Crime

"Media Piracy's core thesis is simple: people in the poor world don't pay for software, games, music and movies because these goods cost too much. Whereas a DVD here might cost you an hour's wage, the same DVD in a poor country could cost a day's work, or a week's, or even more. In poor markets where legitimate media costs the same (in relative terms) as it does in rich markets, the amount of licit purchasing is about the same. But that's not what the media companies say they believe. In their official narrative – bolstered by a long line of studies with undocumented methodologies and assumptions – is that poor countries simply lack a "culture of copyright" that can be reinforced through education and enforcement. Karganis and co have much to say on this score. They document the way that the airwaves and newspapers in poor countries are dominated by the official, Hollywood view of piracy, presented uncritically and at length. The message is even integrated into the school curriculum through official teaching units produced by American entertainment conglomerates and given to teachers to be delivered verbatim to their students. On the enforcement side, entertainment companies often secure a kind of rough, streamlined justice that allows them to race to the head of the justice line, pushing past criminal and civil cases of much larger magnitude. They get their own police forces tasked to them, and their own special high-grade punishments that treat offences against them as inherently graver than offences against local firms and people."

"I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans in jail for downloading music. It is wrong to illegally download, but the answer cannot be jail. Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws, and we should look to new technologies like Apple's new Music Store for solutions. This way, innovation continues to be the hallmark of America. It is the fans that drive the success of the music business."

"If they succeed in destroying our books or even making many of them inaccessible, there will be a chilling effect on the hundreds of other libraries that lend digitized books as we do. This could be the burning of the Library of Alexandria moment—millions of books from our community's libraries—gone."

"Media piracy has been called "a global scourge," "an international plague," and "nirvana for criminals," but it is probably better described as a global pricing problem. High prices for media goods, low incomes, and cheap digital technologies are the main ingredients of global media piracy. If piracy is ubiquitous in most parts of the world, it is because these conditions are ubiquitous. Relative to local incomes in Brazil, Russia, or South Africa, the price of a CD, DVD, or copy of Microsoft Office is five to ten times higher than in the United States or Europe. Licit media goods are luxury items in most parts of the world, and licit media markets are correspondingly tiny. Industry estimates of high rates of piracy in emerging markets- 68% for software in Russia, 82% for music in Mexico, 90% for movies in India-reflects this disparity and may even understate the prevalence of pirated goods. Acknowledging these price effects is to view piracy from the consumption side rather than the production side of the global media economy. Piracy imposes an array of costs on producers and distributors- both domestic and international- but it also provides the main form of access in developing countries to a wide range of media goods, from recorded music, to film, to software. This last point is critical to understanding the trade offs that define piracy and enforcement in emerging markets. The enormously successful globalization of media culture has not been accompanied by a comparable democratization of media access - at least in its legal forms. The flood of legal media goods available in high-income countries over the past two decades has been a trickle in most parts of the world."

"[D]omestic piracy may well impose losses on specific industrial sectors, but these are not losses to the larger national economy. Within a given country the piracy of domestic goods is a transfer of income, not a loss. Money saved by consumers or businesses on CDs, DVDs, or software will not disappear but rather be spent on other things-housing, food, other entertainment, other business expenses, and so on. These expenditures, in turn, will generate tax revenue, new jobs, infrastructural investments, and the range of other goods that are typically cited in the loss column of industry analyses. For our part, we take seriously the possibility that the consumer surplus from piracy might be more productive, socially valuable, and or job creating than additional investment in the software and media sectors. We think this likelihood increases in markets for entertainment goods, which contribute to growth but add little to productivity, and still further in countries that import most of their audiovisual goods and software - in short, virtually everywhere outside the United States."

"P2P continues to account for a high percentage of total bandwidth utilization in most poarts of the world, and infringing files represent, by most accounts, a very high percentage of P2P content (Felton 2010; IFPI 2006). ISP-traffic monitoring firm ipoque put P2P use in 2009 at roughly 70% of total bandwidth in Eastern Europe, 60% in South America, and slightly lower percentages in northern and southern Europe (Schulze and Mochalski 2009). US rates are generally estimated at 25%-30%, reflecting not so much lower utilization of P2P as higher utilization of streaming video services such as YouTube and Hulu."

"Recent IIPA reports cite rates of music piracy in excess of 90% in China, India, Mexico, and Brazil. Less and less of this traffic takes place on the street, as physical piracy shifts toward the narrower stock and higher margins of DVDs."

"Child pornography is great. Politicians do not understand file sharing, but they understand child pornography, and they want to filter that to score points with the public. Once we get them to filter child pornography, we can get them to extend the block to file sharing. We must filter the Internet to win over online file sharing. But politicians don’t understand that file sharing is bad, and this is a problem for us. Therefore, we must associate file sharing with child pornography. Because that’s something the politicians understand, and something they want to filter off the Internet."

"If there's anyone out there involved in illegal movie piracy ... don't do it. Take a good look at these people. These are the people you're stealing from. Look at them! Face what you've done! There are women here who can barely afford enough gown to cover their breasts."

"There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture."

"Napster affected rock CD sales disproportionately when it first came out in the late ’90s, because rock was what a lot of college students were listening to, and they were early MP3 adopters (and early pirates.) They figured out quickly how to download MP3s for free, so rock sales were the first to decline. It would take a while before piracy/the Internet/MP3s/downloads would cut into other genres, because it took old people a long time to figure out the Internet."

"The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shall not covet," and "Thou shall not steal," are not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free."

"“They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord,"

"KLEPTOMANIAC, n. A rich thief."

"To live On means not yours—be brave in silks and laces, Gallant in steeds; splendid in banquets; all Not yours. Given, uninherited, unpaid for; This is to be a trickster; and to filch Men's art and labour, which to them is wealth, Life, daily bread;—quitting all scores with "friend, You're troublesome!" Why this, forgive me, Is what, when done with a less dainty grace, Plain folks call "Theft.""

"No Indian prince has to his palace More followers than a thief to the gallows."

"Kill a man's family, and he may brook it, But keep your hands out of his breeches' pocket."

"When the ideal of Society is material gain or possession, as it is largely today, the object of its special condemnation is the thief – not the rich thief, for he is already in possession and therefore respectable, but the poor thief."

"The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods. It commands justice and charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor. For the sake of the common good, it requires respect for the universal destination of goods and respect for the right to private property."

"Thieves respect property; they merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."

"Stolen sweets are best."

"There is a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast."

"Diogenes ... saw the officials of a temple leading away someone who had stolen a bowl belonging to the treasurers, and said, "The great thieves are leading away the little thief.""

"If your claim to fame is that you’ve taken money from other people and haven’t delivered what you promised, that doesn’t make you a genius businessman, that makes you a thief."

"All stealing is comparative. If you come to absolutes, pray who does not steal?"

"All over Tibet I had seen men who had been deprived of an arm or a leg for theft (...) Penal amputations were done without antiseptics or sterile dressings."

"If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death."

"This command forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it by sinful sparing, and to rob others by removing the ancient landmarks, invading our neighbour’s rights, taking his goods from his person, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely, over-reaching in bargains, nor restoring what is borrowed or found, withholding just debts, rents, or wages, and (which is worst of all) to rob the public in the coin or revenue, or that which is dedicated to the service of religion."

"The Friar preached against stealing, and had a goose in his sleeve."

"Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, then by his predecessor."

"I am amazed that (as far as I know) no one has ever treated the idea of a "master-thief," an idea that certainly would lend itself very well to dramatic treatment. We cannot help noting that almost every country has had the idea of such a thief, that an ideal of a thief has hovered before all of them.... We must, of course, imagine him [the master-thief] well-equipped with a very good sense of humor, which can very well be reconciled with his discontent, which is precisely what will make him satirical and — even though he must not be thought of as always being discontented — can still be readily reconciled with his lowly origin at the grassroot level of the nation. ... I would prefer to think of such a master-thief as someone who had lost his father early in life and now has only an old mother whom he loves dearly and she him."

"If something is stolen from you, don't go to the police. They're not interested. Don't go to a psychologist either, because he's interested in only one thing: that it was really you who did the stealing."

"I have a steed, to leave behind The wild bird, and the wilder wind : I have a sword, which does not know How to waste a second blow : I have a matchlock, whose red breath Bears the lightning’s sudden death ; I have a foot of fiery flight, I have an eye that cleaves the night. I win my portion in the land By my high heart and strong right hand."

"Furthermore, in the market and in common trade likewise, this practice is in full swing and force to the greatest extent, where one openly defrauds another with bad merchandise, false measures, weights, coins, and by nimbleness and queer finances or dexterous tricks takes advantage of him; likewise, when one overcharges a person in a trade and wantonly drives a hard bargain, skins and distresses him. And who can recount or think of all these things? To sum up, this is the commonest craft and the largest guild on earth, and if we regard the world throughout all conditions of life, it is nothing else than a vast, wide stall, full of great thieves. Therefore they are also called swivel-chair robbers, land- and highway-robbers, not pick-locks and sneak-thieves who snatch away the ready cash, but who sit on the chair [at home] and are styled great noblemen, and honorable, pious citizens, and yet rob and steal under a good pretext."

"467. Not to steal money stealthily (Leviticus 19:11) 468. The court must implement punitive measures against the thief (Exodus 21:37) 469. Each individual must ensure that his scales and weights are accurate (Leviticus 19:36) 470. Not to commit injustice with scales and weights (Leviticus 19:35) 471. Not to possess inaccurate scales and weights even if they are not for use (Deuteronomy 25:13) 472. Not to move a boundary marker to steal someone's property (Deuteronomy 19:14) 473. Not to kidnap (Exodus 20:13) 474. Not to rob openly (Leviticus 19:13) 474. Not to withhold wages or fail to repay a debt (Leviticus 19:13) 475. Not to covet and scheme to acquire another's possession (Exodus 20:14) 476. Not to desire another's possession (Deuteronomy 5:18) 477. Return the robbed object or its value (Leviticus 5:23) 478. Not to ignore a lost object (Deuteronomy 22:3) 479. Return the lost object (Deuteronomy 22:1) 480. The court must implement laws against the one who assaults another or damages another's property (Exodus 21:8)"

"Desire leads to coveting, and coveting leads to stealing. For if the owner (of the coveted object) does not wish to sell, even though he is offered a good price and is entreated to accept, the person (who covets the object) will come to steal it, as it is written (Mikha 2:2) [Micah 2:2], 'They covet fields and (then) steal them.' And if the owner approaches him with a view to reclaiming his money or preventing the theft, then he will come to murder. Go and learn from the example of Achav [Ahab] and Navot [Naboth]."

"Riley Freeman: “No stealing”? Don’t you always say theft in America is justified because the whole country is stolen land?"

"In a petty theft you steal money and gold, but in electoral theft you steal the future of the country. The second crime can be committed by the meanest persons."

"Should the unemployed ... do in a small way, what the rich do daily with impunity on a grand scale, should he, in fact, steal, in order to live - the bourgeoisie will heap burning coals of "moral indignation" upon his head, and, with austere visage, hand him over relentlessly in charge of the State, that in its prisons he may be fleeced the more effectively, i.e., cheaper."

"Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Let there be the curse of Allah upon the thief who steals an egg and his hand is cut off, and steals a rope and his hand is cut off."

"The stinking puddle from which usury, thievery and robbery arises is our lords and princes. They make all creatures their property—the fish in the water, the birds in the air, the plant in the earth must all be theirs. Then they proclaim God's commandments among the poor and say, "You shall not steal.""

"The remaining participants in this criminal mob fled from the area in cars at high speeds"

"What’s the cadet motto at West Point? You will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do. I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It’s — it was like — we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment. — Texas A&M University (April 15, 2019)"

"La propriété, c'est le vol!"

"The male thief, and the female thief, you shall mark, cut, or cut-off their hands/means as a recompense for what they earned, and to serve as a deterrent from God. God is Noble, Wise. Whoever repents after his wrongdoing and makes amends, then God will relent on him. Truly, God is Forgiving, Merciful."

"What has to be explained is not the fact that the man who is hungry steals or the fact that the man who is exploited strikes, but why the majority of those who are hungry don’t steal and why the majority of those who are exploited don’t strike."

"When as the sheriff of Nottingham Was come, with mickle grief, He talkd no good of Robin Hood, That strong and sturdy thief."

"Theft is only punished because it violates the right of property; but this right is itself nothing in origin but theft."

"Thou hast stolen both mine office and my name; The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame."

"A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket!"

"A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true one to another!"

"Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm."

"The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief: He robs himself that spends a bootless grief."

"He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stol'n, Let him not know't, and he's not robb'd at all."

"In limited professions there's boundless theft."

"The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction Robs the vast sea; the moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun: The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief, That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen From general excrement: each thing's a thief; The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power Have uncheck'd theft."

"Stealing of course is a crime, and a very impolite thing to do. But like most impolite things, it is excusable under certain circumstances."

"The Islamic historian Ibn Khaldūn says that looting is morally preferable to entrepreneurship or trade. Why? Because looting is more manly. In looting, you have to beat the guy in open combat to take his stuff."

"It is true that the theory of our Constitution is, that all taxes are paid voluntarily; that our government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily entered into by the people with each other; that each man makes a free and purely voluntary contract with all others who are parties to the Constitution, to pay so much money for so much protection, the same as he does with any other insurance company; and that he is just as free not to be protected, and not to pay any tax, as he is to pay a tax, and be protected.But this theory of our government is wholly different from the practical fact. The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: Your money, or your life. And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat.The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful.The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act. He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit. He does not pretend to be anything but a robber. He has not acquired impudence enough to profess to be merely a "protector," and that he takes men's money against their will, merely to enable him to "protect" those infatuated travellers, who feel perfectly able to protect themselves, or do not appreciate his peculiar system of protection. He is too sensible a man to make such professions as these. Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you, as you wish him to do. He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful "sovereign," on account of the "protection" he affords you. He does not keep "protecting" you, by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that; by robbing you of more money as often as he finds it for his interest or pleasure to do so; and by branding you as a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy to your country, and shooting you down without mercy, if you dispute his authority, or resist his demands. He is too much of a gentleman to be guilty of such impostures, and insults, and villainies as these. In short, he does not, in addition to robbing you, attempt to make you either his dupe or his slave.The proceedings of those robbers and murderers, who call themselves "the government," are directly the opposite of these of the single highwayman."

"A thief is a lion, but after he has been caught, he will be a slave."

"Suppose to-day Negroes do steal; who was it that for centuries made stealing a virtue by stealing their labor?"

"Of course clergymen and other paid teachers and moralists admonished us to be upright and unselfish, and for people with good incomes it was easy to condemn those living on the edge of poverty as inferior, impractical, shiftless, and lacking respect for the social code. It was easy to shout thief at the other fellow when you had no temptation to steal-I mean steal in a petty way. But stealing in a big way was often accepted as good business judgment."

"Who steals a bugle-horn, a ring, a steed, Or such like worthless thing, has some discretion; 'Tis petty larceny: not such his deed Who robs us of our fame, our best possession."

"To keep my hands from picking and stealing."

"'Tis bad enough in man or woman To steal a goose from off a common; But surely he's without excuse Who steals a common from the goose."

"In vain we call old notions fudge And bend our conscience to our dealing. The Ten Commandments will not budge And stealing will continue stealing."

"Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."

"Stolen sweets are always sweeter: Stolen kisses much completer; Stolen looks are nice in chapels: Stolen, stolen be your apples."

"Well, well, be it so, thou strongest thief of all, For thou hast stolen my will, and made it thine."

"Henry Ducard: When you lived among the criminals, did you start to pity them?"

"What it comes down to is this: the grocer, the butcher, the baker, the merchant, the landlord, the druggist, the liquor dealer, the policeman, the doctor, the city father and the politician – these are the people who make money out of prostitution, these are the real reapers of the wages of sin."

"Slickback: So you see, my dearest Riley, it is this instinctive and burning need to procreate between a man and a bitch that not only keeps the human race going but also fuels many important industries such as my very own. Riley: So what do you think about Homies Over Hoes? Slickback: Is that something at Denny's? I don't know what that is. Riley: Homies Over Hoes? You know, like, you supposed to put your homie over a ho. That's how pimps do, right? Slickback: I don't think Homies Over Hoes is a sentiment that A Pimp Named Slickback can cosign, Riley. I mean don't get me wrong. A Pimp Named Slickback would put a lot of things over a ho. Money over a ho? Always. Brand new gators over a ho? Absolutely. A turkey sandwich with just tomato? Guaranteed. But homies? Oh no."

"To you, a prostitute is some kind of beautiful object. You respect her as you do the Mona Lisa, in front of whom you also would not make an obscene gesture. But in so doing, you think nothing of depriving thousands of women of their souls and relegating them to an existence in an art gallery. As if we consort with them so artistically! Are we being honest when we call prostitution "poetic." I protest in the name of poetry. And we are being infinitely smug when, with subjective self-promotion, we believe we are able to endow the prostitute's life with meaning. I would like you to acknowledge the shallow aestheticism of what you write. You yourself do not want to relinquish humanity. Yet you would have us believe that there are people who are objects. You arrogate human dignity to yourself. As for the rest, they are pretty things. And why? So that we have a noble gesture for ignoble deeds."

"But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot's curse Blasts the new-born Infant's tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse."

