CRIME, INVESTIGATION AND SOCIAL RELEVANCE

UNIT 4 CRIME, INVESTIGATION AND SOCIAL RELEVANCE In this unit, after some revision activities, we look briefly at the safety of the citizen, considering the responsibilities of the police to investigate crime. The unit also highlights the social pressures which the police find themselves under and some of the factors which lead to successful (or unsuccessful) results. The race issue- from the troubled times of the 1950s and 1960s in the USA and in modern Britain- is one that should be taken into careful consideration by anyone studying crime in contemporary European or American society. The bombing of a Jewish Temple in Atlanta, Georgia in 1958 and of the Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, may not seem to have much to “teach” the contemporary police officer. However, the issues involved were and are highly complex and all-too-relevant, as the 2000 case involving the murder of a young Nigerian boy in London shows. On a different level, the FBI investigation of fraud connected with murder underlines the fact that more “white-collar criminals are turning to violence to achieve their ends.” Exercise 1 Procedures for criminal investigation and prosecution Complete the words to describe criminal investigation and prosecution procedures 1 . First, the police m…………… an a………… 2. The police t………… the sus…………… to the police station. 3. Perhaps the police h……………. an identity p………………… 4. The wit……………… may identify the suspect from an identity p…………… or from photographs in the data base – known as criminal rec……………. 5. To help identification of suspects, detectives use computers to construct “identi-kit” or “ph……………- kit” likenesses of the suspect. 6. In serious crimes, these photographic likenesses may appear on pos …………… which are displayed outside police stations or in public places. 7. They always int……………… the sus……………. 8. The police t………………… sam………. – fingerprints, head-hair, dirt from clothes, fibres etc. 9. The police l…………… a charge as soon as possible. 10. The suspect h……… the right to contact a l ………… 11. The police either rel………… the defendant on bail or, in more serious cases, they t……………… the defendant before a mag………………. to hold the defendant on r…………. 12. In the court proceedings, the mag…………………… . h…………… the evidence alone in less serious cases. 13. In more serious cases, there is a jud……………… who hears the evidence. Again, in more serious cases, there is a ju………………., usually consisting of 12 members. The ju …………………….reaches a v…………………………… after hearing all the ev………………………… . 14. In English law, there are only 2 possible v……………… - “Guilty” or “ Not Guilty”. 15. If the v……………. is guilty, the court (judge or magistrate ) p…………… sen…………. 16. The sentence for off………………… is different according to the nature of the offence, summary or indictable (petty or serious) ( USA ; misdemeanor or felony). 17. The jurisdiction of the courts is diff………… acc……………… to the nature of the offence, too. 18. Prisoners who are given cus…………………………. sentences may be sent to “open” or closed prisons. 19. The first category of prison is reserved for prisoners who have comm……………… less serious offences. 20. “Closed” prisons are for criminals who have comm____________________ serious offences. 21. Some offenders may be h______________ in “solitary confinement” if they are at risk from attack by other prisoners. For example, offenders in child abuse or sex crimes involving children. 22. The death penalty or “cap …………. punishment” does not exist in Britain but is still used in many states of the United States. 23. Many prisoners are entitled to apply for par……………… after having served a certain number of years of their sentence. 24. If the par…………… board (committee) considers the prisoner is not a risk or danger to the community, he may be released “on par ………… ”. He will have to report to a “par…………….” officer who is usually a “prob……………………officer”. Exercise 2 Sentence transformations Rewrite each of the following sentences to mean the same as the sentence printed before it. Use the words given. Two EXAMPLES are given. EXAMPLE: You will end up in trouble! Behave yourself! If …………………… ANSWER: If you don’t behave yourself you will end up in trouble! EXAMPLE: Would you like me to call the police? Shall ………………………………? ANSWER: Shall I call the police? 1. My advice to you is to call the police. I think you …………………………………………………………………… 2. The policeman told us to fit new locks on all our doors and windows. He suggested …………………………………………………………………. 3. The thief didn’t wear gloves so he left a lot of fingerprints. If the thief ………………………………… ………………………………………. 