Personal Security » Crime

Happiness Is An Effective Crime Deterrent

Admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:22:38 +0000

A new study has revealed that happiness is an effective crime deterrent for adolescents. The report was co-authored by University of California - Davis sociology professor Bill McCarthy and UC Davis post-doctoral research Teresa Casey. In the report, "Get Happy! Positive Emotion, Depression and Juvenile Crime," the researchers found that adolescents who expressed happiness and well-being were significantly less likely to commit crimes and use illegal drugs.

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health funded the study, the largest of its kind, to conduct a survey of 15,000 seventh-to-ninth grade students, from 1995 to 1996. Typically, much data about crime is found using an e-discovery tool, but in this case the survey asked the students to tell if they had committed non-violent crime, of which 29 percent indicated that they had at least once. 18 percent had used illegal drugs at least once.

The researchers then looked for correlations between the level of happiness the students expressed and their involvement in crimes and drug usage. They found that happier students (Read More....)

Researchers Use Math And Technology To Track Crime

Admin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:27:07 +0000

A group of researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed an algorithm for tracking criminals based on the “digital trace” they leave behind in real time. Prof. Irad Ben-Gal, Dr. Eugene Kagan and Ph.D. student Aviv Gruber have come up with a way to use the digital traces that people leave behind as they move and interact with technology to catch criminals and strengthen homeland security.

The technique uses data from communication files along with the general data about the criminals to discern a pattern of movement and criminal activity. By aggregating information from emails, phone calls, and other data, the algorithm analyzes the patterns and variables and comes up with reasonable conclusions about possible locations of suspects and predictions about future movement.

The tracking system outputs a probability map that highlights zones where the suspects, criminals, terrorists, or (Read More....)

The United States Leads The World In One Unfortunate Statistical Category: Crime

Admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:40:36 +0000

The United States leads the world in one very unfortunate statistical category - crime. The truth is that we are not nearly as "moral" and "law abiding" as we would like to think that we are. In fact, more crimes are committed in the United States than anywhere else in the world, and more people are in prison in the United States than anywhere else in the world. The U.S. is experiencing an epidemic of murders, rapes and robberies, and that is only going to get worse as the U.S. economy continues to come apart. That is one reason why so many people are stocking up on home and personal security equipment. When people are desperate, they will do things that they never even imagined that they would do. As more people lose their jobs and lose their homes an increasing number of them will turn to crime.

The following are some really sobering statistics about crime in the United States....

*There are nearly 12 million crimes committed in the United States every single year. That is by far the worst in the world. No other country has more than about 6 million reported crimes per year.

*There are currently over 2.2 million people in prison in the United States. The U.S. leads the world in the number of prisoners and in the percentage of the population in (Read More....)

U.S. Government Reports: Prison Rape Has Reached Epidemic Proportions

Admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:47:13 +0000

Do you think that federal prison is a safe place to be? Well, according to a shocking new report from the inspector general of the Department of Justice, rape and sexual abuse of inmates by staff members in U.S. federal prisons has doubled over the last eight years. This does not even take into consideration the rape of prison inmates by each other, which has reached epidemic proportions. The new report issued by the inspector general of the Department of Justice found that there were 257 cases of sexual abuse of prisoners by U.S. federal prison staff there were referred for prosecution, but only 102 of those cases actually were prosecuted. Of the 102 cases that were actually prosecuted, 83 resulted in convictions.

Overall, there were allegations of sexual abuse of inmates by prison staff at all but 1 of the 93 prison sites under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Prisons. In addition, there were allegations of sexual abuse of inmates against staff in every single occupational category except human resources.

So what does this all mean? It means that this is a very, very widespread problem.

The rape and sexual abuse of prisoners by U.S. federal prison staff is a systemic problem and (Read More....)

Marijuana, Cocaine and Heroin Legalized In Mexico

Admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:05:05 +0000

Mexico has decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Does anyone actually think this is going to reduce the massive drug violence in Mexico? Do you feel safer now? This stunning new law has established maximum "personal use" amounts for a large number of drugs that were previously illegal, including LSD and methamphetamine. For example, the legal limit of marijuana for "personal use" under the new Mexican law is 5 grams. According to experts, that is about enough for four "joints".

So now that addicts do not have to fear going to jail, is this going to help solve Mexico's drug problem or is it going to make it worse?

Are the drug gangs that are terrorizing northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. suddenly going to stop selling drugs?

Hardly.

If anything, this will make things worse, because now people in Mexico will not be afraid to buy drugs, so there will be more of a market.

As if the gang problem in the U.S. and Mexico was not bad enough already.

U.S. authorities claim that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs inside the United States. According to federal statistics, (Read More....)