"On the evening of the last day of October, 1501, Cesare Borgia arranged a banquet in his chambers in the Vatican with "fifty honest prostitutes", called courtesans, who danced after dinner with the attendants and others who were present, at first in their garments, then naked. After dinner the candelabra with the burning candles were taken from the tables and placed on the floor, and chestnuts were strewn around, which the naked courtesans picked up, creeping on hands and knees between the chandeliers, while the Pope, Cesare, and his sister Lucretia looked on. Finally, prizes were announced for those who could perform the act most often with the courtesans, such as tunics of silk, shoes, barrets, and other things."

"Prostitution accordingly not only became a tolerated occupation in many medieval communities, but was even treated in some places as a public utility of sorts. In the fourteenth century many towns carried this principle to its logical conclusion and began to build and operate municipal brothels as a means of regulating the sex trade while realizing a profit from it at the same time. Moral ambiguity concerning the prostitution industry long persisted, and the public policy on the matter still remains controversial in Western societies.Both lawyers and lawgivers typically sought to contain the practice of prostitution by restricting harlots and brothels to specially-designated regions within towns. Municipal statutes, following the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council, often required prostitutes to wear distinctive collectors and types of clothing. The rationale that lawmakers usually proposed to explain such regulations was that they would spare respectable women, especially the wives and daughters of established citizens, from the sexual importuning of randy men. This, in turn, was justified as a means to preserve civic peace and harmony. Municipal authorities also attempted in many places to restrict the practice of prostitution to well-defined and usually marginal regions within their towns. Here again they habitually invoked the public good as a reason for these restrictions, although it seems likely that legislation of this sort may also have served the economic and social interests of landlords and property owners in the more salubrious and desirable neighborhoods of the town.Church leaders and civic authorities alike, moreover, were concerned to provide women who wished to abandon the life of shame with realistic opportunities to do so. Thus, for example Pope Innocent III early in the thirteenth century reversed a long-standing policy that had prohibited good Christian men from marrying prostitutes. Innocent not merely permitted these marriages, but positively encouraged them and promised spiritual rewards for men who married loose women, provided of course that the husbands of former prostitutes kept close watch over their wives to make sure that they remained sexually faithful and did not return to their wanton ways. The prospect of marrying a reformed prostitute may well have been especially alluring to financially disadvantaged men, since successful strumpets occasionally managed to accumulate tidy dowries from the profits of their trade."

"The thirteenth century likewise witnessed the creation of convents and religious orders of women that provided a haven and a degree of security and chaste companionship for reformed daughters of joy. The most successful of thee religious institutes, the Order of St. Mary Magdalene (whose members were informally known as the White Ladies, established houses in many major European cities and in a surprising number of minor one as well. Such institutions in effect constituted a social security system of sorts for prostitutes who wished to retire from their occupation but required both social and economic support in order to do so."

"No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both."

"I can enjoy her while she's kind; But when she dances in the wind, And shakes the wings and will not stay, I puff the prostitute away: The little or the much she gave is quietly resign'd: Content with poverty, my soul I arm; And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm."

"The UN working group’s recommendation that sex workers’ rights need to be better protected in international human rights law is an important step in addressing the widespread discrimination sex workers face across the globe. It recommended that full decriminalization of adult voluntary sex work holds the greatest promise to address the systemic discrimination and violence sex workers frequently suffer, as well as impunity for violations of sex workers’ rights. It says that sex workers should be involved in creating the legal and policy frameworks that impact them, as they are often left out of this process, have their views ignored, or are otherwise marginalized. Human rights standards relating to sex workers’ rights are currently limited, and whether and how to advance them has often been a divisive issue. These recommendations offer a way forward that could allow all human rights defenders to come together and build a common position."

"Madams moved west as entrepreneurs, and though the New Western history has touched on many topics, the business end of frontier prostitution remains virgin territory, so to speak. Knowledgeable madams first tried the cowtowns of Kansas and then moved west into the mining camps of Colorado. Moving east from San Francisco into the uproar of Virginia City Nevada, madams issues tokens worth from 5 to 50 cents. In the brawling, bustling Western mining camps, according to Mark Twain in his class book Roughing It, full jails and hordes of prostitutes were signs of prosperity."

"Prostitutes are the inevitable product of a society that places ultimate importance on money, possessions, and competition."

"[Haitian women] were straightforward about the nonvoluntary aspect of their sexual activity: in their opinions, poverty had forced them into unfavorable unions. Under such conditions, one wonders what to make of the notion of ‘consensual sex.’"

"Better a live whore than a dead virgin!"

"And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, ’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?"

"Prostitution, although hounded, imprisoned, and chained, is nevertheless the greatest triumph of Puritanism. It is its most cherished child, all hypocritical sanctimoniousness notwithstanding. The prostitute is the fury of our century, sweeping across the "civilized" countries like a hurricane, and leaving a trail of disease and disaster. The only remedy Puritanism offers for this ill-begotten child is greater repression and more merciless persecution."

"She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? [...] It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing the Lord’s feet, she now planted her mouth on the Redeemer’s feet. For every delight, therefore, she had had in herself, she now immolated herself. She turned the mass of her crimes to virtues, in order to serve God entirely in penance."

"The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger at least once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I invite you in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfil the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus."

"I think it proves that if my business could be made legal, the way off-track betting is in New York, I and women like me could make a big contribution to what Mayor John Lindsay calls Fun City, and the city and state could derive the money in taxes and licensing fees that I pay off to crooked cops and political figures."

"Do you understand, gentlemen, that all the horror is in just this—that there is no horror!"

"Prostitution is not a monolith. The newspapers use the plight of the most vulnerable women to symbolize the entire field, ignoring the diversity of the sex-worker community."

"Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness."

"Who are prostitutes? Ideas seem to lurch between contradictory stereotypes, perhaps unsurprisingly for a group more often spoken about than to. Much as immigrants are seen as lazy scroungers while somehow also stealing the jobs of "decent people", sex workers are simultaneously victim and accomplice, sexually voracious yet helpless maidens."

"Sex workers -- not journalists, politicians, or the police -- are the experts on sex work. We bring our experiences of criminalisation, rape, assault, intimate partner abuse, abortion, mental illness, drug use and epistemic violence with us in our organising and our writing. We bring the knowledge we have developed through our deep immersion in sex worker organising spaces - spaces of mutual aid, spaces that are working towards collective liberation."

"It is very difficult to prevent anyone from selling sex through criminal law. Criminalisation can make it more dangerous, but there is little the state can do to physically curtail a person's capacity to sell or trade sex. Thus, prostitution is an abiding strategy for survival for those who have nothing - no training, qualifications, or equipment. There are almost no prerequisites for heading out to the streets and waiting for a client. Survival sex work may be dangerous, cold, and frightening- but for people whose other options are worse (hunger, homelessness, drug withdrawal) it's there as a last resort: the "safety net" onto which almost any destitute person can fall. This explains the indomitable resilience of sex work."

"Criminalising the prostitute is rooted in disgust and hatred - entangled with misogyny, racism, and fear of the visibly queer or diseased body. These coalesce into the belief that the prostitute is a threat who must be warded off through punishment."

"Criminalising sex work isn't working. At its core, exchanging sex for money - like migrancy, drug use, and abortion - is a legitimate and pragmatic human response to specific needs. Prohibiting it produces evasiveness and risk-taking among sex workers, driving them into the margins and exposing them to even more harm."

"Prostitution remained a major topic of social concern. The early, time-honoured view that, like the poor, prostitutes were a fact of life was replaced in the 1840s by a social morality that anathematised sexual licence and especially its public manifestations. Gathering intensity as the urban population rose, and with it the 'circulating harlotry' in the streets, theatres and pleasure gardens, moral panic over prostitution was at its height in the 1850s and early 1860s. In part, this was because it betokened visible female freedom from social control. As daughters, employees or servants, young women were subject to male authority; as whores they enjoyed economic and personal independence. The response was a sustained cultural campaign, in sermons, newspapers, literary and visual art, to intimidate, shame and eventually drive 'fallen women' from the streets by representing them as a depraved and dangerous element in society, doomed to disease and death. Refuges were opened and men like future Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone patrolled at night to persuade girls to leave their life of 'vice'. In actuality, the seldom-voiced truth was that in comparison to other occupations, prostitution was a leisured and profitable trade, by which women improved their circumstances, helped to educate siblings and often saved enough to open a shop or lodging house."

"Prostitution has little to do with morality, and everything to do with poverty."

"What I am saying is that truth is usually more complicated than any one perspective can capture. Prostitution is not a monolith. Each woman experiences the profession in a different manner. And nothing can be gained by having different groups of feminists or prostitutes — all of whom are probably telling the truth of their own experiences — attempting to discredit each other."

"And all married women except those whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful to you are all beyond those mentioned, so that you may seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those whom you enjoy, give them their shares as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what you do by mutual agreement after the duty. Indeed, Allah is ever-knower, wise."

"A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."

"The only way to prevent prostitution altogether would be to imprison one half of the human race."

"I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth."

"Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day."

"You a captain? You slave, for what? For tearing a poor whore’s ruff in a bawdy-house?"

"We cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy house straight."

"Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand! Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back; Thou hotly lusts to use her in that kind For which thou whipp’st her."

"This house, if it be not a bawd’s house, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house."

"Ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd."

"Come, I am for no more bawdy houses: shall’s go hear the vestals sing?"

"The Iceberg Slim story revolves around a sex worker at the natural end of her career, and her pimp, who goes to great lengths to force her, his best earner, into further years of indentured servitude. He stages a death and pins the blame on her, the guilt and shame breaking her spirit. Only her pimp can offer her salvation, and the only way to repay that debt is to keep working."

"Vice flourished luxuriantly during the heyday of our ‘flush times.’ The Saloons were overburdened with custom; so were the police courts, the gambling dens, the brothels and the jails-unfailing signs of prosperity in a mining region-in any region for that matter.” Why did women seek out the sporting life? Many had been abused or abandoned as children and could not maintain stable relationships, but some women simply wanted a gayer, more exciting life than being a farm wife and mother or being married to the factory floor back east."

"When we see a woman bartering beauty for gold, we look upon such a one as no other than a common prostitute; but she who rewards the passion of some worthy youth with it, gains at the same time our approbation and esteem. It is the very same with philosophy: he who sets it forth for public sale, to be disposed of to the highest bidder, is a sophist, a public prostitute."

"Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure."

"The criminalization of sex work makes sex workers more vulnerable to violence on the job and less likely to report violence. It prevents sex workers from accessing health care and other critical services, feeds an out of control mass incarceration system, and further marginalizes some of society’s most vulnerable groups, such as trans women of color and immigrants. Sex workers deserve the same legal protections as anybody else. They should be able to maintain their livelihood without fear of violence or arrest, access health care and other services without discrimination, and seek justice when they are harmed. Decriminalization would help bring sex workers out of the dangerous margins and into the light where people are protected — not targeted — by the law."

"Police abuse against sex workers is common, but police rarely face consequences for it. That’s partly because sex workers fear being arrested if they come forward to report abuse. Police also take advantage of criminalization by extorting sex workers or coercing them into sexual acts, threatening arrest if they don’t comply. Criminalizing sex work only helps police abuse their power — and get away with it. Decriminalizing sex work would remove the fear of arrest that too often prevents sex workers from seeking justice."

"[In Kenya] any woman who is single and has multiple male sex partners is considered to be a prostitute, whether or not money changes hands."

"[In India] any sexual intercourse outside socially acceptable unions is likely to be regarded as prostitution."

"[In Iran] Under mut'a, it is possible to be 'married' for as little as half an hour."

"Egyptian law states that a man who is caught with a prostitute is not imprisoned; instead, his testimony is used to convict and imprison the prostitute."

"I came up with Detroit. (Sorry, sports fans.) Vast stretches of the city are already uninhabited, crumbling. The central temples, yes, are still in use — the temples for sports, conventions and ritualistic music concerts — but for how much longer? Will the beautiful deco buildings erected as working shrines by what were once the largest companies in the world (GM, Ford) soon be abandoned? They’re already surrounded by a no man’s wasteland; it seems only a matter of time. And then how long before people wander into that zone and ask themselves, “Who built this incredible building?"

"Most of you are afraid of our neighborhood. But did you know? So are we. But we are here, you see, Not because we want to be."

"The construction of the Gowanus Parkway, laying a concrete slab on top of lively, bustling Third Avenue, buried the avenue in shadow, and when the parkway was completed, the avenue was cast forever into darkness and gloom, and its bustle and life were forever gone."

"We [The banks] determine who will succeed and who will fail."

"It was people, not architects, who made slums."

"Until very recently, no California court or commentator had suggested that the purpose of California's statutory rape law was to protect young women from the risk of pregnancy. Indeed, the...the law was initially enacted on the premise that young women, in contrast to young men, were to be deemed legally incapable of consenting to an act of sexual intercourse. Because their chastity was considered particularly precious, those young women were felt to be uniquely in need of the State's protection. In contrast, young men were assumed to be capable of making such decisions for themselves; the law therefore did not offer them any special protection."

"The reason for age-of-consent laws — about anything — is that society recognizes there are entire categories of activities to which children and minors are incapable of giving consent. They aren’t mature enough to understand the implications or consequences of a decision, and we have traditionally codified that reality in law. That’s why parents routinely make decisions on their children’s behalf. It’s also one of the reasons children can’t get tattoos or buy alcohol, among many other things. This isn’t hard to understand, and indeed there’s a broad societal consensus around the basic claim that children can’t consent to certain things or make certain decisions on their own behalf."

"Fuck money. I don't rap for dead presidents; I'd rather see the president dead. It's never been said, but I set precedents."

"President Wilson ought to be killed. It is a wonder someone has not done it already. If I had an opportunity, I would do it myself."

"Wilson is a wooden-headed son of a bitch. I wish Wilson was in hell, and if I had the power I would put him there."

"We ought to make the biggest bomb in the world and take it down to the White House and put it in the dome and blow up President Wilson and all the rest of the crooks, and get President Wilson and all the rest of the crooks and blow it up."

"They always holler at us to get an education. And now I have already received my draft classification as 1-A and I have got to report for my physical this Monday coming. I am not going. If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L. B. J."

"Ronnie, listen chump! Resign or you'll get your brains blown out. [accompanied with drawing of gun shooting bullet]"

"It's too bad that Hinckley wasn't successful in killing that son of a bitch . . . the only thing I will do is blow the head off the President of the United States."

"United States v. Carrier (1982, CA2 NY) 672 F2d 300."

"You can't keep me from killing George Bush; One day I will have my chance, just watch and see."

"Im fed up with President Bush. In is so call kinded gentler world but he isnt dont Anything for the American People who are poor, hungry and he doesnt want the average Joe on the street to get a minimum wage hike but he thinks he & Congress needs one hes full of Shit And I think Some one ought to Take him OUT AS IN "Death" but then we would be stuck with Quaye and god knows he isnt Any Count. I would like to kill Both of Them. Ask Secret Service About ME especially the ASS hole Agent in Miami Ron Collins we had a Run In in 1986 in Ft Lauderdale hes the one he fuck up my Life by lying To The Courts. I may be drinking Now but Im telling the Truth he And that Female bitch Assit US Attory karen what Ever Sent ME to Prison for no Reason--And They should And will pay if I have Anything To Do with it You can Take That to the bank. I Live here in The city now."

"We are going to give you 21 Gun-Salute — 21 guns are going to put bullets thru your heart and brains."

"I was in on the assassination of President Kennedy and I am going to kill President Johnson in the near future. I have sold some cattle and purchased a rifle with a scope. I have written a letter to the White House today in which I told the President I would kill him."

"I Ray Dan Pierce hear by [sic] being of sound mind & body do hearby [sic] swear to kill the President of the United States of America the first chance I get...and by the way send me $100.00 for cigarette money."

"Dear Mr. President, I am going to kill you, I am going to send you a pipe bomb. Love, Timothy Ballard."

"Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?"

"The important thing to know about an assassination or an attempted assassination is not who fired the shot, but who paid for the bullet."

"The American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It's over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam."

"They who say, "There will always be war," do not know what they are saying. They are preyed upon by the common internal malady of shortsight. They think themselves full of common-sense as they think themselves full of honesty. In reality, they are revealing the clumsy and limited mentality of the assassins themselves."

"We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr."

"No assassination instruction should ever be written or recorded. Ideally, only one person will be involved. No report may be made, though the act will usually be properly covered by news services. … The simplest local tools are often the most efficient means of assassination. A hammer, axe, wrench, screw driver, fire poker, kitchen knife, lamp stand, or anything hard, heavy and handy will suffice … The most efficient accident … is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface … Falls before trains and subway cars are usually effective, but require exact timing … assassinations can seldom be employed with a clear conscience. Persons who are morally squeamish should not attempt it. … The techniques employed will vary depending on whether or not the assassin himself is to be killed with the subject. If the assassin is to die with the subject, the act will be called "lost." If the assassin is to escape, the act will be called "safe." It should be noted that no compromise should exist here. The assassin must not fall alive into enemy hands. … Except in terroristic assassinations, it is desirable that the assassin be transient. In a lost assassination, the assassin must be a fanatic of some sort. Politics, religion and revenge are about the only feasible motives."

"These events don't constitute assassinations because as far as we are concerned assassinations are only those of heads of state."

