Criminal Justice Quote: Three Wrongful Convictions cost NYC $17 Million

New York City will pay $17 million to settle three wrongful criminal convictions…The settlements involve cases handled by retired homicide detective Louis Scarcella. Scarcella's tactics have come under scrutiny and are being reviewed by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. He has denied any wrongdoing. The cases involved three half brothers; one died in prison. Robert Hill, Alvena Jennette and Darryl Austin spent a combined 60 years in prison before their convictions were vacated by a judge in May 2014.

"NYC Is Paying $17 M to Settle 3 Wrongful Cases," Associated Press, January 12, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: America's Most Corrupt States

     A study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University estimates that corruption on the state level is costing citizens in the ten most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per year, or 5.2 percent of those states' average expenditures per year.

     The researchers studied more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008 as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index that estimates the most and least corrupt states in the country. Based on this method, the most corrupt states were:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Tennessee
4. Illinois
5. Pennsylvania
6. Alabama
7. Alaska
8. South Dakota
9. Kentucky
10. Florida

"The 10 Most Corrupt States in the U.S.," fortune.com, June 10, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Don't Mess With Joquasha

     Angered that a fellow pupil passed gas in her general direction, a New York City high school student allegedly clobbered the male victim in the head with a metal stool and repeatedly punched him in the face…Police arrested Joquasha Rosado, 17, on January 7, 2015 on charges of felony assault, weapons possession and harassment. The attack took place at the South Richmond High School on Staten Island.

     The assault of the 15-year-old boy left him with a gash that required eight staples…After hitting the victim with the stool, Rosado punched him ten to fifteen times with her fists.

"Female High School Student Beats Male For Passing Gas," truecrimetoday.blogspot.com, January 13, 2015 

Writing Quote: The First Novel's Inspiration

Your first novel will grow like a lotus out of something you know and love: a person, a place, an event, a time in your life, an activity, or a book you'd like to emulate.

Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick, The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery, 1998

Writing Quote: Fiction Woven Into a Piece of New Journalism

On the one hand, the New Journalists preach a doctrine of truth shaped like fiction; on the other, they frequently seem to acknowledge that the truth is being mixed, from time to time, with fiction.

Robert Fulford, The Triumph of Narrative, 2000

Rape Underreported in Detroit

     Detroit police on Tuesday January 6, 2015 reported there had been 322 sexual assaults in the city last year, but the actual number was more than five times that: 1,845 reports according to the
Detroit News. Behind the vastly different numbers are two factors: Detroit police, like most departments, release statistics to the public using the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting method that doesn't count all sexual assaults. Also, the city uses old CRISNET reporting software which doesn't automatically update changes in investigations.

     "There's nothing nefarious going on," Police Chief James Craig said. "Nobody's scrubbing anything; this is just the way crimes are reported industrywide." The reporting method gives people a false impression about the scope of sexual assaults, said Jennifer Jones, director of the Sexual Assault Advocacy Center in Colorado, who added that rapes already are underreported. "Even if a victim does call the police, they're sometimes talked out of making a report," Jones said. "Between that and the way sexual assaults are reported, a lot of statistics get left out."

"Detroit Reports 322 Sexual Assaults Last Year; Actual Number 5 Times Higher," thecrimereport.org, January 8, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: A Rare Mass Murder in Edmonton, Canada

     On Monday night December 29, 2014, a man in Edmonton, Canada shot and killed six adults and two children then took his own life. The gunman, who had a criminal record dating back to 1987, used a stolen 9mm pistol…The six adults, between the ages 25 and 50, and two children under the age of ten were found in two separate residences that Monday night…The man linked to the shootings killed himself in a restaurant in the nearby city of Fort Saskatchewan the next morning…

     Officers had gone to one of the homes twice: once in November 2012 and again in 2014 when a man residing there was accused of domestic violence and sexual assaults...

     There hasn't been a mass killing of this scale in Edmonton, a city of 878,000 in the western part of the country, since 1956…

"Edmonton Murders Linked to Domestic Violence," CBC News,  December 31, 2014

Criminal Justice Report: Bonnie Without Clyde in Sacramento, California

     A woman wanted in a North Sacramento, California robbery was taken into custody after she led officers on a chase through the center of the city…Police identified the woman as Laroia Davis, 38. The pursuit started Wednesday evening January 7, 2015 when officers responded to a call of robbery at a Rite-Aid pharmacy…Davis and another woman, stealing merchandise in the store, assaulted a security officer. As police officers were investigating they spotted the Ford Explorer sought in connect with the robbery and tried to pull over Davis who refused to stop…

     Davis led officers from North Sacramento to the downtown section... At some point during the chase, officers put down spike strips which blew out the tires of the her vehicle. She continued driving on the SUV's rims, crashing into three patrol cars…

     When approached by police officers, Davis refused to get out of her vehicle. Finally, after twenty minutes, she climbed out of the Ford and was taken into custody…The other suspect had fled on foot before the police chase.

"Woman Arrested After Sacramento Police Chase," kcra.com, January 8, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: False Rape Claim Leads To Murder

     On January 5, 2015, a man was beaten to death by the boyfriend of a woman who falsely claimed he raped her in a Fairbanks, Alaska motel room…The woman, 31-year-old Dominique Vasquez, reportedly did not want to admit to her boyfriend, 39-year-old Abraham Stine, that she had cheated on him so she lied about the rape…She also knew that Stine had a history of violence when she told him that 37-year-old Wesley Lord--who was Stine's cousin--raped her at the Extended Stay Motel…

     Stine showed up at the motel, peeked in the window and came to the conclusion that Vasquez was cheating on him…He entered the motel room through a window and began punching and beating Mr. Lord…The Alaska Bureau of Investigation determined that the victim had died from blunt-force trauma to the head…

     Both Stine and Vasquez face second-degree murder charges…

"False Rape Claim Leads to Alaska Man's Beating Death," The Daily Caller, January 8, 2015 

Father Throws His 5-Year-Old Daughter Off Bridge

      A 5-year-old girl died after being thrown from a bridge into Tampa Bay. Her father, 25-year-old John Jonchuck from St. Petersburg, Florida, is in custody. The crime took place just after midnight on January 8, 2015 on the Dick Misener Bridge.

     A St. Petersburg police officer was heading home toward the bridge when a Chrysler PT Cruiser passed him going 100 miles per hour. The driver stopped his car at the top of the bridge, got out with the girl and threw her over the rail into the water 62 feet below. Jonchuck got back into his vehicle and drove south thirty miles before Manatee County deputies stopped him…

     Jonchuck, who did not cooperate with the police, had been arrested in 2013 on battery domestic violence charges in Hillsborough County. Following his conviction the judge placed him on probation. [Jonchuck was in a custody battle with his wife over the girl who lived with him.]

"Father in Custody After 5-Year-Old Girl Thrown to Death From Bridge," Fox News, January 8, 2015