Posted by Scott on August 31st, 2007 — Posted in School Safety
Most colleges offer classes about self-defense and victimization awareness. Classes can vary from hands-on training of self-defense moves to sit-down classes that discuss such acts as sexual assault and rape in a more academic light. These classes can teach students how to avoid danger, prevent victimization, and if all else fails physically defend themselves.
Usually, these classes will give the student credit. I suggest students try to take them. Why not accrue college credits while learning about self-defense?
If your school or university does not offer such classes, I suggest you ask them to start.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on August 30th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
I have heard politicians and others say that violence starts in the home, meaning that rising or continuing violent crime rates result from bad parenting. While they say this to excuse their own law enforcement failures, I cannot deny the truth.
Many violent children learned violence from growing up around it. Even if parents do not expose their children to violence, they can fail to teach their children non-violence. Also, children who live in broken homes, or otherwise have to deal with poor parenting or neglect, will lash out. Simply put, bad parenting leads to violence in many ways.
Saying that does nothing to solve the problem, though.
Bad parents exist. Many children grow up in conditions conducive to violence. As a result, violent people victimize innocent people.
Pointing out why violence happens does not excuse law enforcement from failing to protect innocent people. The world will always have some violent victimizers. We cannot just point out the causes of violence, we need to protect people.
Of course, we can also try to reduce the need to protect people by fighting the causes.
We can fight bad parenting by making them pay for the consequences of their children’s actions. Currently, if someone commits a crime, the taxpayers have to pay for the ensuing investigation, arrest, trial, and incarceration. Why?! The taxpayers did not commit the crime. Let the criminal pay for the entire costs of their crime. In the case of minors, let the cost fall on the parents. This will give them the incentive to raise their children correctly.
If parents cannot raise their children correctly, I suggest putting the children up for adoption. To facilitate that, society needs to make sure it has a way to correctly raise these parentless children.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on August 29th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
Do you want to stop local victimization and violent crime in your neighborhood? I assume you do.
I suggest writing a letter to the police chief in your neighborhood and also his superiors, including the mayor and others. Tell them that you want law enforcement funds and resources put towards stopping violent crime and victimization. Demand that the police stop wasting any resources on victimless crimes, at least until they put an end to violent crime and victimization.
If you have the time and motivation, you can turn your letter into a petition by getting other members of the community to sign it.
Beyond that, we have to take it into our own hands. We need to set up private organizations that protect us, such as neighborhood watches, security firms, and private police.
What do you think?
If you decide to send a letter to your police chief, feel free to email it to me, and I’ll publish it on this blog.
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Posted by Scott on August 28th, 2007 — Posted in Rape & Sexual Assault
While listening to an old Tupac song today, I realized how it related to this blog. Today I will post the music video of Keep Ya Head Up by Tupac. Below the video you will find some lyrics. In the song he addresses the mistreatment of women, especially in the ghettos of the United States.
The first verse relates most to the purpose of this blog. Some of the lyrics follow:
I give a holler to my sisters on welfare
Tupac cares, and don’t nobody else care
And uhh, I know they like to beat ya down a lot
When you come around the block brothas clown a lot
But please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up
Forgive but don’t forget, girl keep your head up
And when he tells you you ain’t nuttin don’t believe him
And if he can’t learn to love you you should leave him
Cause sista you don’t need him
And I ain’t tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see em
You know it makes me unhappy (what’s that)
When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it’s time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can’t make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you’re fed up ladies, but keep your head up
Tupac also has a verse in a song referred to as Keep Ya Head Up II. In this song he tries to put himself in the shows of a female rape victim. The lyrics:
Now here’s a story bout a woman with dreams
So picture perfect at thirteen, an ebony queen
Beneath the surface it was more than just a crooked smile
Nobody knew about her secret so it took a while
I could see a tear fall slow down her black cheek
Sheddin quiet tears in the back seat; so when she asked me,
“What would you do if it was you?”