"When such crimes are perpetrated the public mind is apt to fall into gloom and perplexity, for it is ignorant alike of the causes and the consequences of such deeds. But it is one of our duties to reassure them under unreasoning panic and despondency. Assassination has never changed the history of the world. I will not refer to the remote past, though an accident has made the most memorable instance of antiquity at this moment fresh in the minds and memory of all around me. But even the costly sacrifice of a Caesar did not propitiate the inexorable destiny of his country."

"The reverberations of Princip's shots truly shook the world. Yet political assassinations were far from uncommon in the early twentieth century, as we have already seen in the case of the unfortunate President McKinley. His successor, Theodore Roosevelt, only narrowly escaped assassination too. Between 1900 and 1913 no fewer than forty heads of state, politicians and diplomats were murdered, including four kings, six prime ministers and three presidents. In the Balkans alone there were eight successful assassinations, the victims of which included two kings, one queen, two prime ministers and the commander-in-chief of the Turkish Army."

"The philosophic historian, studying hereafter this present age, in which we are ourselves living, may say that it was a time of unexampled prosperity, luxury, and wealth; but catching at certain horrible murders which have lately disgraced our civilisation, may call us a nation of assassins. It is to invert the pyramid and stand it on its point."

"The landlord may become a direct oppressor. He may care nothing for the people, and have no object but to squeeze the most that he can out of them fairly or unfairly. The Russian government has been called despotism tempered with assassination. In Ireland landlordism was tempered by assassination. Unfortunately the wrong man was generally assassinated. The true criminal was an absentee, and his agent was shot instead of him. A noble lord living in England, two of whose agents had lost their lives already in his service, ordered the next to post a notice in his Barony that he intended to persevere in what he was doing, and if the tenants thought they would intimidate him by shooting his agents, they would find themselves mistaken."

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."

"The path you walk on has no end. No matter how far you go, or how many corpses you crawl over, the killing will never end. It's a future without hope. Hear me Snake! My spirit will be watching you..."

"Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country — and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians."

"Consider well this fact: As long as the German people does not arise and use force directed by its own will, the assassination of the people will continue."

"Tyranny is usually tempered with assassination, and Democracy must be tempered with culture. In the absence of this, it turns into a representation of collective folly."

"Absolutism tempered by assassination."

"I decided that the only form of government was a benevolent despotism, tempered with assassination. Then I went home again, hopeless. I am still hopeless, for that matter. We will commit the same follies again. Nothing teaches us."

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, With his surcease, success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all — here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, — We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgement here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips."

"Et tu Brute?"

"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship; and it seems hard to justify an incitement to it on anti-censorial principles."

"The external threat to liberty should not drive us into suppressing liberty at home. Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination."

"E un incidente del mestiere."

"Assassination is the perquisite of kings."

"America is the place where you can not kill your Government by killing the men who conduct it. The only way you can kill government in America is by making the men and women of America forget how to govern, and nobody can do that."

"When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it."

"Now, it's common knowledge that most towns of a certain size have a witch, if only to eat misbehaving children and the occasional puppy who wanders into her yard. Witches use those bones to cast spells and curses that make the land infertile... Yet of all the witches in Alabama, there was one who was the most feared. For she had one glass eye, which was said to contain mystical powers."

"WITCH, n. (1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with the devil. (2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a league beyond the devil."

"Witch. From the Anglo-Saxon word wicce, German wissen, “to know”, and wikken, “to divine”. The witches were at first called “wise women”, until the day when the Church took it unto herself to follow the law of Moses, which put every “witch” or enchantress to death."

"Witches’ Sabbath. The supposed festival and gathering of witches in some lonely spot, where the witches were accused of conferring directly with the Devil. Every race and people believed in it, and some believe in it still. Thus the chief headquarters and place of meeting of all the witches in Russia is said to be the Bald Mountain (Lyssaya Gorâ), near Kief, and in Germany the Brocken, in the Harz Mountains. In old Boston, U.S.A., they met near the “Devil’s Pond ”, in a large forest which has now disappeared. At Salem, they were put to death almost at the will of the Church Elders, and in South Carolina a witch was burnt as late as 1865. In Germany and England they were murdered by Church and State in thousands, being forced to lie and confess under torture their participation in the “ Witches’ Sabbath ”."

"Generals gathered in their masses just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerer of death's construction."

"Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears."

"We have winning wiles and witcheries, Such incantations as thy sterner wit Did never dream of. Time hath been ere now That Jove hath listen'd to our minstrelsy. Till wrath would seem to drop out of his soul Like a forgotten thing."

"We were apparently rather resistant to the idea of destroying witches in England, unlike views espoused in so-called books — and I use the word "book" very loosely — like The Da Vinci Code. [pretends to spit in disgust] It is complete loose stool water. It is arse-gravy of the worst kind."

"Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft are written by men."

"Any prowling maniac would have had more than his work cut out if he had accosted Anathema Device. She was a witch, after all. And precisely because she was a witch, and therefore sensible, she put little faith in protective amulets and spells; she saved it all for a foot-long bread knife which she kept in her belt."

"The Parliament of Toulouse burned 400 witches at one time. Four hundred women at one hour on the public square, dying the horrid death of fire for a crime which never existed save in the imagination of those persecutors and which grew in their imagination from a false belief in woman’s extraordinary wickedness, based upon a false theory as to original sin."

"Massachusetts was not the only, colony that treated witchcraft as a crime. Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia possessed similar enactments. Witchcraft was considered and treated as a capital offense by the laws of both Pennsylvania and New York, trials taking place in both colonies not long before the Salem tragedy......... Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York, eight of the thirteen colonies recognized witchcraft as a capital crime."

"If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not yet justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcome him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him."

""Found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue Haliurunnae. Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech."

"“Witches are of particular interest in this context because their persecution required an extraordinary degree of credulity to get underway, for the simple reason that a confederacy of witches in medieval Europe seems never to have existed. There were no covens of pagan dissidents, meeting in secret, betrothed to Satan, abandoning themselves to the pleasures of group sex, cannibalism, and the casting of spells upon neighbors, crops, and cattle.”"

"There's a little witch in all of us."

"For me—as I think it is for a lot of women and girls—I felt that they were figures that had power, and I felt very powerless. It was just very exciting and thrilling to think of a witch who didn’t care if she was portrayed as ugly—which of course, I felt like I was—or not beautiful enough or whatever, but still had power and didn’t need to be rescued."

"Let nobody presume to kill a foreign serving maid or female servant as a witch, for it is not possible, nor ought to be believed by Christian minds."

"We need to launch a nationwide campaign against superstition and belief in witchcraft. Nigerians should be told that witches are not real, and that witches and spirits are imaginary entities created by primitive minds during the infancy of human race to explain situations and issues they could not understand or resolve commonsensically. This campaign should be taken to all Nigerian schools, colleges and universities. It should be publicized over the radios and television, in the newspapers, in market places, in churches and mosques. In particular, we need to check the activities of our so called pastors and other self styled men and women of God who use the Bible or Holy books to perpetrate and justify atrocious acts and human right abuses. These religious charlatans continue to act and preach in ways that reinforce the belief in witches and provoke acts of witch accusation, persecution and killing. This has been the driving force in Akwa Ibom State, and until Nigerians learn to reject superstition and irrationalism such tragedies will continue to occur."

"To save the witch-children in Nigeria and rescue this nation from witch-believing forces, we need to get all Nigerians to exercise their common sense, reason and critical intelligence when practicing or professing their religion or belief. This is especially important when they are reading, preaching and interpreting messages and doctrines contained in their holy books."

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles."

"I am mistress of all the sciences. I go so far beyond all else that my work is called magic. I manipulate noumena, regarding monads as points of entry tangential to hylomorphism. As to the paradox of Primary Essence being contained in Quiddity, the larger in the smaller, I have my own solution. The difficulty is always in not confusing Contingency with Accidence. Do you understand me?" "Sure. You're a witch."

"A study by Rachel Moseley, researcher at the University of Warwick, found that, by the early 2000s, shows like Sabrina and Charmed had created a direct association between witchcraft and the notion of “girl power”. She wrote of her findings: “Historically, witches have been outcasts and much of this unease clearly stems from a fear of female force. The teenage witch genre articulates a new powerful image of femininity. It’s not that the Hag and herb potions have become hip, rather witchcraft has become synonymous with power and girly magic.”"

"Go tell Mankind, that there are Devils and Witches; and that tho those night-birds least appear where the Day-light of the Gospel comes, yet New-Engl. has had Exemples of their Existence and Operation; and that no only the Wigwams of Indians, where the pagan Powaws often raise their masters, in the shapes of Bears and Snakes and Fires, but the House of Christians, where our God has had his constant Worship, have undergone the Annoyance of Evil spirits. Go tell the world, What Prays can do beyond all Devils and Witches, and What it is that these Monsters love to do; and through the Demons in the Audience of several standers-by threatned much disgrace to thy Author, if he let thee come abroad, yet venture That, and in this way seek a just Revenge on Them for the Disturbance they have given to such as have called on the Name of God."

"It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be Condemned."

"In Early Modern Europe witchcraft persecution occurred at time of widespread impairment of the health of people and animals. The distribution of illness, often interpreted as a sign of bewitchment, mimics the pattern of the incidence of : it was most common in alpine areas and those with summers in the 17.4°-18.9° C temperature range; a majority of the victims were children and teenagers; and rye was a dietary staple in the areas affected. ... Cold winters traumatize rye and increase the risk of alkaloid formation. Such alkaloids may have caused the symptoms of "bewitchment." When the incidence of these symptoms increased, so did the incidence of witchcraft persecution. We today should avoid the mistake made by the witch-burners of long ago by not overlooking the physical cause for the events that mystify us."

"It struck me that it might be interesting for once to do an almost blue-collar warlock. Somebody who was streetwise, working class, and from a different background than the standard run of comic book mystics. Constantine started to grow out of that."

"Although the most acute judges of the witches and even the witches themselves, were convinced of the guilt of witchery, the guilt nevertheless was non-existent. It is thus with all guilt."

"One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar and I didn't know it. I mean there was a little blood there, and something like that."

"In response to Tacky’s Rebellion in 1760 in Jamaica, the colony’s House of Assembly passed a law naming a new crime, “obeah.” This important statute led the way in establishing obeah as a phenomenon understood by colonial authorities as a singular and dangerous problem. Investigating the Jamaica assembly’s decision within a wider Caribbean and Atlantic context and alongside the near-contemporaneous “Makandal conspiracy” in Saint Domingue, which was interpreted by French planters as a mass outbreak of poisoning, shows how similar practices came to be interpreted and constructed in different ways in different colonial cultures. The practices used by Tacky’s “obeah man” and Makandal’s followers were conceptually and practically similar, deriving from African understandings of medicine in which substances could be imbued with spiritual power. Why, then, did the French colonists emphasize poison while the British emphasized obeah (which they glossed with the term “witchcraft”)?"

"The Inquisition was established not just for the persecution of pitiful witches and sorcerers (mostly mediums), but for the annihilation of all the differently minded people, and all personal enemies of the representatives of the church, the latter having decided to obtain absolute power. First of all, among the so-called enemies of the church were the most enlightened minds, those who were working for the General Welfare, and the true followers of the Testaments of Christ. Indeed, the easiest way to destroy the enemy was by accusing him of being in league with the devil. This devilish psychology the so-called "Guardians of the purity of Christian Principles" attempted to instill into the consciousness of the masses in every possible way. Small wonder that in those days the visions of the nuns and monks had the stamp of the Satanic influence, as they were full of devilish images and all sorts of ugly temptations."

"Sorcerer, you do have magical powers, but where is your sense? How on earth could you think of going to do sorcery at Ereš, which is the city of Nisaba, a city whose destiny was decreed by An and Enlil, the primeval city, the beloved city of Ninlil?"

"What the Malleus comes down to, pretty much, is that if you’re accused of witchcraft, you’re a witch. Torture is an unfailing means to demonstrate the validity of the accusation."

"Most people think witches are a coven of lesbians dancing naked in the forest celebrating the semen stolen from imprisoned hypnotized males, which they then use to inseminate one another using turkey basters in order to create a legion of demon babies. Well, that's only part of it. We are also active in community outreach programs."

"The philosophies behind witch and a wiccan are totally different. A wiccan wears ceremonial black robes and invites her body to be inhabited by an evil spirit that commands her to perform tasks of mayhem and destruction. A witch, on the other hand, can wear anything she wants."

"The result is the same whether she confesses or not. If she confesses, her guilt is clear; she is executed. All recantation is in vain. If she does not confess, the torture is repeated—twice, thrice, four times. In exceptional crimes, the torture is not limited in duration, severity, or frequency."

"She can never clear herself. The investigating committee would feel disgraced if it acquitted a woman; once arrested and in chains, she has to be guilty, by fair means or foul."

"When, under the duress of pain, the witch has confessed, her plight is indescribable. Not only cannot she escape herself, but she is also compelled to accuse others whom she does not know, whose names are frequently put into her mouth by the investigators or suggested by the executioner, or of whom she had heard as suspected or accused."

"Witchcraft offers the model of a religion of poetry, not theology. It presents metaphors, not doctrines, and leaves open the possibility of reconciliation of science and religion, of many ways of knowing."

"In the past, men created witches: now they create mental patients."

"When have I last looked on The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies Of the dark leopards of the moon? All the wild witches, those most noble ladies, For all their broom-sticks and their tears, Their angry tears, are gone."

"No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one that casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord."

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

""But what can I do?" cried she, spreading out her arms helplessly. "I can not hew down trees, as my father used; and in all this end of the king's domain there is nothing else to be done. For there are so many shepherds that no more are needed, and so many tillers of the soil that no more can find employment. Ah, I have tried; hut no one wants a weak girl like me." "Why don't you become a witch?" asked the man. "Me!" gasped Mary-Marie, amazed. "A witch!" "Why not?" he inquired, as if surprised. "Well," said the girl, laughing. "I'm not old enough. Witches, you know, are withered dried-up old hags." "Oh, not at all!" returned the stranger. "And they sell their souls to Satan, in return for a knowledge of witchcraft," continued Mary-Marie more seriously. "Stuff and nonsense!" cried the stranger angrily. "And all the enjoyment they get in life is riding broomsticks through the air on dark nights," declared the girl. "Well, well, well!" said the old man in an astonished tone. "One might think you knew all about witches, to hear you chatter. But your words prove you to be very ignorant of the subject. You may find good people and bad people in the world; and so, I suppose, you may find good witches and bad witches. But I must confess most of the witches I have known were very respectable, indeed, and famous for their kind actions." "Oh. I'd like to be that kind of witch!" said Mary-Marie, clasping her hands earnestly."

"Martha Jones: So. Magic and stuff — it's all a bit Harry Potter … but is it real though — I mean, witches, black magic and and all that — it's real? The Doctor: Of course it isn't! Martha: Well, how am I supposed to know? — I just started believing in time travel; give me a break! The Doctor: It looks like witchcraft, but it isn't — can't be."

"The 10th incarnation of The Doctor: They've still got one foot in the Dark Ages — if I tell them the truth they'll panic and think it was witchcraft. Martha Jones: OK. What was it then? The Doctor [Pauses briefly, stares grimly at her]: Witchcraft."

"My opinion of the liberty of the press is that every man ought to be permitted to instruct his fellow subjects; that every man may fearlessly advance any new doctrines, provided he does so with proper respect to the religion and government of the country; that he may point out errors in the measures of public men; but he must not impute criminal conduct to them. The liberty of the press cannot be carried to this extent without violating another equally sacred right; namely, the right of character. This right can only be attacked in a court of justice, where the party attacked has a fair opportunity of defending himself"

"Some of these men have issued statements attempting to apologize and take responsibility. Weinstein checked into rehab, and reportedly was hoping for a second chance in Hollywood. And after the dust settles and these men spend a few months or a years out of the spotlight, some of them will undoubtedly attempt returns to their previous positions. Before they do, we must reckon with the questions of forgiveness, rehabilitation and redemption. Can these men be redeemed? And what does redemption — or just forgiveness — look like? For those of us who care about social justice (and legal justice), these are crucial concepts. While the American criminal justice system is largely punitive, liberals are always pushing to make it more focused on rehabilitation and to help offenders successfully re-enter society — and for society to welcome them back. We criticize the prison system, the industrialization of prisons and the financial incentives they create to increase incarceration rates. We oppose the disenfranchisement of felons. We want to “ban the box,” so that people who have served their time do not need to disclose on college or job applications that they’ve been incarcerated. Some of us (myself included) oppose post-release punishments, including overly broad sex offender registries and laws barring certain categories of sex offenders from living in many places. The result of these laws is that many of these offenders end up unemployed and homeless."

"Felony stands on a very different ground from misdemeanour; and the assertion that a misdemeanour can be tried in that county alone wherein any part of it was committed, appears to me to have been built upon a mistake of the true ground and reason of the doctrine in felony."

"The true ground of the doctrine in felony is this: if a felony be compounded of two distinct acts, one of which takes place in one county and the other in another county, the concurrence of both being necessary to constitute the felony, the party may not be triable in either, because, ex hypothesi, there is no felony committed in either."

"It has been solemnly decided that there is no difference between the rules of evidence in civil and criminal cases. If the rules of evidence prescribe the best course to get at truth, they must be and are the same in all cases and in all civilized countries."

"I think that a man who has been guilty of an indictable offence ought not to have the assistance of the law to recover the profits of his crime; and that whether his agents be innocent or criminal, privy or not privy, his claim against those agents is equally inadmissible in a Court of law."

