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06 Mar 02 - 02:28 PM (#663814) Subject: News we never hear about? From: katlaughing While doing some research, I came across this site which lists articles about violence on college campuses. I am amazed at the amount of violent deaths and other acts of violence, as well as the number of incidents already reported for this year, alone, and also the fact that it seems none of this really gets much press. Am I missing something? Had any of you heard about any of these? Do I need to start reading the dang local rag, again? Related to the stories, is it more deadly to attend college these days? I really am amazed that we've apprarently not heard more about this. Thanks, kat |
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06 Mar 02 - 02:57 PM (#663837) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: wysiwyg Well, we don't hear about the local uni's rapes in our local paper, either, but when my best friend was the rape counselor for the local women's coalition, there were quite a few and I imagine there always have been. Male-to male violence, and female-to-female, is reported more often, though stilll not at the rate at which it occurs. The uni is like a town unto itself-- like military justice would obtain if the crime were on a base. So, in other words, Campus Police and school disciplinary processes usually try to take care of it all by themselves. I know of one case last year where a dorm rape occurred in an elevator, and the perp was quickly expelled. Unfortunately, victims are not urged to press criminal charges by university officials, all too often. So it falls to the women's groups to work with female victims on this point. ANd, unfortunately, the young women being away from home and all, they often do not get the support they might have gotten if home and parents had been close at hand, or friends they had grown up with for a lifetime. It's a hard one-- I am not sure how eager I would be to take a case to court in a strange town, myself, if I were that age-- although I do support prosecutintg these cases aggressively. The decision has to be left to the victims-- I just wish they had more support. ~Susan |
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06 Mar 02 - 03:01 PM (#663841) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: wysiwyg Ooops-- to clarify-- when I say these are or are not reported-- I meant specifically whether they are reported or not reported by the press. I am not referring to the under-reporting of the events themselves by victims, which of course is another factor complicating the assessment of campus safety. ~S~ |
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06 Mar 02 - 04:38 PM (#663893) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: SharonA ...and there were more stories I didn't link. I'm sure that every "local rag" website and local TV website for every locality will have its own collection of stories like these. You're right; this stuff doesn't get much national press, but it's a problem of national – if not international – proportions. |
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06 Mar 02 - 04:47 PM (#663900) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: katlaughing Thanks, Susan and Sharon. That's okay, Sharon, at the risk of offending, I'd say the many you already linked were plenty.:-) It seems appalling. I'd like to hear from anyone who may be on a campus, as teacher, student, etc. I am surprised there isn't a national violence on campus awareness day or some such! Thanks, kat |
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06 Mar 02 - 06:27 PM (#663939) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: SharonA kat: No offense taken! I only meant to give just a sampling of stories, to say that the stuff on the website is just a sampling of stories! |
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07 Mar 02 - 12:35 AM (#664020) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: Jim Dixon I hope you don't mind if I shift the subject a little here. There's a broader category of crime that I think goes underreported. And that is, any minor crime (theft or vandalism, say) that takes place in a college campus, hotel, shopping mall, airport, sports stadium, or other quasi-public place – specifically any place that employs private security guards. Why? Because when a minor crime occurs – say someone takes your wallet or purse, or someone "keys" your car – most victims report it to the local security guard, not the police. Then they ASSUME that they have done the equivalent of reporting to the police, and that the security guard will pass the information on to the police, but this is not the case. In fact, I suspect that private security guards don't so much prevent crime as lower the incidence of reported crime, simply by taking reports from the public and not passing them on to authorities. |
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07 Mar 02 - 09:23 AM (#664151) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: mack/misophist Having been a security graud, I can assure you that they have no more authority than the owner of the property would have, AT THE MOST. That much is not usually given. The orders are: "observe and report". If it's a police matter, consult policy, which will usually be "call the police". |
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07 Mar 02 - 09:53 AM (#664165) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: GUEST Does it all really need to get press? Most crime is not news that we need to hear. Why would we want a constant stream of woes? I can see the point of having crime statistics available on demand, but not the point of a push-feed list of crimes in the news - I would think the risk of desensitising us to crime outways any advantage to be gleaned from such reporting. Yes, it seems that the press reporting may be skewed - but I don't think covering all and every crime is the answer. |
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07 Mar 02 - 01:04 PM (#664303) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: Jim Dixon I agree with GUEST, to a point, but honestly, I think there are some crimes (and accidents) that people would try harder to prevent if they were given more publicity. Case in point: juvenile suicide. My wife is a teacher. (She's an elementary music teacher, and has hundreds of students, and doesn't usually get to know much about their personal lives.) One of her students shot himself in the head. He even told some of his friends at school he was going to do it, but they evidently didn't believe him, or didn't know what to do about it. My wife got the news at home by phone from the principal. We turned on the TV. There was a mobile news crew in front of the kid's house. The reporter said, "We have just learned there has been a shooting at such-and-such block of so-and-so street. Not much is known at this time. Stay tuned for details at 10 p.m." We watched at 10 p.m. and there were NO details—the "shooting" wasn't even mentioned again. Why? Because the TV station had learned by then that it was a juvenile suicide. It wasn't in the newspapers either. There was the standard paid death notice, but the cause of death wasn't mentioned. They figure this kid was imitating an older cousin who had recently committed suicide. He did it with his father's handgun. The gun was locked up and the parents THOUGHT the boy didn't know where the key was hidden, but he did. I don't remember his age, but he had to be twelve or under, and I seem to recall he was MUCH under, maybe eight or so. They had grief counselors at school the next day, the whole bit. But nothing in the media. The media HAD to know about it. They all have reporters that routinely go over police reports. But they declined to report it. Maybe they have a general policy that suicides aren't considered newsworthy, unless they happen to people who are already famous, or unless bystanders are endangered, whatever. Maybe they were just being considerate of the family. But I think there is an issue here that people need to know about. Ironically, if the kid had brought the gun to school and shot one other person instead of himself, it would have been national news. But would it have been any more of a tragedy? |
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07 Mar 02 - 01:33 PM (#664328) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: SharonA Jim: Perhaps the policy is to try to prevent copycat suicides by other children. Or perhaps it's to try to prevent being sued by the parents of some child who plays with a gun (and shoots himself) because he'd heard about that "other kid" on the news. Perhaps the parents requested that there be no news stories about the death (depending on how much influence they have in local society). But the cause of death is often not mentioned in newspaper death notices, particularly if the death is a suicide. When my second cousin committed suicide by stepping in front of a commuter train, that little detail was left out of the death notice by the family. I agree with your statement that "there are some crimes (and accidents) that people would try harder to prevent if they were given more publicity." For instance, I'm glad that rape is no longer a crime that's not considered "polite" to talk about, so that women can now get the information they need to obtain physical and psychological treatment and to gather evidence so that the rapist can be convicted. |
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07 Mar 02 - 01:39 PM (#664329) Subject: RE: BS: News we never hear about? From: Mrrzy Don't neglect the 2 murders at Gallaudet, the deaf university (university for the deaf, I should say). |