Tweets and Threats: Gangs Find New Home On the Net 144
cold fjord send this quote from the Associated Press:
"Social media has exploded among street gangs. ... They're turning to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to flaunt guns and wads of cash, threaten rivals, intimidate informants ... sell weapons, drugs — even plot murder. 'What's taking place online is what's taking place in the streets,' says David Pyrooz, an assistant professor at Sam Houston State University. ... 'The Internet does more for a gang's brand or a gang member's identity than word-of-mouth could ever do. It really gives the gang a wide platform to promote their reputations. ... On the crime-fighting side ... this activity ... is transforming how police and prosecutors pursue gangs. Along with traditional investigative techniques, police monitor gangs online. [A] Cincinnati police officer who trains other law enforcement about social media says by the time gang members appear in court, authorities have a dossier of their words and videos online that challenge how they want to portray themselves. 'If a guy goes in and says, "I'm a good person. I've never held a gun," we can say, "Look at what he puts out about himself on social media. Here he is with a gun."'"
Online footprints nearly reach fingerprint parity (Score:5, Interesting)
Online footprints nearly reach fingerprint parity
And, since the criminals won't stop at just one crime, they can even turn around and cyber-bully the officer who took them down
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/alleged-gang-member-cyberbullies-cop-on-facebook.html [nymag.com]
-- just another casual observation on why gang members can sometime gather notoriety for being as dumb as regular social media users.
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I know "bullying" is the new magic pass-phrase, but is that really bullying? He threatened the cop and got arrested for his trouble. Nobody seemed "bullied" to me.
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As a general rule, anything in which the word 'cyber' appears can be dismissed. This has been the case ever since popular misuse of the term 'cybernetics' caused its meaning to shift.
Laugh (Score:2)
Not the sharpest tools in the shed are they.
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Not the sharpest tools in the shed are they.
These are gangstas. Gangstas are poor, urban, uneducated, semiliterate, illmannered young black men who were raised by bitchy, morbidly obese single mothers, who think being a street thug is cool, and have terrible marksmanship. They don't wear belts and let their pants hang off their flabby asses because their homies in prison aren't allowed to have belts and they think prison is something to celebrate. They get teardrop tattoos to mourn the homies who got shot but it doesn't occur to them that a better
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Sounds like someone is bitter he's not getting any Slot B action.
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That's what the military calls "gun fodder".
Re:Laugh (Score:4, Informative)
They get teardrop tattoos to mourn the homies who got shot
I was going to mod you down but then you had to go and make that comment about teardrop tattoos. Those mean you killed someone in prison and are not about their friends/hommies. Bangers pour out 40s and graffitti names to remember their homies.
What was that about liberals who don't know about the real world again?
PS Programs like SNAP, WIC and EBT generally reduce crime and you fools just cut it. Hope you have a good home security system...cause you might be meeting some of these fine upstanding citizens in the near future if you get your way too much longer...
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Is there an agreed upon tattoo code? I'd imagine there is a lot of national and even regional variation.
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There are some conventions over what various symbols mean. The tear drop means either they killed someone or someone they knew was killed.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2363815_identify-gang-tattoos-symbols.html [ehow.com]
Gangs and Their Tattoos: Identifying Gangbangers on the Street and in Prison [Paperback]
Bill Valentine (Author), Robert Schober (Illustrator)
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it's like any other standard, they got 1234 one of them.
maybe just easier to not put tats on your face.
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Hope you have a good home security system...cause you might be meeting some of these fine upstanding citizens in the near future if you get your way too much longer...
12 gauge should do it.
Re:Laugh (Score:5, Insightful)
"PS Programs like SNAP, WIC and EBT generally reduce crime and you fools just cut it."