4. Thieves broke into our house when we were on holiday. Our house …………………………………………………………………… 5. Please come to the conference! I’d be grateful ………………………………………………………………… 6. No, Jerry definitely didn’t steal the jewels. I had the only keys with me. Jerry couldn’t …………………………………………………………………. 7. The police informed the reporters that the number of crimes had decreased. The reporters ………………………………….……………………………… 8. Recruiting more police would mean a fall in crime rates! If we …………………………………………………………………………… 9. It was impossible for them to complete all the paperwork on time! They ……………………… ………………………………………………… 10. If there is a road traffic accident causing injury the police are obliged to make a full report. The police ……………………………………………………………………………. Activity 1 Before hearing about a case in England, read the following text and discuss the issues involved. Race trail pricks Norway’s Conscience Andew Osborn, The Guardian Weekly, January 2002 Norway, which fancied itself to be free of the xenophobia which infects other Nordic societies, has been forced to confront a less palatable reality. The verdict is expected this week in a trial of three neo-Nazis accused of stabbing a black teenager to death, simply because they did not like the colour of his skin. Prosecutors demanded the maximum sentence of 21 years for one man. 19 years and 4 months for another and a lesser sentence of two and a half years for a third defendant. It is Norway’s first recorded racially motivated murder. The killing, which, in the words of the former Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, marked a “watershed’ in Norway’s history, happened in January 2001. Benjamin Hermansen, a 15 year-old boy of mixed Norwegian-Ghanaian extraction, was attacked only 500 metres from his home in an Oslo suburb. He died of multiple stabbing wounds and had received a severe kicking. Joe Erling Jahr, 20, one of the defendants had admitted stabbing “Benny”, but said he had “ just wanted to give him a scratch” and that the death was an accident. But another of the defendants, Veronica Andreassen, 18, told the court that she, Jahr and a third accused. Ole Nicolae Kvisler, 22, went looking for “foreigners” in their car and she picked out Benny Hermansen as a perfect target. Activity 2 Listening POLICE ACTION UNDER SCRUTINY IN DAMILOLA TAYLOR TRIAL LISTEN TO THE ACCOUNT OF DAMILOLA TAYLOR’S DEATH Complete the details in the box PERSONS - 6 passersby who ………………………… ……………………………………………. ……………………………………………. - 3 youths ………………………………… ……………………………………………. ……………………………………………. - Mr Mark Parsons ……………………… ………………………………………… ………………………………………… ………………………………………… - Maynard Cox George …………………… ………………………………………… ………………………………………… - Mohammed El- Nagdy………………………………………… ………………………………………………… ………………………………… - Jordan Fayemi…………………………………… ………………………………………………… ……………………………………… - Superintendent Rob Jarman ………………………………………………… ……………………………………… - Gloria Taylor ………………………………… ……………………………………………………… TIMES/DATES - four months ago (August 2000) …………… ……………………………………………… - 4:45 p.m ……… …………………………….………… ……………………………….…… - 5 p.m. ………………………………………………… ……………………………………… - “minutes later” ………………………… …………………………………………… PLACES - stairwell in the council apartment block ……………………………………………. ……………………………………………. - North Peckham Estate ……….……… .……………………………… ………………………………… - Oliver Goldsmith Primary School ………………………………………………… ………………………………… - Blakes Road ………………………… ………………………………………. ENVIRONMENT - housing estate (council blocks)………………. ………………………………………………… ………………………………………………… - street lighting ………………………………… ……………………………………………… ……………………………………………… - rubbish chute ………………………………… ……………………………………………… OFFENCES AND ANTI-SOCIAL ACTIVITIES - bullying ………………………………………………… ………………………………… - stabbing ………………………………………… ………………………………………… - stealing ……………………………………… . ……………………………………… . - taunts (racist or “You’re gay!”) ……………………………………… . ……………………………………… . - attack (assault) ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Activity 3 A Racist Crime? What’s your opinion? AGREE OR DISAGREE? 1. The crime had racist overtones. 2. The suspects were also victims of their environment. 3. The school should have taken the bullying of Damilola more seriously. 4. The police should have been more vigilant in such a high-risk area. 5. The local people should have been more aware of the need to protect their community. 6. The planning of such housing estates should be much more carefully done. 7. Such a murder emphasises the inherent racism in British society. 8. The fact that the family got an apartment from the Council shows the positive side of British society. 