Friday, December 30, 2005

Paraphilia Phriday 5

This week, you get to pick the paraphilia:

Hebephilia
or
Ephebophilia

Both refer to an adult's sexual attraction to teenagers. It's a paraphilia because it's often illegal.

Hebephilia is a more general term; Hebe is the Greek goddess of youth.

Ephebophilia is a more specific term; at its most specific, epheboi are young men aged 15-20. The ephebia was a Greek institution where young men were trained, building them into adult citizens. In a more general sense, then, Ephebophila refers to a sexual attraction to post-pubescent people who have not yet attained the culturally defined status of "adult."
That definition fits this news item perfectly: 20 year-old p0rn starlet charged with rape of and unlawful sexual intercourse with a 15-year old.

Topics for future posts:
1. the range of adulthood: 12 or 13 to murder someone, 21 to drink alcohol, 35 to be president.
2. the culturally fluid definition of 'adult' vis-a-vis the age of marriage/sexual activity.
3. how the vestige of an enforcement provision of a father's property right in his daughter's chastity, statutory rape, not only survived, but is virtually the only strict liability felony around.
4. what's up with female teachers and their students? (or is it just that these cases are newsworthy and the male teacher cases are not)

Jack

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

this time of year

I think when you get to the Christmas season the courthouse slows down and you actually have time to think. I'm sitting here waiting on a DA ( I think i spend half of my life waiting on DA's) to call me so I can go over to there office and look at P0rn of the juvenile sort. I have a case set tomorrow involving it. On a side note, looking at child P0rn is bad enough but having to do it with the ada, that's just putting salt in the wound. Any hoo, I digress. I work for an awsome office. I was sick last week, which I never get ill. (honestly do any of us have time to be ill?) I went to the doctor and then went home to rest. I got a call every thirty minutes from someone in the office wanting to know if i was okay or needed food. You don't find law offices like this, hell there are public defender's offices that arn't like this. I'm lucky.
Janet

Defender's Credo

Every now and then I get down and then I look up at the board over my desk and I see this:
Defender's Credo
I am a Public Defender.
I am the guardian of the presumption of innocence, due process and fair trial.
To me is entrusted the preservation of those sacrecd principles.
I will promulgate them with courtesy and respect.
But not with obsequiousness and not with fear,
for I am partisan;I am counsel for the defense.
Let none who oppose me forget that with every fiber of my being, I will fight for my clients.
My clients are the indigent accused.
They are the lonely, the friendless.
There is no one to speak for them, but me.
My voice will be raised in their defense.
I will resolve all doubt in their favor.
This is my credo; this and the Golden rule.
I will seek acclaim and approval only from my own conscience.
And if upon my death there are a few lonely people who have benefitted, my efforts will not have been in vain.

written by Jim Douherty, Former Public Defender Cook County

Janet

Friday, December 23, 2005

Christmas Spirit

On my way home yesterday there was a old panhandler at an intersection. He had a sign that read:
WHY LIE?
I NEE (sic) A BEER AND
A HAMBURGER
THANK YOU GOD BLESS
A couple of 20-something guys that looked like clients in a well used mid-80's Chevy Caprice called the panhandler over. The light was about to change, but the guys in the Caprice were fumbling about for something. As the light changed and the traffic started moving, the guys in the car found what they were looking for and handed it over to the old guy:

a beer.

Merry Christmas!

Jack

Paraphilia Phriday 4

This week, we're turning (to) Japanese. (I really think so)
Why should Greek and Latin have all the fun?

Chikan (the paraphilia, not the embroidery) refers to nonconsensual groping of people in public places. Apparently it's a big problem on the subways in Japan.
"Groping has long been a problem on crowded subways and other commuter trains in big Japanese cities like Osaka and Tokyo. Passengers are often tightly pressed against each other, an inviting environment for potential offenders.
The Japanese have tried female only subway cars, but are also trying something new:

Under the technique, a special film is pressed on the suspect's palm to collect microfibers about a few hundredths of a millimeter. The samples taken are compared with fiber samples from the suspect's clothes on a powerful microscope."

