Essay, Links, and Errata
Riding the Raid
So as you may or may not know, I am a member of the Raiding Party. Which means I post once a month over at Sarah Hoyt's blog, and under her blog are the Huns, commenting. Hence Raiding Party for those of us who regularly guest there. I tend to write a paper for her blog, rather than the loosey-goosey opinion pieces you see here on occasion, and this semester have been using actual papers I'd written for criminal justice class, editorialized, for that blog. Only... Raiding Party posts come out on Monday. We'd scheduled my post, a paper on Police corruption, and that Monday the Grand Jury decision on Ferguson happened.
The police corruption paper had nothing to do with Ferguson, it was an assigned topic, and if you read the piece, you'll see I'd aligned it loosely to the police situation south of the border comparative to ours. I was also far more concerned with legal organizational corruption... but it wasn't a good time to put that out in public. Sarah rescheduled it, and today's the day.
Watching the Watchmen
Before solutions to police corruption can be posited, it must first be defined, categorized, and fully understood. I’m only going to touch on this in the broadest of terms, as this could literally fill a book. I’m sure the commenters will have much to add, as well. Let me begin by pointing out that I know no bad cops. I’ve known a few that were very good indeed, and I would trust a cop, were I in trouble and in need of help. But as a woman, I would also be very very cautious being pulled over late at night on a dark road. That’s where we are, as a population. On the other hand, comparing our nation to, say, one a bit further south, our cops are paragons. So take this for what it is.
Corruption can exist at both an individual level, and at the organizational level. At the individual level, the corruption may range from the seemingly innocuous of accepting free coffee from local businesses, to the level of murder, drug dealing, and utter betrayal of the power entrusted to them. At the organizational level, the corruption may be tacitly legal, or knowingly illegal. With almost 19,000 separate police departments in the US, there is a lot of latitude for good cops, bad cops, and cops stuck in bad places.
Read More at According to Hoyt...
Obfuscation
Abstract and link for a paper I've been reading, will likely become a blog topic down the road when I have time to think.
ABSTRACT: Empirical evidence does not support the widespread belief that women are extremely unlikely to make false accusations of male sexual misconduct. Rather the research on accusations of rape, sexual harassment, incest, and child sexual abuse indicates that false accusations have become a serious problem. The motivations involved in making a false report are widely varied and include confusion, outside influence from therapists and others, habitual lying, advantages in custody disputes, financial gain, and the political ideology of radical feminism.
Horrifying Gift Idea #1
What to do with a dead rodent.
You've finally killed that pesky mouse that was terrorizing your kids and less-than-impressive dog or cat... but now what? I mean, it seems like a pretty long walk to take it out to the trash can. And after he was kind enough to jump-start your car you really don't want to toss it into the neighbors yard, either.
So why not make it into a lovely decorative piece?