9. The family should have been more careful, knowing the risks of racist attacks in London. 10. The perpetrators should be kept in prison for life. 11. Public opinion will have been shocked by this murder. 12. The police will have a relatively easy task in finding the offenders. Activity 4 Consider the vocabulary items in the box. How many of these words would you consider to be absolutely essential “core vocabulary” for your own language progress? VOCABULARY 1. bleak: miserable, unpleasant, unattractive 2. to taunt: provoke or attack a person with words; abuse verbally 3. drenching: making very wet 4. to stem: stop the flow of (blood) 5. to piece together : to put the pieces (of the incident) together 6. to be slashed: to be cut through very badly 7. to settle (down); to adjust to a different way of life or different environment 8. bulldozed: to be made flat by bulldozers 9. to swear at someone : to use vulgar or obscene language at someone 10. to call someone names: to abuse someone verbally 11. to take something seriously: to consider something to be serious 12. to bump into: to meet someone by chance 13. a black eye: the wound resulting from a blow or punch in the eye 14. to sift through: to examine very carefully 15. rubbish chute: rubbish disposal system in the apartment blocks Activity 5 Now read the following text for more recent developments POLICE ACTION UNDER SCRUTINY IN DAMILOLA TAYLOR TRIAL Astrid Zweynert, Reuter February 27 2002 Police have suffered another blow when a judge cleared a defendant on trial for the murder of Damilola Taylor and threw out the evidence of the prosecution’s main witness. The judge criticised the police for breaking rules and offering inducements to their key witness, a 14 year-old schoolgirl, which had contributed to making her evidence unreliable. The defence said officers gave the girl clothes and mobile phones and told her she was more likely to get a ₤50000 newspaper reward if she said she saw the killing, as police believe she did. Justice Anthony Hooper said there was “a very real danger” that detectives persuaded the girl to tell lies when they offered her the inducements to convince her to give evidence in court. “No part of the evidence which is adverse to any defendant can be relied upon,” Justice Hooper told the jury at London’s Old Bailey. Even though the trial against the other three juvenile defendants continues, Wednesday’s ruling once again put the spotlight on police practices in high-profile cases. A government report in 1999 lashed the Metropolitan Police for its bungled investigation into the murder of black teenager, Steven Lawrence, who was stabbed to death by a gang of white youths in 1993 as he waited at a bus stop. His killers have never been brought to justice. Both cases sparked soul-searching in Britain and led to calls for a crackdown on gang violence and thuggery. Police chiefs say the force has worked hard to clean up its image, but the pressure to solve crime is acute as street crime in the capital rockets, with figures in January 2002 49% higher than a year before. Cortenay Griffiths, QC, a defence lawyer in the Taylor case, told the court that police had “manufactured” the schoolgirl to become their “star” witness because they could not afford another unsolved murder like that in the Lawrence case. Griffiths said criticism aimed at the police after the Lawrence enquiry had motivated officers to “break every rule in the book” in their handling of the schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons. The defence said officers had told the girl that she could help one of the defendants, who was her friend, by saying she saw the killing. According to the defence, she was also told that reward money offered by a newspaper would be “more guaranteed” if she said she had witnessed the murder. Defence lawyers produced evidence that she and her mother had run up a ₤ 4100 hotel bill before the trial and that police had bought her clothes, mobile phones and had paid ₤ 1000 of telephone calls to her friends. Police admitted to the hotel bills and to buying the girl clothes and giving her two mobile phones, but denied that this was meant to entice her into giving evidence at the trial. Exercise 3 Read the text and answer the questions: TRUE or FALSE or NOT CLEARLY STATED 1. The police offered rewards to the girl to give false evidence. 2. The judge stated that the police acted in a way that made the truth more difficult to identify. 3. Some of the main witness’s evidence may still be used in court. 