WHY AREN'T CRUISE SHIPS REQUIRED TO REPORT CRIMES?

Yet another saga of 'the blame game' for cruise ship "accidents". Deaths, assaults, robbery, drugging, rapes... Who is to blame? The passengers themselves? The cruise ships with their obvious lack of safety or concern, and their non-obligation to report crimes? Cruise ships don't want to hurt their tourism...so of course they are going to keep mum about crimes, mishaps and controversies.




And in Mindy Jordan's case, I highly doubt she "fell" off the ship on her own doing. Is the FBI covering up for the cruise line? When will the public get to see the surveillance tape? Bring out the facts and let the public make the decision of whether it was an accident or not.


If you believe that cruise ships are safe and the business of tourism is all about the safety and happiness of their passengers and/or visitors, think again. Read this link (International Cruise Victims) and then make an educated decision. What are these companies and people in charge trying to hide?


"It's all about the "Benjamins"....bottom line.



By Troy Graham--Inquirer Staff Writer

The death of Mindy Jordan who fell from a cruise ship has recast a spotlight on an industry that has been criticized in recent years for its handling of onboard passenger mishaps. Industry analysts say the public's fascination with such incidents is out of proportion to their occurrence and may stem from the exotic nature of cruise ships, often described as international "floating cities."

Cruises are the safest vacation options available, analysts say, and most incidents are caused by passengers' own behavior. That seems to be the case with Mindy Jordan, 46, of Pine Hill, who fell overboard while attempting to climb from the balcony of her stateroom to an adjacent balcony, according to the Norwegian Cruise Line.

But in recent years, critics of the industry have said the cruise lines do a poor job handling shipboard crimes and other major incidents. Some have accused the companies of covering up incidents and distorting crime statistics.

Ross Klein of the Memorial University of Newfoundland's school of social work has tracked cruise ship mishaps. According to his Web site, 99 people have gone overboard since 2000, including 22 in 2006 and 20 in 2007.

About 13 million people, 10.6 million of them Americans, went on a cruise last year, according to an industry expert.

Cruise lines are not required to report crime statistics against U.S. citizens to the FBI and have been reluctant to provide the data to outsiders, said Ken Carver, who co-founded the group International Cruise Victims after his daughter went missing on a ship in 2004.

"No one knows what the crime rates are because no one can get to the information," he said. He pointed to congressional testimony from industry executives that 178 passengers on North American cruises had reported being sexually assaulted between 2003 and 2005. But one cruise line, Royal Caribbean, said in internal documents turned over in a civil suit that at least 273 of its passengers reported sexual incidents in a shorter period of time.

Read rest of article HERE

SEX, LIES & R. KELLY

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A childhood friend of the alleged victim in the R. Kelly child pornography case testified Wednesday that she recognizes her longtime friend as the one in the explicit video at the center of the trial.


R&B singer, R. Kelly is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13 year old girl. His attorneys have said Kelly is not on the tape and the alleged victim, who is now 23 years old, also denies she is the person in the video.


Prosecutors showed the footage within hours of opening statements Tuesday and now they are working to prove their claim that Kelly and the alleged victim are indeed in the video.


Today, Simha Jamison, 24, said she and the alleged victim were best friends for about 10 years until their junior year in high school. She knows her best friend's face like she knows "the back of her own hand," she said. She testified she and her friend visited Kelly at his recording studio and at a Chicago basketball court dozens of times starting when they were around the age of 12. Her friend first introduced her to Kelly as "her godfather," Jamison said, adding that the singer frequently gave her friend cash gifts -- "no less than $100 and no more than $500."


She said the two also visited the North Side home where authorities say the sex tape was filmed. Jamison said she saw the tape in 2002 and again just before testifying.


Jamison's father, Peter Thomas, testified that the alleged victim's involvement in the video was the talk of their neighborhood. When his daughter heard about it in 2002, he said she would cry herself to sleep but would not discuss it. He watched the video for the first time before testifying today and identified the girl, guessing that she must have been around 14 or 15 in the video.


In addition, John Kelly, a retired investigator with the Cook County state's attorney's office, testified that a room in a Chicago home once owned by the singer strongly resembles the distinctive room in the video. John Kelly said he visited the sprawling red brick home on Chicago's North Side in 2002 and saw what he described as a "hot tub room" with the same log-cabin theme as the room in the video. During cross examination, the defense countered that Kelly moved out of the home at least several weeks before the investigator arrived.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/21/rkelly.trial.ap/index.html?eref=rss_crime

17 YEAR OLD BRITTANY CARRIGG, WALKS OFF ANGRY, NOT SEEN AGAIN

UPDATE:

Brittany returned home unharmed.
Details of her whereabouts have not been released.

WHERE IS BRITTANY CARRIGG?

