Infamous Crime Research Articles

The maintenance and transmission of memory through media : a murder in broadside ballads, news periodicals, and oral tradition

This study uses a 1907 quadruple homicide to present the different ways that information was presented by broadside ballads, news periodicals, and the oral tradition. Broadside ballads, which were akin to tabloid journalism and commemorated important events as one-page hard-copies of song lyrics, were losing popularity at the time, and news periodicals, like newspapers and magazines, represented the most accessible source of information for the broader social strata. Both helped to transmit and, later, maintain the memory of the infamous crime. This text focuses on similarities and differences in the reporting, including the choice of topic, sourcing, transmission of information, work with audiences, and authorship. Drawing on primary sources and present-day recapitulations, it analyses the ways in which memory was maintained (and not maintained) through these media. In addition, the study analyses the passage of information through oral folk tradition and collective and community memory, and their mutual influences.

The Evolution of Infamous Crimes as Relates to Grand Jury Incorporation

The Evolution of Infamous Crimes as Relates to Grand Jury Incorporation

ANÁLISE DA POSSIBILIDADE DE INSCRIÇÃO NOS QUADROS DA ORDEM DOS ADVOGADOS DO BRASIL (OAB) E A INIDONEIDADE MORAL EM RAZÃO DE VIOLÊNCIA CONTRA MULHER

A finalidade deste trabalho é analisar a possibilidade da inscrição do requerente nos quadros da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB) por inidoneidade moral em razão de violência contra a mulher, discorrendo acerca da Súmula nº 09 do Conselho Pleno do Conselho Federal da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (CFOAB). A natureza da pesquisa, quanto ao nível, foi exploratória e, no que se refere à sua abordagem, qualitativa. O procedimento utilizado para a coleta de dados foi documental e bibliográfico. O método de abordagem foi o dedutivo. Constatou-se divergência na doutrina acerca do trânsito em julgado na esfera criminal para que possa haver o impedimento da inscrição nos quadros da OAB, bem como a ausência de uma definição a respeito da inidoneidade moral e do crime infamante. Confundem-se, muitas vezes, os procedimentos a serem adotados, quando da inidoneidade praticada pelo requerente à inscrição e quando da inidoneidade praticada por advogado, bem como o procedimento quando o crime ou o crime infamante é praticado pelo requerente à inscrição e quando o crime ou crime infamante é praticado por advogado. Conclui-se que a Súmula nº 09, aprovada para proporcionar mais estabilidade ao ordenamento jurídico e auxiliar na interpretação de casos semelhantes, deixa grandes lacunas com determinados termos utilizados em sua redação, mais precisamente quanto aos conceitos de inidoneidade moral e crime infamante, bem como os seus procedimentos, pois tanto o Estatuto da Advocacia quanto o CFOAB não definem tais conceitos, podendo gerar uma aplicação desacertada ou abusiva para uma das partes.

Law and Media Trial in India

Media is often termed as the fourth pillar of India; it is an indispensable part in keeping democracy alive and reaching out to the masses. The media plays an instrumental role in educating and delivering the truth to people. However, in recent times, the media has exceeded its role by bringing its lens into the courtrooms and setting up its own trials, parallelly. The transition from responsible reporting to investigating various high-profile cases or cases of infamous crimes has made the media trial a common practice. From aiming to grab the highest television rating points to trying to stay relevant in the changing times, the media has overstepped its own boundary. The unconscious transition in its role has not only interfered with the fair administration of justice but also pressurised the judiciary to act in a certain way. It has, also, hampered the fundamental and constitutional rights of both the accused and the victim of a crime. The courts have always, unfailingly, guarded the freedom of press, and they continue to do so. However, the judiciary sensed trouble in certain cases when the media began to deliver its own verdict before the evidence was verified or the guilt proved. It is here that the need to demarcate a line arose in order to ensure the media remains well within its job of fair reporting. In an attempt to contain this adverse effect of the media, the legislature and the judiciary have attempted to frame rules and guidelines to that effect. This article attempts to discuss the various facets of media trials and the laws pertaining to them.

