So, it seems, US TV is officially obsessed with catching Paedophiles and sending them to the stripey hole. Or so you might think after a brief scan of those News reportage channels so well clumped together at one end of the schedule/timetable. Its all very well and good that the kiddie fiddlers are being placed where they belong but its all done so slick and viewer friendly that you have to wonder about it being sold as entertainment rather than Documetary. I mean, its every week. The same stuff. I know there's a whole world of sick bastards out there, but now the show, Dateline i think it is, is all over the TV. Reality has become watching something slightly askew from the Real reality being beamed out from a million different transmitters. Every channel has some tedious sub-standard "Reality" show with people wandering around, mumbling, picking their noses, talking on the phone. Are we so self obsessed as a species that we do nothing but sit on our fat arses watching other primates sitting on their own arses, wondering whats on next? Mrs S likes the CSI show, cos thats what she used to do, and we watch the food network, but usually I'll be reading or working on music or chasing the cats or just doing something else instead of TV, but tonight I'm having a bout of insomnia so I was surfing through the channels- man thats a waste of time and money- glad we don't pay for it.
And this morning there was talk of Cable competition and of Community access being removed from the schedule- Of all the nonsense, of all the trash thats shown, even on the public access network, don't they realise how important that is to be able to speak your mind on TV?
I'm kind of hooked on Madisons W4YOU pub.ac. channel, it seems to be a great tool to use, even if they're just showing weird student films. I guess its like the trouble I've been having with the consumer system here, far too much product and not enough being put back in its place..
Oh dear, I sound like a crazy old fool now.
Night all..
I think the TV/ Media obsession is a reflection of a societal obsession right now, but it is also feeding that obsession. Sex offenders are the current "reds under the bed".
Prosecutors and police officers here read child sex abuse into every photo, video or child's doodle. In the past year I have had innumerable cases where some vindictive spouse or former spouse has taken photos, family video's and computers or drawings made by the kids to the local police department in the hope of inspiring a pedephilia investigation and manipulating a custody dispute.
In NH the local police departments prosecute there own cases up to misdemeanor level, which means I, as the defense lawyer, am the only outside/objective point of view to stop this nonsense.
In one case a cop visiting a family home for some non-criminal reason observes a male family friend coloring with an elementary school age child. Cop looks at childs drawing and decides, subjectively and without any input from anyone else, that it looks like a penis and arrests guy on the spot.
Under pressure from me the local chief of police (who wouldn't let me see the picture myself) shows drawing to "various people in the department" and the majority opinion was that it was a "doodle", although some thought it could be a ghost. Not one of them, chief included, saw anything remotely sexual.
I utterred the magic words abuse of process and law suit and the matter evaporated.
I'd like to tell you that this was an exception, but I have nearly a dozen similar matters in the mix right now.
In NH the local police departments prosecute there own cases up to misdemeanor level, which means I, as the defense lawyer, am the only outside/objective point of view to stop this nonsense.
:shock: You mean it doesn't go through a court system?? The prosecution is the police dept?
I think the whole country is somehow obsessed with Crime and Punishment. Sometimes at night I end up watching these To Catch A Predator and Lockup things on MSNBC at work - we have a TV at the nurses station.
Apparently although the US only has 5% of the worlds population it has 25% of the worlds prisoners - over 2 million Americans are locked up.
I wondered why and happened upon this book at the library;
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Up-River-Tra...38&sr=8-12
Which basically says that there is a lot of money to be made if you look at prisons like an industry.
Therefore I think the more crime Americans think they are subjected to, the less likely they are to question why this country has a staggering amount of citizens behind bars.
In NH the local police departments prosecute there own cases up to misdemeanor level, which means I, as the defense lawyer, am the only outside/objective point of view to stop this nonsense.
:shock: You mean it doesn't go through a court system?? The prosecution is the police dept?
I think the whole country is somehow obsessed with Crime and Punishment. Sometimes at night I end up watching these To Catch A Predator and Lockup things on MSNBC at work - we have a TV at the nurses station.
Apparently although the US only has 5% of the worlds population it has 25% of the worlds prisoners - over 2 million Americans are locked up.
I wondered why and happened upon this book at the library;
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Up-River-Tra...38&sr=8-12
Which basically says that there is a lot of money to be made if you look at prisons like an industry.
