Operation Doorknock is an example of exemplary police work on behalf of the Paedophile Unit. It was through their driving determination and strong work ethic that the identities of four dangerous men were finally exposed. The two-year operation included long hours of searching property, interrogating suspects, and interviewing victims. All this was done by a small department with only 15 detectives on its payroll. Despite having limited resources, the Unit was able to take down one of the largest pedophile rings it had seen.
Perhaps the action the Unit deserves most credit for was the cataloging of the seized evidence. Between the four men were over 10,000 photographs, 110 videos, and 18 audio tapes (Cheston, 2002). All this material depicted
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indecent material involving children, ranging from sexual phone conversations to recordings of rape. Protocol required the detectives to view each image and video and listen to every audio tape, despite its graphic content. One can only imagine how difficult it is to view such abhorrent abuse, especially of small children. Detective Constable Terry Bailey noted, during the operation, that "nothing can prepare anybody for watching a child being abused on video", even though all detectives are required to view several disturbing clips before working for the unit. Detective Sergeant Andy Ryden, then a Detective Constable, explained how the actions of the pedophiles captured haunt him: There was a time when my daughter was born that […] I was holding [her], and I actually thought [that] I have dealt with people […] who would want to have sex with a baby, like my daughter [and] of my daughter’s age. [T]hat really did make me think because, of course, never having being a parent, it’s all very well sitting in the clinical confines of a police station, listening to somebody telling you, “Well, actually yes I do like to have sex with babies”. You don’t accept, you don’t understand. It revolts you. It repulses you. The detectives used every bit of their time to make sure they had a solid case against Levene, Romig, Mellis, and Baldwin so that the four could finally be brought to justice.
Once the investigation concluded, the men were tried jointly at England's Central Criminal Court - known as the "Old Bailey" - with Judge David Paget presiding (BBC, 2002). Julian Levene was charged with taking, possessing, and distributing indecent photographs of children, conspiracy to take and distribute, five counts of indecent assault, and rape. Keith Romig was charged with taking, making, and possessing indecent photographs of children, conspiracy to take and distribute, and five counts of indecent assault, with a previous charge of conspiracy to rape dropped. Trevor Mellis was charged with taking indecent photographs of children, conspiracy to take and distribute, and four counts of indecent assault. Finally, Leslie Baldwin was charged with taking and distributing indecent photographs of children, conspiracy to take a distribute, and four counts of indecent assault. Each of the men were out on bail until the court date.
Leslie Baldwin entered a guilty plea on all charges against him. Trevor Mellis and Keith Romig both initially pled not guilty, but later changed their pleas. Julian Levene managed to have his rape charge lowered to unlawful sexual intercourse, which he pled guilty to, along with the other charges against
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him. In March 2002, sentences were handed out for the four men apprehended by Operation Doorknock. Leslie Baldwin and Keith Romig each received three-year prison sentences, while Julian Levene received six years. Trevor Mellis was given a two-year suspended sentence with no jail time due to his deteriorating health and old age. All four men were placed on the sex offender registry. Both the Paedophile Unit and the general public were outraged with the sentences. "Six years is laughable, really, for a man who has been abusing children for 25 years," said D.C. Andy Murray regarding Levene's conviction. He noted how unfair it seemed for Levene to get such a short sentence when the traumatization of his victims lasted much longer. Several news articled reported "outrage" (BBC, 2002) and "fury" (The Guardian, 2002) as part of the public's reaction, especially towards Mellis' sentence, which did not include jail time. One could easily understand the public's disapproval when the sentences given are compared to what they could have been. All the offences the men were charged with were given in accordance towards the Sexual Offences Act of 1956. Taking and possessing indecent photographs carried a maximum of five to ten years, respectively. Even more shocking was that once of Levene's offenses, sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, had the possibility of a lifetime prison sentence (Sexual Offenses Definitive Guideline, 2013). Furthermore, the was the question of whether these punishments would prevent future crimes. The men, Levene especially, were career pedophiles who actively took and collected pictures for thirty years. The Hazel Ascot Appreciation Society served as evidence that these men essentially devoted their lives to abusing children. As previously mentioned, they even had their own "instruction manual" on how to do so. Would such a short time in prison - or none at all, in Mellis' case - stop these predators from committing future crimes? All four men have not been charged with any crimes since Operation Doorknock, but this does not mean they are forever changed. They had managed to stay hidden for decades before getting caught, and this time they might only be more careful. One could argue that they are at least on the "watch list" that is the sex offender registry, but this did not stop Julian Levene before, since he had already been on the list before Operation Doorknock uncovered his crimes. Beyond the scope of any criminal justice system is the enactment of punishment for certain repercussions of pedophilia.