It does and it doesn't. WIC, EBT and SNAP benefits single mothers with children and other disabled people. But very often those services often help nurture the "ghetto family". Basically an irresponsible woman has multiple children from multiple men. She finally has enough kids to live comfortably without a job and eventually a man (often one of her baby daddy's) sees the perfect opportunity: free living! Since the woman will settle for any man willing to put up with her and her kids the leech will happily move in to her welfare paid apartment and eat welfare paid meals. So he gets a nice free ride. And with so much free time on his hands he can no go out and mingle with the other respectable family men in his neighborhood. Often the man needs a little money on the side and knows damn well that work is for suckers. So he turns to dealing drugs and other criminal activities to give him some pocket money. He of course is still screwing more women on the side but he doesn't care because he has his sugar momma waiting at home. What happens when his sugar momma's welfare money dries up? Well duh! He has been screwing women the whole time and has a trail of kids. One of those women is bound to have a brood of young children he can leech off of. Plus he can wave around a bit of his ill gotten cash to lure her in. So he leaves the now former sugar momma for another and the cycle repeats.
Some people will find this racist. It isn't. Its a sad truth that no one wants to hear. So they plug their ears while shouting racism! And I have witnessed it first hand through a few families I know. Its sad when you see children growing up in a household where their siblings all have different men who aren't around and no one is actively encouraging them to break the cycle. Everyone is uneducated and frustrated in life because they have nothing to show for it. The men often only have their street cred to show off which keeps the cycle of violence going.
The solution is simple: education. Though this has to start at home with at least one caring parent. And often the parents are so ignorant and uncaring that they are useless.
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Intelligent people call it "black culture".
Black people call it "keepin it real". (Remember the negress with the popular EBT "swiping" song?)
Libtards call it "racist" with their fists balled up and crocodile tears squirting out the corners of their eyes.
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"Libtards" or as I like to call them: white middle class people riddled with white guilt who have no clue about black and Hispanic ghetto culture. They don't know any black or Hispanic people save for a few coworker acquaintances who unlike the majority of black and Hispanics, got an education because their parents gave a damn. They are always the first ones to cry racism in the most condescending and self righteous manner possible when they clearly have no business. But they do it anyway because it makes t
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Your position, essentially, is that poor, black people are morally and intellectually inferior and they deserve to have shitty lives. But definitely not racism!
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"What, just because your argument is, "don't feed them, they'll just breed"?"
Where did I state that?
"Your position, essentially, is that poor, black people are and they deserve to have shitty lives."
Don't put words in my mouth. I never stated any of that and I never said only black people. You made that bit up. You also may want to re-evaluate what you think is racist because I can sit here and point out that your assumption is racist. You stated that blacks are morally and intellectually inferior. Did you
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Gotta love the ivory tower, smug liberal Slashdotters that are so numerous lately. Never actually being in a real ghetto and seeing real gangbangers
Do you think? (rhetorical question given the nature of your statement) What about trailer parks? Or have you failed to notice (the self-evident truth) that stupid has nothing to do with skin colour?
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Doesn't make it any less true
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Gangs are for losers that can't do anything for themselves.
Gangs are for people who believe they'll gain an advantage in a group. Some do.
Dogma, though, is for losers.
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The problem here is that those show-offs draws the attention of the law enforcement from the ones working silently. Some of the silent ones can be even more dangerous because you don't know who they are and where they will strike.
And if you have a show-off gang in an area it's easy to put down evidence that at least circumstantially indicates that gang.
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> The problem here is that those show-offs draws the attention of the law enforcement
> from the ones working silently. Some of the silent ones can be even more
> dangerous because you don't know who they are and where they will strike.
So...there's no problem then. The silent ones aren't drawing any attention because no-one knows they're doing it. The police won't know about it until, typically, someone tells them about it, at which point they'll know about it. Then again, the police are largely con
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And even if someone tells the cops about the low profile gangs the cops will have a hard time to isolate them. People had a hard time to believe that an animal like the platypus did exist even when presented with dead ones. An egg-laying mammal with a duck bill? Or the fictional criminal Keyser Söze. (or is he really a fictional criminal?)