Couldn’t answer such a horrible pain to live through
I tried to trade places in the tragedy
I couldn’t picture three crazed ni**az grabbin me
For just a moment I was trapped in the pain, Lord come and take me
Four ni**az violated, they chased and they raped me
Even though it wasn’t me, I could feel the grief
Thinkin with your brains blown that would make the pain go
No! You got to find a way to survive
cause they win when your soul dies
What do you think?
Considered by many as the greatest rapper ever, Tupac Shakur was an American artist renowned for his music, movie roles, poetry, and social activism. The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes him as the best selling hip=hop artist, with over seventy-five million albums sold. He was murdered in 1996 at the age of 25.
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Posted by Scott on August 27th, 2007 — Posted in News
Nancy Dooling released the following information to the press about grants offered by Verizon Wireless to fund violence prevention and education projects:
Verizon Wireless is offering a $2,500 grant to non-profit organizations in the Southern Tier to fund violence prevention and education projects. The company is offering $57,500 in grants throughout Upstate New York. The deadline to apply is Sept. 14.
The grant is being offered to agencies, shelters and other domestic violence advocacy groups to introduce or expand programs, add equipment or enhance facilities to better serve clients.
To qualify, an applicant must be designated a public or private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a valid Internal Revenue Service tax ID based in Broome, Tioga, Chenango or Delaware counties. For an application and additional information, call (585) 321-7264.
I commend Verizon Wireless for offering those grants. I hope the beneficiaries use the money wisely.
I have avoided getting a cellphone from Verizon, because they charge higher security deposits. However, I will consider them next time I get a cellphone, because I prefer to do business with a company that gives back.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on August 21st, 2007 — Posted in Recidivism
Nowadays, I often observe various people call for harsher penalties for repeat offenders.
According to U.S. Department of Justice, of the people released from jail, an estimated 67.5% get rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years. I like most people have a major problem with revolving door justice.
However, calling for harsher laws and harsher penalties on repeat offenders completely misses the point. We do not need to punish people after they commit a new crime. That does nothing and just wastes resources.
Instead, we need to stop people from committing the new crime in the first place. I suggest we get rid of maximum sentences, and keep convicted victimizers in jail until a professional certifies their rehabilitation. I suggest not only holding reoffenders responsible, but also holding whoever released them responsible for their new offense.
If I let my wild dog out and he causes damage to someone else, you would hold me responsible. Similarly, if an incarceration releases a convicted offender without fully rehabilitating that offender, then let’s hold that incarceration system responsible in addition to the criminal they released.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on August 19th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
A recent post on The Liberty Papers about the lost war on drugs cites a Washington Post article and explains how the war on drugs funds crime and terrorism.
Of course, the war on drugs also reduces the safety of innocent people in other ways. Namely, resources get wasted chasing down non-violent people for victimless crimes.
Underfunded police departments dedicate some of their limited manpower on victimless crimes, rather than on protecting people from victimization.
Overcrowded jails and prisons release violent offenders to make room for non-violent drug offenders. Of course, the war on drugs causes the overcrowding considering that non-violent drug “offenders” make up 25% of U.S. inmates. This overcrowding hinders the ability of jails to rehabilitate violent offenders before releasing them.
Tax payers have to foot the bill for this needless war on drugs.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on August 17th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
Tonight, while driving I had to stop for a cop in the street at, as I then found out, a DUI checkpoint. After looking at my license and asking if I had anything to drink, the cop quickly let me on my way.
While I want the cops to stop drunk driving to protect innocent people, I have to wonder about the unconstitutionality of these checkpoints. They have no probable cause. They treat all people as guilty until proven innocent. How does this differ from a police state?
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Posted by Scott on August 16th, 2007 — Posted in Self-Defense Advice
Preventable violence plagues our society; it includes rape, murder, assault, robbery. Most of us say we want to end victimization and protect innocent people, but we don’t find time for it; but we find time for our favorite TV show or video game. You can do the following to help put an end to victimization and violent crime:
1. Write to people in power (e.g. congressmen, influential businesspersons) and express your concerns about victimization.
2. Organize a local group of interested people into an action team, and discuss local ways to raise awareness and reduce victimization.