Indirectly, these men were contributing to the demand-supply system of child pornography. They both consumed and created images used in the online community of sex offenders. It is possible to say that these actions could be part of a chain of events that leads to another child's abuse. Obviously, these effects cannot be translated into law due to their vagueness, but they are notable enough to be considered when thinking about the imprint child molesters leave on the world.
Even more striking is the effect on the actual victims of the crimes, like Levene's niece. Despite the time that passed, she could not help but cry when questioned about Levene's abuse. Child sexual abuse victims can expect a lifetime of problems arising from the trauma they faced. It can affect their personal relationships, sense of trust and self-worth, and even their mental health in a variety of ways. What good is it for them if their abusers serve such a small fraction of time for the acts that had such long-lasting
effects?
Four other people, aged from 17 – 20 years were charged with similar offences of affray and murder including two individual men who were the accessory after the fact of the crime and one other female person perverting the course of justice.
Both of the boys accusations were very severe. Steve Harmon was being tried for bring an accomplice in a murder/robbery in a convenience store. Even though there's not much information on the arrest itself it was hinted that he was found around the neighborhood and was trying to film for his class when he was arrested .Whereas, Brenton Butler was tried as the killer of an older tourist that was white. Butler was outside by his house when police spotted him, they took him in for questioning just because the description of the murderer was that he was African American. Once arrested they were both introduced to the people who could change their fate in the courtroom.
Introduction Operation Anaconda was the first major joint combat operation against the war on terror that the US was committed to winning. This operation would test our military’s readiness for joint operations against a hardened and willing adversary. The primary mission was to kill/capture Taliban/Al Qaeda forces occupying towns and villages in the vicinity of Shahi Khot in order to gain control of the valley.1 The US needed the towns, villages, mountains, and more importantly, the intricate and hard to access caves cleared of enemy fighters. Units participating in the operation included elements of the 101st Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division, Special Operations Forces (SOF), and Coalition forces from seven nations including Afghanistan.2 With so many different nations fighting along with our own branches of military, it would test our ability to conduct joint operations on multiple levels. History On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.”
The number of sexually abused children is five times what it was in 2012. Jerry Sandusky has contributed to this statistic. Jerry Sandusky was the head coach of the Pennsylvania State Football team (Penn. State). He has a wife and a few children, some adopted from his charity organization, the second mile, but this did not stop him from committing the crimes he did. Jerry Sandusky was convicted of raping ten innocent children, some of which he met through his charity. This earned him thirty-sixty years behind bars. There are issues from this case that are similar to some issues in the play, Twelve Angry Men. Ultimately, throughout both cases the jury was faced with difficult decisions. In both cases the verdict took a long time and a lot of thinking. But, in the end both came out with the right resolution. Sandusky’s reputation of being the guy everyone looked up to made the overall decision of the jury, in this case, inordinately difficult.
Heinous crimes are considered brutal and common among adults who commit these crimes, but among children with a young age, it is something that is now being counted for an adult trial and punishable with life sentencing. Although some people agree with this decision being made by judges, It is my foremost belief that juveniles don’t deserve to be given life sentencing without being given a chance at rehabilitation. If this goes on there’s no point in even having a juvenile system if children are not being rehabilitated and just being sent off to prison for the rest of their lives and having no chance getting an education or future. Gail Garinger’s article “ juveniles Don’t deserve Life sentence”, written March 14, 2012 and published by New york Times, mentions that “ Nationwide, 79 adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison-a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope”. I myself know what it’s like to be in a situation like that, and i also know that people are capable of changing even children when they are young and still growing.
To support their conclusion the board tells the story of two men who were exonerated after spending thirty years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Days after the rape and murder of eleven year old Sabrina Buie, half-brothers Henry Lee McCollum and Leon Brown confessed to the crime. Not only were their confessions made under pressure without parents or an attorney present, but the prosecution failed to present multiple pieces of evidence to the defense lawyers, DNA evidence that proved McCollum and Brown were not responsible for the murder. In fact, the DNA belonged to a Roscoe Artis, who was a suspect all along and was convicted of a similar crime just weeks later.
Sub Point A: In the innocence project website Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongly convicted for allegedly setting fire that killed his three d...
