Murdered for her bike.

This week, I'm sure you all heard of the Autumn Pasquale Murder. A boy, Justin Robinson, invited Autumn to his house to see her bike. The boy and his older brother then stole the bike and killed her. While the Police were still trying to identify the killer, Justin had a passing interest in the case. He attended a candle light vigil, liked a facebook page dedicated to Autumn and wrote on Autumn's older brother's timeline. After investigating the police identified Justin and his older brother as the killers.  I found it interesting that Justin went to the candle vigil and was so involved in the case on facebook. Facebook is what led the police to identify Justin and hi brother of the murder.  Days before Autumn disappeared Justin was talking to her on facebook asking to see her bike. I don't understand why someone would kill someone over a bike. But i do see that he was involved in the case after the murder, whether it was to try and show interest or whether he felt remorse. What do you think????

Deviant Behavior: Willingly Being Whipped

One of the deviant behaviors that I watched, that really stood out to me, was the whipping of women in Ethiopia.  These women would willingly be whipped by the stickman, in order for their cousin or brother to become a man. The women would taught the stickman and encourage him to whip them.  Which may seem unusual to us, because in our culture being whipped or hurt by a man, would usually put that man in jail and have him accused of a crime.  The scars from this whipping can be to the Ethiopian women as both a reminder of strength and is something to show pride in which is a positive sanction, or it can be a reminder of their brother’s failure and is something that brings shame which is a negative sanction.  The more scars the women have, shows the more strength and is a symbol of beauty.  This is very different from our culture and what is socially acceptable.  Here in the US if a woman has scars, she may try to hide them or fix them with plastic surgery, because it isn’t acceptable.  Having an even skin tone and perfect skin is what is socially acceptable here in the US.  So these women in Ethiopia, willingly be whipped and have these permanent scars to us maybe taboo, but in their culture it is what makes them beautiful and shows their strength. Because of ethnocentrism, watching this, to me, was worse than watching the other two deviant behaviors, because in the US those behaviors are things we may see when we walk through the mall or are at a baseball game, but being whipped, I see as a punishment, not something you do willingly and would give you strength and pride. 

Can't Find Killer

Michael Jones

I found an article today on NJ.com that shocked me. Michael Jones, youth coach of the New York Red Bulls was brutally slashed to death on October 7th and later died that day in the hospital. Before the police could identify the suspected Killer, he fled the country and went to his hometown in Mexico. Police tracked down the flight and went to Mexico to search for him, but they didn't have any luck. Supposedly he left a note in his apartment to his family, apologizing for the slaying. After hearing this I was grossed out by the fact that he was able to admit that he killed someone to his family, yet he fled from his actions. I understand the circumstances that he is in, but in a situation like this, you can't run away from it. Because in the end, they are going to find him and he is going to be accused of not only man slaughter, but also fleeing.

Violent Crime Rates

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the violent crime rate in the U.S. decreased in 2011. Murder went down -1.9 % overall and rape, robbery and aggregated assault fell -4.0 % since 2010. But they also said that their was an increase in murder in the Midwest (6 %) and in cities with a population less than 10,000 (18.0 %). Reading this was actually surprising, because I feel that we here a lot about violent crimes on the news on the web and on TV. I'm glad that the crime rate seems to be decreasing, but I'm wondering why murders increased in cities in the Midwest and in cities with a population less than 10,000.

Click here for the link to the article

 After reading this article...

Is this a good thing or bad thing?? and Why do you think that although the crime rate is decreasing overall, that their is an increase in murder in the Midwest??

Missing or Running Away???

 In New Jersey on Sunday, as most of you had probably heard about, 16 year-old Kara Alongi, Tweeted for someone to call 9-11, because she thought there was someone in her. Someone did and when the police got there the door was open and her cell phone was on the floor. At first everyone thought that someone had came into the house and kidnapped her. But, on Tuesday she called the police and they found her at a service area on the Turnpike.

                

Here take a look at the article I read.



http://www.northjersey.com/news/Missing_NJ_teen_who_sent_fake_tweet_found_safe_.html

After reading this article and a couple others, it angered me that she would pretend that she was kidnapped and that they still haven't figured out what she was doing for the two days she was missing. And although this turned out not to be a violent crime, I still wanted to post about this.How do you feel about this case???