Jeremy Bentham

Inventor of the Useful Panopticon

By Lynn A. Granata

Who was Jeremy Bentham?  Well let's begin with a brief explanation that he was an English philosopher and social theorist who lived in the 18th century.

What he did would change the landscape for the architecture of global prisons to what it has become today. A (pan) meaning all and (opticon) meaning a single watchman is a building structure that is built so that several elevations of floors inside of a prison have corridors of single cells within each unit.  In reality there is no actual watchman, but the design was intended to trick prisoners into believing that they were being watched at all times. Thus, it was thought that prisoners had really no way of knowing that they were being watched, and so they would naturally have to keep their activities under strict control, for fear of getting caught and punished again and again.

An illustration of elevation, section, and plan of the
first panopticon developed in England year 1791.

Eddy Ray Routh

An American Disgrace Malingerer

By Lynn A. Granata

Back in February 2013, a schizophrenic former US Marine Corporal shot and killed two great American Navy SEALS Heroes because "he thought that they were out to steal his soul."

Eddy Ray Routh mugshot at the time of his arrest

So, at least that's what his defense counsel corroborated in a Stephenville, Texas court room earlier this year.  January 2015 is when the double homicide trial for one Eddy Ray Routh took place in Texas.  Routh was about to argue that he was under going a psychotic break with reality at the time when he committed the two murders.
The prosecution had a far different story to tell, though, stick around and I'll tell you more.

Routh was a drug addict since he was a teenager. He regularly used marijuana and cannabis to get high, which made him have unusual and vivid auditory hallucinations.  In addition to the voices, he had delusions as well. He thought that the world was out to literally "get him" and "eat him."

 He was discharged from the Marines because of his severe mental illness.  He lost jobs after he reverted back to civilian life. His mother, Jodi had to take him places because he couldn't drive.  But Routh wasn't insane the prosecution asserted, because while he was out at a shooting range with both Navy SEALS Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, respectively, he knew the difference between right and wrong.

The insanity defense is hard to prove in American Courts of Law, it carries a very high bar, you have to meet the totally insane threshold, and there's no guarantee that any defendant using it will get it.  Being a paranoid schizophrenic like Eddy Routh will not merely automatically give him pardon, thus putting him in a psychiatric hospital instead of a maximum security prison cell.

To sum up the story, the unfortunate victims Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield were asked to go to Routh's home by Routh's mother, Jodi.  Jodi felt that since Routh knew these two well sung war heroes from when he was in the Marine Corps, they would be able to take him out somewhere so that he could get a chance to talk out his problems with them.

Unfortunately, the two took Routh to a very dangerous place, a shooting range.  Routh shot the two men because "he thought that they wanted to take his soul." Chris Kyle was a war hero during the Iraqi War in 2003 and he filmed a movie about a day in the life of his time there.  He earned the upmost respect as a military man who helped to save America. The movie was filmed in the foothills of Afganistan.  Chad Littlefield was his colleague during their time served in battle overseas.

Chris Kyle a Navy SEALS Commander

Routh stole Chris Kyle's Ford Chevy Bronco, and fled to his sister's home a couple of miles away from the crime scene. Routh's sister and her husband summoned the police, and Routh was captured and arrested.
It's been speculated that Routh was malingering during his trial so that he'd get a lesser sentence, although he did suffer from paranoid schizophrenia.  He was taking risperidone for a while, and was under lockdown in a psychiatric ward previously, for his violent outbursts toward neighbors and members of his immediate family.  A jury sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole in February, 2015.

Theories of Crime in America : How Can White Collar Crime be Perpetrated?By Lynn ...

Theories of Crime in America : How Can White Collar Crime be Perpetrated? By Lynn ...: How Can White Collar Crime be Perpetrated? By Lynn A. Granata It does happen more than you think.  Politicians are notorious for i...

Theories of Crime in America : The Black DahliaA 68 Year Old Crime That Went Cold...

Theories of Crime in America : The Black Dahlia A 68 Year Old Crime That Went Cold...: The Black Dahlia A 68 Year Old Crime That Went Cold, But Really Wasn't... By Lynn A. Granata She was a beautiful World War...

The Black Dahlia

A 68 Year Old Crime That Went Cold,

But Really Wasn't...

By Lynn A. Granata

She was a beautiful World War 2 Era aspiring actress named Elizabeth A. Short who came from Boston, MA.  She was murdered in January, 1947.  Her mutilated remains were found outside of a rundown apartment in Los Angeles, California.  Her body was cut in half.  Police had a lot of leads on the case, but at the time, they were later proved to be bogus.  One of the main reasons why is because there were missing person signs plastered all over the city of Los Angeles, promising a $100,000 reward for information leading to the timely arrest and prosecution of her killer(s).

Back then, there was a doctor who was considered odd who lived in the wealthier section of LA.  Dr. George Hodel.

