Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Child facing Life in Prison without Parole

http://www.good.is/post/should-an-11-year-old-boy-go-to-jail-for-life/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=outbrain

I am completely against children and teenagers doing life in prison. I know the crimes committed by them that led to this type of sentencing is uncalled for but these are still children. If a juvenile is behaving this kind of way then their is something going on with them and in their environment. Instead of sentencing them life in prison they need to find them psychological help. I do agree that they need to be punished for their actions but they do not have the full comprehension of life yet because their brain is not fully developed or mature. They cannot even take care of themselves. On the other hand, how did this kid get a hold of a kids size shot gun? Obviously, his parents need to be analyzed as well if the child was able to get a hold of a shot gun. Parents need to start having limits on how much freedom their children are getting. That brings curiosity which leads to unwanted behavior. I have previously taken Legal Psychology and I learned that these children have suffered some sort of trauma when they were younger and led to unwanted and illegal behavior. In this class, we watched a video on children who were serving life in prison and you saw an inmate as a child and the producer followed them years later as adults. When the interviews were conducted when they have become adults, you can see that they do not completely comprehend why they did what they did. They demonstrated a great remorse and told their traumatic stories that built anger, sadness, and pain inside of them which led to behavior and actions that got them in trouble.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Castration of a Father that led to his Death

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/10/01/2009-10-01_woman_guilty_of_manslaughter_in_dads_castration_death.html

I know this article is not too recent but it is very interesting. This woman got 5 to 15 years in prison. Is this reasonable considering the psychological problem that followed this action? After years of sexual abuse by her own father she came to a breaking point and decided to unintentionally kill her father by castrating him to protect her nieces. I do agree that she does deserve the years given in prison. However, she needs to be evaluated and treated very intensively. Her behavior and actions that took place only individuals with extreme psychological problems will do. I still believe that what she did was not the way to go. What her father did was more than wrong, it was sickening what she could have taken other measures such as turning him in to the police or escaping from his presence. However, like mentioned before she has psychological problems and she decided to resolve the problem the quickest way and castrated him and boiled his penis. What somewhat surprised me was that she actually planned this ahead of time by doing some of her own research on the possibilities of reattaching the penis. She did not think about her actions and the consequences that she might have to pay stop. Not only that but the judge did not take this into consideration that this was a premeditated crime.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Rapist on Craigslist

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/16/new.york.sex.slave/index.html?eref=rss_crime&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_crime+%28RSS%3A+Crime%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Ok... who would move in with someone who they do not know and lives in another state and especially when free rent is offered. If someone told me they would offer me free rent for an exchange for housekeeping, that would be a little strange for me. If anyone offered me anything free I would definitely do some investigation. Unless it was something simple like a paper or pencil. Anything free in the US should be questionable. I am not at all stating that it is the woman's fault but she should have thought before  moving. However, the man is dangerous and deserves a long time in prison. His next step might have been to kill her. I do acknowledge that she responded quickly to the abuse and escaped from it. Many women fear for their lives and do not leave and continue taking the abuse and even sometimes end up dead. Craigslist has become a dangerous site for people communication. The craigslist killer is another crime that victimized and murdered many women. Individuals really need to be more careful when doing some sort of communication with others. This includes facebook and myspace and many other sites where people make contact with others. These sites give enough information to track you down. We need to be safe.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Alabama Prosecutor arrested for the intent of child pornography

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-18/justice/alabama.da.sex.crime_1_child-pornography-sexual-purposes-fbi-agents?_s=PM:CRIME

I am shocked to know that a now former prosecutor who specialized in sex crimes against minors was arrested for the intent of enticement and soliciting child pornography. It is unbelievable how deceiving people can be. These are people who are supposed to protect us, not hurt us. It makes me think about how are we supposed to trust the people who are there to "protect" us? How can we keep our children safe? Why are children being a dangerous target today? This article brings a lot to one's mind. This prosecutor is a sick man.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Police shooting in Oakland

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_17312435

What caught my attention in this article is the fact that this is another crime that is added to Oakland's crime rate especially towards police officers. Many individuals view Oakland as a "dangerous" city and is also rated as one of the most dangerous cities in the bay area. Why is the crime there so high? Why are police officers being attacked? It is ridiculous to me to know that someone who has just been released from prison can commit another crime shortly after. Didn't the shooter in this article learn anything in prison after serving five years? In this article, the shooter stated "... he did not want to go back to prison." Well, maybe he should have thought of that before he shot at the police officers considering he was just released from prison two weeks ago. It makes me think about how effective are prisons. It makes me wonder what prisons can do to help the inmates change their lifestyle prior to their release to make them stay away from committing another crime. The lack of safety is a concern in our communities who are receiving ex-convicts back in. Are the children, teens, and families safe? What can prisons do to make changes in these inmates? Too much crime is being committed in our communities and many innocent people are getting hurt or killed. Their has been too many cases where police officers have been killed. We need to change something in the justice system to make change especially in prisons. I also believe that there needs to be some way to protect our police officers. They are the community's protection.