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As one detective said: "Every dumb criminal is a failure of the education system"
There was something like 75% illiteracy in the prisons. These guys couldn't read or write, never mind actually figure out that CCTV cameras could record past events and replay them in the future. When the police used predictive analysis to determine future crime scenes, and staked out the joint, the caught criminals would claim they had been "set up".
That makes sense actually. (Score:2)
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I suppose the lack of teeth might be considered an asset, for some.
Is this really any surprise? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, is it? The Mafia used all the tools of legitimate business such double-entry accounting techniques and computers long ago to run their businesses. Just because these thugs are less classy than the Mafia doesn't make them any less willing to use modern tools.
But my concerns go beyond how the gangs are using these tools to do their dirty business. In the past, courts have outlawed gangs and ordered gang members to not associate with each other. Are these restrictions, restrictions which are constitutionally iffy, going to soon extend into cyberspace? Yes, they are criminal organizations and those who join them criminals, but does that necessarily mean that these people can never use cyberspace?
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"...less classy than the Mafiaâ¦"
Wow, that's saying something. I didn't think it was even possible to be less classy than the mafia.
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Mafia dons wear better suits and more tasteful bling than the "gangsta" wastes of skin.
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You are just as dead if killed by a crip for your car and shoes as you are by some low level mafia puke for not paying protection.
Yeah, but at least the last thing you see isn't some clown with his pants falling down.
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Mafiosos used to be known for supporting orphanages, schools, the Catholic church (which some still think denotes a certain amount of class, for some reason), protecting children (until they were old enough to take or become hookers), and eliminating the street hoods that were the face of crime to the average citizen. The settled arguments between neighbors and groups who couldn't afford to go to court and hadn't gotten satisfaction from the regular authorities. So yeah, they did have some class, at least
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So in other words, they were the Taliban.
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In the past, courts have outlawed gangs and ordered gang members to not associate with each other. Are these restrictions, restrictions which are constitutionally iffy, ...
AFAIK these only ever apply to parolees, which I don't see a constitutional problem with in principle.
These people must be terminally stupid.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Post-Snowden, even the most clueless moron must know that social media are under constant surveillance and that all said there is being recorded.
Re:These people must be terminally stupid.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm not sure these people even care about Snowden or even heard of him or the details of his exploits. They aren't the type of people to pick up a news paper or watch the evening news unless someone they know is in it. I'm not sure if that makes them morons, but it certainly doesn't help them not be one. But remember, many times in life it is better to be more on then off- especially when near the edge of a cliff.
Re:These people must be terminally stupid.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone who ever had some fingers in the organized crime, on either side of the fence, knows that there are things to avoid. Being the guy to pick up the money from a money laundering deal is not where you want to be, since it's the point where the police can actually get busy. Likewise, being the guy selling the drugs on the street ain't the best position in the drug train since that's where you're easy to grab.
And it's unlikely that being the social media guy for gangs is a very popular position unless you're planning to be a vital part to the federal prison system and job security for wardens. But someone's gotta do it, and some poor idiot will be doing it. Just like there's always some poor idiot willing to sell drugs or be the money mule.
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Other if they have a gun are assumed to be criminals and be shot on sight, or brought up on charges for nothing more than having a gun. And this is silly bec
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The NSA isn't concerned with street crime. Or crime in general. They can't use their vast powers for law enforcement, as that would mean revealing sources in court. Classified sources. At most they may take part in some 'parallel construction' techniques - sending a bit of off-the-record information to police that can't be used in court, but can be used to more easily obtain evidence that can, like telling them which car to stop for a 'random' drug search.
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I haven't heard of the NSA informing law enforcement organizations of anything in years, probably since Ronnie Raygun's time. The CIA and DEA on the other hand make sure to point out which cars NOT to stop so that their "confidential informant" (i.e. buddy who is giving them kickbacks) is left alone.
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Of course you havn't heard of it. That's the point. The NSA may or may not lend some support to law enforcement operations, but if they do then they'll be careful not to let the general public find out.