Having to grow up in a prison, especially one where they do not care about your feelings, really impacts him cognitively. I think juveniles should not be trialed as adults because there is harsher punishment. According to PBS, "Most leniently parents who kill their children but most harshly child in who kill their parents". During adolescent development decision making is weak, which comes from the brain being so vulnerable. I think in the special case of juveniles they are not harden criminals. In the cases of Jacob Ind and Nathan Ybanez I feel as if the teenagers had a build up of bottled emotions, and couldn't handle it anymore. With the brain being so vulnerable and decision making being so weak I think the teens snapped. After years of abuse and sadness I think the teens thought as if there was no other way out. Either the parents die or they do. Instead of being trialed as adults and spending life in prison, I think adolescents who commit crime should have an alternative that will not negatively impact their brain development. I think the problem derives from the adolescents seeking the wrong coping mechanism. If the adolescents could experience help from adults and professional rather than channeling it through violence and drugs, less crime from adolescents would
While some children truly belong in prison, others deserve a second chance. In the end, we must all keep in mind that they are young children who are prone to making mistakes they didn’t mean. What I do agree with is that we must start to acknowledge the victim or the victim’s family in these cases, who seem to be lost within this debate. I also agree that we must fix the juvenile justice system so we don’t have to resort to adult prisons as our last resort, and so we have more criminals leaving their crimes in the past to create a better life. Despite this, I still believe that juvenile criminals don’t deserve life mandatory life
...anything the outcome of reading all of this history and information would be hope. Hope that it can be possible for the government Regional Computer Forensic Laboratories to create a well-structured, well-defined process that helps us to eliminate threats to every citizen. Through various technologies that are available, and through the rigorous pursuit of truth in a court of law, the labs and examiners can move towards a goal of someday truly embodying what it means to be a computer forensic scientist. It will become apparent that there will be a set number of steps that will recover data in a scientific manner that will be not only barely admissible in court, but it will be smiled upon, it will become an area where people can really come together for the good to create a beautiful solution to some of the hardest problems that can be contrived in a modern setting.
According to www.csum.edu, sex offenders are among the highest reoccurring offenders in the United States. These types of criminals pose a threat to society and mostly to the people that live in the same neighborhood that they move into after being released from prison. When these offenders are given female hormones the rates of reoccurrence decreases to five percent. This is because of the reduction of testosterone levels, therefore decreases the sexual desires of these offenders. According to Andrew Humpherson, offenders who molest children are nearly impossible to rehabilitate. He also says that if these offenders where chemically castrated it would reduce the urge to molest children. The offenders who have been released on parole, as a discount on his maximum jail sentence, should be requir...
This shows how instead of having kids get rehabilitated in an a jail it is actually harming them. In adult prisons, “they are also kids that are in for minor crimes. They should not be in adult prison but instead in juvenile facilities where they can be rehabilitated”(Bechtold). This might be linked to the color of skin of a kid because judges think they are dangerous. “Out of all the juveniles, 32.1 percent of them in adult prisons reported being attacked with a weapon while being incarcerated. This could led to many juvenile deaths”(Bechtold). This fact is important because instead of being rehabilitated they are fighting for their lives. They come out thinking everyone is out to hurt them because of what they have endured during the time the have been in prison.Lisa Poliak, author of Teen Crime Adult Time Each Year, Thousands of Juvenile Offenders are Sent to Prison. Does the Practise Discourage Criminal Behavior- Or is it Cruel and Unusual Punishment?,did a case of a kid named Jason
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
On June 28, 1990, Mark E. Jones, a public school teacher from California, was charged with twenty-eight counts of lewd (lustful) conduct with four boys under the age of fourteen. Two of those boys, Sammy and Bobby, were his adopted sons and the other two boys, Andrew and Kenny, resided in the same neighborhood as him. Jones had oral intercourses with these children for two years before being arrested. In his trial, Jones denied the allegations and said that his two sons and Andrew were trying to accuse him of the molestation because he caught them performing the acts on each other (Jones). At the end of the trial, Jones was found guilty on twelve counts of lewd conduct, found not guilty of twelve counts, hung jury on three counts, and one count was dismissed before the trial. Jones was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
...lect, can have a momentous impact on an individual, like it did with both Cholly and Junior. She did not dismiss the notion that sexual abuse is and can be extremely damaging, but she did want to point out how abuse that wears away at one’s mind can be worse in certain situations. Morrison did not offer answers to this issue of abuse to one’s mind, but rather she wanted to make people think about how they perceive these two forms of mistreatment. Morrison wanted to raise awareness on why psychological harm should be viewed as just as damaging as some of the other disparaging treatments towards children.