PROTECTING TAXPAYERS AND CRIME VICTIMS: THE CASE FOR RESTRICTING UTAH’S PRELIMINARY HEARINGS TO FELONY OFFENSES

When prosecutors file serious criminal charges in Utah, the defendant is entitled to a preliminary hearing. At this hearing, witnesses will testify and be cross-examined to determine if the defendant should be bound over to face trial. For many decades, however, Utah has held such hearings only for felony offenses, not misdemeanors. In this respect, Utah practice tracked that of the vast majority of other states, which limit the use of preliminary hearings to more serious felony crimes. The reasons for limiting preliminary hearings to more serious felony cases are easy to understand. Preliminary hearings are costly and time consuming. They can also burden victims of crime with the need to testify and be cross-examined about the details of crimes committed against them. These clear costs are not outweighed by the very limited value that preliminary hearings provide, namely allowing judicial review of a prosecutor’s evidence. For misdemeanor prosecutions, a judge can easily decide the question of probable cause based on the information recounted in the charging document without holding an evidentiary hearing. Recently Utah suddenly became the only state in the nation to interpret its constitution to require preliminary hearings for certain classes of misdemeanors. In State v. Hernandez , the Utah Supreme Court held that for “Class A” misdemeanors (misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail), article I, section 13 of the Utah Constitution required preliminary hearings. Article I, section 13 provides for preliminary hearings for “[o]ffenses heretofore required to be prosecuted by indictment.” The court concluded that the phrase “offenses heretofore required to be prosecuted by indictment” referred not only to felony offenses but under Utah’s modern classification of offenses, to Class A misdemeanors as well. The court’s analytical approach was quite properly historical. The court noted that the decisive question when interpreting the state constitution is “to ascertain the drafters’ intent.” Yet strong arguments suggest that the drafters did not truly intend to require preliminary hearings for Class A misdemeanors. Section 13 appears to refer to federal law that “heretofore” controlled the Territory of Utah. At the time the Utah Constitution was drafted, the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution directed that capital and infamous crimes—felonies—be screened through the requirement of a grand jury indictment. [ The framers of the Utah Constitution, it can be argued, simply continued this approach and then authorized a new alternative method for screening such felony prosecutions—a preliminary hearing instead of a grand jury. This was the argument the state advanced in Hernandez , although the court ultimately found it unpersuasive. This Article does not debate the historical accuracy of the court’s decision. Rather, it asks whether the decision is sound public policy. This Article concludes that requiring preliminary hearings for Class A misdemeanors is undesirable for two simple reasons. First, the court’s decision will result in hundreds of additional preliminary hearings a year, thus imposing substantial costs on taxpayers and burdens on an already overwhelmed criminal justice system. Second, the decision will create substantial hardships for crime victims, who will now be twice subjected to cross-examination by defense attorneys—once at the preliminary hearing and again later at trial. And these costs will generate no significant benefit in return.

The search for finality: Serial killing, the narration of sexual injury, and the promise of consolation

This article explores the search for finality that arises in response to crime. Its focus is not simply upon how this search for finality functions, but on both the centrality of narrative within this and the question of consolation that arises when such cases officially remain unresolved. Examined by reference to one particular case – specifically, the deaths of five males in the South Australian city of Adelaide between 1979 and 1983 – the article explores the central role of cultural anxieties or phobias that often underpin infamous or iconic crimes. It examines the way in which the narrative of this case reveals particular anxieties associated with homosexuality and paedophilia as a means through which to investigate the complex way in which consolation is ultimately left wanting in spite of the presence of a narrative of culpability. In its entirety, the article attends to the enduring manner in which anxieties associated with sexual difference persist, and the haunting spectre that arises as a result of an unrealised search for finality.

Nameless Indignities: Unraveling the Mystery of One of Illinois's Most Infamous Crimes

Review of: Nameless Indignities: Unraveling the Mystery of One of Illinois's Most Infamous Crimes, by Susan Elmore.