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In fact, they are known to inform the DEA, FBI routinely, but have the DEA, FBI, etc. commit perjury by "parallel construction". How this works is simple: The DEA, FBI, etc. make up a credible fairy-tale about how they could have gotten the evidence directly. Then they claim in court and under oath that the fairy-tale is the truth. As they are part of the police-state establishment, nothing happens to them for this highly criminal act.
As to how dangerous this is, just consider that the next step is to make
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Post-Snowden, even the most clueless moron must know that social media are under constant surveillance and that all said there is being recorded.
Posting something to the internet IS recording, whether or not the NSA or anyone else is looking at it in real-time.
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"Guns, Drugs and Money"...
Sounds like the American Way!
It's what we, as a nation, do best:)
More Reasons (Score:1)
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Could you expand on that claim a bit? The only people I can see "losing their liberties" over this are the thugs providing evidence by advertising their crimes on Youtube. You'll losing their liberties by conviction for their crimes and going to jail. You seem to think there is more to it than that. Could you provide some details?
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You won't need to give up any liberties. In order for these new found thug tactics to be effective, they have to be in the open which is about like taking an ad out in the news paper, placing a sign in your front yard or someone else's yard or something. There is nothing wrong with the cops reading the news paper or looking at billboards or even looking at your public postings on social media.
Legal question (Score:4, Interesting)
One thing I've wondered about of late is the reliability of evidence collected on the internet.
We've heard cases where someone was arrested because they admitted to something on Twitter [huffingtonpost.com], or had a picture of themselves doing something wrong on Facebook [about.com], and so on.
Absent any other evidence, is admission of guilt on the internet sufficient to convict someone in ideal circumstances?
Does anyone here with legal knowledge know the answer?
(I understand that you can get convicted of anything for any reason, and even for no reason, but I'm wondering about theory here. What's the situation, given an honest judge and correct representation?)
(And no, I'm not seeking legal advice on the internet since I'm not accused of a crime.)
Some examples of late: picture of teenager holding a beer (or holding a joint) leads to alcohol/drug charges, tweeting that you were driving drunk [ninemsn.com.au], and so on.
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Being a resident of Toronto, and having a mayor that has admitted in real life to smoking crack with known gangsters, no I would say admission of guilt alone is not enough. There has to be more specific evidence. Heck the police have a video of him smoking crack taken from a gang raid, and he's still running our city.
*I would point out that I have no issue with his crack use, just the lying about it, and his "zero tolerance" regarding gangs.
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INAL, but I do have some knowledge. As always you should seek the advice of a lawyer for sound legal advice.
The answer is, it depends. Having a video tape of yourself committing a crime, or that contains photographic proof that you are involved in some way (e.g. possessing stolen goods) will almost certainly be enough to provide probable cause for an arrest and investigation, and even an indictment. It may or may not be enough evidence to get you convicted depending on the circumstances and body of law.
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To expand on my previous comment....
I don't think you would want to have to explain away a video like these. They are well into slam dunk prosecution territory.
2nd Video of Baltimore Tourist being Stripped and Beaten [youtube.com]
Crazy Vandals destroy house but get their comeuppance! [youtube.com]
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More importantly, can the pictures be trusted in a world of Photoshop.
If it's one picture, it should be taken with a grain of salt.
My sister affectionately refers to my niece as "the little monkey." So I photoshopped giant monkey ears and some hair on her and sent it to my sister. Everyone laughed. But if you found it on my facebook, believe me, it wouldn't be evidence my niece is the missing link.
I could see it being "cool" to photoshop the equivalent of a scar face photo.
And maybe if someone was out to
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There has to be physical evidence. Having a video someone snort white powder up their snozzle, isn't going to be enough. You'd need a sample of that white powder to put in an evidence bag Then you have to prove that the evidence bag hasn't been tampered with. The only way to achieve that chain of events is to stake out a place with concealed cameras, have officers ready to make arrests and forensic technicians to gather all the evidence. Even then, all that work can be undone when the crime lab goofs up the
Sequel to the movie 'Gangs of New York'... (Score:1)
is 'Gangs of Facebook'.
