Posts Tagged ‘Murder’
Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder
Across the United States, violent crime in prison is an everyday reality, with inmates routinely exposed to assault, riot, rape and murder. Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder examines the culture of institutionalized violence through the events that led to one brutal prison murder. Utah State Prison surveillance cameras capture this disturbing real life account of the vicious stabbing of a black inmate – Lonnie Blackmon – by convicted murderer and white supremacist Troy Kell and his accomplice Eric Daniels.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5749037562192962462
Posted by hcdmedia
Friends of Amanda
The Seattle Times published an article today about the supporters of Amanda Knox, a 22 year old American female convicted of murdering her English roommate while on her junior year abroad in Italy. The group of supporters includes friends, scientists, and judges who claim that the recent verdict sentencing Knox to 26 years in prison is the result of a witch hunt. The trial has been the object of intense speculation in Italy since 2007. A West Seattle translator, Peggy Ganong, fears that the supporters of Knox who are campaigning and raising money on her behalf are uninformed and warmongering. Knox’s supporters accuse the Italian court of being anti-American. However much of the evidence her supporters have raise criticizes the Italian’s themselves, suggesting their forensic science and lawmaking is inferior to America’s.
And there are many who believe that Amanda Knox’s case has been overshadowed by the media’s perception of it. The perception of media has provoked the intense debate that has little connection to the case itself. Whether painted as an innocent American girl or seductive “Foxy Noxy,” neither seem to be fully accurate.
Read the full article here. More about Amanda Knox’s sentencing here.
UPDATE: Prompted by an article published in The New Yorker, the feminist pop culture blog Jezebel, posted a comparison between Amanda Knox’s case and the ongoing case of Roman Polanksi. The post questions whether celebrity is an advantage or disadvantage in these cases. It also offers criticism to those who blindly supports or demonize Amanda Knox knowing little about her or her case, while there is little support for non-celebrities who face unfair treatment in their cases.
Knox and Polanski became ’cause celebres’ to different people, for different reasons, but both now enjoy the benefit of supporters far beyond their own families and defense teams. Sadly, many people indicted in America and worldwide don’t even have that much support. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll be hearing a lot about both Knox and Polanski. We won’t be hearing about the countless men, women, and teens represented by overworked public defenders, who will be convicted during that time of crimes they didn’t commit, or given unfair sentences for crimes they did. The pressures of celebrity justice may sometimes work against famous defendants, but the pressures of racism and classism and unenlightened tough-on-crime-ism work just as steadily against the anonymous, and the problem that gets less media attention may actually be the more important one.
Read the full article here.
Posted by hcdmedia
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine – The Killers
This is a song about a man who is getting interrogated by the police about murdering his friend. In certain songs, the lyrics are unclear and the story could go in any direction. Here the meaning of the words ‘I swore I would never let her go’ are unclear.
We took a walk that night, but it wasn’t the same
We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn’t scream while I held her close
I swore I’d never let her go
Tell me what you wanna know
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
There ain’t no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
So come on, oh come on, oh come on
I know my rights, I’ve been here all day and it’s time
For me to go, so let me know if it’s alright
I just can’t take this, I swear I told you the truth
She couldn’t scream while I held her close
I swore I’d never let her go
Tell me what you wanna know
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
And then you whisper in my ear
I know what you’re doing here
So come on, oh come on, oh come on
There ain’t no motive for this crime
Jenny was a friend of mine
Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
Posted by hcdmedia
The Recession Behind Bars
Inmate Kenneth Hartman writes on Op Ed article in the New York Times about the recession’s effects on prisons and prisoners. He writes:
Prison is a world reflected in a looking glass…
Kenneth E. Hartman, the author of the forthcoming Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars, was sentenced in 1980 to life without parole for murder.
Posted by hcdmedia
Forgiveness
It is hard to imagine ever recovering from the trauma of having a loved one murdered. Some family members choose to heal their grief while calling for an end to capital punishment and retaliation.
Ryan Nixon lost his sister to a murder. Now he along with other family members of murder victims speak out against the death penalty. Ryan says:
My sister’s passing was tragic; it broke the hearts, and almost the bonds, of my family. I saw the hardest of men break down in tears. But, as there is always a silver lining to every cloud, instead of giving into the hatred in my heart, I opened it to allow forgiveness, love, and compassion to prevail.”
Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation is an organization of families of murder victims who are committed to reconciliation and ending capital punishment. To learn more visit the MVFR website.
Posted by hcdmedia