Although testing for characteristics could identify people who are likely to commit sex crimes and other violent offenses, the test does guarantee that individuals who test positively will become criminals. Moreover, it can be difficult to properly identify sociopathic characteristics in children. Finally, some researchers also argue that because there is currently no cure, there is no point in labeling children.
One scientist argues that testing is necessary, and he has several reasons.
]]> Researchers have linked unemotional behaviors with low levels of cortisol and below-normal function in the amygdala, which is the portion of the brain that processes fear and other aversive social emotions.The desire to avoid unpleasant feelings is dictated by that portion of the brain, and it's part of what makes punishing children effective. Typically, when children are scolded, they feel ashamed and are afraid of their parents. However, in children with sociopathic characteristics, there is no feeling of shame or fear. Because there is no negative emotional response, the children do not develop any reason to avoid the negative behavior that led to the punishment.
One scientist argues that children who exhibit sociopathic characteristics need to be given intensive intervention. He says, "There's a stigma that psychopaths are the hardest of the hardened criminals. My fear is that if we call these kids 'prepsychopathic,' people are going to draw that inference: that this is a quality that can't be changed, that it's immutable. I don't believe that. Physiology isn't destiny."
Source: The New York Times, "Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?" Jennifer Kahn, May 11, 2012
]]>That's the question many psychiatrists, scientists and parents are asking. The question pertains specifically to identifying sociopathic and psychopathic (used synonymously) traits in children.
But here's the catch: There is currently no way to cure sociopaths. So if they cannot be cured and there is no guarantee that they will be offenders, should they be identified?
]]> Some psychologists argue that young children and teenagers cannot accurately be diagnosed as psychopaths or sociopaths because their brains are still developing. In addition, some behaviors that are most prominent in sociopaths -- such as selfishness and impulsiveness -- are normal in children and teens. As a result, it can be difficult to discern what is normal behavior and what is representative of psychopathy.Others object to testing and identifying sociopathic traits in children and teens for another reason. Because sociopathy is typically considered untreatable, scientists and parents fear that the social cost of branding a young child is too high. One scientist noted, "This isn't like autism, where the child and parents will find support. Even if it's accurate, it's a ruinous diagnosis. No one is going to be sympathetic to the mother of a psychopath."
Read more in our upcoming posts to learn more about the debate in identifying psychopathic traits in children, and whether identifying them could help reduce the number of sex offenses.
Source: The New York Times, "Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?" Jennifer Kahn, May 11, 2012
]]>Now, a fifth woman is coming forward with sex crime accusations. The woman was identified in the criminal complaint as "Jane Doe-5," though we'll just refer to her as Jane.
]]> Jane was out drinking with her boyfriend when he got a in a bar fight and had his jaw broken. A police officer arrived at the scene, and he later met Jane at court on the day she was supposed to testify against the man who broke her boyfriend's jaw. Jane told the officer that was afraid to testify because she was drunk the night of the bar fight and told the officer she didn't remember much of the evening.The officer told her that if she didn't testify she could be charged with perjury and might lose her nursing license. The police officer also allegedly added that the district attorney owed him a favor, so she might not need to testify. He said that they should meet to discuss the situation more.
Jane claims that the officer told her to meet him at his house. The officer's criminal defense attorney described Jane's story as "extremely bizarre and strange." He noted that in the other allegation against the officer, the police officer went to the women's houses, as opposed to asking them to come to his house.
Jane said that once she arrived at the officer's home, he took the battery out of her cellphone and instructed her to write everything on paper instead of talking. She claims that he made her get naked and "perform a few favors."
After the alleged incident, Jane waited more than a year before she reported the incident. At that point, she only did so after another Pittsburgh police officer encouraged her to do so. At that point the first round of charges against the officer had already been filed.
It's unclear why Jane revealed her story to another officer and whether she would have filed a complaint if others hadn't already done so.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Fifth woman accuses ex-officer," Liz Navratil, May 5, 2012
]]>Sadly, there are also people in Pennsylvania who seem to jump on the bandwagon when individuals are facing criminal charges. After the scandal at Penn State was brought to light, there was a plethora of similar charges against other coaches throughout the country. Although some had credence, other claims were given publicity and later proven to be false.
It's difficult to know if that is what's happening with the sex charges against a Pittsburgh police officer who was recently fired.
]]> Earlier this spring, a 34-year-old patrol officer for Allentown was fired after four women told detectives that the officer offered to give them legal help in exchange for sexual acts. Now, a fifth woman came out of the woodwork and is accusing the officer of forcing her to perform sex acts.The woman was identified as "Jane Doe-5" in the criminal complaint; we'll refer to her as Jane. According to the criminal complaint, Jane told detectives that she met the police officer about a year and a half earlier when her boyfriend's jaw was broken in a bar fight.