You better hope you don't put your hand down on the bench where a chikan victim had been sitting, or hope that she didn't inadvertently rub up against you in a crowded space.
And you'd better hope Joyce Gilchrist hasn't found a new job in Japan.
Jack

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Nice Pork

Sanchovilla had a downer "you work for the criminals, right?" moment this week, entitled "Bad Coffee."

I thought I was going to have a similar moment this weekend, but it turned out all right. The nice pork was some mouth watering home-grown pork roast served at the Christmas party the Tripper family went to on Sunday.

We were invited to the party by one of the other families in our home-school group. There were a couple other home-school families, assorted relatives, and other members of their church at the party as well. They're a pretty conservative bunch.
How conservative, you ask? Well, one of the grandmas (early 40s, actually) was asking Mrs. Tripper and me for book recommendations for her 9 year-old granddaughter. We knew not to recommend Harry Potter, and went with C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles instead. Not so good. Grandma felt her granddaughter wasn't ready for that kind of content. Too much magic and such. Well, that also nixed Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time Quartet. We did suggest Marguerite Henry (Misty of Chincoteague) and Frances Hodgson Burnett (Secret Garden, Little Princess)

Anyway, we were smalltalking, and conversation got around to what I did. I talked about indigent defense and Matthew 25:40 and the big chunk of our work that is social work.

Then the bomb:
"Have you ever got a murderer off that you knew was guilty?"
"No, but I have done that with a rapist."

and nobody shut down. They listened to the story.
Guy gets accused of rape; positive ID; convicted, sent to prison.
A dozen years later, exonerated by DNA, released.
DNA matches my guy, already in prison for a different rape.
BUT, the statute of limitations has expired.
(Short explanation of the S/L)
So the legislature changes the statute of limitations in order to charge my guy.
(Book grandma asks, "They can't do that, can they?")
(Short explanation on the history and origins of the Ex Post Facto clause, English abuses, etc.)
I say they can't do it, Supremes come out with Stogner that says they can't do it. My guy's case gets dismissed, he goes back to prison for the rape he was convicted of.
Discussion of sometimes its the Rule of Law and the Constitution you're defending; the DA has to obey the laws and constitution just like we do.

And then conversation meandered off in a different direction.
Now, they may have just been being polite, but it was nice to take the plunge into the "how can you represent guilty people" explanation without getting chilled or boiled.

Sorry you had a bad one, Sancho, they won't all be like that. I don't know if they have venti, no-whip, half decaf, extra shot, long, dry, non-fat, extra-hot latte, with a twist of lemon out here, but we've got some damn good BBQ with your name on it.

Jack

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Shaming as Legitimate Punishment

Last month the Supremes denied cert in U.S. v. Gementera, a 9th Circuit case that upheld a judge's decision to shame Shawn Gementera by making him wear a sign that said, "I stole mail. This is my punishment." outside a Post Office.

The district court was a bit more overt in its intentions when it spoke from the bench, saying,
"[H]e needs to understand the disapproval that society has for this kind of conduct, and that’s the idea behind the humiliation. And it should be humiliation of having to stand and be labeled in front of people coming and going from a post office as somebody who has stolen the mail."

In its written order, the court was a bit more circumspect:
[the court’s goal was not] “to subject defendant to humiliation for humiliation’s sake, but rather to create a situation in which the public exposure of defendant’s crime and the public exposure of defendant to the victims of his crime” [will serve the purposes of] “the rehabilitation of the defendant and the protection of the public.”

The Circuit court found that the punishment was rehabilitative, served as a general deterrent, and that the specifics of the punishment were reasonably related to the rehabilitation.

Smarter folks than I have written on the issue, but after all the ivory tower talk is done, I'm still in favor of shaming as punishment.

I think shaming would be much more effective in instilling a sense of "I really don't want put myself in this situation again" than probation or community service or fines. And in my world, a punishment that included shaming would not stay on a person's record. Shaming may last hours or days, but it would not be a lifetime albatross around the neck of a kid who did something stupid.

