Bounty Hunters Research Articles

Unwanted Slaves: The Punishment of Transportation and the Making of Legal Subjects in Early Nineteenth-Century Martinique

Unwanted Slaves: The Punishment of Transportation and the Making of Legal Subjects in Early Nineteenth-Century Martinique

Bounty hunters: a look behind the hype

PurposeTo identify and assess the current state of professionalism and operations in the field of bail recovery, or bounty hunting.Design/methodology/approachA multi‐method approach, which integrated information from interviews with bond agents with information taken from a survey of workers in the bond field.FindingsSurvey respondents averaged 51 years of age, and were mostly Caucasian males. Most were religious and conservative, and over 25 percent reported having obtained a four‐year college degree. Roughly one‐third of all survey respondents reported experience in law enforcement; nearly half indicated having specialized skills in weaponry. Money was the most cited reason for becoming a bail enforcement agent, and most respondents believed that bail enforcement agents are an under‐appreciated component of the criminal justice system.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings were taken from a small number of survey respondents. Consequently, these data are not assumed to be representative of the population surveyed. Additionally, the interviews with key individuals in the field are also not assumed to be representative.Practical implicationsThis research has shown that bond agents are not yet professionalized, but a substantial number of them desire greater professionalism in their field, and believe that more professional behavior is necessary to receive greater respect from their fellow criminal justice practitioners.Originality/valueVery little is known about the operations and attitudes of bond agents. This research has added some critical information to this knowledge base, and has helped to raise other questions which may stimulate further research in this under‐examined field.

Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad

Beyond the brings to brilliant life the dramatic story of the forgotten heroes of the Ripley, Ohio, line of the Underground Railroad.The decades preceding the Civil War were rife with fierce sectarian violence along the borders between slave and free states. The Ohio River was one such border. Here in the river towns of Ohio and Kentucky, abolitionists and slave chasers confronted each other during the war before the war. Slave masters and bounty hunters chased runaway slaves from Kentucky into Ohio, hoping to catch their quarry before the slaves disappeared on the underground path to freedom. In the river town of Ripley, the slave hunters inevitably confronted John Rankin and his determined, courageous colleagues.One of the early abolitionist leaders, Rankin began his career when he wrote a series of letters denouncing his brother's recent purchase of a slave in Virginia. The letters were collected and published as Letters on American Slavery and influenced William Lloyd Garrison, among others. Rankin, a Presbyterian minister and a farmer, bought property on a high hilltop overlooking Ripley and the Ohio River. His house was visible for miles into Kentucky, and he hung a lantern at night to help guide runaways. He and his fellow abolitionists, both black and white, formed the front line of freedom, and some of them paid a high price for it.In 1838, abolitionist John B. Mahan, a colleague of Rankin's, was lured into a trap and transported to Kentucky for one of the most celebrated trials of the era. Charged with breaking Kentucky laws, even though he had not been in the state for nearly twenty years, he was imprisoned in a windowless cell for three months, shackled at his wrists and ankles. At his trial, slaveholders tried in vain to identify and break the Ripley line conductors.Another celebrated conductor on the Ripley line, John Parker, a former slave himself, was regarded as the most daring of the Ohio abolitionists. He made dozens of trips across the river into Kentucky to bring out slaves trying to escape, risking his life and his own freedom every time.Ann Hagedorn moved to Ripley from her home in New York City to research and write this book. Ripley's historic area is little changed from antebellum days, and Rankin's house still stands high on the hill behind the town. With this enthralling and compelling book, she has restored John Rankin and the Ohio abolitionists to their proper place in American history as heroes of the Underground Railroad.

The Fugitive: Evidence on Public versus Private Law Enforcement from Bail Jumping

On the day of their trial, a substantial number of felony defendants fail to appear. Public police have the primary responsibility for pursuing and rearresting defendants who were released on their own recognizance or on cash or government bail. Defendants who made bail by borrowing from a bond dealer, however, must worry about an entirely different pursuer. When a defendant who has borrowed money skips trial, the bond dealer forfeits the bond unless the fugitive is soon returned. As a result, bond dealers have an incentive to monitor their charges and ensure that they do not skip. When a defendant does skip, bond dealers hire bounty hunters to return the defendants to custody. We compare the effectiveness of these two different systems by examining failure‐to‐appear rates, fugitive rates, and capture rates of felony defendants who fall under the various systems. We apply propensity score and matching techniques.

