sunnykerr

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There will always be those who try to abuse the system for their own benefits.

Just yesterday, yet another black man walked off death row after spending 30 years waiting to die for a crime he never committed.

The thing about rape, though, is that it remains under-reported. Which doesn't mean that everyone who claims they were raped was. Of course not.

But we're also talking serial rape allegations here.

Innocent until proven guilty, for sure, no matter what I'm about to say.

The thing of it is, it gets a little harder to believe it's a plot to tarnish the guy's name when the number of allegations against him go up.

And, judging by the headlines alone, it seems like there was a whole investigation to find a serial rapist based on actual evidence in this instance.

So, unless there's been the kind of fiddling with evidence you see in movies... or this guy has a twin brother walking around...

Innocent until proven guilty.

Subject

Another problem with these cases is that while one or more of the victims may have made the story up it could damage the cases of those who are truly victims. The social media evidence against the girl who claimed to be pregnant seems pretty genuine according to the article. Still that doesn't mean the other accusations were false.

I guess the main problem is how much people are stupid. Like the movie in a Men in Black said " A person is smart but people are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it" When hearing something especially through social media was assume guilty most of the time. A sort of mob like mentality we may not even be aware of can set in.

There was a clip from a talk show I saw. Where three men came on who were accused of rape and this was after the fact the girl admitted that she lied about it. Still the people in the audience didn't believe they could trust them because they still may have done it. Even though the victim admitted to have had lied about it.

sunnykerr

I completely agree that people's general stupidity is a problem.

The quote from Men in Black about mob mentality is a good example of why it's better to form one's own opinion and, I would add, to distrust social media on principle. The talk show is another example of how fallible public opinion can be.

But if the conclusion we're meant to draw here is that one must never trust accusations of rape, then I would take exception to that.

Again I would argue that there's a difference between one woman accusing three men of rape for the benefit of a TV experiment and an arrest made in a serial rapist case. Besides, one must always distrust social media and mob mentality, but the point of a trial is to have a very specific number of people examine actual evidence of a crime.

We can always warn against rushing to judgment, but hopefully we're not arguing that people should never be arrested for rape.

Sunrise at Midnight

A perfect example of rush to judgement is from what happened in Ferguson, when it came out in the final report that the Hands up, don't shoot claim never happened, but social media and even news outlets spread it like a wild fire and well we all saw what happened with that. It's no longer facts first, it's who can say it first, facts later.


Totally with you on the rape thing, I'd hope any report would always be taken seriously, investigated and proper actions taken, if that happens, it should easier to see a false claim from a real case.

i never learn

Michael Slager Charged With Murder of Walter Scott in South Carolina - NBC News

here is the unedited video of walter scott's murder.

the heartless, pos cop will probably still get off on murder charges too. what a sad, pathetic world this is.

canflam

No. I think he'll do at least some time, because there's a video of his actions that was released. Lots of news lately.

Here's the latest in the Aaron Hernandez case.

Also here's another sad story. This 1 in New Jersey.

100 Year Man Allegedly Kills 88-Year-Old-Wife , Then Commits Suicide, Prosecutors Say

sunnykerr

So I totally thought eveyone would be buzzing about the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev verdict.

Shows what I know, huh?

Subject

Well, it's not like I thought they would find him innocent.

Heard and saw the video of the police shooting. As a man of color and citizen of the US I know that we are supposed to "trust" the police but with things like this and so many other news and non-news worthy event. Umm... no. The fear is real. Just as I would want to help a kid lost in the store or a park. Yet, as a man I know the chance of someone thinking you are trying to abduct the child is very high.

I still get looks on occassion for walking in the store with my little sister. I'm 28 and brown and she's 12 and white. Most people don't say anything but I still get a few looks like he shouldn't be with that girl.

