Check out this latest story from CNN about a young woman who's facing up to 3-4yrs in jail for taping 3mins of the film "New Moon" during her sister's birthday party:
While I understand that bootleg movies are illegal, from the description of what was on the video as well as the fact that she was taping her sister's party left me feeling that it wasn't her intent to film the movie at all. On a side note, as someone who works at a movie theater, it isn't an usher's duty to hand out warnings if a guest is using a recording device. The guest is either asked to leave right away or the police are called in.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
"Criminal Minds"
The show "Criminal Minds" has been around for 5 seasons now and last week celebrated its 100th episode. The CBS drama/thriller follows an elite team known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), a branch within the FBI, that profiles criminal behavior in order to catch the criminal.
The role of these profilers is interesting considering the focus of our class is looking at what themes arise in controlling and punishing possible deviants and which characteristics are considered 'deviant'.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
BART Scuffle
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/22/california.transit.police.scuffle/index.html
Yesterday an altercation between a BART police officer and an individual was caught on tape with the officer forcibly removing the person off of the BART, while arresting the man the glass window by the railing they were standing near shattered. The entire incident made the news and portrayed the cop as being too aggressive.
Today, I went onto http://www.sfgate.com/polls/ where it listed the incident between the officer and the passenger. The poll itself was worded as “did the BART officer act appropriately in the glass-shattering incident?” with the following possible answers: “Yes, suspect was resisting arrest”, “No, too much force used” or “Strength of the glass is key”.
To me, this poll is problematic and sets the voter up to be biased from the start since the question itself exaggerates how the situation was handled with the wording “glass-shattering” instead of using words like “that resulted in glass-shattering”. The way the question is worded almost gives the implication that the officer’s physical actions towards the passenger were so aggressive that a glass shattered from the force of the arrest. When really, according to news reports, the glass shattered on both of them with both men being injured. The question, with how it’s posed, falsely leads voters to believe that the passenger was the only one injured.
Also, by specifying that it was a BART police officer, that description could trigger negative opinions given the BART incident that happened recently where a man was shot. There have been numerous reports that have described the incident occurring between a passenger and an ‘officer’ or a ‘public transit officer’. Instead of giving some anonymity and side-stepping additional controversy, the poll adds to it.
I feel like this poll could have reached more people if it had been a bit broader with its question and subject matter. It would have also been interesting if the poll included an area that specified if the voter was a frequent BART passenger, sometimes rode BART or didn’t take BART at all; attitudes towards those on public transit and the BART police may also greatly affect the results.
Yesterday an altercation between a BART police officer and an individual was caught on tape with the officer forcibly removing the person off of the BART, while arresting the man the glass window by the railing they were standing near shattered. The entire incident made the news and portrayed the cop as being too aggressive.
Today, I went onto http://www.sfgate.com/polls/ where it listed the incident between the officer and the passenger. The poll itself was worded as “did the BART officer act appropriately in the glass-shattering incident?” with the following possible answers: “Yes, suspect was resisting arrest”, “No, too much force used” or “Strength of the glass is key”.
To me, this poll is problematic and sets the voter up to be biased from the start since the question itself exaggerates how the situation was handled with the wording “glass-shattering” instead of using words like “that resulted in glass-shattering”. The way the question is worded almost gives the implication that the officer’s physical actions towards the passenger were so aggressive that a glass shattered from the force of the arrest. When really, according to news reports, the glass shattered on both of them with both men being injured. The question, with how it’s posed, falsely leads voters to believe that the passenger was the only one injured.
Also, by specifying that it was a BART police officer, that description could trigger negative opinions given the BART incident that happened recently where a man was shot. There have been numerous reports that have described the incident occurring between a passenger and an ‘officer’ or a ‘public transit officer’. Instead of giving some anonymity and side-stepping additional controversy, the poll adds to it.
I feel like this poll could have reached more people if it had been a bit broader with its question and subject matter. It would have also been interesting if the poll included an area that specified if the voter was a frequent BART passenger, sometimes rode BART or didn’t take BART at all; attitudes towards those on public transit and the BART police may also greatly affect the results.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tune In?
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/10/to-kill-the-killer/#more-59955
It's one thing for someone to be sentenced to death for a crime, but it's an entirely different thing to weigh whether or not to watch that person have their death sentence carried out. For some it can give closure but I have to wonder, at what cost? Do the viewers themselves become a little deviant like the criminal they're watching?
I when CNN covered the lethal injection of the Oklahoma bomber and then when Saddam Hussein was hung it was released on news stations and on YouTube with many not even blinking or considering not watching.
Are we, as the viewer, in some way committing our own deviance and crime against ourselves?
It's one thing for someone to be sentenced to death for a crime, but it's an entirely different thing to weigh whether or not to watch that person have their death sentence carried out. For some it can give closure but I have to wonder, at what cost? Do the viewers themselves become a little deviant like the criminal they're watching?
I when CNN covered the lethal injection of the Oklahoma bomber and then when Saddam Hussein was hung it was released on news stations and on YouTube with many not even blinking or considering not watching.
Are we, as the viewer, in some way committing our own deviance and crime against ourselves?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Bystander Effect
The Bystander Effect commonly refers to incidents where a crime has occurred but people fail to report it because they were in a group or a community so they assumed that someone else would step in and do something, so they wouldn't bother with it themselves. The problem with this mindset is that if everyone in the group assumes the same thing then no action of any sort is taken.
The murder of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese is one of the most notorious examples of the bystander effect. Genovese had been attacked while walking at night, she had screamed to the people in the nearby buildings which scared her attacker off initially. However, the people in the apartments failed to act since they assumed that someone else would call the police. As a result, her attacker returned and killed her.
A few days ago another incident of the bystander effect took place, this time in Richmond, CA with a young girl being assaulted by a several people while a group of bystanders watched but failed to act. Some explained to police that Richmond was the type of place where you don't call the cops for fear of retaliation, while others assumed the cops had been called.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/03/they-bystander-effect/#more-58913
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/28/gang-rape-raises-questions-about-bystander-effect/
The murder of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese is one of the most notorious examples of the bystander effect. Genovese had been attacked while walking at night, she had screamed to the people in the nearby buildings which scared her attacker off initially. However, the people in the apartments failed to act since they assumed that someone else would call the police. As a result, her attacker returned and killed her.
A few days ago another incident of the bystander effect took place, this time in Richmond, CA with a young girl being assaulted by a several people while a group of bystanders watched but failed to act. Some explained to police that Richmond was the type of place where you don't call the cops for fear of retaliation, while others assumed the cops had been called.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/03/they-bystander-effect/#more-58913
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/28/gang-rape-raises-questions-about-bystander-effect/
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Escalation leads to fire
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/02/teen.burned.recovery/index.html
In Florida a young boy is fighting for his life after a group of teens purposefully set him on fire after a miscommunication about a video game sale spiraled out of control. Reading this story I was shocked by the sudden escalation from a minor argument to such a violent act. This sort of retaliation for a $40 video game raises questions about youth and they're desensitization towards violence.
In Florida a young boy is fighting for his life after a group of teens purposefully set him on fire after a miscommunication about a video game sale spiraled out of control. Reading this story I was shocked by the sudden escalation from a minor argument to such a violent act. This sort of retaliation for a $40 video game raises questions about youth and they're desensitization towards violence.
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