Bail agents and bounty hunters: Adversaries or allies of the justice system?

Bounty hunters are employed by the bail industry to locate and apprehend criminal defendants who “skip” bail and, subsequently, fail to appear for court appointments. While some scholars have examined bounty hunters, this work is concerned primarily with the origins, history, and legal challenges to the industry and its practices. Popular literature on this subject has created the “myth” of the bounty hunter, but it has failed to provide an accurate portrayal of the activities these individuals perform. Through the use of field research methods, this study provides a better understanding of the role that bail agents and bounty hunters play in the criminal justice system.

Bounty hunting in the patent base

Like Robin Hood and his band of merry men, patent bounty hunters and software agent communities may one day patrol the patent kingdom.

Patent bounty hunters

Patent ‘busting’ is big business and modern-day bounty hunters are sought by a new company, BountyQuest (Boston, MA, USA), to scour the scientific literature for papers that can be used to challenge granted patents in court (New Scientist, 8 May). The company recently rewarded a computer science graduate with US$ 10 000 after he found a paper that is being used to challenge a patent held by Incyte Genomics (St. Louis, MO, USA). MJD

Dick on the Human: From Wubs to Bounty Hunters to Bishops

Dick on the Human: From Wubs to Bounty Hunters to Bishops

The Civil False Claims Act as a Deterrent to Participation in Government Procurement Markets

In Hughes Aircraft Co. v United States ex rel Schumer, the Supreme Court refused to give retroactive application to the 1986 amendments to the Civil False Claims Act. In the course of deciding this relatively narrow issue, the Court acknowledged a number of incentive problems created by the statute. This article explores those problems in detail, showing that the statute's effort to police fraud in government contracting by authorizing private parties to act as bounty hunters in behalf of the government is in need of substantial reform. As they currently operate, some features of the statute probably create costs to the government that far exceed their benefits, and they constitute a major impediment to effectuating a new national policy to embrace widely accepted commercial contracting techniques.

Hutterite Beginnings. Communitarian Experiments During the Reformation

The oldest and largest communal society in North America, the Hutterites - Anabaptists of German origin, like the Amish - have long been the subject of scholarly study and popular curiosity. This work tells the story of the Hutterite beginnings in their original homelands, particularly in Tyrol and Moravia. By examining these origins, it reveals relationships among early Anabaptist sects. The book contains a biography of group founder Jacob Hutter, describing his struggle for group leadership, his efforts to save his followers from King Ferdinand's bounty hunters, and his ultimate capture and death by public execution in 1536. It also provides anecdotes about a number of figures, including Jacob Hutter's wife. It tells of arrest, of imprisonment and of torture, as well as of efforts to care for the orphans left behind by those put to death for their faith. And it describes the defensive measures taken by the victims of official terror, their underground organizations, their secret practices and religious beliefs. The book shows how three early Anabaptist orders relate to each other, then lays bare the developing hermeneutic on which they were based, offering an insight into worship practices of the earliest Anabaptists.

