an amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines reducing sentences for crack cocaine offenses.

Then this past Thursday, the Senate passed a bill to reduce the federal cocaine sentencing ratio from 100:1 to 18:1. This is astonishing news:

In unusually quick action, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to change the punishment for possession of crack cocaine just a week after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved it. For 24 years, the law has punished crack users 100 times more heavily than powder cocaine users, the new Senate bill brings the 100-to-1 ratio down to 18-to-1. Julie Stewart of Families Against Mandatory Minimums says it was the the first time since the Nixon administration that the Senate voted to repeal a mandatory minimum sentence.

Here's more analysis from NPR:

After more than a decade of debates, hearings and lobbying, the Senate has passed a bill to change the punishment for possession of crack cocaine.
The bill had strong support from both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. While the current law punishes crack users 100 times more heavily than powder cocaine users, the new Senate bill brings the 100-to-1 ratio down to 18-to-1...
Now the House must decide what to do. A House committee has already approved a bill that treats crack and powder identically. The full House could adopt the Senate's 18-to-1 sentencing ratio or push for the House bill with a 1-to-1 ratio.

It is difficult for me to contain my excitement over this news. I am anxiously awaiting the House's response.

Stay tuned...

P.S. Yesterday I e-mailed the students in my current drug policy class with an update about the Senate bill. This morning I received a response from one student describing "what a rush" it was for her to be learning about these issues in class and then be poised to witness actual legislative change of the type we've been discussing all semester. I have to say, it made my day to know that even one student is paying attention to -- let alone excited about! -- crime policy. What more can a crim prof ask for?!

Friday CJ Funnies: Heroes in a Half-Shell Edition

2010-03-18T23:17:00.006-04:00

In the mood to fight crime, early-90s hip-hop style? Have a mean crazing for pizza? Bear the moniker of a famed Renaissance philosopher or artist?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, I have just the video for you. Happy Friday, everybody. Turtle Power! (Choice lyric below.)

Partnerz in Kryme: "Turtle Power" (1990)

Lyrics:

T-U-R-T-L-E power
T-U-R-T-L-E power
T-U-R-T-L-E power
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

On a half shell, they're the heroes four,
In this day and age who can ask for more?
The crime wave is high with muggings mysterious,
All police and detectives are furious.
'Cause they can't find the source
Of this lethally evil force...

P.S. See also this, obviously.

March Madness Begins Today!

2010-03-18T08:19:00.006-04:00

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Here's what I said in the run-up to the 2008 tourney, with the current info in brackets:

The Spartans are the #5-seed in the South [East] region, squaring off against Temple [NMSU] in the first round: discuss.

Hmmm....

The #5-seed may be a concern to some, as historically the 5/12 matchups are rife with upsets. (Here is a thoughtful analysis of the 5/12 upsets in the last decade or so, though the author -- rightfully so, in my opinion -- advises against taking Temple over MSU this year given that the Spartans tend to show extraordinary tenacity in the tourney.

Ditto that.

The Spartans likely are looking to avenge their loss in the semifinal [first(!)] round of the Big Ten Tournament. Their meltdown against Wisconsin [Minnesota] just might provide them with the focus they need to make a great tournament run.

Jeez. Do we see a pattern here or what?

The snow is melting, the birds are chirping, and the crocuses are peeking up through the earth. The semester is more than halfway over and the students are emerging from their hibernation to enliven campus again. And the purest, most compelling playoff series in all of athletics is about to begin. If this isn't your favorite time of year, I don't know what is!

Well, that's still true, obviously.

You know, I polled my students this week (who complained because I didn't give them the Monday after the Super Bowl off) about which is the most compelling athletic championship event, and they almost unanimously said the Super Bowl. So, I pulled up the "One Shining Moment" clip on You Tube and made 'em watch it. Really. (I even sang along.) "Tell me," I said, "when the Super Bowl's ever made you cry." They may not have changed their minds, but they did concede my point. (Or so I like to think.)

Happy Tourney, everybody!

P.S. Patch: I will get that "important work" to you before noon today!
P.P.S. A few more comments I neglected to add:
(1) Go Golden Grizzlies!! It's pretty cool that in my first year in its employ, OU makes the Big Dance. Fingers are crossed for a MAJOR upset over Pitt!
(2) I'm cheering for the MSU Women's team, too!