This book has been in print since 2006, as of 2012 new developments have
confirmed that the now dead Dr. Hodel killed Elizabeth Short

 Since 2006, there have been new developments in this grisly crime.

Steve Hodel the author of the book pictured above asserts that her killer was his father, Dr. Hodel.  At a 2012 investigation of forensic evidence found in the cellar of his father's home in LA, 2 very brilliant 4 legged detectives were able to sniff out some clues to aid in Steve's assumptions.  They were 2 Labrador Retrievers, Dusty and Buster, respectively.  So, it is believed that her killer was so close, but yet so far. Steve remembered when his father left the country after Elizabeth Short was found dead. Many people who lived near the Hodel family at the time, suspect that Dr. Hodel was having an affair with Short. Nonetheless, I believe that the 2 dogs are right, after all these years, scent can still be discovered.

Reference

Image
Retrieved from
The LA Times

How Can White Collar Crime be Perpetrated?

By Lynn A. Granata

It does happen more than you think.  Politicians are notorious for it the most.  Bribery and extortion leading to sweet heart deals behind closed doors.

Recently in Providence, RI it has happen with a very powerful politician, whose name I will not disclose here. However, he was a former Speaker of the House, and today he sits in a federal penitentiary for the next 3 years serving time for taking bribes.  Financial audits a mile long were recovered from his office back in March 2014.

Many of you have probably heard of the 38 Studios Debacle, with former Red Sox player Kurt Schilling.  This originated back in 2010. Then former governor of Rhode Island Don Carcieri took him up on the offer, giving him a loan to start up a 38 Studios business in Providence.  Schilling, however, never paid back this loan and it has left Rhode Island taxpayers on the hook for over $1,000,000.  The Speaker of the House took him up as well.  He also opened up a bar called the Shark Bar and accepted bribes from it's then owners.

Soon others followed with taking bribes.  Only they weren't elected officials.  This past summer, a woman who owned a fetish bar was on the hook for over $250,000.  Funny thing about it, however, the former Speaker of the House was involved! She was told that in order to get a license, she had to pay $ xxx,xxx of dollars for the license to be granted, so she did.

As of this writing, the charges are still under review.

Financial Crimes:  Are They Victimless?

By Lynn A. Granata

There is an umbrella term which describes financial crimes. It mostly directs to one word, if not several, fraud, Forex trading crimes, embezzlement, etc.  Remembering Bernie Madorf about ten years or so ago, what he has done was create a Ponzi-scheme.  He was advertising a business like back in the old days, except rather than a chain letter, it was being advertised in the newspapers and the classified section.  It was a work at home scheme, whereby he was selling computer software pertaining to actually nothing.  Like a whisper and then pass it down to the next individual and then the next, until it leads to nowhere. 

I am not that familiar with what it exactly was he was selling and what kind of software, but, I'll do my best to verify as much credible facts as possible to find out.

There are a lot of Forex trading software information being sent everyday and at every millisecond to email accounts everyday. They end up in the spam folder.  You may or may not have gotten one but they come in all shapes and sizes and from impostors from every corner of the globe. This information is useless, because all it does is simply lead you to a page with a big credit card logo, that's right, to get you to buy something worth nothing. Bernie Madorf was doing just that.  His software would sell for hundreds of dollars, after you bought his software then you would receive instructions written and copied to a CD.  Giving you instructions to do the exact same thing and send hyperlinks to a bunch of people (victims) on a list.  Where was the list? Well it was on the CD that you bought from his little Forex trading scheme. They were HTML codes that you'd presumably get off of the software to cut and paste into a browser, so that they'd create a widget for a purchaser to send emails to a bunch of servers.

Madorf continued to do this until he was reported for not paying his taxes. He never reported anything to the government about this enterprise he was running.

He lost all the money he received, because, a Ponzi-scheme leads to a dead end. He advertised it, telling people how they could become millionaires overnight. Anybody who fell for it was out of hundreds of dollars with no way to recoup their money.

Those that did buy it found out soon enough that there's no way you can become a millionaire overnight. So they lost, and Madorf lost, because he literally went broke from his lack of earnings. He couldn't make anymore CD's he was not getting enough "chain" sales.

Today Madorf is sitting in a federal penitentiary reflecting on his life until the end of time.

Jamar Clark:  A Black Life that Mattered

By Lynn A. Granata

Last Sunday evening at a police precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota Jamar Clark was apprehended by the police over a domestic violence dispute.  Another one of those, was my first thought which came to mind.  Isn't it similar to last year's Ferguson incident?

However, Jamar wasn't merely apprehended, he was shot, plain and simple by a cop.  The precinct has since seen its fair share of tent pitched protesters littered all about the premises like an Occupy Movement style rant. 