"Judges should be, and I believe generally are, careful not to allow proof of other acts of the prisoner besides those the subject of the indictment to be given, unless those acts have a clear bearing on some issue raised by the indictment."

"We must follow the old authorities and precedents in criminal matters."

"There are certain irregularities which are not the subject of criminal law. But when the criminal law happens to be auxiliary to the law of morality, I do not feel any inclination to explain it away."

"Really I wish I was more acquainted than I am, with the course of criminal jurisdiction—if the question had never been decided, I should have extreme doubts upon it, and those extreme doubts which I should have would lead me in a criminal case to do otherwise than I should do in a civil case—in every civil case [I speak in the hearing of a great many professional gentlemen] wherever I have serious doubts, I follow the doctrine which I have collected to be laid down by Lord Hardwicke; I receive the evidence, giving the jury the best instruction I can upon the effect of it; and I do it in the case of civil proceedings, without running the risk of doing any hurt, because if I receive it improperly, a season will come when the Court can correct my error."

"A conviction is in the nature of a verdict and judgment, and therefore it must be precise and certain."

"I take it that the judgment is an essential point in every conviction, let the punishment be fixed or not."

"The natural leaning of our minds is in favour of prisoners; and in the mild manner in which the laws of this country are executed, it has rather been a subject of complaint by some that the Judges have given way too easily to mere formal objections2 on behalf of prisoners, and have been too ready on slight grounds to make favourable representations of their cases. Lord Hale himself, one of the greatest and best men who ever sat in judgment, considered this extreme facility as a great blemish, owing to which more offenders escaped than by the manifestation of their innocence." We must, however, take care not to carry this disposition too far, lest we loosen the bands of society, which is kept together by the hope of reward, and the fear of punishment. It has been always considered, that the Judges in our foreign possessions abroad were not bound by the rules of proceeding in our Courts here. Their laws are often altogether distinct from our own. Such is the case in India and other places. On appeals to the Privy Council from our colonies, no formal objections are attended to, if the substance of the matter or the corpus delicti sufficiently appear to enable them to get at the truth and justice of the case."

"Justice requires that a party should be duly summoned and fully heard before he is condemned."

"I once before had occasion to refer to the opinion of a most eminent Judge, who was a great Crown lawyer, upon the subject, I mean Lord Hale; who even in his time lamented the too great strictness which had been required in indictments, and which had grown to be a blemish and inconvenience in the law; and observed that more offenders escaped by the over easy ear given to exceptions in indictments than by their own innocence."

"There is no difference between civil and criminal cases as to evidence; whatever is proper evidence in one case is in the other. With respect to criminal cases, if there is any doubt, one would lean in favour of a defendant, for the reason mentioned by my lord yesterday, because that is not to be set right afterwards."

"It is the pride of our laws to labour more for the acquittal than the conviction of the accused, however black the allegations of offence."

"God forbid that the defendant should not be allowed the benefit of every advantage he is entitled to by law."

"In a criminal case I can presume nothing."

"In criminal cases you always begin by proving the corpus delicti, and then connect the prisoner with it."

"It is abominable to convict a man behind his back."

"The laws of God and man both give the party an opportunity to make his defence, if he has any. I remember to have heard it observed by a very learned man upon such an occasion, that even God himself did not pass sentence upon Adam before he was called upon to make his defence. Adam (says God), where art thou? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the same question was put to Eve also."

"Without resorting to authorities in a plain case, the common sense and feeling of mankind, the voice of nature, reason, and revelation, all concur in this plain rule, That no man is to be condemned unheard; and consequently no trial ought to proceed to the condemnation of a man who by the providence of God is rendered totally incapable of speaking for himself, or of instructing others to speak for him."

"I take it to be contrary to the first principles of English jurisprudence and English law that a man should be condemned unheard."

"It is necessary to the administration of justice that every person who is accused of a crime should have an opportunity of being heard in his defence against the charge of which he is accused."

"It is of the essence of justice not to decide against any one on grounds which are not charged against him, and as to which he has not had an opportunity of offering explanations or calling evidence."

"It is certain that natural justice requires that no man shall be condemned without notice."

"There must be an opportunity given to every person before judgment is passed upon him of being heard in his defence, and it is essential that the charge should always be intimated to the supposed delinquent."

"Every man ought to have the fullest opportunity of establishing his innocence if he can."

"Would to God you were innocent, that is the worst wish I wish you."

"The word " innocent" hath a double acceptation, innocent in respect of malice, and innocent in respect of the fact."

"God forbid that the rights of the innocent should be lost and destroyed by the offence of individuals."

"As anger does not become a Judge, so neither doth pity; for one is the mark of a foolish woman, as the other is of a passionate man."

"If his sorrow was honest and sincere it may go very far in mitigation."

"It is an invariable maxim in our law that no man shall be punished before he has had an opportunity of being heard."

"This Court will always know to temper mercy with justice where there is room for it."

"We sit here in this Court of Queen's Bench under the same obligation as the Queen holds her Crown, to administer justice with mercy according to the laws of the land."

"In all cases whatever it is usual for either plaintiff or defendant to speak by their counsel. You are assisted by a most able counsel, and you would not be guilty of any impropriety if what you wish to offer to the Court were first suggested to him, for he would then determine of the propriety of suggesting it to the Court."

"You have a right to discourse with your counsel, but you must do it in such a manner as the jury may not hear."

"Wise and practical regulations must contemplate and provide for the occasional oversights and inadvertences which, by the law of chances, are certain to happen among the thousands of criminal trials before all sorts of jurisdictions every year in England."

"I agree with Mr. Pitt Taylor that, in many of the cases, justice and common sense have been sacrificed,8 but not, as it appears to me, at the shrine of mercy—rather at the shrine of guilt, because I regard a wrongful acquittal as unmerciful to the prisoner, whose real interests are sacrificed by his escape, as well as to society."

"Every human tribunal ought to take care to administer justice, as we look hereafter to have justice administered to ourselves."

"You will understand one thing, and that is, that having been acquitted, you have no right to address one word either to the Court or the jury. At the same time, I do not wish to hold you strictly to that right ; but conduct yourself properly, and I will not stop you."

"We cannot hear the client and counsel too, it is against all rules."

"Justice and common sense seem to have been sacrificed on the shrine of mercy."

"The law of England is anxious for the interests of persons against whom charges may be made. If a man commits a crime, there is a legal and constitutional mode by which that crime may be brought into discussion. He is liable to be tried, but though his crime may be as great and as aggravated as possible, he ought to have a full, fair, dispassionate, and temperate investigation of his conduct at the time of trial."

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."

"Minatur innocentibus, qui pareit nocentibus: He threatens the innocent who spares the guilty."

"I am of the same opinion with the Roman who, in the case of Catiline, declared he had rather ten guilty persons should escape than one innocent should suffer."

"Unless civil institutions ensure protection to the innocent, all the confidence which mankind should have in them would be lost."

"The escape of one delinquent can never produce so much harm to the community as may arise from the infraction of a rule upon which the purity of public justice and the existence of civil liberty essentially depend."

"The criminal law ought to be reasonable and intelligible."

"There are frequently things sworn to which are so improbable that one does not believe them. It is one of the commonest things in the world in a criminal case to have the most positive oral evidence given on oath to establish a matter which neither the jury nor the Judge can believe, although it is sworn to."

"In a criminal proceeding the question is not alone whether substantial justice has been done, but whether justice has been done according to law. All proceedings in poenam are, it need scarcely be observed, strictissimi juris; nor should it be forgotten that the formalities of law, though here and there they may lead to the escape of an offender, are intended on the whole to insure the safe administration of justice and the protection of innocence, and must be observed. A party accused has the right to insist on them as matter of right, of which he cannot be deprived against his will; and the Judge must see that they are followed."

"Running away from justice, must always be considered an evidence of guilt."

"Flight, in criminal cases, is itself a crime. If an innocent man flies for treason or felony, he forfeits all his goods and chattels. Outlawry, in a capital case, is as a conviction for the crime: And many men who never were tried have been executed upon the outlawry."

"Flight, or an escape from arrest for felony, is an acknowledgment of guilt . . . every man, who is accused, is bound to submit himself to the judgment of the law; and, whether it be a trespass, or whether it be a felony with which he is charged, it may, with truth, be said of him who shrinks from trial—facinus fatetur qui judicium fugit."

"He who flees judgment confesses his guilt."

"The duty to prosecute, or not to prosecute, is a social and not a legal duty, which depends on the circumstances of each case. It cannot be said that it is a moral duty to prosecute in all cases. The matter depends on considerations, which vary according to each case. But the person who has to act is bound morally to be influenced by no indirect motive. He is morally bound to bring a fair and honest mind to the consideration and to exercise his decision from a sense of duty to himself and others."

"It is to the interest of the public that the suppression of a prosecution should not be made matter of private bargain."

"If people with the very best intentions carry on prosecutions that are oppressive, the end may not always perhaps sanctify the means."

"Shall we indict one man for making a fool of another?"

"I do not approve of indicting, where there is another remedy: it carries the appearance of oppression."

"You shall have the laws of England, although you refuse to own them in not holding up your hand; for the holding up of the hand hath been used as a part of the law of England these five hundred years."

"The law is plain, that you are positively to answer, guilty, or not guilty, which you please."

"He that doth refuse to put himself upon his legal trial of God and the Country, is a mute in law; and therefore you must plead guilty or not guilty. Let his language be what it will, he is a mute in law."

"Truly I think it one of the most reasonable laws in the world, that a man be tried by his county, by the neighbourhood ; and it has given ground to a good English proverb: "He that has an ill-name, is half hanged."* A man's repute among his neighbours goes a great way in this matter, when his neighbours shall say they never knew ill by him."

"Nothing could be of worse consequence, than that an officer of the Court should combine with a criminal to frustrate the sentence of the Court."

"He that hath an ill name is half hang'd ye know."

"A conviction must be good in all its parts; the information must be supported by the evidence, and the judgment must be supported by both."

"When their lordships asked Bacon How many bribes he had taken He had at least the grace To get very red in the face."

"'Tis pleasant purchasing our fellow-creatures; And all are to be sold, if you consider Their passions, and are dext'rous; some by features Are brought up, others by a warlike leader; Some by a place—as tend their years or natures; The most by ready cash—but all have prices, From crowns to kicks, according to their vices."

"Citizens United v. FEC]] violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or being elected president. And the same thing applies to governors, and U.S. Senators and congress members. So, now we’ve just seen a subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect, and sometimes get, favors for themselves after the election is over... At the present time the incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves. Somebody that is already in Congress has a great deal more to sell, to an avid contributor."

"No abuse of power has so tarnished the corporate image or shown the need for government legislation as the numerous public revelations of wholesale political and foreign bribery that came to light during the 1970s. These revelations are one of the most sordid chapters in American corporate history. Investigations revealed widespread illegal corporate political contributions and extensive bribery of foreign government officials. When the bribes were large, they significantly distorted the corporation's actual financial picture, thus misleading company stockholders as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the . When U.S. corporations bribe officials of developing countries, they may help to undermine that country's political stability and in some cases contribute to the spread of anti-American feeling. A particularly serious situation develops when pharmaceutical corporations bribe health officials in other countries to obtain permission to sell dangerous drug products."

"Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold."

"His sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment."

"Tis gold Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and Diana's rangers false themselves, yield up Their deer to the stand o' the stealer: and 'tis gold Which makes the true man kill'd and saves the thief; Nay, sometimes hangs both thief and true man."

"There is gold for you. Sell me your good report."

"What, shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes?"

"There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murders in this loathsome world, Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none."

"And ye sail walk in silk attire, And siller hae to spare, Gin ye'll consent to be his bride, Nor think o' Donald mair."

"Flowery oratory he Walpole] despised. He ascribed to the interested views of themselves or their relatives the declarations of pretended patriots, of whom he said, "All those men have their price.""

"A hoarseness caused by swallowing gold and silver."

"Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune, He had not the method of making a fortune."

"But here more slow, where all are slaves to gold, Where looks are merchandise, and smiles are sold."

"Our supple tribes repress their patriot throats, And ask no questions but the price of votes."

"Alas! the small discredit of a bribe Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe."

"Auro pulsa fides, auro venalia jura, Aurum lex sequitur, mox sine lege pudor."

"No mortal thing can bear so high a price, But that with mortal thing it may be bought."

"Every man has his price."

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."

"It is obvious today that the process of drastic penalties has not succeeded in preventing crime, or in deterring people from violent selfishness (for that is what all crime is)... Crime will be stamped out when the environing conditions in which children live, are bettered, when physical attention is given in the early formative years to glandular balance, as well as to teeth and eyes and ears, to right posture and correct feeding, and when there is also a more proper apportionment of time; when esoteric psychology and esoteric astrology give their contribution of knowledge to the bringing up of young people. The old methods must give way to the new... the cultivation of those attitudes and conditions which will evoke reality in man, bring the inner spiritual man to the foreground of consciousness, and thus produce the recognition of God Immanent. p. 237"

"Le crime et la folie ont quelque similitude. Voir les prisonniers de la Conciergerie au préau, ou voir des fous dans le jardin d'une maison de santé, c'est une même chose. Les uns et les autres se promènent en s'évitant, se jettent des regards au moins siguliers, atroces, selon leurs pensées du moment, jamais gais ni sérieux ; car ils se connaissent ou ils se craignent. L'attente d'une condamnation, les remords, les anxiétés donnent aux promeneurs du préau l'air inquiet et hagard des fous. Les criminels consommés ont seuls une assurance qui ressemble à la tranquillité d'une vie honnête, à la sincérité d'une conscience pure."

"I have never heard of any youngster going wrong, turning to crime, because of the movies. It simply isn't possible. Our relation to crime is, in a sense, the same as the prison warden's. We don't create it. We deal with it after it has happened, and we always make the criminal look bad. When I went to college, I studied under a professor of geology who wanted to make us understand how the different peoples of the world got the way they are, their racial tendencies and characteristics, dark-skinned Africans and fair-haired Swedes. He cited geography and climate and food and opportunities, and he summed it all up with the phrase: "We are what we are largely because we are where we are." The proof of the argument can be found in the Uniform Crime Reports and the Department of Justice. The spot maps of cities show it. Not so long ago, I examined some maps showing juvenile delinquency, diptheria, tuberculosis and murder quotients in a number of cities from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The maps all looked alike. Disease, crime and delinquency were invariably grouped in the same parts of the cities — in the slum districts. That is the cause of crime, not the motion picture."

"Nothing stops a bullet like a job."

"There's not a crime But takes its proper change out still in crime If once rung on the counter of this world."

"Society already understands that the criminal is not he who washes our dirty linen in public, but he who dirties the linen."

"Nor all that heralds rake from coffin'd clay, Nor florid prose, nor honied lies of rhyme, Can blazon evil deeds, or consecrate a crime."

"The poacher … is asserting a right (and an instinct) belonging to a past time—when for hunting purposes all land was held in common. … In those times private property was theft. Obviously the man who attempted to retain for himself land or goods, or who fenced off a portion of the common ground and—like the modern landlord—would allow no one to till it who did not pay him a tax—was a criminal of the deepest dye. Nevertheless the criminals pushed their way to the front, and have become the respectables of modern society."

"La pauvreté met le crime au rabais."

"There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals."

"(1) Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals."

"(2) If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity."

"(3) Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority."

"(5) Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates a desire for emulation."

"(6) In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds."

"(7) Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gunplay, physical agony, the gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated."

"If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?"

"Guide the people by law, subdue them by punishment; they may shun crime, but will be void of shame. Guide them by example, subdue them by courtesy; they will learn shame, and come to be good."

"The real significance of crime is in its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind."

"But many a crime deemed innocent on earth Is registered in Heaven; and these no doubt Have each their record, with a curse annex'd."

"The most difficult crime to track is the one which is purposeless."

"It is written ' Thou shalt not kill,' so because he has killed, are we to kill him? No, that's impossible."

"Commit a crime, and the earth is made of glass."

"Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot."

"Crime is naught but misdirected energy. So long as every institution of today, economic, political, social, and moral, conspires to misdirect human energy into wrong channels; so long as most people are out of place doing the things they hate to do, living a life they loathe to live, crime will be inevitable, and all the laws on the statutes can only increase, but never do away with, crime."

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, no matter how justified, is not a crime."

"Plan harm for another and harm yourself most, the evil we hatch always comes home to roost."

"Almost all crime depends on the acquiescence of the victim. If the victim refuses his assigned role, the criminal is placed at a disadvantage, one so severe that it usually takes an understanding and compassionate judge to set things right. I had broken the rules; I had fought back."

"Nine-tenths of our crimes an' calamities are made possible by th' automobile. It has unleashed all th' pent-up criminal tendencies o' th' ages. It's th' central figure in murders, hold-ups, burglaries, accidents, elopements, failures an' abscondments. It has well nigh jimmed th' American home.... No girl is missin' that wuzn' last seen steppin' in a strange automobile.... An' ther hain't a day rolls by that somebuddy hain't sellin' ther sewin' machine, or ther home, or somethin' t' pay on an automobile.... Maybe th' jails an' workhouses are empty, but that's not because th' world is gittin' better. It's because all th' criminals escape in automobiles."

"My servant ... was numbered with the transgressors."