Interestingly, shaming is more often seen in sexual or quasi-sexual matters, like public letters of apology for urinating in public (which is charged as indecent exposure around here) and "John lists" like Chicago has for accused solicitors and Minneapolis has for convicted ones. This is probably because legal shaming for sexual/body matters fits in so well with our Judeo-Christian sex/body shame and why this form of shaming can be so effective - perhaps too effective.

Also, shaming would work only for relatively minor offenses - shaming for serious crimes would have to be in addition to other punishment, which would tend to make the 'punishment' of the shaming less effective on the person being punished.
However, the bigger problem with shaming for serious offenses is that it would encourage vigilantism; instead of inviting 'mere' opprobrium, the likelihood of violence would be too great. From the punished person's perspective, shaming for serious offenses would be tantamount to outlawry and would serve to banish the person from society rather than to re-integrate them into society with an object lesson in what's acceptable and what's not.

There is also a point where shaming starts to shade into retribution/eye-for-an-eye punishment. (For ivory tower folks and retribution apologists, that's "congruent satisfaction")
Punishments like having to spend the night outside like you made the kittens you abandoned spent the night outside, or having to spend 30 nights in a doghouse because that's where you put your 8-year old are not so much shaming as a judicially enforced lesson in empathy. Once again, I think having the punishment fit the crime has some legitimacy with regard to relatively minor offenses, but I don't think anyone would argue that sodomizing a cop with a mop handle will make him any more empathetic toward people in his custody and care.

Then again, maybe its because shaming would be such an effective punishment against a nice middle class kid like me that I think it would be effective for a broader range of subjects.

What do you think?

Jack

Never Mind the Clean Underwear, What if You're in an Accident Wearing that Shirt?

Two great booking photos, one from a DUI, and one from a public drunk.
I wonder if there's a correlation between not knowing when to stop drinking and not knowing when to put that 'special' t-shirt back in the drawer.

Jack

Fun with no questions

The hardest part of being a trial attorney is learing when to hush. It's hard not to ask questions. It's even harder to know when not to ask questions. My first probable cause hearing as an attorney was a driving under the influence. I was ready for it. I had gone to the scene, done my research, and had my list of questions. I stood up after the state finished with their one and only witness to hear the Magistrate say "You don't have any questions right counselor?" Which my senior attorney is mouthing no and with a touch of sadness I looked at my questions, diagram, and pictures and shook my head no while saying "no, your honor." My motion to dismiss was sustained and my client went home. I recieved a transcript the other day from another probable cause hearing that I was smart enough not to ask any questions. Five witnesses, eighty pages of transcript, and 60 objections later he got bound over, but on three less felony charges. We have motions coming up and i'm hopeful that we'll wittle away the rest of the felony counts. Luckily or unluckily, I've represented this client a few times before and he did not freak out about me not asking any questions. Can't wait to argue this transcript to the trial judge. Janet

Monday, December 19, 2005

movie review

Took the weekend off went to the movie two nights and on the third went and looked at christmas lights. I figured as bah humbug as I had been feeling I needed some help to get in the mood. We went and saw Rent which is fabulous. Its an excellent commentary of NY in the late eighties early ninties. The got the original cast from Broadway to do the movie and they were wonderful. The other movie I saw was Pride and Prejudice. I was a little worried about how they would adapt the book to screen but the director did a wonderful job. Definite must see.
janet

Friday, December 16, 2005

Aaaah...Weekend...


A Sage Contemplating Water
Kang Hui-an

Paraphilia Phriday 3

"Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris has fenced off a famous tomb to prevent lewd acts being performed on a statue."



The effigy of Victor Noir assures good sex, fertility or marriage to the woman who rubs his feet, lips and "protuberance," and leaves a flower in his top hat.

A new sign warns: "Any damage caused by graffiti or indecent rubbing will be prosecuted."

Agalmatophilia, or Pymalionism is a sexual attraction to statutes or sculptures.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Not Enough Crap?

Here is my vote for the stupidest, most worthless product of the season:

Buck, the Animated, Singing Trophy Deer.
$99.93 at Wal-Mart.