Clark was handcuffed and on the ground, before police shot him above his left eye, which killed him. The police department's lawyer has stated that "Clark was not a decent and peaceful citizen because he had led a life of crime since he was a juvenile." The policeman responsible for the fatal injury denies any allegations of Jamar being handcuffed during the alleged scuffle. The cop's defense was that Jamar was resisting arrest and lurching for his gun while in its holster.

This incident is rather new, in that no information has been released as of yet as to how this began and then ended.  Witnesses have told another version, that they did see Clark handcuffed. But it could take a while before all of the pertinent facts are fully known.

But, for now, Clark's community has been holding candle light vigils near the precinct where he was murdered. Most people who knew him said that he was trying to change his life around and that he wanted to start a family of his own.  

Clark had lived a troubled life since birth, he was brought up in foster care since age 4. He got in trouble when he was a juvenile for a robbery and served 4 years in prison. Recently, Clark was living with his girlfriend until he got into an argument with her.  He didn't just peacefully walk away however, but he attempted to burn the house in which they were living in down. 

His girlfriend had a restraining order issued against him. This past summer he was working at a construction site and was doing quite well. Unfortunately, those who knew him well, such as his only sister, were distraught over what happened to him, because "they talked about him just like he was nothing more than a mere animal."

Sexual Predators Online

By Lynn A. Granata

Whenever we mention the term "sexual predator" a sense of panic creeps in.

Everything from sex trafficking to LGBT to Jack the Ripper skips into the mind of wary parents all over the world.

Beware:  Online sexual predators are everywhere! Don't be fooled by them.  The internet has made life a lot less cumbersome.  Because it can and does provide so many advantages to anybody who uses it on a regular basis.  For instance, I enjoy it for retail shopping outlets like e-bay, amazon, and Best Buy. Those services make my life easier.  Other people use the internet for school, work, hobbies, research, medical, and so much more. There are the few eccentric amongst us though, that will use the internet for stuff that goes far beyond what most decent people consider within the box. 

The online sexual predator, he or she is just that, on the lookout for prey. Thanks in part to the seedy online dating sites. I'll give you a few examples of some of those.  Asian girls looking for love, hot sexy latinas who want you.  The rest is infinite and you can use your own discretion with them. Some of them should be banned because they are spam sites which represent nothing more than pornography sites looking to grab your information so that they can try to steal your identity.

Sexual predators online looking for their next unsuspecting victim are dangerous.  Many young girls have been kidnapped, raped, and murdered from the wrong person they met online. Virtually, the only thing that can prevent them from doing anything is to keep them locked up and banned from using the internet. But, there's really no other way to do this until they get caught. You can prevent becoming the next victim by practicing a few simple steps.

Never arrange to meet strange people online.  If you do always make sure to meet in a public place, such as a restaurant or coffee shop.  And never go alone. If you have nobody to accompany you, then just meet in a public place and keep it brief until you are certain they can be trusted. 

Even at that, getting to know them gradually is your best bet.  

Jenny Likens

By Lynn A. Granata

After Gertrude Baniszewski was arrested on October 25, 1965, she was convicted of 1st degree murder and the torture slaying of Sylvia Likens.

 The person who really should be credited the most with bringing Sylvia's killers to justice, was her younger sister Jenny.

Jenny Likens, 15 at the time her sister Sylvia was killed by Gertrude and her children was deeply traumatized.  On October 25, 1965, after one of the culprits, Ricky Hobbs, called the police on a pay phone to report a dead girl; Jenny whispered to the policeman who was the first to arrive on the scene "get me out of here and I will tell you everything." He asked her what's going on here?  Sylvia was found dead upstairs on a filthy mattress on the squalid bed room floor.  Gertrude was ready to hand him a note that she made Sylvia write explaining what happened to her.  Sylvia wrote:

To Mr. and Mrs. Likens:

I went with a gang of boys in the middle of the night.  And they said that they would pay me I would give them something so I got in the car and they all got what they wanted . . . and when they got finished they beat me up and left sores on my face and all over my body.

And they also put on my stomach, I am a prostitute and proud of it.

I have done just about everything that I could do just to make Gertie mad and cause [sic] Gertie more money than she’s got.  I’ve tore up a new mattress and peaed [sic] on it.  I have also cost Gertie doctor bills that she really can’t pay and made Gertie a nervous wreck and all her kids . . .

A copy of the hand written letter was presented in court as an exhibit. It was one of many exhibits presented to prove Gertie's guilt.

Jenny had been the star witness of the case to Gertrude and her children, plus several other neighborhood children, who were involved in the torture in the basement. The other children were charged with injury to person.  Once they turned 18, their juvenile records were expunged.  

Jenny was emotional many if not the entire time she was on the witness stand. Nonetheless, what happened to her older sister, bothered her until she herself died in 2004. So many people have speculated that Jenny was just as culpable as all the others.  But, really, she wasn't.  