4. Police inducements to the girl had included money payments to her and her mother. 5. The girl was related to one of the accused. 6. Police chiefs say that the image of the Metropolitan Police is not compromised as people are generally satisfied because of the falling crime rate. 7. Criticism of the police over their conduct in the Stephen Lawrence case has meant that police are under pressure to solve the Taylor case by any means. 8. The hotel bills involved friends staying with the girl. 9. The trial itself is now compromised and the case may be dismissed. 10. The police hope there will be a more successful outcome to this case than to the Lawrence case. 11. The girl has already been promised money by a newspaper for her story 12. One of the accused has been released as a result of the fact that her evidence is unreliable. Exercise 4 Find words from the text in the box which mean … inducements/ blow / adverse / soul-searching / rockets / run-down ambushed/ put the spotlight on / high-profile / bungled / lashed / entice / be relied on A. a setback; a reversal ( suffer a … ) B. to encourage someone by offering something; to tempt a person (Verb) C. extremely important, especially for the media D. attacked without any warning; (a surprise attack) E. harmful to ; against a person F. to focus carefully on something or somebody G. increases rapidly H. examination of people’s values, attitudes and priorities I. criticised very severely J. offers or rewards given to a person for information, help or support K. in a very poor condition; neglected L. badly handled or managed M. to be counted on; to be believed The Temple Bombing – Atlanta, Georgia, October 1958 Material taken from Melissa Fay Greene’s “The Temple Bombing”, (1997), Vintage Press, Random House, London. GROUP READING: Introduction THE TEMPLE BOMBING This activity relates to an incident in Atlanta, Georgia in October 1958. There are 4 different texts. The class should be divided into students who read text A, who read text B, who read text C and those who read text D. Students should use dictionaries to deal with unknown words. After reading ONE text and answering the questions, students should then form into groups of 4, with a combination of A, B, C, and D “text-readers”. The 4 students should exchange and complete the information by means of SPOKEN reports about the part they had read. In this way, all students should have knowledge about all aspects of the case without necessarily having read all 4 texts. This may be done at a later date, as a homework assignment or for self- study. TEXT A THE ATLANTA POLICE FORCE It was a widely respected police-force, an award-winning police force. Murders were solved, speeding autos were apprehended, drunks and transients were dealt with, order was maintained. In the 1950s, the secret of exposing wrongdoers lay not primarily in the retrieval of microscopic evidence from a crime scene (although the FBI was making rapid strides in matching bullets to gun types and Detective W.K. Perry solved a rape case in 1957 by matching pubic hairs and underwear fibres). The emphasis was on knowing about people’s characters – the ability to spot a “bad apple”, to recognise suspicious behaviour, to make out an alibi as “not holding water” and the ability to break a suspect under interrogation and pressure. Good, upstanding moral character radiated from the top- from Mayor Hartsfield and from Chief of Police Jenkins and from all the clean-cut, straight-arrow, square-shouldered police officers on the force – white and black- because the force had been integrated under Hartsfield and Jenkins since 1948. Social deviants in the community stuck out like the proverbial “sore thumb”, especially in Atlanta. Here, the city’s civilized acknowledgment of the Supreme Court’s ruling on integration was being implemented at the highest levels. Elsewhere in the South, mayors, police chief, city councillors were cutting themselves loose from the rule of law. While long lines of social misfits followed their example. Community leaders ignored the federal courts and the directives from Washington – it was like opening the doors of the insane asylum! Klan-robed trash paraded through the streets, they bribed and accepted bribes from public officials and knew themselves to be untouchable. But in Atlanta, the names of the trouble-makers were known, appeared on the police chief’s desk and the police patrols were instructed to drive slowly through certain areas looking for trouble. Text A Answer the questions by choosing the best alternative , a, b, c, or d. 1. The Atlanta police force was a) corrupt and inefficient b) racist and intolerant c) competent and capable d) linked to the Ku Klux Klan 2. Police investigative work in Atlanta relied very much on a) forensic accuracy b) lucky “breaks” c) FBI –provided data d) basic psychology and experience 3. Social deviants (potential lawbreakers) in Atlanta were a) concealed by the police b) kept under surveillance c) allowed to cause trouble without fear of punishment d) discouraged by the Klan and other white supremacist groups. 