An Infamous Case: How the Iowa Supreme Court's Minimalist Approach in Chiodo v. Section 43.24 Panel Will Force Everyone to Come Back for More

In April of 2014, the Iowa Supreme Court heard and decided Chiodo v. Section 43.24 Panel, which presented the question of whether operating while intoxicated (OWI), second offense, was an “infamous crime” within the meaning of Iowa’s voter disqualification constitutional provision. A three-justice plurality overruled a nearly 100-year-old decision, cast serious doubt on an equally-tenured doctrine, and offered a new framework to define infamous crime with no more explanation than necessary. Meanwhile, a two-justice concurrence disagreed that the court’s precedent must be overruled, but nevertheless departed from that precedent and applied its own reasoning. Further, one dissenting justice disapproved of the analysis by both the plurality and concurrence, and instead concluded the court’s century-old doctrine should have bound the court in the current case. All things considered, Chiodo was a hard case. In a legal universe where stare decisis is nearly sacrosanct, every word written by a court may be potentially relied on for decades. Thus, it would seem to follow that these hard cases, whenever possible, should address only the most narrow issues to dispose of a case. This approach, known as judicial minimalism, has been most strongly advocated by distinguished law scholar Cass Sunstein as an approach to limit the largely non-democratic role of the judicial branch. But in certain situations, the court ultimately faces a crucial decision: should the court limit its holding in the narrowest sense possible, or should the court instead show its work and attempt to rationalize the volatile or suspect result? This Note explores whether a court must avoid judicial minimalism in certain cases and instead develop a broad theoretical foundation for its holding. Part II first presents the facts of Chiodo, provides the reasoning of the court’s three opinions, and outlines the basic tenets of Sunstein’s judicial minimalism doctrine. Part III.A identifies two distinct levels of judicial minimalism that appear in the Chiodo decision. Part III.B advances four indicators for future courts to consider in determining whether judicial minimalism is an efficient or beneficial use of the court’s resources in disposing of the case. Part III.B.1 proposes courts should avoid minimalism when interpreting constitutional rights. Part III.B.2 proposes courts should employ minimalism only to the extent that they apply the doctrine of stare decisis. Part III.B.3 proposes courts should avoid minimalism when a decision involves repeat state actors or institutions. Finally, Part III.B.4 proposes courts should not employ minimalism if there is substantial risk of increased future litigation. Because all four indicators were present in Chiodo, the case operates as a constructive example of the consequences that may result if a court nevertheless adopts a minimalist approach. Ultimately, this Note concludes that certain cases, based on these indicators, should not be disposed of using minimalism because of inevitable adverse consequences.

Random Activities Theory: The Case for ‘Black Swan’ Criminology

In the United States, infamous crimes against innocent victims—especially children—have repeatedly been regarded as justice system “failures” and resulted in reactionary legislation enacted without regard to prospective negative consequences. This pattern in part results when ‘memorial crime control’ advocates implicitly but inappropriately apply the tenets of routine activities theory, wherein crime prevention is presumed to be achievable by hardening likely targets, increasing the costs associated with crime commission, and removing criminal opportunity. In response, the authors argue that academic and public policy discourse will benefit from the inclusion of a new criminological perspective called random activities theory, in which tragic crimes are framed as rare but statistically inevitable ‘Black Swans’ instead of justice system failures. Potential objections and implications for public policy are discussed at length.

The Culture of Gender and Sexuality in the Caribbean

major contribution to the scholarship of gender and sexuality in the Caribbean.--A. Lynn Bolles, University of Maryland This volume provides an engaging interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender and sexual relations in the Caribbean. Essays from sociological, literary, historical, and political science approaches cover the Hispanic-, French-, and English-speaking Caribbean areas and address topics such as sexuality, homosexuality, culture, the body, the status of women, and the wider social relations that inform these subjects. Contents Exploring the Intersections of Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in the Caribbean: An Introduction Part 1. Theoretical Mediations on Gender in the Caribbean 1. Theorizing Ruptures in Gender Systems and the Project of Modernity in the Twentieth Century Caribbean, by Violet Eudine Barriteau 2. Globalization of the Discourse on Gender and Its Impact on the Caribbean, by Hilbourne Watson 3. Caribbean Masculinity: Unpacking the Narrative, by Linden Lewis Part 2. Political Terrain of Gender and Sexuality 4. A Blueprint for Gender in Creole Trinidad: Exploring Gender Mythology through Calypsos of the 1920s and 1930s, by Patricia Mohammed 5. Popular Imageries of Gender and Sexuality: Poor and Working-Class Haitian Women's Discourses on the Use of Their Bodies, by Carolle Charles 6. The Infamous Crime against Nature Constructions of Heterosexuality and Lesbian Subversions in Puerto Rico, by Elizabeth Crespo-Kebler Part 3. Sexual Orientation and Male Socialization in the Caribbean 7. Role of the Street in the Socialization of Caribbean Males, by Barry Chevannes 8. Masculinity and Power in Puerto Rico, by Rafael Ramirez 9. Queering Cuba: Male Homosexuality in the Short Fiction of Manuel Granados, by Conrad James Part 4. Gender, Sexuality, and Historical Considerations 10. Struggling with a Structure: Gender, Agency, and Discourse, by Glyne Griffith 11. It Hurt Very Much at the Time Patriarchy, Rape Culture, and the Slave Body-Semiotic, by Joseph C. Dorsey Linden Lewis is associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Bucknell University and the author of numerous articles on the Caribbean.