Instead, Jenny was scared of what this motley crew would have done to her if Sylvia hadn't have been scapegoated.  She was threatened by Gertrude that if she tried to help her sister, she too would join her in the basement. And other speculations said that because she was afflicted with polio since infancy, Jenny was not going to get the same abuse and torture as Sylvia anyway. No, not necessarily, because Jenny was whipped with a belt along with Sylvia when the measly $20 check didn't arrive on time.  Sylvia volunteered to take the extra abuse for Jenny.  

I will tell the story in small units.  Because it's such a long story. There will be more content about this case coming soon.

Reference

Pictures retrieved from:

Examiner.com

An American Crime:  A True Life Drama About An Indiana Drama Queen

By Lynn A. Granata

It doesn't happen very often of what seems to be a fictionalized film about a true crime story that grabs the attention of the public better than what An American Crime has done.

Ellen Page (left) as Sylvia and Katherine Keener (right) as Gertrude

Released in 2007 at the Cannes Film Festival, it stars Katherine Keener as the portrayal of the true life Indiana drama queen Gertrude Baniszewski. If you go back to my first blog, you will see who she was. There I discussed the story in brief detail, but left out a lot of details about the movie itself that I am about to talk about in this essay.

Ellen Page, a sweet Canadian actress plays Sylvia Likens.  The movie opens with a court room scene that made celebrity status. There it shows as many images of the beautiful Sylvia flash on the screen.  However, these images are not what you would expect to see. Instead, you will see a tortured and mutilated young body with written and branded words on the abdomen, and various photos of her badly bruised and cigarette burned arms and legs.  In this movie, they only show her legs. Sylvia's father, Lester Likens is the first to be called as a witness to be cross-examined by the district attorney.

As the trial convenes, the movie illustrates the flash backs as each witness describes it. 

It is July, 1965.  Sylvia Likens and her sister Jenny Faye Likens are together at a carnival ground, as they happily traipse around the place, waving and smiling at the different people they encounter.  Sylvia and Jenny get to the Merry-go-Round and the movie then pans over to a street scene with a church in the background. Sylvia and Jenny wait outside as their parents arrive.  

Thinking that her mom and dad are coming inside to worship with them, Sylvia finds out that their plans change.  Dad and mom decide to go back to the carnival thinking that it may reconcile their straying marriage. Sylvia is told to take the church bus home with her sister, because mom has "to work some things out with their father." I also want to make note that this film has a nice soundtrack which features many great 1960's classic tunes.  In real life, Sylvia and Jenny were avid Beatles fans. 

While they are in church, the girls listen attentively to the pastor give his sermon.  The congregation gets briefly distracted by an infant crying and fussing in his mother's arms. The mother is none other than Gertrude Baniszewski. Gertrude walks out of the church to calm the baby down.  When the service is over, the girls board the old school bus sans church bus, once seated another congregant walks by Gertrude complimenting her on her ironing business which she ran out of her home to help support her 7 children living with her at the time. 

Once seated toward the back part of the bus, a small golden haired girl turns around to ask Jenny what happened to her leg.  Jenny answers her back, saying she has polio, since she wore a brace on her left leg. The hit song "Downtown" plays as the girls approach the Baniszewski house with their two new friends.

Since this is quite a lengthy story, I am going to briefly sum it up, but I am going to only include the facts that I find are most important to get to the heart of this compelling and heartbreaking story. 

Both girls meet the Baniszewski children, and then hang around with them throughout the summer, as they begin attending high school with the 2 older sisters, Stephanie and Paula. Paula gets pregnant by an older married man, then confides to Sylvia to keep it a secret.  Sylvia agrees and a pact is formed. 

On a weekend night, Sylvia goes out with Paula and Stephanie and their buddies. Paula sees her boyfriend, Bradley then goes over to him to talk.  Sylvia follows shortly thereafter. Paula and Bradley fight. Sylvia sees this as Brad begins to get physical with Paula as she screams in terror.  Sylvia approaches them, ordering Bradley to lay off of Paula. Sylvia innocently blurts out "she's pregnant." Paula then pushes Sylvia hard, slapping her on the hands, as she admonishes "You're going to pay for that."

Movie poster for An American Crime

Paula runs home to her mother and fabricates a good story to her about how "Sylvia told everybody that she's a slut."

Paula had numerous bouts with the law after she was
convicted as an accomplice in Sylvia's murder. Here
she is pictured in 1971 after she was captured because
she escaped from prison.

Battle lines are drawn between Sylvia, Gertrude, and her children. From then on Sylvia is beaten, ordered to insert coke bottles into herself, burned with cigarettes, thrown into the basement, starved, insulted, called a prostitute, and branded with the letters phrasing "I'm a prostitute and proud of it" into her abdomen. The true story was much worse than what the movie displays. In all likelihood, only because such horrific content would be too much to take for movie going audiences.  It turns out that An American Crime was banned from the theaters and instead featured on the USA cable channel network. Gertrude was the ring leader behind most if not all of the physical suffering she inflicted upon Sylvia Marie Likens. 