If people were stupid enough to buy Big Mouth Billy Bass for $19.95 a few years ago, surely they can't resist this beauty...

In Buck the Animated, Singing Trophy Deer Land, every day is Buy Nothing Day.

Jack

Judges

"Power does not corrupt men; but fools, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." --George Bernard Shaw

A district Judge in the United States is the most powerful position one can achieve. As a District, you can award money, take away land, take away a child, and take away a life. What other occupation gives control of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? I was reading a legal journal the other day and came across this quote from the Great Shaw. It reminds me of a couple of local Judges that have corrupted power. I occasionally have to appear in front of one in particualar and the only thing I respect is the robe. The attorneys in our office constantly have to hold there tongues. He's already held one of ours in contempt for a closing argument (we have that on appeal) and ordered the attorney to serve jail time. The problem with Districts is once there in here they're a bear to get out.

Janet

Monday, December 12, 2005

Thank You For Defending Those People

Tried an ugly case last week, child abuse murder and neglect. The timing of the injuries locked my client and his girlfriend in as the only possible suspects and also determined that neither were ever really alone (out of the house) with the toddler. Both admitted to some of the injuries. The extent of the injuries made accident or momentary lapse a laughable defense, and both had told several stories about what happened, blaming others. The plea offer was 5 years under life, though LWOP was the maximum at trial. That risk seemed OK as the girlfriend had admitted (but later repudiated) causing the injury that killed her baby. (Thank you, Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3))

During my decompression time in the evenings, I worked on my Sunday school lesson. We happen to be doing the Servant Songs. I thought some about my place in the scheme of things, with regard to the facts of my case and the "how can you defend those people" question.

I did not hide my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord GOD will help me;
therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

He is near who justifies me; who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me. Surely the Lord GOD will help me; Who is he who will condemn me? Indeed they will all grow old like a garment; the moth will eat them up.


Seeing it in print makes it seem so pretentious, but the idea of being criticized for a calling by people who don't understand the calling, or worse, by people who believe that such a calling is incompatible with being Christian really bothers me. Can't they read?

I also had a chance to think about the victim, who shared a name with the author of the songs. Parts of the fourth song hit close to home in that respect.
He was painfully abused, but he did not complain. He was silent like a lamb being led to the butcher, as quiet as a sheep having its wool cut off. He was condemned to death without a fair trial. Who could have imagined what would happen to him?
[A discussion about where Justice for the victim and Justice for my client meet needs to be saved for later. In short, I don't think one person can hold the two in equipoise, but God can, and lets us see /focus on only the things we are called to do. Just as all the religions are a bunch of blind men feeling the same elephant (God) we practitioners focus only on our particular parts of the Justice Elephant.]

But back to "how can you defend those people?" This was one of those cases where you would expect the general public to ask that question, and loudly. The jury's judgment came swift and harsh: 5 hours, 2 guilty findings, 2 life sentences. (No LWOP though.) A couple of jurors came up afterwards. One congratulated me on doing well with what I had to work with, but the other one really took the edge off my post-ass-whoopin' depression. She said how thankful she was that I was there, defending my client as best I could, because otherwise, our system of justice couldn't work and the U.S. wouldn't be the example to the world that it is.
But I'm still bitter enough to view both comments together as "Yes, you're a speed bump, but you're a vital speed bump."
Jack

Friday, December 09, 2005

Paraphilia Phriday 2

With today's paraphilia, it makes a difference whether you're convicted or acquitted.

Woman says she falls asleep on a couch at a party after drinking, (where were her friends!?!) wakes up to some guy having sex with her, and pushes him onto the floor.
Guy says he fell asleep on the same couch and only woke up when he hit the floor.

He was acquitted of sexual assault based on the parasomnia (sleeping disorder) of Sexsomnia, or having sex in your sleep. (Like sleepwalking)

If he'd been convicted, it would have been a case of Somnophilia, or sexual arousal by fondling or having sex with somebody else who is asleep.