When Jane arrived to testify at the preliminary hearing against the man who broke her boyfriend's jaw, she told the officer that she was afraid to testify "because she had been drinking on the night of the assault and much of the night was a blur." The officer told her that if she didn't testify she might lose her nursing license and charged with perjury, but he also added that he might be able to help her anyway.
Read more in our upcoming post to learn more about what Jane claims happened after that and why the officer's criminal defense attorney questioned some of the details of her story.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Fifth woman accuses ex-officer," Liz Navratil, May 5, 2012
]]>Recently, 14 people from Pennsylvania and New York were arrested on prostitution charges. However, none of the individuals who were arrested were the women selling their bodies for sex. Instead, law enforcement officers focused on the women's pimps and their clients.
]]> Rather than being treated like criminals, the women who were involved in prostitution will be treated like victims of their pimps and offered services to help them rebuild their lives. Their pimps and clients will face a drastically different situation.The laws in each state vary, but in New York, for example, the penalties the men can face are significantly harsher than they used to be. Previously, an individual who was arrested for pimping could face up to 15 years in prison. Now, the maximum sentence is 25 years.
The people who pay for sex also face steeper charges. Previously, an individual could spend up to 90 days in jail for paying for a prostitute. Now, a client could spend up to a year in jail. Of the 14 individuals who were arrested from Pennsylvania and New York, most were given the opportunity to plead guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation.
Although pleading guilty may not always be the best to criminal charges, it may be appropriate for some of these men. The group included a physician, the owner of an online ticket sales company and a concierge for a film-production company. For any of those men, a year in jail could ruin their career and reputation. Pleading guilty may leave a spot on their criminal records, but it may be the most effective way to help them move on with their lives.
Source: The New York Times, "Prosecutors Focus on Pimps and Clients, Instead of Prostitutes," Russ Buettner, May 2, 2012
]]>During the investigation, the Justice Department focused on errors made by one scientist at one FBI lab. However, there are cases that show individuals were wrongly convicted of sexual assault because of errors made by other scientists at other labs.
]]> About 30 years ago, two men were convicted of separate crimes. One man was convicted of killing a taxi driver, and another man was convicted of sexual assault. In both cases, evidence from FBI experts was a key part of their convictions, and neither of the experts was the man who was at the center of the Justice Department's investigation.Regardless, when the DNA evidence was later retested -- after both men had served their full sentences -- an egregious error was realized. Although both experts gave sworn testimonies that there was a match with the DNA from the crime scene and the DNA of the alleged criminals, both experts were wrong.
The DNA evidence virtually eliminated the man who was convicted of murder as a suspect, and the evidence proved there was no possible way the other man had committed the sexual assault.
Regardless, because of the mistakes of FBI experts, those men spent years of their lives incarcerated. What will it take for these men and others in similar situations to receive the accurate testing they deserve? Until the Justice Department insists on something else, innocent people will be convicted of sex crimes they didn't commit because of shoddy DNA samples.
Source: The Washington Post, "Convicted defendants left uninformed of forensic flaws found by Justice Dept.," Spencer S. Hsu, April 16, 2012
]]>In addition, once an expert reports that there is a DNA match, how often do you think people in Pittsburgh challenge those results? Unfortunately, it rarely happens. After all, an expert gave his or her sworn statement that the DNA is a match. That has to be correct, right? Wrong.
The Justice Department has known for years that sloppy forensic work may be leading to the wrongful conviction of individuals who are arrested on sex crimes charges, but very little has been done to protect the rights of individuals who are sitting in prison unnecessarily.
]]> In the 1990s, the Justice Department launched an investigation to learn more about the ramifications of the shoddy DNA work. However, despite being warned that the problem was widespread, the Justice Department only investigated a handful of cases in which the DNA samples were analyzed by one scientist.Even with the limited scope of the investigation, the result of the investigation revealed that "hundreds of defendants nationwide remain in prison or on parole for crimes that might merit exoneration, a retrial or a retesting of evidence using DNA" because of a mistake that misidentified them as a suspect in the first place.
Read more in our upcoming blog posts to learn the specific stories of individuals who were wrongfully convicted of sex crimes because of faulty DNA tests.