Brittany Carrigg, a high school junior and volleyball player whose
last day of school is exactly one week away, has not been seen or
heard from since Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m.,
when she left the house to go for a walk.

May 16, 2008 — Brittany Carrigg may have stormed out of her family's Georgia home Wednesday night after an argument.


Brittany has not been seen or heard from by her family since Wednesday around 9:30 p.m., when she left the house. She was not carrying a cell phone, wallet or identification, and it was out of character for her to not return later that evening.


The 17-year-old also may have simply gone for an evening walk in the wooded area near the Alabama state line where she lives. To the investigators, neighbors and family searching for her, it does not make much difference. "It could have started out as someone who was upset with her parents and she left the house and then somebody took her," Jim Beck, a spokesman for the Haralson County Sheriff's Office.




A search party that included more than 100 people Thursday as well as cadaver dogs zeroed in on a 5-mile radius near the Carrigg home. Search leaders instructed personnel to look for any evidence of the teen, concentrating on drainage areas and vacant structures. They also searched a nearby pond, but found "no evidence of a body." "Obviously, you look at two things," Beck said. "You look at the possibility that she left the area by car or by foot. She could have only gotten so far by foot."


A helicopter searched from the air Thursday and authorities have found no evidence suggesting that foul play was involved. They have spoken with her boyfriend, who reportedly was with Carrigg before she left her family's house Wednesday evening.

Beck said the boyfriend has spoken to police and provided some helpful information. "He's not a suspect in the investigation," Beck said, "but he is a guy who knows things."

Beck acknowledged the possibility that Carrigg may have left the house angry that night, perhaps even with the intention of running away. "You're dealing with a 17-year-old and 17-year-olds occasionally have interactions with parents that get complicated," he said. "But I got the sense that this a family committed to what's best for their daughter."


J.R. McElroy, Brittany's uncle stated his family is distraught. "They just want her home...Just pray to God that she comes home."


Carrigg is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and tennis shoes.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4871110&page=1

"WAS IT RAPE? WAS I TO BLAME? WHAT IF NO ONE BELIEVES ME?

"Only 27 percent of the women whose sexual assault met the legal definition of rape thought of themselves as rape victims." (Warshaw, 1994, p. 26)

"1 in 4 women surveyed were victims of rape or attempted rape. 84 percent of those raped knew their attacker. 57 percent of the rapes happened on dates." (Warshaw, 1994 p. 11)

"About 75 percent of the men and at least 55 percent of the women involved in acquaintance rapes had been drinking or taking drugs just before the attack." (Warshaw, 1994, p. 44)

"42 percent of the rape victims told no one about their assaults. Only 5 percent reported their rapes to the police. Only 5 sought help at rape-crisis centers." (Warshaw, 1994, p 50.)

FLAWS IN "JANE DOE RAPE KIT" INITIATIVE

I applaud the new Federal "Jane Doe rape kit" initiative, but there is another equation here. What about those women who are traumatized and do not seek initial help or gather evidence? What about the women who do come forward, yet do nothing about the crime?

In many cases of rape, the victim may just want to 'forget about it' and move on. An example would be a female college student who was raped by a friend or date. They are thinking, "I was drunk." "No one will believe me." "I flirted with him". The self accusations are endless.

Will these women take the initiative to get something like this done...IMMEDIATELY? Being raped is traumatizing enough, but to have to go through the whole rape kit examination is replaying the ordeal over and over again.

There are many women out there who would utilize this...but I'm afraid there are more out there that won't use this opportunity. Depending on the woman and the circumstances of her rape, a majority of women NEVER report this crime. It is a misperception that women are raped by seedy, Ted Bundy-ish strangers. In fact, most rapes occur between two people that know each other. Unfortunately, a lot of these women want to move on. They believe that they can "deal with it" in their own way and get over it.

That is where I think this "Jane Doe" rape kit initiative is seriously flawed. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink

Jane Doe Rape Kits---Effective or a Waste?

ELKTON, Md. - Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges. (However, a "ER forensic rape exam DOES and WILL occur no matter if you are a "Jane Doe" or not. Just because the contents are "sealed" doesn't undermind the fact that some stranger has a big bright light on their vagina, prodding and poking with swabs, taking pictures, and asking questions.)

The new federal requirement that states pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" is aimed at removing one of the biggest obstacles to prosecuting rape cases: Some women are so traumatized they don't come forward until it is too late to collect hair, semen or other samples.

"Sometimes the issue of actually having to make a report to police can be a barrier to victims, and this will allow that barrier to cease, to allow the victim to think about it before deciding whether to talk to police," said Carey Goryl, executive director of the International Association of Forensic Nurses. (What happens if it takes too long? What are the planned statute of limitations? A judge, jury, and prosecutor will believe that after a certain amount of time memories will get fuzzy or misconstrued. It's still a "his word against mine" world. I see this as a huge flaw.)