Just doesn't have quite the same impact.
This just in... (Score:1)
criminals are still stupid, and its spreading.
Film at 11.
No, not all criminals are stupid (Score:3)
We only catch the dumb ones, the low-hanging fruit. The smart criminals, by definition are smart enough not to get caught.
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Or become bankers or lawyers.
time to ban groups with mob or gang in there name (Score:2)
time to ban groups with mob or gang in there name from the web and if so groups useing names with them in part will get banned even if they are not even a law breaking group.
Canadian version (Score:2)
Look at what he puts out about himself on social media. Here he is with a spork.
Old and not news (Score:4, Informative)
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It does have poor people with guns and that newfangled internet thingy in it. Perfect for preying on suburban fears and getting pageviews.
As Dr Johnson would have said: (Score:2)
Great News !! - dumb criminals = easy catch (Score:2)
Have no criminals learned from D(r)ead Pirate Roberts ?
The more you conspire in the open and don't cover your tracks(which is extremly hard) ONE link between you and your secret identity is busted.
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He had a good run though. Ran the internet's premier public drugs trading website for years before the law finally caught up with him. I think that's quite impressive. He should have quit once he was wealthy enough to never have to work again - taken his millions, destroyed the site and all evidence, emigrated and disappeared. He didn't know when to quit.
good person with gun (Score:2)
"I'm a good person. I've never held a gun,"
That juxtaposition suggests the speaker cannot imagine that good people can hold guns.
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All well and good.... (Score:3)
but... it seems to me a more effective strategy would involve...I dunno...maybe they should stop funding the gangs by providing them with the profitable drug market to draw from and buy their guns in the first place?
The police and their politician masters created the gangs....again. Just like they did back in the 20s.
The newest way to testify against yourself (Score:2)
Your social media information is public, even if you've specified "friends only." This makes it a treasure trove for any investigator.
While we're all in high gear about NSA surveillance, what about the greater likelihood of giving ourselves away by reckless use of our own personal information?
I think I got away with it (Score:2)
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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon/ [cbsnews.com]
He is referencing a comment Obama made and taking it to an extreme.
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He is referencing a comment Obama made and taking it to an extreme.
Nah, he's referencing a comment that Obama made, which the race baiters took to extremes, and those who are tired of it have flipped back on them.
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So are you trying to say there was a point to his idiocy other then making an ass of himself?
I mean otherwise, we are saying the same things, you just attempted to sugar coat it with some sort of admiration or something mixed with a bit of racism. Please explain your point a little more.
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Yes. And in court the defendant will present counter-evidence, including an alibi which may or may not be true. Showing that the defendant is a habitual liar and has lied about facts pertinent to the case means a jury will find his defense less credible. Its not evidence that he committed the crime, but it can counter their arguments. It may also show circumstantial evidence, such as the same make of gun.
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If your testimony is "I've never held a gun", then a photo you posted of yourself with a gun is then evidence, showing that you lied. It's very easy for a judge or jury to assume one lie means anything you've said can be a lie. And as others have said, perjury.
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You can try to make that argument. I doubt it would help at all, unless it had some amazing circumstances behind it.
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Lying is a crime now?
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Lying is a crime now?
It has to do with the sentencing guidelines.
However, if stupidity was a crime you'd be guilty as hell.
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It can be, depending on the circumstances. Among the possibilities are:
Perjury
Making False Statements
Giving False Information to a Police Officer
Fraud
There are no doubt others depending on the circumstances and jurisdiction.
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"Lying is a crime now?"