A few months ago I was stopped leaving at Walmart (while pushing the cart) and asked for my receipt. I told them I didn't have it that my mother did who was walking out ahead of me. They read the receipt and told her that it was policy because I had a lot of 12 pack of pop (we had 4) Went there a few days ago and notice that a couple of other mexican men were being stopped and asked to shown receipt by a different employee. Maybe they had too many chips or something..

Chris Rock is currently photographing all the times he gets pulled over in 2015. So far I think it has been 3 or 4 times...

I myself am white/mexican/black/native american (my grandma says I look middle eastern with my beard and fav hat).... and male so everytime I get a look it's almost impossible not to consider being discriminated against.

i never learn

there was video of eric garner's murder, but his killers weren't charged.

as a matter of fact...

Man Imprisoned After Filming Eric Garner’s Death, Refusing to Eat, Rat Poison Found in Jail Food | The Free Thought Project

sunnykerr

Yeah, there are jurisdictions where it's illegal to film police officers while they're doing their jobs.

We had a similar-ish situation here (not comparing the crime committed by the cop here) where a police officer arrested someone who was drinking alcohol on their stoop and the arrest was so violent that the arrest was eventually invalidated. Like, the guy never resisted the arrest, but the cop thought it was a good idea to beat him up and choke him.

But, originally, the person who had filmed the arrest was also arrested, because it's illegal to film a police officer in the exercise of their function. In this incident, the person who was arrested was white and the person filming was an Arab woman.

Subject I can't imagine what it's like to be a black man in the United States. So, my sympathies.

I do know that, here, you wouldn't be getting strange looks for being black, though there's plenty of evidence of racial profiling by the police. You would be getting strange looks if you were a woman wearing a hijab, or a niqab, though.

That was actually why the woman who filmed that arrest I spoke about was initially reluctant to come forward. Because she wore a hijab, she assumed that she'd be discriminated against. Because that does happen a lot here.

canflam

Well some police are having to wear body cameras though on duty. ''Good'' cops like having body cameras apparently as they help defend against unfound citizen complaints.

i never learn

in the united states, it's only illegal if you are interfering with police work, lol, or living in a state that requires you to get the person(s) consent to audio record. new york does not have this law. also, it's perfectly legal to take photographs no matter the scenario. plus, no cop can demand to search your phone without a warrant, nor delete anything on your phone... EVER! but since when does the law live by/follow the law? =/

baelfire24

I can't believe that somebody is raising money for the cop that shot a man in the back.

GoFundMe shuts down fundraising page for killer cop but separate campaign still up and running (but only raises a few hundred dollars of $5,000 goal)

Bec =)

I'm sorry, but can anyone find news article involving a Hispanic/Latin American or Asian American victim? Because I grew up in a town where Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans (including West Asians) were the second and third most common ethnic group after White Americans. So, naturally, even though I am a White American I still feel passionate when it comes to the Hispanic and Asian populous.

It's pretty ******** obvious he would be found guilty!

The issue now, and what has been the issue since his arrest back in 2013, is whether or not he will get the death penalty. As some witnesses to the explosion said, it's a death sentence either way.

I, personally, think he should suffer a worse fate. But I will not say what that is as I don't want to get in trouble!

sunnykerr

I live six hours north of Boston. So, forgive me for thinking the trial was news worthy. I didn't realize it had to be shocking in order to be news.

I also didn't realize that any/some/all U.S. jurisdictions say it's okay to film cops. I come from a land where that's apparently not the case and, from reading a lot of U.S. news, I've mostly come away with the impression that many things can be different from one jurisdiction to the next.

I don't know how I feel about body cameras on cops.

On the one hand, it does feel like the fastest way to stop any and all arguments as to "what happened." On the other hand, sometimes what you see is subjective and context is everything. Cameras can obviously show a lot, but they don't show everything.

It's like the so-called "CSI effect" on jury trials wherein apparently jury members are demanding more and more that bulletproof evidence be submitted in order to find someone guilty, when that's not always possible to have.