Copycat Crimes

I still have to say that I think copy cat crimes are an interesting phenomenon that is being blamed entirely too much on Hollywood and not enough on the ind9vidual. As John Douglas said, these people would find other ways to be violent if they did not have the influence from the movie in the first place. The fact that "Natural Born Killers" was so popular seemed fairly frighting to me though. How could so many people be so inspired by this one film? I think copy cat crimes are committed by disturbed people who lack enough creativity to come up with interesting crimes on their own. They in turn take the crimes depicted by other more imaginative people and copy them.

Homecoming Tailgating

The JMU football atmosphere is smaller than a lot of Division one schools but for the size of the institution I don't think we do all that bad. In the past students were able to get excited about the games, tailgate freely, and get loud at the games. Post spring 2010 all of that has changed.  The ability of students to tailgate has been reduced drastically with the institution of a police presence that outnumbers fans in student lots. On the other side of campus, conveniently the side that costs $1000-$1500 to park a car, the sight of a police officer is rare if non existent. The militant police presence has resulted in a calm game day atmosphere and a lack of student excitement in their university. The lack of media coverage has caused some fans to cover the matter themselves.
http://jmusportsblog.com/?p=1399 is a blog run by an alumni which calls out the administration for its ludicrous use of law enforcement to give tickets to students alumni and even parents this year. I feel if there is not formal attention called to the behavior of the administration there might soon be a revolt by the student body.

Obama's a Muslim!

Yes, sadly but truthfully i hopped on the Obama's a Muslim bandwagon back in 2007-2008. The bandwagon effect really took a hold of me and until i was actually able to do some research on the topic I believed that Obama was in face a Muslim. In my defense I did not nor do I associate Muslims with automatically being terrorists. I am in fact more scared that I know Obama is actually an extremest United States hating Christian radical. Initially I gave the man credit for running for high office with such a natural handicap as sharing the same religion as a group of terrorists that killed over 2,700 Americans in 2001. I think the department of information is a great idea, right with the rest of our current administration's insane big government ideals. Sounds like another great way to jeopardize the consumers right to choose for themselves. If I see something like a department of information I will be forced to start up a militia for the impending coup.

Boardwalk Empire

I'm not sure how many of you have HBO at home or access to it but they have come out with yet another great series. Boardwalk Empire is set in 1920 right at the institution of the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States. The show takes place in Atlantic City, NJ where the county treasurer uses prohibition to make money on the distribution and sale of alcohol. The attention to historical detail is pretty well done and makes the show worthy of view by its self. The issue of organized crime and extortion of the public is an issue that is relevant to the Justice Studies major and especially for the track A majors.

VA man killed in California

 In oakland California George Huggins, 24, and his girlfriend, 33-year-old Althea Housley, are charged in connection with the death of 45-year-old Jinghong Kang, who was visiting the Bay Area for a job interview from Fairfax, Virginia. The two took seventeen dollars from the man and then shot him according to prosecutors. This type of article follows the episodic format of news reporting, treating the story like a single event. The story makes not push for criminal justice policy change. This crime is entertainment because it is an act of violence that is played upon due to the randomness of the violence that would scare many. Many people do not experience this ever in their lives so the news brings the crime to them in this format.


http://www.ktvu.com/news/24998455/detail.html
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705800.html