Source: The Washington Post, "Convicted defendants left uninformed of forensic flaws found by Justice Dept.," Spencer S. Hsu, April 16, 2012
]]>To do this, Penn State is willing to spend money, lots of it.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that the university is spending $208,000 a month to retain the services of the global public-relations firm Edelman. This firm, which has a roster of more than 4,200 employees, will lead communications on all legal matters involving the sex abuse scandal, the Post-Gazette reported.
]]> Edelman's job, then, will be to help restore Penn State University's former good name. It's a process that public-relations professionals say will take time, even with the help of such a powerful public-relations firm behind it.People who have been accused of sex crimes understand this. It's far from easy to repair a reputation after charges have been filed. Even if those charges are later dropped, people often never fully recover their former good names.
The truth is, most people accused of sex crimes can't afford to hire a public-relations firm to help repair their reputation. Most have to do this on their own, and it's far from an easy task.
That's why it will be so intriguing to watch the Penn State case unfold. Will this powerful university, backed by an equally powerful public-relations firm, be able to recover from a high-profile sex scandal? Only time will tell. But the results will be watched by everyone who is trying to rebuild their own reputations following allegations of sex crimes.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Penn State hires PR firms to address scandal," Taryn Luna, April 26, 2012
]]>In Pittsburgh and throughout the country, citizens have been in an uproar over a prostitution scandal involving at least 11 Secret Service agents. The Secret Service agents were on a mission to Colombia to make security preparations for a visit by President Barack Obama.
]]> According to reports on the scandal, some of the Secret Service members attended a strip club in Colombia, where they bragged about being employed to protect the president. Some of the members allegedly engaged in sexual activity with the prostitutes, and according to allegations, one later refused to pay his bill at the club. Some Secret Service members also brought prostitutes back to their hotel.The investigation is also allegedly looking into drug use and other events occurring over the course of the night.
Three people have lost their positions as a result of the scandal. A supervisor was allowed to retire from service and another resigned. A third individual was fired.
More Secret Service personnel may face similar fates, all because of mistakes that were made during a night of indiscretion. Many of these individuals spent years establishing themselves in their field and working their way up the ranks of the military. Losing their esteemed positions would be a serious loss to any of them and could ruin their careers.
Source: Associated Press, "Lawmaker: More firings likely at US Secret Service," Alicia A. Caldwell, April 19, 2012
]]>In this situation, you get a book that was written in 10 weeks about the alleged sex abuse scandal at Penn State.
Naturally, the Paterno family is unhappy about the assertions made in the book about the Sandusky child abuse sex scandal.
]]> The book, "Game Over: Jerry Sandusky, Penn State and the Culture of Silence," was written by two former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writers, and they described the 10-week project as the most demanding writing assignment they had ever tackled.That's no surprise. Taking a story from rough draft to publication in a matter of months is an outstanding feat for any author. But what did these two authors, Bob Dvorchak and Bill Moushey, sacrifice to get it there?
According to a lawyer hired by the Paterno family, the book is an "unprofessional and irresponsible rehash from clip files and anonymous interviews." The book also contradicts Joe Paterno's sworn testimony and "indisputable evidence" that shows Paterno was unaware of the 1998 allegation against Jerry Sandusky.
The family's lawyer also says that the authors provided a book "that distorts the truth and offers conclusions and theories for which the authors have no evidence." The lawyer added that the inconsistencies and inaccuracies are to be expected from a book that prioritizes speed over accuracy.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Paterno family upset over book on Sandusky," Taryn Luna, April 18, 2012
]]>While New York is the first state to establish such an arrangement with video game makers, similar arrangements are likely to spread to other states and cities, including Pittsburgh.
]]> Playing online video games is an easy way for strangers to meet, especially since many online video games have text or audio chat features where players can communicate with each other. The attorney general said that sex offenders could contact children more easily through the games than they could in parks or playgrounds. He mentioned two cases where a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl were abused by men they had met while playing online games -- Xbox Live in one case, and online chess in another.Sex offenders in New York must give their email addresses and game user names to the state. The information was checked against online-game accounts, and 3,500 accounts were marked to be closed. The state will continue to send updates every week to the game companies. At least seven major companies participated in the agreement, including Microsoft and Sony.
This agreement is an extension of earlier efforts to ban sex offenders from chat rooms and social media sites.
Source: The New York Times, "Video-Game Companies Agree to Close Sex Offenders' Online Accounts," Joseph Goldstein, April 5, 2012
]]>Recently, a Pennsylvania judge preemptively issued a gag order against Jerry Sandusky and his attorneys to prevent something similar from happening.