The cost of winning: global development policies and broken social contracts

In The Cost of Winning, Michael H. Cosgrove describes how the United States used economic policies to contain the Soviet Union during the post-World War n era and how those policies turned a vibrant economy into one of broken promises and declining power. Cosgrove defines and examines the five economic building blocks used to contain the Soviets in America's Golden Age: the Marshall Plan, free trade, federal income tax policy, the defense umbrella, and plentiful and cheap oil from the Middle East. He explains how policies supporting these building blocks allowed U.S. taxpayers to both contain the Soviets and enjoy a rapidly rising standard of living. America's economic superstate began to crumble, however, with President Nixon's August 1971 decision to abandon the gold quasi-standard and Saudi Arabia's 1973 decision to cut oil shipments to America. Lean years for the economy set in. When the economy could no longer deliver the dream, entitlements were increased in an attempt to fill the gap between expectations and what the private sector could provide. Since the early 1970s, real purchasing power has been steadily eroding for approximately 75 million private sector workers. The dream that a good education would lead to a decent job and a rising standard of living in a safe neighborhood has been dashed. Violent crime in America increases while expenditures on public safety rapidly increase. Will America be the first world power to reverse its relative decline? Cosgrove maintains that Congress must initiate the upward process by restructuring itself. Rather than meeting in Washington, D.C., Congress should meet a maximum three to four months per year at a different site each year to achieve American revitalization. Cosgrove's solutions to the problems of crime include law enforcement through use of bounty hunters to identify and capture alleged criminals, and to establish a fixed penalty system for violent crimes to make costs of committing crime clearer to everyone. Certain to be controversial, this intriguing examination of the state of affairs in the United States, and the author's recommended policies will be compelling reading for sociologists, policymakers, economists, and scholars with an interest in applied public policy for the long haul.

Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early Northern Europe

In chapter 32 of Gisla saga, two bounty hunters come to the wife of the outlawed Gisli and offer her sixty ounces of silver to reveal the whereabouts of her husband. At first Au5r resists, but then, eyeing the coins and muttering that cash is a widow's best comfort, she asks to have the money counted out. The men do so. AuZtr pronounces the silver adequate and asks whether she may do with it what she wants. By all means, Eyjolfr replies. Then:

Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early Northern Europe

In chapter 32 of Gisla saga, two bounty hunters come to the wife of the outlawed Gisli and offer her sixty ounces of silver to reveal the whereabouts of her husband. At first Au5r resists, but then, eyeing the coins and muttering that cash is a widow's best comfort, she asks to have the money counted out. The men do so. AuZtr pronounces the silver adequate and asks whether she may do with it what she wants. By all means, Eyjolfr replies. Then:

Abundance and Distribution of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in Oregon, 1975-1983

Harbor seals were observed on 32 haulout sites in Oregon during aerial counts conducted from 1975 to 1983; 90% were seen on 14 sites. The greatest number of seals seen on a haulout was 985 recorded at Cape Arago in July 1982. Counts of harbor seals in 1982 and 1983 were 38.6% greater than counts from 1975 to 1980. These data indicate an increase in numbers of harbor seals in Oregon, an increase corroborated by other information, namely, lower counts made before 1975 and increased use of new haulout sites since 1975. Between 1975 and 1983, numbers within bays increased, whereas numbers on most offshore rocks remained somewhat constant. Decreased harassment and mortality since implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 doubtless allowed harbor seals to increase in numbers and to reoccupy protected haulout sites in bays. The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) is one of five pinniped species common in Oregon. It is the most abundant and ubiquitous pinniped in the state, found in most bays and estuaries, and on many offshore rocks. Harbor seal abundance has been determined at specific haulout sites along the Oregon coast (Graybill 1981; Brown and Mate 1983; Roffe and Mate 1984; Bayer 1985), although there is only one published account of their state-wide distribution and abundance (Pearson and Verts 1970). From 1967 to 1968, Pearson and Verts (1970) conducted four counts from land and one aerial count along the Oregon coast and concluded that there were fewer than 500 harbor seals in the state. More than 3800 harbor seals were killed in Oregon between 1925 and 1972 by statehired and bounty hunters (Pearson 1969). Harbor seals were harassed at inshore areas where they rested and pupped, and their number in Oregon was probably reduced. Harassment and killing of harbor seals were greatly reduced after 1972 when the Marine Mammal Protection Act became effective. Protection probably has resulted in an increase in abundance and redistribution of animals into bays and estuaries. The objectives of this study were to determine the location and use of haulout sites and to document any changes in abundance and distribution of harbor seals in Oregon from 1975 to 1983. METHODS Aerial photographic surveys of seals on land along the entire Oregon coast were performed annually from a high-winged, single-engine aircraft (Cessna 172 or 182) during 1 month in the summer (June, July, or August) from 1975 to 1983 (Fig. 1). Surveys were begun approximately 2 hr before low tide and ended approximately 2 hr after low tide to maximize the number of seals visible on haulout sites (Schneider and Payne 1983; Terhune and Almon 1983). The entire Oregon coastline was scanned during annual surveys to determine locations of harbor seals ashore and to locate new haulout sites. When more than five seals were ashore, the group was photographed from an altitude of 215-305 m using a hand-held 35 mm camera and 300 mm or 70 to 210 mm zoom lens. Photographs were taken within 15° of vertical. Photographic images of seals on land were projected onto a white surface, and each seal was counted. Photographic surveys required 2 days; flights were made from Newport to the north or south on consecutive days. Surveys of some haulout sites were not possible because of inclement weather.

