law & order

The law locks up the man who steals the goose from the common, but leaves the greater criminal loose who steals the common from the goose – Australian convict saying

Double standard watch: the “gay panic” defence

By tigtog on 2008-08-18 • ( 8 )

Yet another lowlife who murdered a man and stole things from him has claimed that the victim made sexual advances, and that he became “enraged” and “had no other choice” than to slay the victim. He’ll probably end up being… Read More ›

UK Criminal Compensation Authority Blaming Rape Victims

By tigtog on 2008-08-14 • ( 11 )

Under guidelines meant to minimise compensation payouts for people who “contribute to their own ordeal during a criminal incident”, such as people taking part in the crime, or offering provocation for an attack, certain bureaucrats decided that women being out in the world socialising in a perfectly legal fashion were liable for provoking their own rapes, and cut their compensation payouts accordingly. Public outcry has meant that the decision has been reversed, but how could they have been so wrong headed in the first place?

It could be something to do with the way that the media reports rape, of course. Melissa reports [trigger warnings], and then responds to a typical Daily Mail women-blaming op-ed (the pictorial juxtaposition has to be seen to be believed):

The piece itself is just unrelentingly infuriating, as its male author offers up gems like:

Got Breastmilk? Californian Milk Board Threatens Batik Artist Mum

By lauredhel on 2008-08-05 • ( 5 )

Remember when Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist was stomped on by Big Pork for selling a T-shirt saying “The other white milk”?

“Your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board’s mark, in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption”,

the Pork Board whined, with a side serve of insinuation that The Lactivist was a sexual lactation fetish site. (Or were they really, truly freaked out that she is just fine with toddlers and preschoolers breastfeeding, not just infants – and thought that that any association with all that booby malarkey would reflect badly on an organisation that intensively tortures pigs before making them into bacon? We’ll never know.)

The gap between American justice and that of the rest of the world is enormous and growing

By tigtog on 2008-08-05 • ( 2 )

Xeni Jardin notes that it’s official: more than 1% of the US population is now in jail or prison. The stats one finds can be a little confusing because of that particular US distinction (between jail (a remand facility for those awaiting trial or convicted of misdemeanours) and prison (convicted criminals only)), but most studies find between 750 to 800 persons imprisoned per 100,000 US populace. Other nations treat jail/gaol and prison as synonyms, so their incarceration rates may well include those held on remand or for misdemeanours, making the difference in figures between the US and other countries even more striking.

The Great Scrabble Firewall

By lauredhel on 2008-08-04 • ( 6 )

Facebookers have probably been following the saga of Scrabulous, the online game that looks and behaves rather like Scrabble. Scrabulous was well put together, and allowed me to play with my friends all over the globe, in group and one-on-one games.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Despite their IP claims being rather, erm, shaky, Mattel-Hasbro seems to have brought down Scrabulous; it’s now only available for people who don’t live in the USA or Canada.

“Not to worry!”, they bugled. “We’ll bring out our own authentic version for you!”