Tag Archives | Crime

Wider ADHD Medication Use Would Cut Crime Rates Significantly

By on December 1, 2012 in News 14

Will medicating of the crime-prone someday be mandated? COSMOS Magazine reports:

When comparing the behaviour of adults suffering from ADHD during periods when they were medicated, with periods when they weren’t, researchers found that medical treatment reduced the risk of committing crimes by 32%.

Individuals with ADHD have previously been shown to be at greater risk of entering a life of crime. “It’s said that roughly 30 to 40% of long-serving criminals have ADHD,” said Paul Lichtenstein, co-author of the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “If their chances of recidivism can be reduced by 30%, it would clearly affect total crime numbers in many societies.”

The study, which tracked more than 25,000 people over four years, found that medication had the same effect on those who had committed relatively minor infringements as on those involved in more serious and violent crimes.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 14

New York City’ First Ever Day Without Violent Crime

By on November 29, 2012 in News 6

5.29.10NYPDByLuigiNovi1Shocking for those who remember 1970s NYC, but apparently true per this report from BBC News:

For the first time in living memory, New York has spent a day entirely without violent crime.

The city police department’s chief spokesman said that Monday was the most bloodshed-free 24-hour period in recent history.

Not a single murder, shooting, stabbing or other incident of violent crime was reported for a whole day.

Despite a July spike in homicides, the city’s murder rate is on target to hit its lowest point since 1960.

Just a few months ago, residents were living through what one tabloid newspaper called the “summer of blood”.

Aggressive prevention tactics
Despite the fall in homicides, statistics point to a 3% overall rise in crime.

There has also been a 9% increase in larceny, which police blame on a surge in smartphone thefts.

But killings are now down 23% compared with last year, which represents a 50-year low.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 6

Man Arrested For ID Theft Of Most Of Greece

By on November 27, 2012 in News 2

It’s reaching the point where we probably should give up even trying to have identities. Via the Toronto Star:

Greek police have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing the personal data of roughly two thirds of the country’s population, police officials in Athens said on Tuesday.

The 35-year old computer programmer was also suspected of attempting to sell the 9 million files containing identification card data, addresses, tax ID numbers and licence plate numbers. Greece’s population is 11 million.

Police were also looking into whether the man had obtained the data files by hacking into a government server and whether he had an accomplice, officials said. The files were discovered after police raided his home.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 2

The Five Worst Thanksgivings in History

By on November 22, 2012 in News 0

You may know John Marr for his classic essay “Death at Disneyland“. Here’s an even more brain-frying article he wrote about the worst Thanksgivings ever in American history. I read this every year as a gratefulness-inducing holiday tradition. Be thankful you weren’t celebrating Thanksgiving in Reno in 1980:

Thanksgiving Day Massacre, Reno, 1980

Priscilla Ford had a long history of psychiatric problems and bizarre behavior, marked by such quixotic acts as suing the Mormon Church and attempting to speak at the 1972 Republican Convention. The capper came on the Thanksgiving afternoon when she got even with the City of Reno. In front of the downtown casinos, she steered her black 1974 Lincoln onto a crowded sidewalk and mowed down the crowds of holiday gamblers and gambolers. She left six dead and 23 injured in her wake. Pulled over a few blocks later, she told police, “Sometimes I am called Jesus Christ.” She later expressed a fervent hope that she’d nailed 75 people, and explained the voice of Joan (Mrs.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 0

Oklahoma Teen Sentenced To Ten Years Of Church As Manslaughter Punishment

By on November 21, 2012 in News 15

What separation of church and state? Oklahoma City’s KOCO reports on a teenager convicted of killing a friend in a drunk driving accident given the choice between jail and Christianity:

An Oklahoma teen convicted of manslaughter won’t get jail time. Instead a judge sentenced him to go to church. Tyler Allred was 17-years-old when prosecutors say he drove while intoxicated and killed his passenger, a 16-year-old friend.

A judge presiding over Allred’s case sentenced him to attend church every Sunday for the next 10 years. In addition to church attendance Allred must graduate from high school and take drug and alcohol test for the next year. The teen’s attorney does not plan to challenge the sentence.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 15

Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Jail for Selling Six Counterfeit Discs

By on November 18, 2012 in News 11

Picture: Flickr, quinn.anya (CC)

I guess they’re calling it Copyright Terrorism! This report shows just how friendly the recording industry is with your friendly neighborhood law enforcement.

