Category: Crime & Justice

OpenCourt

Those who’ve read my article on police records might be interested to check out an experiment in Massachusetts called OpenCourt. Here’s an explanation of it from their site: OpenCourt is an experimental project run by WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, that uses digital technology to make Quincy District Court more accessible to the public. Anyone […]

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The Questionable State of Police Records

In 2006, King County, Washington Councilmember Reagan Dunn was roundly panned for drawing attention to an issue with county records that were accessible to anyone via the Internet. His constituents’ social security numbers and signatures were displayed on many documents that were considered public record. Obviously such information could be misused for identity theft or […]

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Defeat the Vampires!

WordPress.com blogger annotoole posted the first video listed below today. After I watched it, I realized that a well-known author has posted a whole series of videos to arm the public against manipulative and abusive people. (Sarah! When did you do this? These are brilliant! What a fun and interesting way to help people avoid […]

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Releasing a Cop Killer?

Crime reporter Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun has posted this piece about the efforts to keep Kitsap County Sheriff Deputy Dennis Allred’s killer in prison. Since the effort is based on Facebook, I’m hoping that other news sites and bloggers will generate awareness of this story as well. That Dennis Allred’s murderer can get […]

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Psychopathy in the News

Today three news stories caught my attention because all involve murder suspects who have shown no real remorse for the crimes they are suspected of. First, Joran van der Sloot has said that he will enter a plea in Peruvian court that equates to temporary insanity. He is accused of murdering Stephany Flores in a […]

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Snyder v. Phelps, Part 1

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled– seemingly– in favor of the Westboro Baptist bigots. Judging from the explosion of comments and coverage on the web, Americans from all walks of life are shocked and outraged over the ruling. But does our Constitution allow any other outcome? Given the modern “fast food” approach to news in […]

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Snyder v. Phelps, Part 2

Now to take on Westboro Baptist Church and its infamous founder, Fred Phelps (I know that friends just heard my literary shotgun racking knowing I take after the fiery Protestant preacher branch of the family tree). I must preface my remarks by saying that I believe God is who He says He is as stated […]

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MAOA-L on CSI

This week’s CSI episode was riveting even with Justin Bieber guest starring as a less than convincing troubled teen/domestic terrorist. There are not many episodes that are worth rewinding the show immediately to watch segments again, but this one was. Besides the explosive subplot in which Bieber’s hair actually wound up a bit messy, Targets […]

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Encouraging Harris-Moore?

I just posted this on another blog that asked what we could be doing to encourage Colton Harris-Moore to live a more responsible life. Feel free to join the discussion at http://catchthebarefootbandit.wordpress.com/. Healthy, respectful discussions can lead to great things. ************************************************************************************* I’m fine with being the lone dissenting voice on this view if that winds […]

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