4. The situation in Atlanta was a) quite different from other cities in the South b) much less tolerant than other places c) about the same as most cities in the Southern states d) extremely tense with Klan leaders in control 5. The City leaders and officials in Atlanta a) were known for their corrupt practices b) had a high moral code c) rejected Washington’s directives d) were in the pay of the Ku Klux Klan TEXT B THE MAIN SUSPECTS At the top of Police Chief Jenkins list of suspects in the Temple bombing were the men arrested that summer for the anti-Semitic picketing of the newspaper trial. (The Constitution had been charged with publishing anti-Jewish statements and was found guilty.) George Bright, Chester Griffin, Luther Corley all members of the white extremist organisation, the National States Rights Party (NSRP). The Atlanta police moved towards locating, detaining and questioning these men. But the FBI had earlier gone a step further than the Atlanta police. They had had an informant within the NSRP almost from the beginning. George Bright had been suspicious of informants infiltrating their group and he was right in his suspicions. L.E. Rogers –a vulgar, overweight, out-of-pocket, unskilled janitor services man. He was an FBI spy- or in the language of the day- a sneak. He had joined both the NSRP and the KKK for the purposes of relaying information to the FBI- he had done it, according to his own high-minded statements, for the highest motives of citizenship. Meanwhile he earned $50 to $75 for each report and had earned $1,150 by October 1958, filling the FBI files with reports of discussions such as the one in May 1958, where the NSRP members’ talk was of shooting down Jews in the streets. The FBI therefore concurred with the Atlanta Police Department, contributing three more names: the brothers Richard and Robert Bowling, known since boyhood for trouble-making and experimenting with explosives, and who had been spotted recently in the company of some of the South’s most dangerous extremists. TEXT B Answer the questions by choosing one of the alternatives a, b, c or d. 1. The Atlanta police a) had no really clear suspects b) did not know of the extremist activities c) was fairly sure who was involved d) knew all the suspects at once 2. The FBI informant was a) motivated only by high moral principles b) claimed he was acting only for the good of the country c) open about his financial reasons for being a spy d) a man of good character and education 3. The NSRP members were a) totally unaware that there might be a spy among them b) aware of the possibility that they were being spied on c) aware of Rogers’ role but were feeding him false information d) able to identify Rogers easily 4. NSRP meetings were a) harmless and innocent b) only social occasions c) full of racial hatred and extremist ideas d) taken over by the Ku Klux Klan for their own purposes 5. The Bowling brothers were a) unknown to the police and FBI b) already in the files c) not known for extremist opinions d) generally considered harmless TEXT C ONE SUSPECT APPREHENDED On Monday 13 October 1958, the day after the bombing, Atlanta police detectives were sent out by Police Chief Jenkins to arrest the suspects. Robert Bowling was apprehended without incident, but Chester Griffin and Richard Bowling had disappeared. The moment that Griffin learned of the bombing- on the morning of the bombing-, he guessed that he would be the target of a massive manhunt and had taken off. He had gone to Stone Mountain in search of James Venable, the Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Klan, who had represented Griffin and the others when they were arrested for picketing the Constitution trial. “ Knowing the warped minds of the FBI, the Atlanta police, the Anti-Defamation League and the Atlanta newspapers, I well enough anticipated what lay in store for me. They had already broadcast that regardless of whether I was guilty or innocent, they were going to come over and try to pin anything that happened on me. So, that’s why I drove out to Stone Mountain and tried to get in touch with Mr Venable.” But Venable was out. Griffin delayed returning home. “I decided the best thing to do was to lay low and try to get in touch with my attorney first thing bright and early on Monday morning,” he said later. [...]