Gertrude was sentenced to 20 years-to life in prison without parole in 1966, after her trial ended.  Gertrude's case was evaluated every few years at the parole hearings.  Eventually, Gertrude's sentence was reduced to the 20 years times served.  She was paroled because of a special loophole in Indiana law to have time shaved off her original sentence because of good behavior as a model prisoner. Gertrude moves to Iowa, and changes her married name back to her maiden name, Van Fossen. Gertrude has stage 4 lung cancer from years of heavy and excessive smoking. She died in 1990.

Gertrude leaving the Indiana Women's
Penitentiary in December, 1985.

Michelle Blair:  The Remorseless Baby Mama Killer

By Lynn A. Granata

"I don't regret none of this," Michelle Blair, 36, cried in court. (The Associated Press, 2015). "I don't feel no remorse for the death of those demons."

Who is this woman?  She is a baby mama from Detroit, Michigan who killed her son and daughter then placed their bodies horizontally together in a storage freezer. Stephen Berry, aged 9 and Stoni Blair, aged 13 were found dead by the police while they were at the apartment for an unrelated report. The police were there back in March 2015 to serve eviction papers to Blair because she was delinquent with her rent payments. Each child passed away, it was determined by the state coroner months apart in 2012 and 2013.

Michelle Blair in a Detroit Court Room.

Blair described intentionally killing Stoni by punching her repeatedly, putting a bag on her head until she became unconscious, scalding her with hot water and hitting her on the head. (The Detroit Free Press, 2015).

"If I had a chance to do it again, I would," Blair said.  (The Free Press, 2015). Mental health professionals tested her ability to stand trial and found her to be competent. 

Stephen's death was accidental Blair said, although she admitted making him drink window cleaner, burning his genitals with hot water, choking him with a belt and placing a grocery bag over his head. (TV station KJBK  2015).

Both children didn't share the same father.  Stoni was a half sister to Stephen Berry.

A video of the Detroit Superior Court Room shows angry outbursts of Blair hollering obscenities and making violent gestures at her estranged husband when he came into the conference area and sat down near her.  Blair was so combative that court room bailiffs had to remove her a couple of times to the back room until she calmed down.

Blair at hearing

On Monday, Blair said that Stoni and Stephen had sexually abused a younger sibling.  (NBC News, 2015).

Thank God Michigan doesn't have the death penalty, Blair claims she would have accepted it even though in pleading guilty to first-degree murder, torture and child abuse. The crime carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on July 17, 2015.

      Reference

      Retrieved from

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/29/mitchelle-blair-pleads-guilty_n_7691812.html

The Barefoot Bandit:

May Make the Guinness Book of World Records?

By Lynn A. Granata

He grew up in a remote island off the coast of Puget Sound, WA.  With no family, he lived in a group home for orphaned children until he turned 18. Then he escaped from the harsh group home. There was a chance he may be autistic, but more than likely an idiot savant. By the way, this really is a true story and in no way is it the stuff that you'd hear about only in Hollywood.  This is a true life Rain Man like no other. 

His name is Colton Harris Moore.

"The Barefoot Bandit" AKA Colton Harris Moore.

    This poor soul is a sympathetic character.  He actually wasn't a mere orphan, but a child who was severely abused and neglected by his mother, father, and stepfather.  Camino Island is where he lived and fled from.

        What is so relentless about him, is that he lived on the run for two years before he was captured. His genius proved otherwise. He stole aircraft from places such as Indiana and the Pacific Northwest Area, without an iota of piloting training or experience! Colton would travel on foot wearing no footwear in the most difficult of terrain. 

     Amazing, to say the least. He did what he could to survive, except he unfortunately, wasn't swift enough to hide somewhere where he would be unlikely to be found. He was a survivalist in that he managed to live like a wolf in the forest. 

      He also stole cars and trucks, then fled to the Bahamas. He lived on the proceeds of his stolen property.  This guy targeted millionaires and took expensive goods. Breaking into the homes of wealthy individuals up and down the West Coast then eventually travelling to Canada and the Bahamian Islands. He was caught and captured in the Bahamas in April, 2010, extradited then sent back to the States for arraignment and prosecution.

True Detective Magazines

By Lynn A. Granata

       For many years, the true detective magazines were loaded with the most appalling content that you could ever imagine.  

           They are true stories, written by true law enforcement commentators who were at the scene of the grisly crimes they had to encounter.

        Some of the stuff will make your hair stand.  A lot of serial killers were featured in them.  One of the most notorious of a serial killer was none other than John Wayne Gacy.

