A Serial Killer From the 1700s:

In the year of the Lord 1786, the Austrian surgeon Franz Xaver Wegartshofner put an end to a most bizarre killing spree. For a long time, there had been rumours concerning the wealthy farmer Bartholomäus Rainer of Großlobming (Styria). He was now sixty-eight years of age, seemingly a rather odd man who never cut his fingernails, and people whispered he was a sorcerer dealing with occult powers. Yet he was never in want of a wife, which is to say that whenever a wife of his went to the churchyard for good, he had no problems in finding one to replace her.

However, when his sixth wife died on July 4th of that year, rumours got so intense and minds so upset that the authorities could no longer ignore it.

Via Bourgeois Nerd.

Posted by Amy as Crime, History at 1:52 AM EDT

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The History of Poisoning: Timeline: poisoning throughout the ages, some famous cases of poisoning (e.g. Thomas Overbury, Madeleine Smith, Georgi Markov), and poisons in common use (past and present).

Via Rebecca’s Pocket.

Posted by Amy as Crime, History at 5:20 AM EDT

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Here’s a site everyone can benefit from: No Nonsense Self-Defense.

It’s ambitious:

This site will provide you with free, easy-to-use information to keep you safe from crime and violence, including robbery and rape. Our goal is is to assist you achieve personal safety. The information we provide is tailored for your needs in the modern world. You will find a wide spectrum of crime prevention information, including home security, property protection, robbery prevention and self-defense.

An overwhelming majority of our recommendations are non-violent and should have no negative impact on your lifestyle. While the ability to defend yourself is important, we believe that common sense preventative actions are a far more reliable way to ensure your personal safety and the safety of your family. You don’t have to pay money, learn a martial art, buy a gun or become paranoid in order to be safe. All you need are to know the details of the problems and then use a little common sense. After that, it’s easy.

There is a lot of useful information here.

Posted by Amy as Crime at 1:30 AM EDT

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If you’re interested in criminolgoy, you might like to check out Undercover Police Work.

This web page gives a brief overview of working undercover; it goes into details about several aspects of the job.

To begin with, there is a discussion about how a police officer is chosen for undercover work:

In many cases, the undercover officer is new to the department, and something about their “looks” makes supervisors feel they are right for the job. They may have been interviewed and identified for such duty while attending the training academy or while waiting on some civil service eligibility list, but generally, they finish up a rookie year or two first as a regular officer. In rare cases, an applicant is sworn in secretly by the Chief and Personnel Officer the first day on the job.

Even more interesting is the information about how criminals can spot the undercover operative:

How the undercover officer dresses and what they drive are also factors. The clothing of drug addicts always doesn’t fit right because they’re constantly losing or gaining weight. By contrast, most undercover officers can’t simulate this particular “fit” of clothing; they’ll only look sloppy and carry themselves like they have their “street uniform” on. Scraggly beards that look recently grown also are a dead giveaway. The cars they drive are also too well-maintained. A dope addict’s car usually has three different types of tires, a bunch a hamburger wrappers all over the inside, and screaming kids in the back.

This is an entertaining introduction to the topic.

Posted by Amy as Crime at 1:10 AM EDT

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If, like me, you’re a fan of crime dramas, you might like to check out the website for The CSI Effect.

The author of this site, Andrea Campbell, is an author of the book of the same name. The premise behind the site is simple:

Television shows such as CSI-Las Vegas/Miami/New York, Crossing Jordan, Bones and Law & Order, etc., have corrupted the jury system by raising viewers’ (victims’ and jurors’) expectation of forensic science—and criminal cases are being lost, dropped and rendered ineffective.

She goes on to give examples to clarify her meaning:

• Jurors may insist that more evidence should have been tested, even if virtually none existed.
• They are also upset with the length of time involved in processing evidence.
• These juror expectations have resulted in finding defendants not guilty—even with irrefutable DNA test results.

Well, I think we can all agree that this is a Bad Thing.

Then, for more surprises, check out the Armchair Detectives & At-Home Sleuth’s Quiz.

I don’t follow the science too closely on the shows, and I didn’t expect to do too well, but even so I was surprised to clock in at 40%.

I can see the difficulties that prosecutors face; not everyone will believe that there are indeed limitations on what information science can provide (or on the time it takes to be provided).

She also has a blog on this same topic; it’s also called The CSI Effect.

So if you’re looking for a CSI hit in between episodes, this might provide you with one—albeit of a slightly different nature.

Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Crime, Psychology at 7:38 AM EST

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The Kitty Genovese murder has long been cited as a classic example of the “bystander effect”–a behaviour where people witnessing a crisis are less likely to help others and more likely to remain bystanders if others are nearby.

Now, though, more than 40 years after Kitty Genovese’s death, one author is rethinking the bystander effect in connection with her murder.

He argues that the commonly accepted version of events contains many inaccuracies and the bystander effect was not, in fact, a major issue in the case.

It’s a thought-provoking read.

Via Follow Me Here.

Posted by Amy as Crime, Psychology at 3:35 AM EDT

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There are certain things I’m glad I don’t know about until the danger is averted, and the possibility of the collapse of numerous banks qualifies.

Charles Arthur has written a detailed (but readable) article about this for The Register; it’s called “How ATM Fraud Nearly Brought Down British Banking”.

Published in October 2005, this is “the story of how the UK banking system could have collapsed in the early 1990s.”

Fortunately, we all know that didn’t happen—but it could have, and this article tells us about the detective work that stopped phantom withdrawals and prevented the unthinkable.

Via Internet Scout Project Weblog.

Posted by Amy as Crime at 8:28 AM EDT

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