The practice is already followed at some health clinics, colleges and hospitals around the country and by the state of Massachusetts. But many other jurisdictions refuse to cover the estimated $800 cost of a forensic rape exam unless the victim files a police report. (Another reason to not have this done. Just the thought of being "forced" to file a police report is devastating. Now some rules want the victim to FORCE file a police report? The last thing the victim wants to go through at that moment are details, names, places, what she was wearing, how much she had to drink, etc. The legal burden rests on her. Rape is not like any other crime. It's a crime of humiliation and a crime that the victim has to prove WAY BEYOND a reasonable doubt. )

States will have to pay for kits

Beginning in 2009, states will have to pay for Jane Doe rape kits to continue receiving funding under the federal Violence Against Women Act, which provides tax dollars for women's shelters and law enforcement training. States will decide how many locations will offer anonymous rape exams and how long the evidence should be kept.

Emergency rooms typically use a "rape kit" to collect evidence for use by police and prosecutors. It consists of microscope slides, boxes and plastic bags for storing skin, hair, blood, saliva or semen gathered by a specially trained nurse. The victim's injuries are also photographed.

What makes a Jane Doe rape kit different is that it is sealed with only a number on the outside of the envelope to identify the victim. Police do not open the envelope unless the victim decides to press charges. (And as I asked before, when would that happen? 6 months? 6 years from now? Memories on both sides deteriorate and are obviously contradicting as it is. Will this hinder the project unless strict guidelines are followed?)

The FBI has recommended such an option since at least 1999. "The idea is to collect the evidence now, while it's still there," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the national Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. The new requirement applies only to adult victims. Hospitals and doctors must still report incest or abuse involving children to the police.

In Cecil County, authorities started offering Jane Doe kits four years ago, after a rape victim recanted. Anne Bean, clinical director for a rape and sexual assault counseling program in Cecil County, said giving women the option of keeping police out of it until they are ready to press charges is crucial.

Most rapes not reported to police

According to the U.S. Justice Department, 272,350 sexual assaults were reported in 2006. The same survey estimated that only 41 percent of rapes and other sexual assaults are reported to police. (If you know anything about sexual assault, you would know that these statistics are not reliable. I would bet my last penny that less than 41 percent of sexual assaults are reported. That number is obviously disfigured as compared to other studies...all of which are unreliable due to underreporting.)

"Many times, you have people who were drunk, maybe doing drugs, maybe they're underage, and you start talking about the police and they get scared," Bean said. "So, sometimes it's not until long after they're willing to report, at which point of course any physical evidence is gone." (Why, instead of going to the hospital, teach a woman how to give her own rape kit test? She can take pictures of her own injuries. She can keep her undergarments in a brown paper bag. She can cotton swab her vaginal area and place it in a plastic bag. She can write down IMMEDIATELY in a journal what happened. The best mind can remember more from an evening ago, rather than a year later.)

Massachusetts officials had no immediate figures on how many rape kits were collected anonymously there, or how many were ultimately opened. In Allegany and Cecil counties in Maryland, evidence is kept at least 90 days. (THREE MONTHS? Most women can't even get their head clear at three months. 90 days may as well be 90 minutes. This isn't a "normal" crime here...this crime deals with violence to the person...to the soul...personal violence that is so embarrassing and humiliating that to discuss it is almost absurd. Not too many women are bold enough to go after justice through the court system.) So far, 13 women have submitted anonymous evidence, and none has returned to press charges. (My point was????)

Still, hospital and police officials credit an offer of Jane Doe testing with encouraging a reluctant victim in Cecil County to undergo an exam. During that process, she decided to report the crime, and her attacker was successfully prosecuted.

"Just to let people know this option is out there is good, to say, 'It's OK, you don't have to prosecute if you don't want to,'" said Kathleen, a rape victim in Pennsylvania who spoke on condition her full name not be used. (Why is it that one who is a victim of a rape has the choice whether or not to prosecute? A person who assaults someone causing injury will be prosecuted whether the victim wants that person arrested or not. Why do all these different rules apply for the same heading: VIOLENT CRIME? Rape IS a violent crime.)

Giving victims the option

Kathleen underwent an exam after being raped in Virginia in 2004, but her rapist was never found or charged. Kathleen said she wasn't offered anonymous reporting, but she has met rape victims in group therapy who regret not going for an exam.

"They're embarrassed. They don't even go get tested for STDs because they're so embarrassed," Kathleen said. At Union Hospital in Elkton, forensic nurse Chris Lenz said Jane Doe testing is not offered unless a medical professional fears the victim will leave without the option."Of course we encourage reporting. That's what we would like. But when they're adamant they don't want to report — if we think, 'She's going to walk out if she has to go through with this,' — that's when we offer it," Lenz said.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24600171/