Although I don't really know much about Gacy's background, in the magazine, there is a lot information about his grisly acts of violence.  Gacy was born in Michigan, had a tough life growing up. His father called him degrading names such as "sissy"and then made him dress like a girl.

         He grew up and then became a sexual predator.  The only problem is with that though, he targeted young people of the same gender.

       He dressed as a clown and lured young boys into his home.  Then sexually assaulted them, killed them, and then disposed of their remains under his cement basement floor.  It is believed that he killed over 30 boys this way. I think most of these crimes occurred between 1976-79.

          Not all that were missing were found, their remains still remain unaccounted for right to this day. Gacy was probably tried and convicted in a non capital punishment state. 

   Did he ever get the death penalty? I don't remember whether he did or not.  Either way, one thing's for certain, he is locked up somewhere where he may never see the light of day ever again.

The Shaw Shank Redemption

Fictitious Yet Touching

By Lynn A. Granata

It was a poignant subject matter depicted in the film the Shaw Shank Redemption.  The movie is well, let's not spoil it, about a non-existent prison in America.  However, there's a catch which I am going to slowly reveal to you, by not giving you the significance of what it is about.  Instead, I will list the facts in order of the story, as though it were true. Then leave the punchline for the conclusion.

The Shaw Shank Prison is located in rural Maine. Andy Dufresne is the story's protagonist.  It is 1947 Portland, Maine. Andy, a banker was wrongly accused and convicted for a crime he didn't commit.  He was sentenced to two concurrent life terms at the Shaw Shank Penitentiary. Andy was convicted of the murders of his wife and her lover. While he was incarcerated he met a friend called Ellis Redding. Ellis was also serving a life sentence for smuggling contraband.

Andy receives a rock hammer and a poster of the 1940's actress Rita Hayworth from his rock smuggling friend Redding.  In his prison cell, Andy starts picking a hole behind his prison cot with the poster cleverly concealing it. As time goes on, Andy earns small rewards for his good behavior. He gets a job in the prison laundromat.  Unfortunately, Andy's job there is short lived because Andy got assaulted and beaten by the ring leader of the Sister's Gang, Bogs.

The prison warden, Byron Hadley, then beats up Bogs in retaliation for mistreating Andy.  Andy becomes a favorite of the prison warden, Hadley. Because of his expertise in banking law the warden found Andy valuable. Andy gave free financial and legal advice to Hadley all of the time.  

Then Andy got promoted to work in the prison library.  Andy meets another warden, Samuel and becomes friends with an elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen. In 1954 Andy begins a writing campaign to the state government in hopes of procuring funding to fix up the deteriorating floors and ceilings in the prison library. 

Brooks Hatlen was released on parole after being incarcerated for 50 years.  Hatlen didn't adapt to life on the outside and committed suicide by hanging himself. 

The Marriage of Figaro was donated to the prison library. As time progressed another inmate joined the pack of prison buddies, Tommy Williams.  By this time we are up to 1965. Williams reveals the truth, that another prisoner where he was transferred from confessed that he killed Andy's wife and lover. 

So, Andy's small hole became a wide enough smoothed edged tunnel after 17 long years of constructing it.  Roll call time rolls around and Andy's absence is noticed. Guards rush into his cell and find the tunnel covered over by the old poster.  Andy freed himself and never was found.  He fled to a remote southern peninsula in Mexico. While in prison, Redding and Andy become like brothers. 

Once Redding was paroled in 1967, he went to the secret place where two years earlier, Andy left a package under an oak tree at a deserted field in Maine for Ellis to find after his upcoming release from the prison.  Redding got the note and money giving him information about how he could get in touch with Andy. Andy and Redding meet up in southern Mexico and the rest is well-history.

Conclusion

The truth is stranger than fiction. This was a smash hit box office film released in 1994. Today, it is available on DVD plus other forms of media. It made me cry when I watched it. 

"The true meaning of the story is that when put into a hopeless position in life, never lose hope. Work through things and fight, never lose self-worth."

Ted Bundy, The Chameleon of A Brilliant Disguise

By Lynn A. Granata

Not very much is known about him.  Until he first got caught in Utah, 1975. There several young female co-eds reported missing were being found dead in nearby surrounding areas.  It is a fact that Bundy killed 30 victims. Let's explore his life story; it has a long history of malfunction.

Ted Bundy in 1979 acting as his own attorney

Theodore Robert Cowell was born in 1946.  His mother, Louise, gave birth to him in a home for unwed mothers. He was born in Burlington, Vermont.  His father's identity was unknown. Though those that were close to his family speculated he was quite possibly illegitimate. Meaning his mother may have had more than 1 partner at the time she got pregnant with him.  Later on it was a rather humiliating experience for him to discover that right on his birth record, it literally stated under father the word "bastard."  Bundy was brought up by his mother's parents.  

