Category Archives: Crime

Links o' the day 6/11/08

While the world continues to cheer the election of Barack Obama as president of the world’s most powerful democracy, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has been anointed king of the world’s newest, Bhutan.

Apparently you can accidentally steal a car.

Gorillas need surgery too.

Companies are turning to blogging as a way of reporting layoffs, rather than letting them get picked up by the traditional media.

It’s a beard off!

Cleantech is growing in silicon valley.

The Mars lander is guestblogging on Gizmodo 😀

Links o' the day, 23/10/2008

The journey so far… in numbers (Kathy Foley)

My Saks spree: How to spend $150,000 like Palin (Slate, chosen more for its oddness than me having an interesting in such shopping :P)

Is this the most eco-friendly car innovation since the hybrid? (Treehugger)

Leukemia drug halts, reverses MS (AFP)

New car targets 1,000mph record (Sky)

In Jordan, prayers for the persecuted (The National)

Fake cop busted after stopping real one (AP)

The return of micro-states? (Catholicgauze)

Dolls and toys that creep us out (Dark Roasted Blend)

X-rays made from Scotch tape (Boing Boing)

Please help find this man

_44629347_montage226.jpg

 

Lucy writes:

 

The International Police are requesting worldwide assistance in finding the man pictured above. He is charged with the sexual abuse of at least three young boys in images released on the Internet.  Interpol states:

“The man, whose name, nationality and location are unknown is featured in approximately 100 images in a series of around 800, which are believed to have been taken in Southeast Asia and depict the sexual abuse of at least three boys aged between six and 10 years old. The first pictures of the man were originally discovered by police in Norway in March 2006.”

If you’ve seen this man or know his whereabouts or identity please contact Interpol.

I have no sympathy

I almost wet myself laughing at this one:

Things went terribly wrong for a Limerick man who rushed into a bar armed with a sawn-off shotgun seeking out a particular customer but ended up in hospital after customers disarmed him and gave him a “bit of a trimming”.

The gunman was said to be in a stable condition at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital last night after being treated for serious injuries when he was beaten up by customers.

Now, I’m not advocating vigilante justice or anything of the sort, but if you walk into a pub with a shotgun and get the living tar whacked out of you, I’m going to laugh.

Grey criminals

I hope I’m this active when I turn 70, though preferably outside a prison cell.

From 2000 to 2006, the number of older inmates soared by 160 percent, to 46,637, from 17,942, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. Shoplifting accounted for 54 percent of the total in 2006 and petty theft for 23 percent.

As a result, penitentiaries are struggling to adapt environments designed with the young in mind to a lawbreaking population that is fragile physically and often mentally.

The “hard labour” programmes involve knitting and making envelopes, while the inmates can have a lie down if they feel ill.

A recent Justice Ministry report said that older people were increasingly turning to crime out of poverty and isolation, suggesting a breakdown in traditional family and community ties. With nowhere else to go, more of the older inmates serve out their full sentences, instead of being released on parole like younger prisoners. What is more, recidivism is higher among the older inmates.

Turning to crime out of poverty is not unheard of. During the Great Famine in Ireland, many committed petty crimes in order to be jailed — because there they would be fed regularly (Cork Gaol is my reference here).

Prison life in Japan isn’t so bad, as it’s fairly non-violent. However, criminals are cut loose from their families and so don’t receive visitors. This explains the recidivism rate — it’s a place for human contact as well as a place to stay.