"When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people's hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong."

"People try to excuse their brutality by saying that it is the custom; but a crime does not cease to be a crime because many commit it. Karma takes no account of custom; and the karma of cruelty is the most terrible of all... The fate of the cruel must fall also upon all who go out intentionally to kill God's creatures, and call it "sport"."

"The unpunished crime is never regretted. We weep over the consequence, not over the fault."

"Any time you think of a decent crime, there are fifty ways to fuck it up. If you can think of twenty-five, you're a genius."

"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

"The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself. All that you despise, all that you loathe, all that you reject, all that you condemn and seek to convert by punishment springs from you."

"The prisoner is not the one who has committed a crime, but the one who clings to his crime and lives it over and over."

"“Sympathy with a person who sins”, is not the same as sympathy with the sin or crime of which he is guilty. We may feel sorry for the plight of the murderer or even understand the circumstances which led him to his crime; we may not feel sympathy with the wrong which he has done."

"(A) The presentation of crimes against the law, human or divine, is often necessary for the carrying out of the plot. But the presentation must not throw sympathy with the criminal as against the law, nor with the crime as against those who must punish it."

"The stinking puddle from which usury, thievery and robbery arises is our lords and princes. They make all creatures their property—the fish in the water, the birds in the air, the plant in the earth must all be theirs. Then they proclaim God's commandments among the poor and say, "You shall not steal.""

"People seem good while they are oppressed, but they only wish to become oppressors in their turn: life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim."

"Rursus prosperum ac felix scelus virtus vocatur; sontibus parent boni, ius est in armis, opprimit leges timor."

"Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes."

"If little faults, proceeding on distemper, Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested, Appear before us?"

"Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the first motion, all the interim is Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream."

"Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, Art thou damn'd, Hubert."

"Tremble, thou wretch, That has within thee undivulged crimes, Unwhipp'd of justice."

"There shall be done A deed of dreadful note."

"Theft is only punished because it violates the right of property; but this right is itself nothing in origin but theft."

"We may isolate two ways in which these "sub-political" traditions affect the early working-class movement: the phenomena of riot and of the mob, and the popular notions of an Englishman's "birthright". For the first, we must realise that there have always persisted popular attitudes towards crime, amounting at times to an unwritten code, quite distinct from the laws of the land. Certain crimes were outlawed by both codes: a wife or child murderer would be pelted and execrated on the way to Tyburn. Highwaymen and pirates belonged to popular ballads, part heroic myth, part admonition to the young. But other crimes were actively condoned by whole communities—coining, poaching, the evasion of taxes (the window tax and tithes) or excise or the press-gang. Smuggling communities lived in a state of constant war with authority, whose unwritten rules were understood by both sides; the authorities might seize a ship or raid the village, and the smugglers might resist arrest—"but it was no part of the smuggling tactics to carry war farther than defence, or at times a rescue, because of the retaliatory measures that were sure to come... On the other hand, other crimes, which were easily committed and yet which struck at the livelihood of particular communities—sheep-stealing or stealing cloth off the tenters in the open field—excited popular condemnation"

"From a single crime know the nation."

"Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community."

"The sole means of ridding man of crime is to rid him of freedom."

"My hope is that students, scholars, mental health and criminal justice practitioners, and others who read this book will come away reminded of several important things that can take us further toward preventing, controlling, and responding to crime. First, crime is a common everyday occurrence with very real and often tragic consequences we are all forced to deal with at some level in our everyday lives, whether we are offenders, victims, witnesses, citizens, jurors, or professionals in criminal justice, mental health, or social service. Second, feasible and effective solutions to the prevention and control of crime can come only from the conjoining of scientific and practical perspectives of different disciplines, keeping in mind that nothing about real crime will ever fall as neatly into place as the theories suggest and no empirical study can be so perfectly designed as to provide definitive answers. Third, crime types included in this text that are rarely covered in traditional criminology texts, such as political and copycat crimes, will hopefully inspire researchers to pursue otherwise untouched avenues of research."

"[C]riminal behavior is not a static phenomenon. Crime is a subcultural and cultural product-a human behavior that changes in form and meaning across time, place, culture, subculture, gender, and so on. The hope is that this book will inspire students, researchers, criminal justice professionals, and citizens to think creatively about crime, to work together across disciplines and arenas to make use of the best theories and practices, and to never forget that for every crime that is prevented, every offender who is (even slightly) reformed, every victim who is better supported, every citizen who is less afraid of crime, and every criminal justice professional who is given better tools with which to do his or her job, many lives and communities will be affected and improved."

"[C]rime is a social, interpersonal, and personal harm that, more often than not, has tragic and enduring consequences."

"If it were possible to produce a complete catalog of human criminal behavior over time and around the world, such a document would likely be one of the most fascinating reads of all time. <br. The popularity of TV crime shows like Law and Order, CSI, and the long-running NYPD Blue; films such as Taxi Driver, Silence of the Lambs, Natural Born Killers, and Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, and Ocean’s Thirteen; and classic literature such as In Cold Blood and Crime and Punishment suggests that most people are fascinated with the deviant and criminal side of human behavior. However, fictional accounts of crime (many of which are loosely or not-so-loosely based on real events) rarely compare to the reality of crime. Any law enforcement officer, medical examiner/death investigator, crime scene technician, criminal attorney, judge, juror, criminologist/researcher, or citizen who has been exposed to some or all aspects of real-life criminal events knows that real-life crime is just as fascinating as if not more so (and in some cases much more horrific) than what our imaginations can come up with."

"On the other hand, media focus on the most extreme variants of criminal behavior often makes people forget that most crime does not involve stranger abductions, sadistic torture, chopping off body parts, elaborate Internet schemes, or using commercial airliners as bombs. Although the real-life catalog of bizarre and extreme crimes is filled with horror, tragedy, and untold human harm and loss, it includes an even larger list of more benign offenses that most TV producers would have no interest in devoting a 1-hour prime time show to; and even if they did, most of us would probably rather do our laundry than watch."

"In some ways, crimes that fall on the more “normal” side of the continuum of criminal behavior are even more interesting because they involve regular people in usual settings making decisions (some spontaneous, some not) about violating the law. The nature and dynamics of these sorts of everyday crimes provide a great deal of information about the root of criminal behavior-in fact, probably more than the extreme forms of criminal behavior, which can often be explained in terms of severe psychopathology or social or political conflict."

"Crime exists only to the extent to which behavior is legally defined as criminal by the larger society and culture. In some contexts (e.g., war, executions in correctional contexts) it is not a crime to kill another human being. In some states (e.g., Nevada) it is not a crime to engage is prostitution. Until 2003 engaging in a homosexual act was a crime in many states in the United States, and it is currently illegal in some places around the world. (1) “Crime is not an entity in fact but an entity in law” (Radzinowicz, 1966, p. 22) and “technically speaking, there is no ‘crime’ without ‘criminal law’” (Shelden, 2002, p.23). “Criminal behavior is a special category of behavior that has been defined through socio-cultural-legal-political-economic processes as outside of the bounds of the law.” This is important in reviewing criminal behavior research because theoretical concepts central to understanding the mechanisms of criminal behavior such as “antisocial behavior”, “aggression”, “psychopathy”, or “deviance” are sometimes confounded with criminality in the research literature and popular discourse. For example studies on aggression are often conducted in laboratory settings with animals or humans who are engaged in some laboratory task. “Can research on aggression in rats be applied to human crime and violence? Are the processes that produce antisocial behavior, such as lying or cheating on a spouse, the same processes as are involved in violating the law? Can theories explaining how people develop deviant identities also explain how people develop criminal identities? Much of the current knowledge base on crime and criminal behavior draws from research focusing on these other concepts."

"The term “social and behavioral sciences” is often used to encompass the many disciplines and subdisciplines involved in the study of criminal behavior, with scholars from a wide range of fields in sociology, psychology, criminology, and criminal justice engaged in the study of crime. The scientific study of crime evolved from the classical and positivist schools of thought and the disciplines of sociology and psychology. Eighteenth-century discourse on criminal behavior came from the work of classical theorists Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, who saw crime as a product of free will, committed by people who made cost-benefit analyses regarding the pleasure crime would bring. The positivist school of thought emerged in the early 1800s with the writings of Cesare Lombroso (The Criminal Man) and with French mathematician-astronomer Adolphe-Jacques Quetelet’s “social physics” and French lawyer Andre-Michel Guerry’s “moral statistical analysis”, supporting the notion that crime could be measured and predicted. Criminology emerged as a subfield of sociology in the 1930s, and Criminology and Criminal Justice as a distinct academic discipline originated in the 1960s and 1970s. Psychologists have been interested in criminal behavior since the advent of psychology as a discipline (Blackburn, 1993)."

"The study of criminal behavior is much more interdisciplinary today than in the past. However, scholars continue to be divided into the same two camps that have historically defined the study of crim. More than 40 years ago, criminologist Sir Leon Radzinowicz wrote: We are here at the sources of the two fundamental approaches to the study of crime; crime as a product or expression of society and crime as a product or expression of individual constitution. From them developed two schools of thought. To one the central task of criminology was to explain the existence and distribution of crime in society; its natural tendency was to see the social factors as of overwhelming importance. To the other, the purpose of criminology was to discover why certain individuals became criminal. The tendency here was to stress the significance of constitutional factors. (Radzinowicz, 1966, pp. 29-30)"

"The long history of these two general schools of thought-criminal behavior as a product of social forces versus criminal behavior as a product of individual constitution-has been somewhat resistant to change, and even the titles of text about crime have historically reflected one or the other perspective. Texts titled “Criminology” tend to approach the study of crime from a macrosociological framework whereas texts titled “Criminal Behavior” often focus more on the micro-level dynamics of individual criminality."

""Criminal behavior” is an individual-level behavioral product of an infinite array of factors and forces that converge at a given point in time. The term “crime” can be understood more broadly as the collective amount of criminal behavior in a society."

"Over the past 200 years, a large body of literature has accumulated on crime and criminal behavior. Advances in the academic fields of criminology, criminal justice, and forensic psychology had led to recognition that theory and empirical research is critical to effective and efficient use of social resources to respond to crime. Old “tough on crime” approaches that called for harsh response to crime without attention to the nature of different types of offense behavior, rehabilitative potential, and levels o risk have been replaced by a trend favoring “smart on crime reforms” such as elimination of mandatory minimum sentences, more effective response to technical violations of probation and parole, and prison closures (Greene, 2003). These reforms rely heavily on theory and empirical research on the nature and extent of criminal behavior and the accurate measurement of crime. “Prevention and corrections have moved from ‘noting works’ through ‘what works’ to ‘making what works work’” (Andrews * Bonta, 2006, p. iii). More than at any other time in history, the science of criminal behavior today is making its way into policy and practice at every stage of the criminal justice system."

"When a crime occurs, the first question that tends to comes to people’s minds is “Why?” This is especially true when the crime in question is heinous or extraordinary. Many prominent scholars have attempted to answer the question, “What makes people commit crime?” In 1988, Jack Katz, author of “Seductions of Crime”, wrote: The social science literature contains only scattered evidence of what it means, feels, sounds, tastes, or looks like to commit a particular crime. Readers of research on homicide and assault do not hear the slaps and curses, see the pushes and shoves, or feel the humiliation and rage that may build toward the attack, sometimes persisting after the victim’s death. How adolescents manage to make the shoplifting or vandalism of cheap and commonplace things a thrilling experience has not been intriguing to many students of delinquency. Researchers of adolescent gangs have never grasped why their subjects so often stubbornly refuse to accept the outsider’s insistence that they wear the “gang” label The description of “cold blooded, senseless murderers” has been left to writers outside the social sciences. Neither academic methods nor academic theories seem to be able to grasp why such killers may have been courteous to their victims just moments before the killing, why they often wait until they have dominated victims in sealed-off environments before coldly executing them, or how it makes sense to kill when only petty cash is at stake. (Katz, 1988, p.3) Twenty years later, many integrative theories have been developed to explain how biological, developmental, personality, social, and situational factors and forces converge to produce criminal behavior (e.g., Agnew, 2005; Barak, 1998; Elliott, Ageton, & Canter, 1979; Gottfredsen & Hirschi, 1990; Moffit, 1993; Robinson, 2004; Thornberry, 1987; Tittle, 1995), yet none sufficiently answers all of the questions about all types of crime nor do they bring us much closer to understanding, as Karz suggests, “what it means, feels, sounds, tastes, or looks like to commit a particular crime.”"

"The botched Arctic training dive from the icebreaker has nothing to do with criminal behavior, except that the conclusion of the Healy investigation is a useful analogy in thinking about the causes of crime. Like the botched dive resulting in the accidental deaths of the “Healy” divers, criminal behavior occurs as a result of a series of interlocking events and would not occur if any link in a chain of events and decisions were broken.” This notion of a series of intertwined factors that converge to produce a particular outcome, whether accidental death or medical disease or criminal behavior, is far from novel and not especially exciting. Furthermore, such a complex explanation does not lend itself to a single concrete answer to the problem of crime. However, it is important to note that the outcome of the Healy investigation led to concrete changes in the Coast Guard in memory of Office Duque and Lieutenant Hill, with the goal of preventing future diver deaths by breaking links in the events and decisions that led to the botched dive. If every crime were analyzed to the extent that this Coast Guard tragedy was investigated and data collected to determine the successive events linked to produce the criminal act, then the science of criminal behavior would be much more advanced and steps could be taken to prevent future crimes. The final action memorandum from the U.S.Coast Guard said, “We will honor our lost shipmates and keep faith with our Core Values of Honor, respect, and Devotion to Duty by diligently directing our energies toward improving our performance through the elimination of the shortfalls that led to this tragedy” (Final Action, 2007, p. 27). Like the Healy diving incident, many criminal acts result in tragic consequences for victims and communities who would be similarly honored by “directing energies toward improving performance through the elimination of shortfalls” that led to the criminal event. “In thinking about and researching what makes people commit crime, it is important to think in terms of a chain of events that can be closely examined and deliberately interrupted.” Like the “Healy” incident, if we were to retrospectively analyze every criminal event, we would likely find that most crime is preventable-that if one link in the chain had been missing, the crime would not have occurred. Identifying how to prevent and respond to crime requires this sort of detailed analysis of criminal events."

"It is unlikely that each and every criminal behavior committed will ever be retrospectively scrutinized in the same manner as accidental deaths (whether in the line of duty, in the medical field, or from accidents resulting from product malfunction or negligence in other arenas). However, understanding why crime occurs requires focus on both aggregate-level factors (e.g., factors statistically associated with criminal behavior across large groups of offenders) and individual-level factors (the unique influences and chain of events in an individual’s life contributing to the criminal behavior). Theory and research directed toward identifying correlates of crime at the aggregate level as well as detailed analysis of individual-level offenses are necessary to explain why crime occurs. For example, research shows that gender, age, and social class are highly correlated with criminal behavior, with young males of lower socioeconomic status being more likely to commit crime. However, knowing that a person is young, male, and poor yells us very little about why a particular person decides to engage in an individual criminal behavior or a lifestyle of crime, nor can these factors be used to predict or clearly explain the dynamics of individual-level criminal acts."

"The second most frequently asked question about crime is, “How much crime is there?” Criminal justice policies and practices are generally ties to both the nature and the extent of crime. Attention and resources are allocated based on where the greatest need arises, which can depend on the amount of social harm or public fear crime causes. For example, even though some types of crime are particularly shocking or horrific, such as cannibalism and fetus theft, these crimes are extremely rare. It is unlikely that a great deal of resources will be directed to preventing or responding to crimes that almost never occur. On the other hand, some types of crime are so common people almost forget that they are crimes at all, such as drunk driving and domestic violence. With these types of crimes, all it takes is a few atrocity tales and a moral panic to generate a wave of concern that sometimes leads to increased resources and attention. How much crime exists is a question of great interest to the news media, who often report when crime in general or certain types of crime are on the rise or falling, crime sprees in a certain location, or particular areas experiencing disproportionate amounts of certain types of crimes. This information is also important to the public, politicians, and policymakers who use official crime rates to make decisions about allocation of resources to law enforcement agencies. Newspaper deadlines typically provide a snapshot of information from governmental reports or studies informing the public about the rise, fall, or pattern of crime[.]"

"[C]riminologists have proven to be notoriously bad predictors of crime rates. This is because there are so many factors that converge to produce increases or decreases in aggregate levels of crime. For example, the most powerful correlates of crime are age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Males between the ages of 14 and 24 from impoverished backgrounds are disproportionately represented in both offender and victimization statistics. This means that a criminologist could safely predict that when demographic shifts occur in society, such as decreasing number of male youth age 14 to 24 in the population, crime will decrease. However, crime rates in aggregate and individual-level criminal behavior are much more complicated that the theories would lead us to believe, and some might say virtually impossible to accurately predict given the varieties of human behavior and the endless parade of variables that affect criminal behavior."