You can see the similarities between both his background and that of Aileen Wuornos. And like Wuornos, his grandfather, Samuel Cowell was as mean as Aileen's. He was abusive to the members of the household, and was racist.  Later on when Ted was around 4 years old, his mother remarried a man named Johnny Bundy. He formally adopted Ted as his own son and changed his surname from Cowell to Bundy.  His new family moved to Tacoma WA.  As Ted grew up, he began taking an interest in devious activities. Such as running through trash cans in search of pictures of nude women.  Other times he would go canvassing the neighborhood in search of uncovered windows to look for undressing women and whatever else he could see. His criminal career began at age 18. He was arrested twice on a suspicion of a burglary charge, then on an auto theft charge.

A 1965 high school picture of Ted Bundy

He murdered so many female victims, that their names are too numerous to mention in this article. So I will sum it up with only the most pertinent facts of his life, focusing primarily on what happened after his arrests and prosecution took place.

Most of his victims were young adult females between 18-22.  They were attending college in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  He was arrested in Utah in 1975, and was driving a 1968 Volks- wagon Beetle at the time of his capture. He was known as one of America's most vicious of serial rapists and killers.

The 1968 Volkswagon that was confiscated at the time of Bundy's arrest.

He committed rape and murder in many states, mostly he would target Florida, California, Colorado, Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.  He was implicated and tried in all of those states as his turn in the courts progressed from 1976-1989. Bundy made many prison escape attempts with tools that he himself crafted.  He particularly had a knife fascination. 

Bundy mugshot (unknown date).

Bundy confessed to most if not all of his brutal crimes while he was incarcerated in different prisons in any one of the states where he had committed a murder. He told prison visitors that he enjoyed the thrill of living on the run, and dressing up like a handicapped person in order to lure women into his car, by pretending to have a broken arm, wearing a cast, so that they would offer to carry his groceries for him. Once he baited them he would hit them over the head, knocking them unconscious then drive off to some deserted area and complete his capture. He also became a jailhouse lawyer while he was in prison, and researched cases voraciously while preparing for trial. He had very clever traits, and it took a long time to solve the crimes of Bundy. He wiped fingerprints and tampered with other evidence. The FBI profiling unit described him as a sociopath.  Bundy himself admitted he was deranged, had multiple personality disorder, and was uncontrollable.

He was sentenced in 1986 to die by electric chair in a Florida state penitentiary. After his appeals were all exhausted, his scheduled execution took place in January 1989.

Reference

Retrieved from:

http://wikipedia.com/tedbundy

Judge Kocurek:  Why Would Anybody Want to Harm Her?

By Lynn A. Granata

The Honorable Judge Julie Kocurek was appointed by then Texas Governor George W. Bush in 1999, to the 390th Criminal District Court of Travis County, Texas.

The Honorable Julie Kocurek

Update:  As of November 10, 2015, a suspect is in custody and being questioned about his involvement.  The suspect it is believed was scheduled for a hearing this week, to make a determination whether he should be sent back to prison for a fraud charge.

Julie Kocurek wasn't shot, but she suffered injuries from flying glass from her car and shrapnel and is expected to make a full recovery.

Last night around 10:15 pm in the evening she was returning home accompanied by a couple of friends.  She was in her driveway when her neighbor heard what sounded like 4 popping sounds. Julie was shot, and luckily she wasn't badly injured.  Police are investigating the circumstances which may or may not have lead up to these events.  In recent years, it's been said that she became outspoken on sensitive issues as a superior court justice.  She oversaw the rights of indigent defendants who couldn't afford a lawyer.  Because Texas' Department of Criminal Defense had a lack of good attorneys to represent a defendant who was unable to afford a lawyer. She was appointed as a Republican who then switched over to a Democrat around 6 or 7 years ago. No suspects were captured, but the Texas Police won't stop at nothing until there is an arrest.  There is a massive manhunt taking place presently. Whatever happened is quite serious, may our prayers for Judge Kocurek be for a speedy recovery and the timely capture and arrest of the sicko who would dare to do this cowardly act.


Reference

Retrieved from;
https://www.traviscountytx.gov/courts/criminal/district/390

Children Will Not Become Criminals When They Get Older Providing They are Loved and Cared For in Their Impressionable Years

By Lynn A. Granata

There's really no magic formula for raising kids to be good. It's difficult to really know whether nature plays a role or if nurture does. Culture can play a role.  Black and Asian cultures are different from say white christian and Jewish cultures. The funny thing is that prison populations are enormously overpopulated with black and Latino cultures. There are so many reasons why, demographics plays a role, as does socioeconomic level, single parent families, and who they associate with in school and where they live.  Another point to mention is do they gravitate to drug ring gangs or do they get beaten up or bullied inside of school?

