Kidnapping & Abuse

As far as I'm concerned, a parent's worst nightmare is the kidnapping of their child. Last weekend, my mother and I went shopping in Sam's Club. All of a sudden, my sugar dropped really low. She went to the food stand and got me some pizza. We both sat there in silence eating. When my blood sugar came back up and I was more coherent, I began reading the ads on the billboard. It broke my heart to see the age enhanced faces of missing children - to see that they've been lost for that long. I began asking my mother questions like "What happens to them? Do they runaway? Are they ever found? Why would someone take a child?" She couldn't answer my question.  Instead, she told me to look it up.

Here are some cases of kidnapping where the truth came out. Let's take a look at what happened:

• Masha
• Masha lived in a Russian orphanage when an American man decided he wanted to adopt her. He was divorced but no background checks or follow-up visits were ever conducted. He took her home and immediately began sexually assulting her. Soon after, he started using her for internet child pornography. Several years after the adoption, police rescued Masha. They only began looking for her because her pictures were pasted all over the internet.
• Elizabeth Fritzel

• Joseph Fritzel, Elizabeth's father, kept her locked in a secret basement in Austraila for 24 years, along with three children that he fathered to her. Supposedly, the Fritzel family was shocked to find out what was going on in the cellar and said they were "completely unaware of Joseph's evil tendencies." The three children had been in the cellar for so long that they developed their own type of communication growls and cannot communicate with words like you and I. Elizabeth Fritzel tried to teach them and to let them have a normal life in the cellar.
• Shawn Hornbeck & Ben Ownby




Shawn Hornbeck


• Michael Delvin is a convicted child molester currently serving 74 life sentences. Shawn Hornbeck lived with Delvin, disguised as father and son, for a total of four years and three months. He also participated in child pornography.

For the next blog, we will focus on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In the meantime, check out their website at http://www.missingkids.com/

info from listverse.com

pictures from google images.

Poverty & Crime: The Correlation Pt. 1

A study done my McClatchy Newspapers found that the percentage of poor Americans who are living in extreme poverty has reached a 32-year high. Nearly 16 million Americans live in "deep or severe poverty."

The connection between poverty and crime has been an ongoing debate for many years. Many scholars argue that the poverty rate has nothing to do with crime rate because of all the extremely poor countries that have relatively low crime rates. I, however, believe that it is hard to deny the connection between poverty and crime in our country. An overwhelming 53% of prisoners earned less than $10,000 per year before incarceration.

Sociologists and criminal justice scholars have found a direct correlation. One theory assumes that the consequences of a crime are weighed. Sometimes the outcome could be better than not committing the crime.. at least in their eyes. This theory proves that people in poverty are more likely to commit crimes such as burglary, larceny, or theft.

What do you believe??

info from capaassociation.org

Parole vs. Probation

Parole and probation are often confused and used interchangeably. However, they are two very different things even though they are based on the same concept.

Someone may be sentenced to probation instead of being confined to a correctional facility. Along with probation comes strict guidelines. Some of the most common requirements include checking in regularly with your probation officer, attending drug/alcohol rehab, attending counseling sessions, and apply for employment or keep a job. Community service is also a common requirement for probation.

Parole is a conditional release from prison. With parole, time has already been served and an early release is considered. There is no set time you must wait before applying for parole, however, the minimum is usually set within the sentence. When an opportunity arrives for parole, the offender goes before a parole board to plead their case. Parole also has many conditions which can include checking in regularly with a parole officer, holding down a job, abstaining from committing any more crimes, attending drug/alcohol rehab, attending anger management/therapy sessions, and not associating with other convicted criminals.

Here is a list of celebrities who are or have been on probation:

• 50 Cent - battery and assault in 2002.
• Chris Brown - assaulting Rihanna in 2009.
• Hugh Grant - attempting to purchase a prostitute in 1995.
• Khloe Kardashian - DUI in 2007.
• Lindsay Lohan - her whole life... drugs.
• Paris Hilton -  DUI in 2006.

picture from google images
info from ranker.com