Indians of California: The Changing Image

When the first Anglo-Americans visited California early in the nineteenth century, the future state was still a remote province of the Spanish empire. Early visitors, filled with a sense of American's Manifest Destiny, described the missionary priests and their Indian converts in terms of the Black Legend of Spanish abuse of native peoples. Later, when the Anglos settled in California and assumed the life-style of the Mexican rancheros, they viewed the Indians as a primitive laboring class, docile and exploitable. Finally, after 1849, the gold rush brought hundreds of thousands of new white immigrants, who treated the primitive diggers simply as threats to their own prosperity and security. Bounty hunters shot down adult Indians, and Indian children and young people were sold into slavery as apprentices.The engine in this evolution of white attitudes was the changing needs of the white population. Needing to discredit Hispanic claims to the land, American observers saw the Indians as victims; needing a cheap labor force themselves, they viewed the Indians as a useful class; needing unimpeded access to the resources of the Golden State, they treated the Indians simply as obstacles to be eliminated.

This Land, This South: An Environmental History (review)

Vol. XXIV, No. 1 61 This Land, This South: An Environmental History. Albert E. Cowdrey. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1983. vii and 236 pp., bibliography, index. $23 cloth. (ISBN 0-8131-0302-9) One of several in the series entitled New Perspectives on the South, Charles P. Roland , General Editor. Recent attention to man's impact on the environment has led to an explosion of environmental histories, and Cowdrey's book is a worthwhile addition to the list. In a series of chapters that reach from prehistory into the twentieth century, this book deals with the natural environment and its human modification through time. Although the bulk of the material focusses on the period from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries, the author begins with Appalachian orogeny and concludes with observations on such current topics as the growing Atchafalaya River delta in the 1970s. The book is extremely well documented, in fact, the bibliography itself is worthy of ones attention as references to the colonial environment . The author draws heavily from the writings of early naturalists such as Bartram and Catesby, and through judicious selection provides a vivid picture of environmental exploitation and modification. Additional grist comes from Colonial and State Statutes enacted to protect or control game. The chapter headings (e.g. "Isolation and Upheaval," "the Row—Crop Empire," and "The Transformation Begins") are so cryptic as to hide their contents, but the richness is there—soil exhaustion , disease, woods burning, malnutrition, bounty hunters, plume hunters, and the Corps of Engineers. Indeed, the book cannot be neglected by geographers, though some will chafe at the easy acceptance of some traditional themes, such as soil exhaustion, and forest exploitation . Of perhaps greatest interest is the rather detailed treatment of diseases , a subject lamentably neglected by most workers concerning the period. It is all too easy for present-day scholars to gloss over the human devastation wrought by cholera, malaria, dengue, dysentery, filariasis, yellow fever, hookworm and deficiency diseases. Although the EuroSam B. Hilliard, Department ofGeography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. 62Southeastern Geographer pean, the African, and the Indian usually were susceptible to different maladies, the collective toll was enormous. The book is written in easy, entertaining prose that should put no one to sleep. The author moves from point to point with confidence and grace. Although the book is essentially chronological, its major theme changes through time. In dealing with the period up to the war between the states, the book is a treatment of "Man grappling with Nature," but in the later period it becomes more ofa presentation ofthe conservation movement. In different words, the first half is a kind of environmental history while the last half is a history of the environmental movement. On the whole, it is a good book, one that should be required reading for those who deem themselves to be Southern Scholars. ...