3. Always report observed instances of victimization to the proper authorities.
4. Make sure women and children do not have to walk alone at night, or otherwise stay somewhere unsafe alone (e.g. in a car in a bad neighborhood, or at a wild house party full of strangers, etc.)
5. Of course, you can always donate to non-profit organization in the anti-victimization field, such as a battered women’s shelter or a rape victims’ advocacy group. You can donate your money or you can donate your time as a volunteer.
What do you think? Feel free to use the comment function to suggest other ways for individual people to help fight victimization.
1 Comment »
Posted by Scott on August 15th, 2007 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
Violent crime continues to devastate the lives of millions of United States citizens every year, as well as billions of people worldwide.
Governments, both local and federal, do not stop it. With what resources they do muster, these governments focus huge portions on victimless crimes such as drug possession, prostitution and not wearing a seat belt.
I suggest that the governments allow private organizations to police their jurisdictions. This does not mean they have to eliminate their public, government-funded police, but they can legalize and promote private police. The governments can do this by certifying private companies as private police according to objective guidelines. Thus, if a company ever abuses its power it would have its certification revoked.
Thus, private citizens can form organizations that have the power to arrest and detain violent criminals. These private organizations can compliment the governmental institutions already in place, and thus drastically reduce violent crime.
Who would pay for these private police? I suggest the criminals. Whenever a court convicts a violent criminal, I suggest that the sentence includes a requirement that the criminal pay for the costs of their crime and conviction, including all costs associated with investigating the crime, catching the criminal, detaining the criminal, and convicting the criminal. Make the criminals pay for the police and courts, not the taxpayers.
I suggest the private police organizations only get paid for each criminal they arrest who gets convicted. That would eliminate any incentive to arrest people without sufficient evidence and probable cause.
Private police would work better than governmental police for numerous reasons. For one, they would have more incentive to catch the criminals; whereas governmental police get paid either way. Beyond that, the private police would save the taxpayers money, and thus would not have the funding issues of the government’s police.
Private police would do a better job for the same reason private schools do a better job than public schools. While parents have to pick up the tab for private schools, we can shove the cost of law enforcement onto the deserving criminals who make it necessary.
What do you think?
1 Comment »
Posted by Scott on August 14th, 2007 — Posted in Self-Defense Advice
Hundreds of thousands of children get mistreated each year by an adult with alcohol problems.
Alcohol diminishes judgment and causes people to lose self-control. That can lead to violence. It can cause an already violent or abusive person to become more violent or abusive, or it can cause a generally non-violent and non-abusive person to become violent or abusive.
Personally, I have found that most people who take alcohol do not become violent. In fact, most of them become nicer and more relaxed and social. However, some people get violent when they drink. I have noticed that alcohol often has the same effects on the same person almost every time they drink. In other words, a person who gets angry, confrontational, and/or violent when they drink will usually get angry, confrontational, and/or violent every time they get drunk.
To make matters worse, violent and angry people tend to drink alcohol more than less angry people.
If you notice that someone you know has a problem with alcohol and a risk of violence, you want to do something. If you know them well enough, you may want to explain your concerns and suggest that they reduce or eliminate their alcohol intake. Beyond that, you can talk to others and try to organize an intervention. Doing this when the person first becomes confrontational while drunk may allow the person to address the issue before it becomes a major problem. For example, you can help a confrontational drunk before he becomes a physically abusive drunk.
Of course, if an alcoholic physically hurts anybody, then contact the proper authorities, especially in the case of domestic abuse.
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Posted by Scott on August 10th, 2007 — Posted in Self-Defense Advice
Many issues worry me. For one, I know that many women, especially single mothers, have to walk to and from work, or to and from the bus stops to get to work. Many of these women cannot afford cars of their own. Sometimes they work long hours and have to walk home after dark and even in the middle of the night.
That poses great risk. Of course, the women know it, but have little choice since they need to support themselves and often time support their family.
As a society, we can try to help by reducing poverty and single-parenting. Individually, we can help by offering to ride them or walk them to work. If you know a woman has to walk around alone at night, offer to walk with her.
What do you think?
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