In the final week leading up to a big election there’s never any shortage of political news. Know what else there isn’t a shortage of? Exhaustion over political news. Last week at Law Street, though, our top three stories came from the world of crime. The Crime in America team produced the number one article of the week with the first-ever definitive coverage of the Killers of Craigslist; writer Anneliese Mahoney covered the disturbing case of California highway cops who routinely steal nude photos from detained women’s cell phones; and the third most popular article detailed Americans’ biggests fears — both warranted (identity theft) and not (mass shootings, which you are highly unlikely to ever experience firsthand). ICYMI, here is the best of the week from Law Street.
#1 Killers of Craigslist
Since the arrest in 2009 of Philip Markoff, aka the “Craigslist Killer,” the website has faced increased scrutiny by the media. Law Street decided to take a closer look at the site and its media coverage to see how dangerous Craigslist really is. We wanted to know: Was Markoff’s an isolated act, or an incident on a continuum? Our findings are noteworthy. This marks the first tabulation of all Craigslist murders since 2009. Law Street identified 58 murderers and 45 murder victims connected to Craigslist postings through last June. Read full article here.
#2 California Police Officers Found Stealing Suspects’ Nude Photos
Today’s “wow, people really suck” story comes straight to you from the California highways. Or, to be more specific, California’s Highway Police. Apparently, a few officers from Contra Costa County, California, have created a new, sick game to pass the time. They began accessing the cell phones of female suspects brought into custody, and then sending nude or semi-nude photos of these women to themselves. Allegedly, the pictures were then passed to the other officers playing the “game.” Read full article here.
#3 Just in Time for Halloween: What Are Americans’ Top Fears?
What scares you the most? That’s the question that Chapman University decided to ask America in a recently released study called the “Chapman Survey on American Fears.” In the study, researchers surveyed 1,500 Americans from different walks of life in order to create a strong representative sample. They split the types of fears into four categories: personal fears, crime, natural disasters, and fear factors. They were able to determine the most pressing concerns in each of the categories, as well as overall. Read full article here.