... Point and saw a show and then I came back to Atlanta and caught a cab and went over to Highland Theater and I saw it was the same one I had already seen, so I just stayed around that drug store at the corner of Highland and Greenland until the show at the Plaza was due to come on, and finally around eight o’clock, I went on to that show and it was a long one and it was about 11:30 before I got out and. .. home, there were 2 FBI men and a city policeman who surrounded me and they didn’t … they tried to prevent me from paying the taxi operator and it was necessary to shove them out of the way before I could do so I hollered for my brother so he would know what was happening and do something about it, and I demanded that they show me a warrant for my arrest which they did not have and they commenced questioning... there and arrest him,” said Perry, later the chief of homicide “We got up there and he had a chain link fence right up against the sidewalk and the gate was closed He had a large front yard to his house and he was on the porch I told him I had two uniformed men with me as well as my partner I started to open the gate and he told me not to come in the yard He was real arrogant And I told him who I was and. .. name and the dog started running towards the gate Well, I knew I was going in that gate, so I off and told him “When that dog gets to this gate, I’m going to kill it.” So, I pulled my gun and the dog stopped just before it got to the gate He hollered at him and he stopped, because I would have shot him.” “ But anyway we went on in, and he had a picture of Hitler over the mantle with little electric candles... Baptist Church, killing 11 year-old Denise McNair and 14 year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins and injuring 20 others May 11 1965 FBI memorandum to director, J.Edgar Hoover concludes the bombing was the work of former KuKluXKlansmen, Robert E.Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash and Thomas Blanton Jr - 1968 FBI closes its investigation without filing charges - 1971... laboratory technicians were flown in from Washington Police departments in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee opened their bombing files to the Atlanta police Atlanta detectives were paired with FBI agents to visit hotels, and railway, bus and air terminals; they set up roadblocks on Peachtree and questioned drivers; and knocked on doors in a block-by-block search of the area around the Temple On Monday,... - 1993 Birmingham-area black leaders meet with FBI, and agents secretly begin new review of the case February 7 1994 Cash dies July 1997 Cherry interrogated in Texas; FBI investigation becomes public knowledge October 1998 Federal Grand Jury in Alabama begins hearing evidence May 2000 Blanton and Cherry surrender on murder indictments returned by grand jury in Birmingham April 10 2001 Judge delays Cherry... amateur tends to set the fuse so that only one or two sticks explode and the rest just scatter.” That “knowledge” narrowed down the field of suspects to several thousand army veterans and munitions experts! Activity 6 Read the details of an “old” case with a fairly recent end result! Church Bombing Case at a Glance Important dates in the investigation of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church... uniformed officers and his partner b) alone c) with agents from the FBI d) through the local sheriff 2 Allen had a) locked himself in his house b) opened fire with a gun when Perry appeared c) given himself up immediately d) tried to intimidate the officers 3 Allen’s personality seems to have been a) rational and reasonable b) provocative and aggressive c) totally crazy d) weak and submissive 4 The... might have happened would have happened if modern FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agents (ATF) … had visited the scene had had better equipment Exercise 5 Complete with a suitable modal form If modern FBI and ATF experts had visited the Temple on October 12 1958, they (1) (recover) chemicals, gunpowder, fuse fragments, footprints and tire markings Within a few weeks, they (2) (know) . Highland and Greenland until the show at the Plaza was due to come on, and finally around eight o’clock, I went on to that show and it was a long one and. UNIT 4 CRIME, INVESTIGATION AND SOCIAL RELEVANCE In this unit, after some revision activities, we look