"Similar to that old philosophical conundrum, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?” criminologists ask “if you’re not caught, is it really a crime?” The term dark figure of crime refers to all of the unknown crimes that do not make it into official crime data, victimization surveys, or research studies or the discrepancy between crime known to police an the true extent of crime. The amount of crime that actually occurs far exceeds the amount of crime reported to police. The majority of crime becomes known to police through citizen complaints. However, in many cases citizens do not report crime to the police. Mosher, Miethe, and Phillips (2002) offer some of the many reasons crimes are not reported to police: Some victims lack trust in the police or have severe reservations about the ability of law enforcement officials to solve crimes. Some fear retaliation and reprisals from offenders for reporting crimes; others think it is not worth their while to report offenses because, for example, the property is uninsured and probably will not be recovered. The victims in some crime situations may also be involved in criminal activities themselves (e.g. drug sellers or prostitutes who are victims of robbery) which decreases their likelihood of reporting. Others believe the incident was a “private matter,” “nothing could be done,” or was not important enough.” Public apathy and the desire to “not get involved” may underlie some witnesses’ reluctance to report offenses they observe. (p.84) Other reasons include the belief that someone else will report the crime (e.g., in the case of nuisance offenses such as disorderly conduct or vandalism against public property) or a belief that calling the police may cause more harm than good to a family (e.g., I the case of domestic violence). Whether or not a crime makes its way into official statistics also depends on police discretion in recording an incident as a crime. There are many offenses that never make it past 911 dispatchers and many that officers choose not to report either because the evidence is weak, the crime has no clear victim, the crime is not serious, or the complainant prefers not to press charges. In many such situations, criminal behavior has occurred, however the behavior does not make it into official statistics. Even in cases in which the offense is reported to and by police, many details about the criminal behavior never make it into the police report and are forever lost."

"In thinking about the dark figure of crime and the gap between the true extent of crime and crime known to police, it is important to realize that, for any behavior to be defined as criminal, it has to be prohibited by law. “Crime is a social construction” that depends on cultural, social, political, economic, and legal decisions about what is and what is not outside the bounds of the law. If there is no law against a particular behavior, then that behavior is not criminal behavior. Or, if certain people are not perceived as offenders, they may not show up in official statistics. For example, until relatively recently law enforcement did not recognize female gang members because females were excluded from official definitions of gang membership (Sikes, 1996). Thus, even though criminal behavior is studied by psychologists and other behavioral scientists who research anger, aggression, impulsivity, and other characteristics associated with behavior that violates the law, criminal behavior cannot be understood without recognizing that “criminal behavior is a special category of human behavior that is defined by a broad range of cultural forces.” Crime also requires that certain elements be present-most important, “mens rea” (criminal intent) and “actus reus” (act violating the law). Furthermore, if a person intentionally engaged in behavior that violates the law, to be considered a criminal (and recorded in official statistics), the person would have to be convicted of the offense in a court of law. Thus, to be defined as a crime, a behavior must be an intentional violation of the law. An interesting question to consider is, “if a person commits a crime-steals something or kills someone-and isn’t caught, has that person committed a crime?”"

"Almost 15 years after the murders, many people still believe O.J. Simpson committed the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. However, he was not convicted for the offense, so even if he now decided to confess to the crime in a book or any other forum, he did not commit the crime. The homicides of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were obviously reported to police, someone was arrested, and the crime was reflected in the Uniform Crime Reports for 1994. However, O.J. Simpson himself did not make it into the official data as a convicted or incarcerated offender. What if Simpson did commit these murders? What if, even though he was acquitted for the offense, he “confessed” years later? Can Simpson’s behavior be considered criminal? How can we understand the universe of criminal behavior, when there are so many offenses for which we don’t have all the information because the offender is not caught or convicted, or because the offense never comes to the attention of the police in the first place? While most homicides do not come to the attention of police, only “half of all crimes are reported to police” (Hart & Rennison, 2003). This means that official data collected by police tell only half of the story. And, as the O.J. Simpson case illustrates, even crimes that do make it into official statistics sometimes go unsanctioned with the offender unknown. “The 50% of all crime that is never reported to police is the dark figure of crime.” Beyond this, there are many details of criminal acts for which offenders aren’t caught or aren’t talking. Thus, even when offenses are known to police, may unknown features of criminal behavior are never uncovered."

"Victimization data supplement UCR data by providing information about crimes not reported to police, but they are still not able to capture the entire dark figure of crime. Victimization surveys are, of course, not able to capture offenses where there is no identifiable victim, such as public order offenses like drug offenses, gambling, disorderly conduct, trespassing, public drunkenness, and prostitution. Other excluded crimes include murder, bank robbery, and nonresidential economic crimes such as tax evasion, nonresidential burglary, possession of stolen property, and employee theft. Thus, since a large majority of offenses involve public order and nonresidential economic crime, victimization surveys are able to provide information about only a small subset of crimes, primarily violent and sex crimes, personal theft, motor vehicle theft, and residential burglary. Mosher, Miethe, and Phillips (2002) caution that using victimization data has four inherent problems: 1. Victimization surveys cover only a small range of crimes. 2. Victimization surveys are based on sample data rather than population counts, subjecting them to distortion from sampling error and sampling bias. 3. Victimization surveys are based on victims’ perceptions without independent confirmation. 4. Question wording and technical elements of the survey, including the use of different procedures over time, make it difficult to compare victimization rates over time. These problems do not diminish the value of victimization data, given that official UR data have their own flaws. Victimization data are important in minimizing the dark figure of crime and necessary to understanding criminal behavior. A first step in studying any form of criminal behavior should involve consulting both UCR and victimization data (and any other available data) for crime categories in which data are available."

"Beyond official statistics collected by the FBI in the UCR and victimization surveys, there are many self-report surveys that attempt to gather information from the offenders’ perspective. Self-report surveys provide information about criminal incidents from the offenders’ perspective and are able to capture information about crimes that do not come to the attention of the police, that victims are not willing to report, as well as public order and other offenses that may not have a clearly identifiable victim. Self-report surveys were developed beginning in the 1940s and 1950s out of concern among criminologists that official statistics were reflecting a distorted picture of crime. Self-report measures have developed substantially over the past 50 years and are now considered a fundamental reliable and valid method of scientifically measuring criminality and the bedrock of etiological studies (Thornberry & Krohn, 2000). Self-report surveys provide information about criminal events that is not translated into legalistic definitions and the victim perspective and are one of the few means through which information about offender motivation can be obtained. Information about offender motivation generally comes from two sources: self-report of involvement in crime or inferences made by researchers from behavioral evidence. Obtaining accurate data on offender motivation is problematic because it involves either trusting the offenders’ account or making inferences from behaviors."

"There are two general types of self-report surveys: surveys of unknown offenders and surveys of known offenders. Surveys of unknown offenders provide information that has not made it into official police data. Surveys of known offenders may provide insight into the details of a criminal event including offender motivation, situational factors, and thoughts and feelings of the offender before, during, and after the event. Surveys of unknown offenders can be problematic in that respondents may not want to share information that they fear may be reported to police. Surveys of known offenders may not provide a completely accurate picture if offenders are fearful that the information could be used against them in some way. With both types of self-report surveys, results may not be valid and reliable because they depend on the offender’ memory of a criminal event, recall ability, and the extent to which the offender is willing to share information about the event. Furthermore, offenders may experience memory lapses or want to present themselves in a more positive light. In some cases, this may not even be a conscious decision because oftentimes people remember what they want to remember about an event, especially in recalling a criminal event in which the offender’s behavior may cause shame or embarrassment."

"The association of legalization of abortion and crime rates is a novel and controversial suggestion based on the notion that unwanted children are at greater risk for crime and abortion reduces the number of unwanted children. In other words, unwanted children born after 1973, would have become the criminals who elevated the crime rate in the mid-1990s. Other shave argues that the dramatic drop in crime in the mid-1990s was the result of changing sensibilities. According to Tonry (2004), “Crime rates change slowly, in response to long-term social and normative changes: (p. 112) and when people’s attitude toward a particular criminal behavior changes and becomes less tolerant, citizens are more likely to report crime to the police. Thus, at times when people are less tolerant of drug crime, more drug crimes will be noticed and reported to police, which in turn will inflate the statistical incidence of this type of criminal behavior. Still others have argued that the pea in crime rates in 1980 was the result of the expansion of the crack cocaine market couples with the spread of youth gangs and increased access to firearms. When the crack cocaine market matured and turf battled ended, crime began to decrease. The 1990s crime decrease in all offense categories suggests that “something fundamental was changing in the United States and it affected each of these major crimes in the same ways” (Tonry, 2004, p. 116). For example, historians have found that homicide rates since the 12th century (the earliest time for which quantitative data are available) declined steadily in England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland from between 30 and 100 per 100,000 in the population to 10 per 100, 000 in the 18th century, to 1 to 2 per 100,000 in the 20th century. Considering more recent periods in Western countries in the mid-1990s, historians have described the violent crime rates as a “U” or “reversed J-shaped” curve (Tonr, 2004). To make sense of criminal behavior at any given time and in a particular society or community, it is important to know whether or not a particular criminal behavior is a statistical anomaly or so common a behavior it can be said to be barely a crime at all, and to pay attention to the differences in the extent of crime types across geographical areas, communities, cultures, and time periods. It is also important to recognize that it is no easy task to compare/contrast and synthesize data across sources, and an even more difficult challenge to compare crime rates across time periods and cultures. For example, UCR crime categories are not the same as NCVS categories and self-report studies such as the NYS and NSDUH measure crimes and crime categories at a level not possible with official police data and victimization surveys (e.g., NSDUH provides data on drug use that are not available through other sources). Official statistics present only a limited picture of the extent of crime in the United States, and making sense of the nature and extent of crime in general or of a particular type of crime requires synthesizing multiple sources of data. Figure 1.2, Table 1.4, and Table 1.5 present UCR data on crime types from 1986 to 2006, the NCVS data for 2005, and a rough look at the difference in the amounts of violent and property crime reported by the UCR and NCVS."

"Crime is often approached as if it were an unchanging phenomenon-as if the reason why a person would commit crime in one time period or context carry over to very different or distant times, cultures, and situations. Perhaps this is because scientific paradigms do not shift fast enough to keep up with the many social and cultural forces at the heart of definitions of crime and individual-level criminal behavior. Politics influence what behaviors are legally defined as criminal. Economics shape individual choices, who has power to make and enforce the law, who will be targeted, and what items in society are valuable targets for crime. Technological advances, which have far surpassed any gains the social sciences have been able to make in the study of criminal behavior, have had an enormous impact on methods of committing and detecting certain types of crime and mass communication, though which people learn about are influenced by crime in society."

"A number of themes emphasized throughout this text are of critical importance for the study of criminal behavior in the 21st century. First, the typology approach to understanding similarities and differences of various types of crime lets us refine theories of how types and subtypes of crime are similar and different, allowing for concrete application of theory to practice. Second, the disciplines of sociology, psychology, and more recently criminology and criminal justice have historically operated in their own disciplinary vacuums. The time has come to connect and synthesize the longstanding theoretical and empirical dots to make a more sophisticated understanding of criminal behavior possible. Third, as the number-one correlate of crime, the role of gender needs to be more central in developing theory and empirical research on crime. Finally, how and why technology shapes criminal behavior is only beginning to be explored. Theories of the future must be able to explain how crime and criminal behavior is influenced by rapid changes in technology over short periods of time. Dynamic theories and creative research methodology is needed to tap into the ways in which technological and cultural changes quickly alter the face of crime."

"“All criminal behavior is not alike” in terms of motivation, offender-victim dynamics, situational factors, social harm, legal sanctions, and so on. While it is important to develop general theories of crime that attempt to explain most, if not all, criminal behavior, it is also important to identify the similarities and differences between types of crime Focus on typologies of criminal behavior and the distinct and overlapping features of crime categories offers a more nuanced understanding of the nature of different types and subtypes of crime. “Can a single theory explain why a woman kills her abusive husband, why a teenager steals a car, and why a group of people engage in drug smuggling? Are there features of the many different types of criminal behavior that are so distinct that they call for minitheories to explain subtypes of offense behaviors? What details do general theories of crime overlook regarding the nature and dynamics of distinct types of offensive behaviors? How an understanding these details enhance opportunities for meaningful criminal justice policy and practice at different stages of the criminal justice process? “Dynamic theories and creative research methods designs are needed” to tap into the ways in which changes in technology and culture quickly alter the nature and dynamics of criminal behavior. Much of the empirical research is based on data collected many years ago and even recently published results often utilize aging data sets or involve secondary data analysis based on surveys from sources such as the nation Youth Survey that, though it has been changed over time, is not designed to answer questions relevant to particular time periods, places, subcultures, communities, gender, ethnic groups, and so on. Findings based on data collected 10, 20, or 50 years ago assume that there is little relationship between cultural changes and individual-level criminal behavior. “Does it make sense to explain criminal behavior using the same theories over time? Is crime committed in 2008 the same as it was in 1908, 1948 or 1988? Has popular culture and technology played a role in shaping criminal behavior in terms of offender motivation? Do the ways in which offenders commit their crimes change over time in relation to changes in technology and culture? Have advances in computer and media technology shaped criminal behavior in ways that call for new theories and empirical research that utilizes timely samples?” Surprisingly, researchers have only begun to ask these questions, and there is little empirical research to shed light on how or if crimes of today and in the future may be different from or similar to crimes of the near or distant past."

""Insulation and disconnection across disciplines is a major hindrance to advances in criminal behavior research.” Even though the study of crime has become much more interdisciplinary over time, with a greater number of scholars coming from PhD programs in criminology/criminal justice (that emphasize multiple disciplinary perspectives on the study of crime and its societal response), important work being done in many fields remains disconnected. Even scholars whose academic background is heavily interdisciplinary often have a particular allegiance to one or another disciplinary camp. The more students and researchers of criminal behavior are willing to cross disciplinary boundaries to make critical theoretical linkages, the more advanced our understanding of crime will be. Contributions from the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, social wor, political science, communications, cultural studies, women studies, ethnic studies, theology, philosophy, biology, neurochemistry, neuropsychology, computer science, and other disciplines must be linked and synthesized to advance the knowledge base. Many pockets of important work are being done in multiple disciplines. Critical"

"Since then, increasing attention has been paid to the applicability of male theories of crime to women and girls, the male as predator/female as victim dichotomy maintained by patriarchy, and gender discrimination and disparity in the criminal justice system. Meda Chesney-Lind, author of The Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime (1997) and numerous other books and articles, has been referred to as the “Mother of feminist criminology” (Belknap, 2004) and is one of the most prolific writers and outspoken voices on feminist criminology. Her work highlights the contextual features of the lives of girls and women that influence their involvement in crime as offenders and victims and the disparate and discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. Feminist criminology raised issues regarding not only the applicability of male theories of crime to female offenders, but also the gendered nature of crime. In his important work, Masculinities and Crime, Messerschmidt (1993) called for attention to the masculinity-crime connection, arguing that criminology has ignored the most central predictor of crime. According to Meserschmidt,“Crime by men is a form of social practice invoked as a resource, when other resources are unavailable, for accomplishing masculinity” (p.85). In Feminism and Criminology, Naffine (1996) offered a critical analysis of the impact of masculinity and feminimity on criminal behavior and the discipline of criminology, arguing that the gendered nature of crime is perpetuated by “a desperate desire to preserve men from associations with the feminine and its supposed weakness and subordination” (p. 148). Gerbner (1994) and Jhally (1999) have highlighted the role of mass media technology in shaping and solidifying the masculinity-crime/feminimity-victim ideology, giving attention to the ways in which media images pit the male aggressor against the female victim and make it virtually impossible for males or females to break out of these culturally designated roles. This research suggests that there is still a lot of work to be done to unravel the gendered nature of criminal behavior. Katz (2006) argues that violence against women is a men’s issue and men need to take action and personal responsibility for the problem of crime. Others such as Naffine (1996) emphasize the need to address the gendered nature of criminology as a discipline more centrally: The most pressing intellectual and ethical obligation of those of us who wish to persist with the study of crime, its meaning and reasons, is to bring women (and other exiles) in from the cold. In order to know more about who we are as criminologists, about the very nature of our enterprise and whether it is worth pursuing at all, we need to open up the conventional borders of the discipline. (Naffine, 1996, p 153) This important work in the area of feminist criminology an gender and crime has set the theoretical foundation for future research that may begin to explain the masculinity-crime link and gender differences and similarities in offending patterns."

"In the last 30 to 40 years, male and female crime rates have converged and the gender gap in offending has narrowed considerably (Heimer, 2000). Some argue that three has been a rise in female crime and violence (Krista, 1994), whereas others caution that increases in official rates of female offending reflect changes in law and criminal justice policy and practice that have disproportionately targeted girls and women (Chesney-Lind, 1997; Daly & Chesney-Lind, 1988). It is unclear, however, whether this convergence is the result of actual differences in male and female offending patterns or an artifact of increased police attention to female offenders and society’s acceptance of the notion that girls and women are just as capable as boys and men of committing crime. Important gains have been made in recent years in research on female aggression and the application of historically male constructs such as psychopathy to female offender populations. This research suggests that females are just as aggressive as males but that behavior manifestations of aggression in females (and males) depend on cultural, situational, and individual-specific factors (Bjorkqvist & Niemela, 1992; Campbell, 1994)."