Therefore I think the more crime Americans think they are subjected to, the less likely they are to question why this country has a staggering amount of citizens behind bars.
No. It goes throught eh Courts.
However in NH, unlike most states and England, following arrest and the filing of a complaint, the matter does not normally go to a separate prosecutor (such as a district attorney) but is prosecuted by the police department or, in the case of State Police, by the individual Trooper.
The problem with this is that most of these officers are not lawyers and many have no legal training whatsoever. Also they are not covered by the rules of professiona conduct and ethic that apply to lawyers.
The problem is that many of them, particularly in some of the small towns that have police departments in single figures, lack any sense of objectivity and tend to get a little over excited when they come across something more complex that a DWI or speeding ticket. (they are also convinced every teenager possesses drugs and every hispanic is an illegal immigrant).
Finally on the stats front.
25% of all African American males aged 18-35 are in prison, on parole or on probation at this time.
Land of the Free......... :roll:
In NH the local police departments prosecute there own cases up to misdemeanor level, which means I, as the defense lawyer, am the only outside/objective point of view to stop this nonsense.
Apparently although the US only has 5% of the worlds population it has 25% of the worlds prisoners - over 2 million Americans are locked up.
Therefore I think the more crime Americans think they are subjected to, the less likely they are to question why this country has a staggering amount of citizens behind bars.
i think we have to many folks in prison especially for crimes like prostitution and smoking weed, personal choices ...
to be fair thou you cant really compare our prison population with those from some other countries who have differant methods of punishment .
some counties drug offenders are not locked up they are executed ,some countires dont put thieves behind bars they just cut there hands of ..
Stats only say what you want them to say ....
Here in California we have a lot of third strike you're out people back in jail. Some for stealing a slice of pizza. The other huge part of the population are folk who broke their parole deal.
As to this " serious" form of reality show, not worth the payment.
The main thing that bugs me is it takes three news presenters to do one story. You say a line, I'll say a line, bloody effing stupid, that's what they think we are.
In NH the local police departments prosecute there own cases up to misdemeanor level, which means I, as the defense lawyer, am the only outside/objective point of view to stop this nonsense.
Apparently although the US only has 5% of the worlds population it has 25% of the worlds prisoners - over 2 million Americans are locked up.
Therefore I think the more crime Americans think they are subjected to, the less likely they are to question why this country has a staggering amount of citizens behind bars.
i think we have to many folks in prison especially for crimes like prostitution and smoking weed, personal choices ...
to be fair thou you cant really compare our prison population with those from some other countries who have differant methods of punishment .
some counties drug offenders are not locked up they are executed ,some countires dont put thieves behind bars they just cut there hands of ..
Stats only say what you want them to say ....
True, to a point.
You can compare the US with coutries that have similar judicial systems and laws, EU countries, Canada, Australia etc.
Of these America has by far the largest per capita prison population. It also has the highest rates of violent crime, indicating that the US approach does not work.
However, my point on the stats wasn't merely the size of the prison population but the blatent and agregious racism of the system and the utterindifference of white America to this.
Yes thats the sad thing Rob for a country that kids its self it has a high moral tone that is a heritage of our christian/jewish foundation etc . there is a high percentage of violence per population and in fact it is displayed in/on the media unabated 7 /24 .
somewhere along the way many years ago american lost its way and has been stumbling around with moral issues and the def of good /bad ever since .
i do feel that the foundling fathers for all there shortcoming and there seemily obvious lack of understanding regarding slavery the USA they invisaged was nothing like the confused /contrditory country we have today
i can never understand why all administations from the 70 spend zillions of our dollars fighting what they the call *the evil pornography * while research into violence its course and symtoms are given little or no funding .
one way or the other to many ordinary citizens are drawn into a web fueled by the irrisponsible press of being either for or against pornography and to a lesser extent violence .
books magazines movies that are succesfull all have in common those two ingrediants (violence and sex )
world events , the strides man has made in technology ,and other human related progressions seem to take a back seat as each and every day the citizens are given/ shown graphic acts of violence and depictions of sex while the *pundits* wax and wane over the effects these acts have on our society call for change in goverment get it and still the more things change the more they stay the same .