MicroReviews by the Book Review Editor: Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America's Most Infamous Crime Scenes: Emily Craig

MicroReviews by the Book Review Editor: <i>Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America's Most Infamous Crime Scenes</i>: Emily Craig

Tales of Two Women: The Narrative Construal of Porfirian Reality

It was the perfect murder, really. Illicit passions: two beautiful women-of-the-night feuding over a dashing young rake, a masked ball, casual taunts, thwarted assaults, escalating threats. Heinous crime: the lover's borrowed gun, midnight bordello visit, fighting words, a gun shot, a maid's scream, a young woman's tragic death. Cruel punishment: suicidal remorse (by some accounts), humiliating public trial, twenty lost years (the maximum sentence for a woman) in Mexico City's squalid Belem jail. The Tarasquillo Street murder had it all!And so it happened that, in an era enamored of all things French, Mexico City had its very owncause célèbre. A scant twelve years earlier, professional francophile and amateur criminologist Rafael Zayas de Enríquez had devoted an entire volume of hisFisiología del crimento notorious foreign criminals like Alfonse Dupont, the hunchbacked wife-killer, and Charles Guiteau, the deranged assassin of President Garfield. Now, Mexico too could claim a prominent place in the international annals of infamous crime.

Local Sentiment and the “National” Enemy in Northern England in the Later Middle Ages

On April 30, 1408, Archbishop Henry Bowet of York issued a commission ordering the deprivation of John, prior of the tiny and impoverished monastery of Hexham. The archbishop condemned the prior in the strongest terms, noting that, “to the manifest destruction of the English realm, he committed treason by receiving and cherishing the Scots and other false lieges of the king, grievous enemies of the kingdom all, and notorious traitors. In helping them to invade the realm he gave no heed to the danger in which he placed himself and the free men of the realm.” The archbishop went on to state that, when John abandoned his monastery in order to join the Scots, “there is no doubt that the prior perpetrated the infamous crime of lèse majesté.”A note to the printed edition of this commission remarks laconically: “a startling document, which shows how thoroughly disorganized was the state of society on the Borders.” But the grim determination to punish that is so apparent in Bowet's commission was entirely justifiable, for incidents of desertion to the Scots were troublesome and none-too-rare among northern land- and officeholders, and in 1408 the memory of the rebellion of the greatest of these, Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, was still fresh. In the eighteen months alone after Bowet issued his commission, the crown learned of another defection on the part of a formerly loyal Scottish cleric in England, as well as of the loss of one key border stronghold and the near loss of another, the results of treasonable conspiracies.

SAME‐SEX RELATIONS AND THE LAW

Decisions of individuals relating to homosexual conduct have been subject to state intervention throughout the history of Western Civilization. Condemnation of those practices is firmly rooted in Judeo‐Christian moral and ethical standards˜. Blackstone described ‘the infamous crime against nature’ as an offense of ‘deeper malignity than rape’…

A New History of the Passions

On June 30, 1986, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a Georgia law which makes sodomy a criminal offense. In a concurring opinion, Chiief Justice Burger explained that the court's decision was motivated in part by the traditional Judaeo-Christian condemnation of homosexual sodomy, which is stigmatized by quotation from Blackstone's Commentaries. In accordance with English common law, which became the received law of colonial Georgia, sodomy is characterized as, infamous crime against nature,' as an offense of 'deeper malignity' than rape, an heinous act 'the very mention of which is a disgrace to human nature,' and 'a crime not fit to be named.'' Yet, if there is to

Infamous Crimes and the Moreland Case

Infamous Crimes and the Moreland Case