"Fortunately, the statistical likelihood of being the victim of a heinous crime is slim to none. Most of us are more likely to die or become incapacitated by our own bad habits than by violent crime. However, crime touches all of our lives. Most of us will be, or will come into personal contact with, victims or perpetrators of some type of crime during our lifetimes. Even for the rare person who manages to avoid personally experiencing crime, daily consumption of crime in the media ensures that fear of crime and public safety have a permanent place as one of our top priorities for communities, politicians, local and federal government, and citizens. Much public and media attention is directed to the business of how to catch, convict, and punish criminals. It is impossible to respond to crime without asking, "What causes a person to engage in criminal behavior?” Beyond natural human curiosity, we need to know something about why crime occurs and who we’re dealing with in order to control and respond to crime. Knowing something about the factors associated with criminal behavior, the characteristics of offender types, and the “causes” of crime provides information with which to pursue and investigate suspects, adjudicate defendants, make sentencing determinations, manage offenders in correctional institutions, make parole and reentry decisions, and design crime prevention and crime control strategies. All kinds of theories about why individuals commit crime are bandied about in public discourse. Crime is the product of rational choice and free will. Crime is caused by parental neglect and sexual and physical abuse. Crime is caused by poverty and social disorganization. Crime is caused by too much TV, mental illness, peer influences, the quest for power, violent films and video games, bad genes, head trauma, lack of attachment, too much attachment, pornography, social isolation, being bullied in school, Twinkies, PMS, Beevis and Butthead, The Catcher in the Rye, and so on . . . ."

"In recent years criminologists have recognized that comprehensive and accurate understanding and prediction of criminal behavior require theoretical and disciplinary integration. Many disciplines and knowledge bases are necessary to fully understand criminal behavior. Crime has been explored within the disciplines of criminology and criminal justice, sociology, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, biology, philosophy, social work, law, anthropology, political science, economics, cultural and media studies, women’s studies, and others. Though no unified theory or model yet exists that can be considered truly integrative (Fishbein, 2001; Schmalleger, 2004), promising integrative models that have emerged (Barak, 1998; Hickey, 2002; Robinson, 2004) offer insight into the developmental pathways and manifestations of criminal behavior. Criminologists are challenged to develop a comprehensive and coherent explanation of criminal behavior that takes into account the diverse and sometimes conflicting theories, frameworks, and perspectives across the range of disciplines from which criminal behavior has been historically approached. The lack of complex integrated theory construction (largely rooted in historical competition between macro-level sociological theories and micro-level psychological theories) and inability to come up with a general theory to explain all types of criminal behavior call into question how much criminologists really know about crime. Criminologists’ analyses are rarely heard in mass media, which are dominated by the perspectives of criminal justice professionals and news journalists (Tunnel, 1998). However, “the mass media pundits, the public cultural critics, and the professional politicians who are all engaged in the business of talking about crime know far less than criminologists do” (Barak, 1998, p.5). This “talking about crime” that inundates us on a daily basis through news media, pop culture, the Internet, and politics makes it especially important to be able to sort fact from fiction, theory from anecdote, and scientific methodology from everyday observation and the may fallacies that exist about crime (Felson, 2002)."

""Criminology” is an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on crime, criminal behavior, and its social response. “Criminologists” are searchers, academics, and policy analysts with advanced degrees (usually in criminology, criminal justice, or sociology) who study crime, crime trends, and social reactions to crime (Schmalleger, 2004). Contemporary criminology is historically rooted in two schools of thought-positivist criminology and classical criminology. “Positivist criminology” locates the root fo criminal behavior in identifiable factors such as biological, psychological, and environmental forces. “Classical criminology” identified free will as the root of criminal behavior, based on the notion that all human beings make choices about the behaviors they engage in, and offenders engage in a cost-benefit analysis before choosing to commit a crime. “Contemporary criminologists recognize than criminal behavior involves both free will and deterministic forces.” A clear line cannot be drawn between classical and positivist thought (Barak, 1998), and an individual’s decision to engage in criminal behavior cannot be viewed as an either-or phenomenon. According to Katz (1988): The statistical and correlational findings of positivist criminology provide the following irritations to inquiry: (1) whatever the validity of the hereditary, psychological, and social-ecological conditions of crime, many of those in the supposedly casual categories do not commit the crime at issue, (2) many who do commit the crime do not fit the causal categories and (3) what is most provocative, many who do fit the background categories and later commit the predicted crime go for long stretched without committing the crimes to which the theory direct them. (pp. 3-4)"

"Most crimes are adaptive, normal, and easy to understand, and (in legalistic terms) all crime can be explained by the existence of a criminal law prohibiting such behavior (Robinson, 2004). Some crimes are much more difficult to understand and explain. It is not hard to comprehend why someone would steal because they’re hungry or to support a drug addiction. But understanding an explaining why a woman would shoot a pregnant acquaintance in the head and then cut out her fetus or why a young man would abduct, rape, torture, and murder a child is much more difficult and requires attention to research and theory from multiple disciplines."

"Multiple theories can be used to explain criminal behavior, with recognition that no single discipline is capable of offering “the answer.” The study of criminal behavior has historically been approached from a range of disciplines and perspectives with minimal theoretical integration. Many theories of crime, antisocial behavior, and deviance overlap and cannot be neatly separated by discipline. For purpose of clarity, disciplinary perspectives and criminology knowledge bases are broken down into six general areas and related research questions: 1. Biological: What are the biological roots of criminal behavior? 2. Psychological: What psychological factors contributed to this behavior? 3. Sociological: What sociological forces contributed to this behavior? 4. Routine Activity/Opportunity/Ecological: What situational, contextual, environmental factors provided the setting and opportunity for this crime to occur? 5. Cultural: What cultural forces provided the context in which this crime could occur? 6. Phenomenological: What personal meaning does the crime hold for the offender? Although there is much disciplinary and theoretical overlap, the six bodies of knowledge represent unique ways of looking at crime and offer specific tools with which to analyze criminal behavior. Each area represents particular factors that contribute to criminal behavior and is briefly summarized to provide a general overview of the knowledge bases from which interdisciplinary criminology draws."

"Biological theories explain crime in terms of the interaction between biological predisposition and environmental conditions on behavioral outcomes (Fishbein, 2001). Studies show that behaviors, characteristics, and traits associated with crime such as aggression, impulsivity, antisocial personality, and psychopathy are influenced by a range of biological factors including evolution and genetics, brain biochemistry and function, brain injury, hormonal influences, physiology, physical anomalies and body build, diet and blood sugar levels, and cognitive deficits (Raine, 1993)."

"Evolutionary theories of crime are based on the notion that natural selection is the inevitable result of three fundamental features of live: 1. Heredity-physical and behavioral traits are genetcally passed form parent to offspring. 2. “Variation”-individuals differ in their physical traits and behaviors. 3. Differential reproduction”-the inherited traits of some individuals will result int eh reproduction of more offspring."

"Hereditable traits are reproductively “adaptive” (advantageous), “maladaptive” (disadvantageous), or “neural” (Jones, 1999). Rooted in neo-Darwinian theories of evolution, these theories state that genes dictate that reproduction is the most vital function of an organism, and that DNA codes for priority reproduction must take in order for a species to survive (Fishbein, 2001). Reproduction is a genetically driven evolutionary process that codes for anatomical and physiological traits. Criminal behavior, like all behaviors, revolves around reproductive drives. Proposed evolutionary theories relevant to antisocial and criminal behavior include the r/K theory, the cheater theory, the adaptation hypothesis, and evolutionary theories of rape. All attempt to explain criminal behavior in terms of its long-term reproductive consequences. Heritability studies (involving twin and adoption studies) suggest that personality factors and traits linked to aggressive and violent behavior, may be heritable. Findings suggest that childhood aggression, disruptive behavior, and aggressive behavior across the life course may be mediated by genetic factors (Mik et al., 2007). Some research suggests that aggressiveness is transmitted across generations within families (Huesmann, Enron, & Lefkowitz, 1984) and that alcoholism, susceptibility to aggressive and impulsive behaviors, and personality disorders including conduct disorder, borderline personality disorder, attention deficit disorder, and antisocial personality disorder are genetically influenced (Fishbein, 2001). Studies have found that children who have mothers with histrionic personality disorder (HPD) and fathers with antisocial personality disorder (APD) are more likely to have the disorders themselves (histrionic personality disorder if female and antisocial personality disorder if male) and that HPD and APD are sex-types manifestations of psychopathy (Spalt, 1980; Warner, 1978). However, heredity studies do not identify the genetically influences biological mechanisms that may contribute to these traits (Fishbein, 2001), which may be identified in the future through the discovery of the human genome sequence."

"One of the more interesting of the biological theories is the “cheater theory”. This theory holds that, in some species, alternative reproductive strategies have evolved in some males. In these species, at least two types of males have evolved-“dads” and “cads.” Because males do not need to grow offspring to reproduce as females do, they have greater latitude in their reproductive behavior. Dads reproduce by accommodating female preferences for males who are prone to provide parental care for their offspring. Cads reproduce by using force or deception to mate without providing adequate care for their offspring. According to this theory, chronic offenders are “human cads,” and cheater males are more likely to evolve in large, impersonal societies where their adaptive strategy is likely to go undetected. This tendency to use deception in the mating process extends to other situations, resulting in the use of cheating, theft, risk-taking, and other antisocial behaviors and crimes (Fishbein, 2001, pp. 22-23)"

"Studies on the relationship between hormones and crime have focused on testosterone and other male hormones called androgens. Data from animal and human studies suggest that male hormones are associated with aggression in some individuals under some circumstances (Fishbein, 2001). The surge of testosterone in postpubertal males (10 times greater than in postpubertal females) partially accounts for the onset of antisocial behavior in most adolescent males and the differences in offending rates between males and females of any age (Walsh, 2002). Male sex hormones operating on the human brain appear to increase the probability of “competitive/victimizing behavior”-behavior directed at others that exists along a continuum from altruistic acts that make no profit to acts that intentionally and directly harm or dispossess others of their property (Ellis, 2005). There is some evidence to suggest that testosterone is associated with juvenile delinquency, but the association between testosterone and antisocial behavior diminishes in adulthood (Bold, Bernard, & Snipes, 2002). Other findings suggest that the link between testosterone and adult aggressive and violent behavior is well established byt this relationship may be absent, or reversed with respect to aggression in children (Raine, 2002). Regarding sex offenders, testosterone provides the basis for general sexual drive, but research linking abnormality of androgen metabolism with aberrant sexual behavior is not strongly supported and is characterized by conflicting results (Hucker & Baine, 1989). The testosterone-aggression relationship appears to be dependent on contextual, social circumstance, and personality factors (Fishbein, 2001). A critical question is whether or not her relationship between testosterone and aggression and violence is causal (Raine, 1993)."

"Recent research addressing the interaction between biological and environmental factors shows that biological and social factors interact to produce antisocial and criminal behavior. The best-replicated biosocial effect appears to be the interaction of birth complications with negative home environments in predisposing adult violence (Taine, 2002). Sophisticated theories, particularly in the are of evolutionary psychology, are now being develop to explain the complex relationship between biology and environment in producing criminal behavior. Ellis (2005) proposes the evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory, which envisions criminality as the result of a complex interaction between biological factors resulting from evolutionary history, social learning, and social environmental factors."

"Psychological theories attribute criminal behavior to individual differences resulting from early psychodynamic development, information processing and cognition, and conditioning processes. Psychological theories of crime are micro-level theories that locate the source of criminality within the individual, with the idea that crime is a symptom of an individual’s internal psychological condition. Much of the psychological research on criminal behavior has focused on the relationships between personality, mental disorder, and crime. Research at the intersection of psychology and criminology has emphasized integration of cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic perspectives in the development of functional concepts of psychopathy and criminality (Meloy, 1988; Walters, 1990). Because crime is a social construct, psychological research on criminal behavior involves study of internal psychological conditions that produce behaviors associated with crime such as antisocial behavior, psychopathy, aggression, and impulsivity. From this perspective, “crime is a behavioral symptom that is a manifestation of an internal psychological condition.” Recent research has focused to a large extent on the role of psychopathy in criminal behavior and the predictive utility of the construct in assessing dangerousness and future violence."

"Psychodynamic theories of criminal behavior focus on development of the psyche in infancy. From this perspective, motivation for criminal behavior is rooted in an individual’s psychodynamic structure and development. Contemporary psychodynamic theories of criminal behavior are rooted in Freud’s theory of the id, ego and superego. Freud postulated that behavior is the product of the interaction of the id, ego, superego with the environment. The id represents the human drive for pleasure, the ego regulates the id in accordance with the demands of the external environment, and the superego reflects the conscience and ego ideal or the parental voice inside one’s head that says “Do the right thing.”"

"Many theories and typologies developed from the psychoanalytic perspective suggest that there are different developmental routes to criminal behavior. Andrews and Bonta (2003) review four offender types that have emerged from psychodynamic theory: (1) weak superego type, (2) weak ego type, (3) the “normal” antisocial offender, and (4) the neurotic offender. The weak “superego type” needs immediate gratification and does not hear or respond to that “voice inside the head.” The “weak ego type” is immature and has poorly developed social skills, gullibility, and dependence resulting in criminal behavior through misreading of the external environment and stumbling into crime (e.g., following the leader). The ““normal” antisocial offender type” passes through normal stages of development as a fully functioning adult but possesses a procriminal superego as a result of identification with a criminal parent and ego-mastery of criminal skills. The “neurotic offender type” has an overactive superego that results in criminal behavior to fulfill the wish to be punished for “past sins.” The “weak superego theory” is the most popular of the theories in the psychodynamic literature and was the topic of much discourse and discussion of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Behavioral indicators of a weak superego include reckless disregard for conventional rules, lack of conscience and antisocial cognitions, weak ambition, absence of guilt, early conduct problems, expressions of bravado, authority conflicts, and isolation (Andrews & Bonta, 2003). These features have been consistently associated with antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and criminal behavior. An example of a the weak superego theory is Hervey Cleckley’s (1941) classic work, “The Mask of Sanity”, which, thogh not solely focused on criminal behavior, offers case study illustrations of criminal and noncriminal psychopaths. According to Cleckley, psychopaths have a “defect in affect” that enables them to harm and manipulate others without remorse. Psychopaths delight in shocking others and have no interest in engaging in conformist behaviors. Cleckley identified 16 characteristics of the psychopath (discussed in Chapter 4, such as unreliability, lack of remorse or shame, and failure to learn from experience, that reflect defect in interpersonal relations and unwillingness or inability to adhere to social (and superego) norms, rules, and values."

"Another prominent superego pathology theory is Kernberg’s theory of “borderline personality organization (BPO)”. BPO theory is particularly helpful in terms of understanding how internal conditions across the continuum of personality produce a tendency toward criminal behavior. According to Kernnberg (1966, 1967, 1984, 1985a, 1985b, 1992), personality is organized by capacity for reality testing and unconscious defensive process. Psychotic personality organization is characterized by absence of reality testing and the use of primitive defenses, borderline personality organization by capacity for reality testing and use of primitive defenses, and neurotic personality organization by capacity for reality testing and use of higher-level defenses (Figure 2.1). Kernberg’s “primitive defenses” center around the lower level mechanism of “splitting”, the related mechanisms of “primitive idealization, projective identification, denial, omnipotence,” and “devaluation”. Splitting is a genotypic defensive operation that is expressed through the phenotypic defensive process of dissociation. This defensive operation is pathognomic of general borderline ego functioning, particularly in the psychopath (Meloy, 1988). Kernberg (1976) views splitting as alternating ego states, each consisting of completely separate complex psychic manifestations, a fundamental feature of the borderline ego functioning experienced by the narcissistic, histrionic, borderline, and psychopathic personalities. Splitting is a defensive process exemplified by lack of personality integration, and the coexistence of distinct cohesive personality attitudes with conflicting aims, goals, and moral and aesthetic values (Kohut, 1971). Put simply, splitting is the view of oneself and others as all good or all bad with an inability to reconcile the two identities."

"Primitive defenses facilitate criminal behavior because they enable an individual to objectify and harm other human beings while maintaining an image of themselves as all-good. By definition, crime requires “mens rea” (a guilty mind); thus, individuals who are psychotic may commit criminal behavior, but if they are determined to be out of touch with reality they are not legally responsible for their behavior. On the continuum from psychotic to borderline to neurotic, individuals with personalities organized at the borderline level of functioning are most susceptible to criminal behavior by the very nature of their defensive structure."

"According to the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), a personality disorder is “An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture” (p. 686). To be diagnosed with a personality disorder, an individual must manifest the disorder in two or more of the following areas: cognitions (ways of perceiving the world), affectivity (emotional response), interpersonal functioning, and impulse control. The enduring pattern must also be inflexible and pervasive across a range of circumstances and situations, lead to clinically significant impairment or distress, and be stable, having originated in adolescence or early adulthood. The pattern also cannot be the product of another mental disorder, substance abuse, or a medical condition. Of the personality disorders defined in the “DSM-IV-TR:, the ‘Axis II’, “Cluster B” disorders are most relevant to the study of criminal behavior. These disorders include “Antisocial Personality Disorder”, “Borderline Personality Disorder”, “Histrionic Personality Disorder”, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder”. These four disorders share behavioral features such as impulsive acting out, unpredictable behavior, and dramatic presentation, as well as a common intrapsychic structure centered on a lower-level defensive organization that uses primitive defenses. Wulach (1988) suggests that features of each of these disorders comprise the “criminal personality” and there is evidence to suggest that each may represent distinct behavioral expressions of psychopathy. Much of the psychological research on criminal behavior has focused on “antisocial personality disorder” and “psychopathy”. In fact,the concepts of criminality, insanity, antisocial personality, and psychopathy have been so intertwined over the past two centuries that much of the research, particularly in the discipline of psychology, has failed to clearly differentiate between meal ntdisorder (an internal condition) and crime (a behavioral symptom and social construct). Researchers have spent the last 20 years trying to sort out the conceptual differences and in recent years there have been rapid advancement in our understanding of the relationship between antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and crime. According to the “DSM-IV-TR”, the essential feature of APD is “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood” (p.701)."