Children who are raised in abusive homes are at the highest risk of turning to criminal behavior by the time they reach their teens. Children who are neglected do as well.  The two variables are intertwined. A young teen aged girl may turn to stealing or shop lifting if she sees that all her friends are wearing the hottest new sneakers and jeans, expensive clothing, and even new cars. 

 But, she doesn't because her parents are poor for being middle aged. Except they fight and argue all of the time over how the rent is going to get paid first, then how the food is going be bought. These children are hapless victims, they didn't ask to be here. 

She ends up attending school in dirty clothes and has to beg from her friends to get her lunch money.  Eventually then she ends up dropping out of high school. In hopes to find some new low end job, like working in a fast food place.  She tries it and doesn't like it. She feels degraded and wants what her friends have. She sees that they don't have to work hard to buy those things, because their parents are better providers than hers.

Here's where the tragedy begins. Both parents were high school dropouts and thus unable to obtain good well-paying jobs and careers. They wind up working for minimum wage. They lose their minimum wage job, and wind up struggling, they can't take care of themselves, let alone a dependent child. So she turns to crime to get the things she wants, or thinks that she should have, in order to catch up with her friends. Prostitution is where she starts, then shop lifting. Eventually she winds up addicted to street drugs to quell the pain and stress of being a sex worker. 

She has her male "agent" who takes her money and essentially uses it mostly on himself; he is buying big fancy clothes and a car. One day she takes an awful beating from her "agent" and so she picks up a cast iron pan and smashes it over his head, and kills him instantly.  She is arrested and charged with 1st degree murder.  But she is hoping for a plea bargain to get it reduced to 2nd degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.

So, that pretty much wraps up her downward spiral into a perpetual life of crime.

Note: This story is not based on the life of any particular person living or not living, it is totally fictional.  Any similarity of any person living or not living is purely coincidental.

Who thought Up Positivist Criminology?

By Lynn A. Granata

In The 18th Century, the theories of criminology were based on the rationale of human behavior.  Beccaria was the first individual to postulate this theory in history.  What does this mean? You may ask.  Beccaria was an Italian criminologist who wrote theses on his findings.  However, it is unknown where he experimented hands on to derive such theories.  It is speculated that he visited the then lunatic asylums that sprung up all across Central Europe at the time.  Furthermore, Beccaria felt that it was truly a personal choice for an individual to break the law. Rational choices were to obey the law, back then is all that was known about the why, what, where, and how crime occurs.  Thus irrationality was the one and only reason to explain the motive behind criminal behavior. In the 19th Century, history turned the page in believing in free will and rationality alone.  The 19th century sought to find out that there was more to it than just not following the rules.  Science became the new discovery at this time.  The developed world was becoming advanced with the induction of factories, technology, and mass consumption. So the focus of control shifted from individual inner (psychic) forces to the social forces on what causes crime in general.

A new Italian philosopher came along and discredited Beccaria.  He is Cesare Lombroso. I was wanted to make a note, Beccaria was a classical criminologist.  Lombroso was the actual founder of positivist criminology. Lombroso began by applying biological methods and tools to the social issues to examine the causes of crime through natural scientific methods. The positivist believes in objectivity while coming to conclusions through analyzing data.  In other words, the scene of a crime itself, for example the discovery of a human corpse in a wooded area would require police and detectives to go by environmental variables as well as internal ones. One good understanding of this concept is how insects, such as fly larvae or maggots can help solve a crime. There are so many others, the ocean tides, the look of sand and dirt near the body, can tell a lot about the time and circumstances when the murder occurred.

Getting back to Lombroso, if not for him, there would be no such thing as DNA discovery and the study of forensic science. Today, these techniques are useful, thank God in formulating and gathering evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt who is/was responsible for a murder in a court of law. In the past, too many innocent individuals were accused of a crime and sent to the gallows or a life time of suffering in prison.

 But, today, there are too many situations and a lot of shades of gray.

Lombroso also theorized that criminals were born defectives. His opinion consisted of the physical appearance of a person convicted of a crime, such as the shape of their heads, large prominent nose, small ears, more facial hair than usual, etc. This is called atavism, it means a throwback to primitive features and functions. Atavistic individuals were considered born criminals, judging by their facial and other bodily traits, an ape-like appearance, instead of standing upright, these individuals walked slumped over like a primate. Later, however, Lombroso's theory was discredited. Because not all convicted criminals exhibit primitive traits like a monkey. Ted Bundy, for instance looked quite normal and distinguished.  He was in fact an aspiring young lawyer to be until he got into a boat load of trouble. 

I will conclude that a long time ago, if certain people exhibited strange behavior it wasn't abnormal to look for an explanation as to why they did.  If not for these older but absurd views, we would still be holding innocent people culpable for something they didn't do. We indeed have come a long way, baby!

Reference

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Criminal Investigation (Guy Antonozzi, 2003).