]]> Because Sandusky's case has already received so much press attention, it may be difficult for Sandusky to receive a fair trial. Now, Sandusky, his lawyers and their representatives are forbidden from making statements about evidence, witnesses, and Sandusky's guilt or innocence.According to the judge, the strict order "is narrowly tailored to achieve its purposes in light of the unprecedented publicity generated by the case" and should help ensure "a fair, impartial and orderly trial."
In theory, that sounds fair. However, the judge did not (and could not) prevent the media from reporting about evidence, witnesses, and Sandusky's guilt or innocence. In essence, the judge made it possible for a one-sided dialogue about Sandusky. The judge's order prohibits Sandusky and his lawyers from telling their side of the story.
It is important for the jury to be shielded from information that could persuade them, but is prohibiting an alleged criminal from talking the appropriate response? It seems as though the main impact that would have is making the conversation even more biased.
Source: Chicago Tribune, "Judge in Penn State abuse case issues 'gag' order," Paul Thomasch, April 9, 2012
]]>The analysis covered a wide range of cases across the country, including sex crimes and other trials in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in the state. The sheer quantity of cases evaluated lends considerable strength to the allegations of the analysis, leveling unprecedented scrutiny on the judicial system in the United States.
]]> The analysis was groundbreaking, to a large extent, because of the difficulty in gathering the data used to produce the findings. Public records of criminal cases could not be searched according to the judges presiding over them, making it very tedious to gather a background for any one judge.The data used in the analysis was acquired in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. The evaluation was conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, and organization specializing in gathering federal government data.
The report pointed out how much one judge's sentencing of an individual could vary compared to that of another judge, presumably due to biases and other pre-conceived notions held by the judges. For example, while some judges typically sentenced defendants of white-collar crimes to hardly any jail time at all, others averaged 23 months in similar cases.
The analysis only counted the data from court cases featuring judges who had sentenced at least 50 defendants. In total, 885 different judges and more than 370,000 defendants were included in the analysis.
Source: The New York Times, "Wide Sentencing Disparity Found Among U.S. Judges," Mosi Secret, March 5, 2012
]]>Recently, a lack of information regarding Victim 2 -- one of the central figures in the government's case against Sandusky -- has caused people in Pittsburgh to wonder if the government's case is strong enough to prove Sandusky's alleged guilt in the sex crimes.
]]> The lawyer for Sandusky has questioned why, if Victim 2 is out there and aware of the allegations, he has not come forth and presented himself to authorities.State officials will have to prove the children were underage at the time of the alleged sexual abuse if they want Sandusky to be convicted of sex crimes relating to a minor. At present, state officials are not willing to discuss the circumstances surrounding Victim 2 and another accuser, Victim 8.
However, a spokesman for the state's attorney general's office said a lengthy investigation has left them convinced that they have all the information they need to pursue a conviction. Rather than reveal this before the trial, they are opting instead to conceal their strategy from the defendants.
It is possible that prosecutors will utilize pediatric specialists to apply standard measures of development in identifying the ages of the anonymous victims. But this would still provide less concrete evidence against Sandusky than if the alleged victims were to present themselves and participate in the trial.
Regardless, by keeping the identity of the victims a secret, the case against Sandusky will likely be weakened. It will be interesting to see how Sandusky's criminal defense lawyer uses this lack of information to have the charges against Sandusky dropped or minimized.
Source: Brownsville Herald, "College Football Capsules: Key question in Penn State case, is who is Victim 2?" Mark Scolford, March 25, 2012
]]>That information is the identity of Victim 2 -- the most central and pivotal accuser in the Sandusky case. Victim 2 was allegedly sexually assaulted by Sandusky in an athletic shower when the act was witnessed by an assistant football coach, Mike McQueary, who reported the incident to then-head coach Joe Paterno but not to the police.
]]> The allegations posed by Victim 2 are what Penn State administrators admit led to the firing of Joe Paterno late last year. But a number of questions surround the identity of Victim 2 as well as what information he possesses. His age at the time of the alleged assault is unknown. In fact, so little information is known about Victim 2 that both prosecutors and defendants are struggling with how to approach the case.Sandusky's lawyer has already argued in court that there is not enough evidence in existence to support Victim 2's charges. Further casting doubt on the allegations from other alleged victims is that some people have now changed their stories from how they were originally conveyed to police.
The charges related to Victim 2 -- once the central allegation in the case against Sandusky -- are now considered by some to be the weakest in the government's case.
Read more in our next post to learn more about uncertainties surrounding Victim 2's accusations.
Source: Brownsville Herald, "College Football Capsules: Key question in Penn State case, is who is Victim 2?" Mark Scolford, March 25, 2012
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