Jack

Thursday, December 08, 2005

remembering why i do this

Jack is still in trial and will put on his defense today and will close in the morning. Chrissy is out sick and i finished moving into my new office. Everything is hug on the walls and i can now function again as a lawyer. I had court yesterday were I represented a man who had been accused of breaking in to an automobile that had been disabled and parked in his apartment parking lot for the last two months. My client contended that he had just arrived home and was getting out of his vehicle when the sister to the owner of the disabled car came out and saw him and another hispanic male (who was in the car taking the speakers ou)t next to each other. My client had the unfortunate luck of parking right next to the vehicle in question. My client and his wife had paid over a thousand dollars to a bondsman to get my client out. The bondsman then told them they had to pay another thousand dollars to a specific attorney before he would bond them out. My client's wife came to the video arraignment and told the magistrate this story and the magistrate appointed them a public defender. We got him out on a service that allows individuals to not post a bond with the threat if they don't come back to court its an additional felony. My client came to court and even with the district attorney offering a plea agreement stuck to his guns and demanded his day in court. The case has now been dismissed. I had to explain through an interpreter that they were free to leave and the case was over. I haven't been hugged that much in open court ever. It's day's like this that remind me why i do this for a living. janet

Sunday, December 04, 2005

I'm back

I know I've been gone for a while. Family was in from the East Coast so we did all of the touristy things to do around here. It was really nice having my family here for a holiday. Plus, my list of things to do around the house have been eradicated thanks to good ole dad, god love him. I swear the parents did more around the house in one week than I have in six months. The only bad thing about taking off from work is coming back to your desk. I can not really complain cause it really wasn't that bad. Out of Jack and Chrissy I'm the neat freak when it comes to my office. Last week, I was in court everyday. I will say this last week was a good week to be a public defender client. Between Jack and I all of our clients cases got dismissed through motions or good luck. Next week, Jack is in trial. Chrissy and I have probable cause hearings on 24 people its going to be hectic to say the least. On a good note, I get a bigger office unfortunately cause were losing a great champion of the indigent.
Janet

Friday, December 02, 2005

Paraphilia Phriday

By popular demand,

Today's paraphilia is:
Anthropopapillophilia,
or an obsession with the nipples of human beings.

OK, paraphilias usually refer to sexual obsessions, but the facts (and headline) made it too good to pass up:
Deal nips lawsuit over showing breasts to ape
Two animal handlers who say they were fired for refusing to expose their breasts to a 300-pound gorilla have settled their lawsuit against the Gorilla Foundation on undisclosed terms. Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller, both in their mid-40s, claimed that Gorilla Foundation president Francine “Penny” Patterson pressured them to indulge Koko the gorilla’s “nipple fetish” as a way of bonding with the 33-year-old female.

Jack

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Jack's Real Superhero Identity

Today. 3:15.
After getting released yesterday eveing, a client has been getting the runaround from the fines and costs folks. Comes to the office, confused and worried about messing up his probation by not complying. Doesn't remember who his attorney was.
He's describing his attorney to the staff at the front desk:
"...and he's short and he's fat!"
As I come through the door, he turns, points, and crows,
"AND THAT"S HIM!"



Actually, I did test out as Mr. Incredible...

Jack

Which Superhero Are You?

Janet is: Supergirl
Supergirl

85%
Superman

80%
Spider-Man

75%
Wonder Woman

70%
Iron Man

70%
The Flash

60%
Green Lantern

60%
Batman

40%
Catwoman

40%
Robin

37%
Hulk

30%
Lean, muscular and feminine.
Honest and a defender of the innocent.



Chrissy is: Catwoman
Catwoman

85%
Spider-Man

80%
Iron Man

80%
Hulk

75%
The Flash

75%
Robin

65%
Supergirl

57%
Wonder Woman

57%
Green Lantern

50%
Superman

30%
Batman

30%
You have had a tough childhood, you know how to be a thief and exploit others but you stand up for society's cast-offs.


Jack is: Superman
Superman

80%
Robin

67%
Spider-Man

60%
Hulk

55%
Iron Man

55%
Supergirl

50%
Green Lantern

45%
Wonder Woman

30%
Batman

25%
The Flash

25%
Catwoman

25%
You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.


Which Superhero are you?