Yes, it can be.
http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perjury [http]
Re: That's nice, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
It can be but that wasn't the point of "affecting the severity of the sentence". Presumably, someone would have already have been convicted of a crime before being sentences. The person has an opportunity to say something to the court before the sentence is passed down. Often people will plead for leniency by downplaying their actions as un-ordinary or a special case or something and describe themselves as otherwise upstanding citizens who pose a benefit to society or having them serve time would create an extreme hardship for an innocent party. Most of the time, the lawyer will make this case but sometimes the convicted do it themselves. It goes to the character of the accused and a judge can sometimes impose less of a sentence if you persuade them you are a good person who made a mistake. This is also often the difference between a lawyer and a good lawyer- how well they can convince a judge of your good character can often get you by with a slap on the wrist compared to the maximum penalties.
What this allows is the police or the prosecution to step in afterwards and say, this is not true, see from his face book page, he is around guns all the time and talks about participating in criminal activities either he or people his associates participated in. Most of this would already be included or summarized in a pre sentencing investigation report but instead of asking your neighbors, you are telling the police directly what kind of person you are or want to be seen as.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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So, I do a bit of computer security research. I hammer on programs and OSs and make my own. I've gone on and on about how we should disband the NSA, and how it's just pointless scaremongering to get funds to suppress freedom, not protect anyone. Say they trace a compromise of government systems to my IP address. I've clearly got the know-how, and motive. Yet I'd stand up in court and say, "I would NEVER take such action against the government." It's the truth. With great power comes great responsib
Re: That's nice, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not stupidity that motivates them to show off AK's, pounds of weed and fuckloads of money. It's linked strongly to status, ego and hierarchy.
These are gangs remember. Their image is absolutely vital to their status. No-one is going to fear or respect you if you don't show off. If there's three or four big street gangs in a major city, you need to stand out and show yourself to be higher in the pack than the others.
Think of old school pimps and their massive chrome encrusted Impalas. Looking in from the outside, you might be tempted to say "you're fucking stupid, drawing attention to yourself like that". But that's the entire point. It's showing you, not someone else, is top dog around here. That you can protect your posessions, that you have enough status to drive such an outrageous car in a neighbourhood where it sticks out. Others don't touch it because they know who you are, you're that fucking important. No one is going to believe that you're shit if you drive a fifteen year old Saturn.
It's like a celebrity lifestyle in so much that it isn't enough just to be rich, you have to *show* that you are. Same with street gangs, it isn't enough to be bad ass, you have to demonstrate it. Gangs don't just work by their acts, they work by the way people percieve them.
They might be uneducated, but I wouldn't call them stupid.
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By and large, they don't become gangbangers because they got bored being rocket scientists.
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Re: That's nice, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
A while back I went to a cannabis site to look at pics of grow ops. There were all kinds of photos taken with iPhones with the EXIF data still intact.
Meanwhile these guys were regularly accusing each other of 'narcing' about their grows. They didn't get that it wasn't someone jealous over how tall their plants were, but that they were bragging their GPS coordinates to the public with every photo attachment.
If it's not legal, don't take pictures of it.
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P.S. Racism.
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In your Church example, if I was on the jury and that was the totality of the evidence, I would vote not to convict. That's because motive and means does not mean you did it. It suggests you did, but it is by no means "proof".
Brilliant logic. Unless.... what if, longshot, but, what if when the Church burns down the police come around to your house, and find you wearing smoke stained, petrol reeking clothes because your name came up in a web search of likely culprits?
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Lying is a crime now?
Just ask Martha Stewart.
Re: That's nice, but... (Score:3)
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Lying in court has always been a crime.
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An assistant professor is usually non-tenured but is on the tenure track. Generally it means you have like 5 or fewer years of experience in the job.
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I don't think you have the whole picture.
Crazy Vandals destroy house but get their comeuppance! [youtube.com]
Besides that, people of all races belong to gangs.
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Two really obvious possibilities occur to me. First, the photo could be entered as evidence after the statement, to rebut the defendant's testimony. The other is that public defenders (which is all most of these morons can afford) are far too busy to look through all the evidence for every one of the mountains of cases that are piled on their desk. (Overwhelming the defense with a mountain of last-minute evidence is a very old prosecutors trick.) Of course there's also at least one more possibility, tha