Just saw this story come across my newsfeed. It is the story of a man who moves into a low rent apartment in California, sees a girl who is obviously being neglected, but doesn't do much to help. Later that girl is abducted and killed. The "moral" of the story, if there is one, is that we must always be vigilant and help those in need lest something horrible happen to them.
I showed this to my Crime, Justice, and Society class and their reactions were, I think, consistent with what the story is meant to evoke. Fear. The notion that no one can be trusted. But there's also some other layers here. We've been discussing the media and its coverage of crime. There's a point in the story at which the media have convicted the little girl's mother's boyfriend--who has a record. Soon this record is made public. DeWolf describes wanting to clock this guy. But he didn't do it.
I think this story also contributes to the fear that child abductions are always just around the corner. I don't mean to suggest we shouldn't protect our children, but a bit of reality may be in store. Discovery has a nice story offering some context. According to the story, which you can read here, less than 5% of child abductions involve strangers. According to this US DOJ report, the rate of non-family child abductions is roughly .47 per 1,000 people in the US, a very low rate. Family abductions are slightly higher, at a bit more than 1 per 1,000. Again, not saying these things don't happen, but dramatic stories like this may make the cases seem more likely than they are.
I showed this to my Crime, Justice, and Society class and their reactions were, I think, consistent with what the story is meant to evoke. Fear. The notion that no one can be trusted. But there's also some other layers here. We've been discussing the media and its coverage of crime. There's a point in the story at which the media have convicted the little girl's mother's boyfriend--who has a record. Soon this record is made public. DeWolf describes wanting to clock this guy. But he didn't do it.
I think this story also contributes to the fear that child abductions are always just around the corner. I don't mean to suggest we shouldn't protect our children, but a bit of reality may be in store. Discovery has a nice story offering some context. According to the story, which you can read here, less than 5% of child abductions involve strangers. According to this US DOJ report, the rate of non-family child abductions is roughly .47 per 1,000 people in the US, a very low rate. Family abductions are slightly higher, at a bit more than 1 per 1,000. Again, not saying these things don't happen, but dramatic stories like this may make the cases seem more likely than they are.