Via RT:

A Mississippi man was sentenced to 15 years behind bars and another three under supervised release this week after pleading guilty to selling five counterfeit DVDs and one bootleg music CD to an undercover agent.

Patrick Lashun King, 37, was sentenced by Judge Lamar Pickard of Copiah County Circuit Court after he pleaded guilty to six counts of selling pirated material, charges that he was lobbed with after an undercover agent attempted to purchase just a half-dozen homemade copies of music and movies the defendant wasn’t authorized to have up for sale.

When investigators searched King’s home and businesses, they eventually turned up 10,510 counterfeit discs and the computer equipment they believe he used to manufacture the bootlegs. The Clarion Ledger notes that authorities also uncovered a number of weapons, including an assault rifle, from King’s Hazlehurst, MS home, but it was only the six counts of piracy that will put him away until 2027.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 11

Former Federal Prosecutor: Feds Should Honor States’ Pot Laws

By on November 14, 2012 in News 12

Former federal prosecutor and current law professor Mark Osler offers his take on how the feds might react to Colorado and Washington’s new marijuana laws:

Via CNN:

The residents of Colorado and Washington state have voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, and all hell is about to break loose — at least ideologically. The problem is that pot is still very much illegal under federal law, and the Obama administration must decide whether to enforce federal law in a state that has rejected the substance of that law.

What makes this development fascinating is that it brings into conflict two important strains of political thought in America: federalism and moralism.

Federalists, who seek to limit the power of the federal government relative to the states and individuals, will urge a hands-off approach. Moralists, on the other hand, strongly believe in the maintenance of an established social order and will argue for continuing enforcement of federal narcotics laws.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 12

How To Become A Russian Cyber Criminal

By on November 5, 2012 in News 0

Thanks to Trend Micro, you too can now have cheap, easy access to Russian cyber crime. Via Wired UK:

If you want to buy a botnet, it’ll cost you somewhere in the region of $700 (£433). If you just want to hire someone else’s for an hour, though, it can cost as little as $2 (£1.20) — that’s long enough to take down, say, a call centre, if that’s what you were in the mood for. Maybe you’d like to spy on an ex — for $350 (£217) you can purchase a trojan that lets you see all their incoming and outgoing texts. Or maybe you’re just in the market for some good, old-fashioned spamming — it’ll only cost you $10 (£6.19) for a million emails. That’s the hourly minimum wage in the UK.

This is the current state of Russia’s underground market in cybercrime — a vibrant community of ne’er-do-wells offering every conceivable kind of method for compromising computer security.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 0

Extenuating Circumstances? DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo Claims He Was Sexually Abused by Partner in crime

By on October 26, 2012 in News 2

In an interview with Today‘s Matt Lauer, Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the two men convicted in a series of deadly DC sniper attacks, stated that he was sexually abused by co-defendant John Muhammad. Malvo told Lauer that the abuse began at age 15 and continue to the pair were arrested. Malvo was 17 at the time. He is now 27 and currently serving several life sentences without the possibility of parole. Malvo said that he had only recently become comfortable enough to admit the truth. Muhammad is not around to refute the claim, having been executed in 2009. Some might think that this is a cynical ploy for the attention and sympathy of the public, for whom the memories of those nine senseless deaths (and three woundings) may have become hazier over the last decade.

Presuming that Malvo’s claims are true, should they justify any kind of lenience? Malvo was a minor during the shooting spree, and under the sole supervision and guidance of a man – if we’re to take Malvo’s word for it – sexually abused him for years. Even without the sex abuse, their relationship was supremely dysfunctional by any definition, but does that mitigate to any degree Malvo’s responsibility for his actions?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Continue Reading · 2

Unheard Audio Tapes From 1969 Could Reveal A Dozen Additional Manson Murders

By on October 22, 2012 in News 0

Charles Manson’s Family may have committed more than twice as many killings as previously believed, the Los Angeles Times reports:

Los Angeles police officials said they hope to bring closure to the families of victims in a dozen unsolved homicides that occurred near places where the Manson family operated during its slew of murders four decades ago. Officials revealed Thursday that they hope audiotapes recorded in 1969 between Charles Manson follower Charles “Tex” Watson and his attorney could provide some answers.

Watson is serving a life sentence for his role in some Manson killings. He has been fighting to limit the Los Angeles Police Department’s access to the tapes.

This spring, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Texas granted the LAPD’s request to review eight cassette tapes containing hours of conversations between Watson and his late attorney. Watson’s new attorney appealed, and the case was stalled.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 0