"Criminal behavior can also be classically conditioned when such behavior is associated with a secondary or conditioned stimulus. A simple example: A teen runaway who’s been living on the streets for some time finds a gun and decides to commit an armed robbery to acquire money to live. Immediately following the robbery, the offender is rewarded with a wallet full of cash. The anxiety of the offender had been experiencing over having no financial resources is immediately alleviated. In this case, the offender’s robbery behavior is positively reinforced by acquiring the ash and negatively reinforced by the alleviation of anxiety. However, what if immediately following the robbery a bystander intervenes, tackling and severely beating the offender? Rather than receiving reinforcements (money, decreased anxiety), the offender receives punishment (attack, beating) and the likelihood of repeating the behavior is reduced. This is an example of “operant conditioning.” Classical conditioning is somewhat different in that behavior is increased through pairing of stimuli. When the offender commit the robbery, the act of robbing someone at gunpoint generates feelings of exhilaration. After committing a number of subsequent robberies and experiencing this physiological arousal each time, the offender begins to associate armed robbery with feeling good. This pairing of an unconditioned or secondary stimulus (the act of robbing someone) with unconditioned or primary stimuli (physiological arousal produced by fear and uncertainty) increases the likelihood of future robbery behavior."

"For the learning theorist, crime is a product of social learning whereby an individual’s decision to commit crime results from observation and association."

"Differential association theory suggests that individuals act on the basis of who they associate with. People learn criminal behavior through interaction with friends and family members who engage in such behavior. Burgess and Akers’s (1966) differential association-reinforcement theory combines differential association with conditioning theories to suggest that people learn to engage in crime through differential association but criminal behavior is then maintained through operant and classical conditioning."

"A great deal of research has accumulated applying social learning theory to analyzing the impact of crime and violence in media and pop culture. Early studies (called the Payne Fund Studies) conducted in the 1930s found that many in a sample of 2,000 respondents were conscious of having directly imitated acts of violence they saw in films. This research spawned decades o controversy and research on the subject of media violence (Sparks & Sparks, 2002). A more recent study found that 25% of juvenile offenders got ideas about how to commit their crimes from popular culture (Surette, 2002). From the perspective of social learning theory, expectations and ideas are conveyed through television, film, music, computer games, and other forms of popular culture and are mimicked by youth in particular. Although there is some disagreement in the literature about whether or not media violence is criminogenic (crime producing) or cathartic (crime reducing) or both, a large and growing body of research suggests media violence triggers the occurrence of criminal behavior and shapes its form (Surette, 1998). Beyond anecdotal accounts of media-mediated violence, little empirical research supports a direct criminalizing effect of violent media. Findings suggest that media depictions of violence are more likely to shape criminal behavior than trigger it (Surette, 1998). People already inclined to commit a crime get ideas about how to commit the crime from media images, but few otherwise law-abiding citizens will be influenced by media to commit a crime. On the other hand, compelling case study evidence suggests that the behavior of a small group of “media junkies” may be unduly influenced by media violence though the potential for violent media to trigger criminal behavior is very small."

"There is considerable overlap between sociological theories of crime and theories of (noncriminal) deviance. Sociological theories that explain criminal behavior also explain deviant behavior such as college student cheating, eating disorders, bad habits and unusual sexual behaviors. Sociological theories can be broken down into three general types: “structural”, “cultural” and “interactionist”. Structural theories see criminal behavior as a product of social structure, cultural theories contend that criminal behavior is rooted in and shaped by delinquent subcultures, and interactionist theories look at the interactional forces that explain why some people commit crime while others from the same background and social circumstances do not."

"Structural theories view crime as a product of the structure of society, asking the question, “Why do some societies have more crime than others?” From this perspective, crime is rooted in two primary factors-differential opportunity and discrimination toward certain (powerless) groups within society. In a society where the rich and poor live in relatively close proximity, the poor turn to crime as an alternative pathway to success. Crime is defined by the powerful, and laws are created to ensure that the group of groups in power retain the resources. Examples of structural theories are structural functionalism, strain theory and conflict theory. The ominant sociological theory of crime for the first half of the 20th century was “structural functionalism”. According to Durkheim, founding father of sociology and structural functionalist, crime and deviance is the product of social distancing and “anomie”-a state of normlessness. Durkheim also believed that deviance and crime, despite their negative effects, serve a social function by promoting social solidarity among the law abiding. When a criminal or deviant act is committed and made public, law-abiding members of society are united in pointing their fingers at the perpetrators. Law-abiding citizens can also look to deviant behavior to help them define the boundaries of acceptable behavior (Durkheim, 2003). Structural functionalism is illustrated by Kai Erikson’s (1966) case study analysis of Puritan response to revolutionaries in 17th century Bay Colony, showing how societal response to these “offenders” served to solidify the rest of the community and strengthen their moral convictions. Strain theory is another example of a structural theory of crime. According to strain theorists, crime is the product of differential opportunity. Robert Merton extended Durkheim’s ideas, suggesting that anomic results when access to prescribed goals and availability of legitimate means to obtain those goals are lacking. Crime occurs when individuals do not have access to legitimate noncriminal means to obtain the success everyone strives for. Cloward and Ohlin (1960) took this idea further, suggesting that crime is more likely to occur when particular illegitimate opportunities are present, and some people have greater access to particular types of illegitimate opportunity. “Conflict theories” locate the cause of crime in the incompatible interests of multiple groups in society. Conflict theories became prominent in the 1960s and 1970s with the work of Quinney (1970, 1977). Whereas structural functionalists view society from a consensus perspective in which norms are created through a shared understanding of the majority, conflict theorists contend that society is heterogenous and conflictual. Crime is defined by the dominant class to include behavior patterns of those who do not have power in society ad used as a tool to serve the interests of the powerful. A reflexive relationship exists between the definers of crime (the powerful) and those defined as criminal (the powerless) whereby those defined as criminal begin to see themselves as such and learn to play the role with increasing probability of being defined as criminal in the future. Those in power construct an ideology of crime to make sure they stay in power. A social reality of crime is created by defining crime, creating and applying laws, and constructing behavior patterns in such a way that the probability of criminality (and sanctions for criminality) is high for powerless members of society. Conflict theory offers an explanation of both criminal behavior and criminal justice."

"”Marxist and critical theories” are historically related to conflict theories, and many of the conflict theorists are also considered Marxist theorists. The terms “critical criminology” and “radical criminology” are often used synonymously with Marxist criminology, though critical criminology has branched out considerably from Marxism. Some suggest that critical criminology does not reflect a coherent body of theories and should be viewed under the umbrella term “constitutive criminology” along with other critical approaches such as postmodernism, chaos theory, semiotics, edgework, catastrophe theory, critical race theory, and peacemaking criminology (Akers * Sellers, 2004). Like conflict theory, Marxist theory locates the cause and legal definitions of criminality in power relations, but rejects the idea that the conflict is between multiple groups. From the Marxist perspective, there are two groups-the power elite and the masses or working class. Laws are constructed by the power elite-the small group of ruling class who has all the social, economic, and political power. The power elite manipulate social institutions such as the academic community, mass media, and other sources of public opinion to make it appear that the law protects everyone’s interests so that the masses wil continue to believe the system is legitimate. Marxist theory contends that the riminal justice system is a tool to repress the working class, but the theory has little to say about crime. Karl arx himmself did not write about criminal behavior. Marxist (and conflict) theorists explain criminal behavior as an inevitable response to the capitalistic system. People engage in crime because either they are brutalized by and trying to accommodate the capitalistic system or their crimes are conscious or unconscious acts of revolution and resistance. Marxist theories can be particularly useful in explaining certain types of crime (e.g., political crime), but fall short in offering etiological explanation for most types of criminal behavior."

""Feminist theories” of crime focus on gender issues as central to understanding criminal behavior. Feminist criminology asks the questions, ""Do theories of men’s criminality apply to women?”” (generalizability problem) and "Why do girls and women commit so much less crime than boys and men?” (gender ratio problem; see Daly & Chesney-Lind, 1988). Feminism is a “set of theories about women’s oppression and a set of strategies for social change” (Daly & Chesney-Lind, 1988, p.502). Feminist criminology and feminist thought consist of a range of perspectives including a Marxist, socialist, radical, liberal, power, postmodern, Black feminist, and critical race feminisms. Feminist criminology raises issues regarding the applicability of male theories of crime to female offenders and the gendered nature of crime. Scholars such as Klein (1973), Adler (1975), Simon (1975) Daly and Chesney-Lind (1988) Simpson (1989), Naffine (1996), and Messerschmidt (1993) have contributed to the body of work now known as feminist criminology. Feminist criminologists argue that feminist inquiry should be applied to all facets of crime, deviance, ad social control (Daly & Chesney-Lind, 1988) and that the striking gender difference in crime suggests that genders should be the central focus of criminology and anything less is disciplinary negligence (Naffine, 1996)."

"The “power-control theory” of gender and delinquency integrates conflict, Marxist, and control theories. Power-control theory asks, “What differences do the relative class positions of husbands “and” wives in the workplace make for gender variations in parental control and in delinquent behavior of adolescents?” (Hagan, Simpson, & Gillis, 1987, p. 789). According to power-control theory, the predominantly male pattern of crime and delinquency is the result of the class structure of patriarchal families. The parent-daughter relationship is an “instrument-object relationship” in which fathers and especially mothers are expected to control their daughters more than they control their sons. This instrument-object relationship between parents and daughters exists in the extreme int eh patriarchal family. As a result, daughters are prepared for a “cult of domesticity” that significantly reduced their involvement in delinquency. In contrast, reduced parental control on boys encouraged risk-taking behaviors associated with criminality."

"Cultural theories recognize that society is made up of conflicting subcultures with different norms, values, beliefs, and characteristics. Cultural conflict exists between different subcultures and those whose values conflict with the dominant culture. When a subculture conflicts with dominant culture, the norms, values, and behaviors of that subculture are deemed deviant or criminal. When members of a subculture are defined as deviant by the larger society, they adopt and solidify values and norms that contrast with those of the dominant culture. Subcultures that conflict with the dominant culture ensure their survival through cultural transmission, passing their norms and values from generation to the next, ensuring the continuation of cultural conflict and placement outside the dominant culture (Aler & Adler, 2003). <br. The “subculture of violence theory” is an example of a cultural theory. This theory (originally developed by Wolfgang and Ferracuti in their text “The Subculture of Violence”) states that more violence occurs in lower-class subcultures as a result of particular norms, values, expectations, and behaviors. Values such as honor, masculinity, defense of status, and the use of physical violence to settle disputes define subcultures of violence. Some researcher suggest that a subculture of violence exists in the American South and among African Americans, and delinquent gangs (Vold, Bernard Snipes, 2002). In general, cultural theories suggest that crime is the product of criminal subcultures within a society whose values conflict with the dominant culture. Features of criminal subcultures include an exaggerate sense of masculinity, toughness, thrill-seeking, fatalistic philosophy, getting into trouble, and an antiauthority stance."

"The routine activity theory is a type of “rational choice theory”. Rational choice theories suggest that individuals freely choose to engage in criminal behavior when the benefits outweigh the costs. The routine activity theory is unique in that the theory recognizes that the degree to which a person can freely choose is constrained by a multitude of factors and forces. For example, if an individual who is biologically predisposed to commit crime (ie., a person with low autosomic arousal, low self-control, and traits such as impulsivity, irresponsibility, etc.) finds him- or herself in a situation in which there are high temptations and low controls (e.g., brand new Range Rover with keys in the ignition left in a dark parking lot with no one around), he or she would be more inclined to “choose” to steal the car then someone who is not biologically predisposed to commit crime. From the perspective of the routine activity theory, crime is the product of the interaction between individual, situational/contextual, and environmental factors that converge in a way that increases the likelihood that crime will occur. Certain types of crime are more likely to occur in certain contexts where there are particular presences and absences. For example, violent crime is more likely to occur in a setting such as a bar where there a high number of young males drinking alcohol. In such a setting, there are presences (young males, alcohol) and absences (a prosocial audience-elderly individuals, children). A particular “chemistry for crime” exists in this setting, with elements such as a likely offender, a suitable target, and the absence of capable guardians converging to produce a crime-generating context that produces a crime-attracting sequence of events (Felson, 2002). Routine activity theory is one of the more applicable theories in terms of providing concrete recommendations to policy aker charges with increasing public safety. Box 2.2. provides an example of how routine activity theory has been applied to community gang problems."

"In their book “Cultural Criminology” Ferel and Sanders (1995) argue that to make sense of crime, it is necessary to make sense of culture. The authors propose the development of a “cultural criminology” that recognizes criminality and criminalization as cultural enterprises that must be studies through a synthesis of divergent perspectives including social, feminist, and cultural theories. From this perspective, criminal behavior (and its control) is constructed, in part, through media, popular culture, and the “aesthetics” of authority that dictates what is beautiful,” decent,” clean,” and “appropriate” (p.15). Criminal identities are born and shaped within culture and within criminal subcultures0collective criminal aesthetic and style, symbolism, and meaning are important factors in understanding the criminality. Ferrell and Hamm (1998) suggest that “jailhouse criminology,” which has attempted to study crime through official sources, social science surveys, and traditional quantitative measures, has prohibited true understanding of crime or “criminological verstehen.” Criminologists have neglected findings produced through ethnographic studies that offer the insider perspective on crime and deviance. To truly understand criminal behavior, researchers must study crime with quantitative (surveys, available data) and qualitative (ethnographic) methods that together are able to tell the complete story of crime. For example, official statistics tell us things like what percentage of armed robbers are male, what percentage of known serial killers have been physically and sexually abused, the correlation between age and violence, and so on. However, this sort of information tells us little about the personal style and aesthetics of bank robbers, the nature of the communities and subcultures within which they spend their time, the specific ways in which girls and women learn that aggression is not a tool with which they are able to obtain resources, the process by which a serial killer comes to attach meaning to particular types of victims or crime scene trophies, or the complex nature of the collusion between youth culture, media and pop culture, alternative style and meaning, and crime."

"Culture plays a contributing role in the development and expression of criminal behavior. In her book “Zero Tolerance: Punishment Prevention, and School Violence”, Casella (2001) states, “Whether people in the United States are willing to accept it or not, violence is a defining characteristic of U.S. Culture. (p.2). According to Levin and Fox (2001), We used to put our heroes on pedestals where they could be admired, revered and emulated, but those days are long gone. Today’s children grow up collecting trading cards which bear the images of mass murderers rather than baseball payers. On their bedroom walls youngsters hang calendars featuring Ted Bundy and the Hillside Strangler. Instead of chronicling the good deeds of superheroes, cartoons and comics today depict the seedier side of life. Batman and Robin have been supplanted by Beevis and Butthead as well as [[South Park. The conquests of Superman have been replaced by a comic book version of Jeffrey Dahmer. Children can also locate killer websites, wear killer t-shirts, and join killer fan clubs. They listen to the lyrics of Marilyn Manson who inspires them to try Satanism, vampirism, Gothic fashion, and mass murder. (p.83)"

""Criminal behavior is a cultural and subcultural product”. Media and popular culture and the escalating number of “media junkies” and media-mediated crimes (Black, 1991) call attention to the need to make sense of how media and popular culture shape criminal behavior."

"Non nella pena, Nel delitto è la infamia."

"Il reo D'un delitto è chi'l pensa: a chi l' ordisce La pena spetta."

"Oh! ben provvide il cielo, Ch' uom per delitto mai lieto non sia."

"A man who has no excuse for crime, is indeed defenceless!"

"Le crime fait la honte et non pas l'échafaud."

"C'est plus qu'un crime, c'est une faute."

"Crime is not punished as an offense against God, but as prejudicial to society."

"Every crime destroys more Edens than our own."

"Deprendi miserum est."

"A crafty knave needs no broker."

"'Tis no sin love's fruits to steal; But the sweet thefts to reveal; To be taken, to be seen, These have crimes accounted been."

"Se judice, nemo nocens absolvitur."

"Multi committunt eadem diverso crimina fato; Ille crucem scleris pretium tulit, hic diadema."

"Nam scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum, Facti crimen habet."

"Non faciat malum, ut inde veniat bonum."

"Solent occupationis spe vel impune quædam scelesta committi."

"Pœna potest demi, culpa perennis erit."

"Factis ignoscite nostris Si scelus ingenio scitis abesse meo."

"Ars fit ubi a teneris crimen condiscitur annis."

"Le crime d'une mère est un pesant fardeau."

"With his hand upon the throttle-valve of crime."

"Prosperum ac felix scelus Virtus vocatur; sontibus parent boni; Jus est in armis, opprimit leges timor."

"Nullum caruit exemplo nefas."

"Scelere velandum est scelus."

"Cui prodest scelus, Is fecit."

"Ad auctores redit Sceleris coacti culpa."

"Qui non vetat peccare, cum possit, jubet."

"Dumque punitur scelus, Crescit."

"Amici vitium ni feras, facis tuum."

"Du repos dans le crime! ah! qui peut s'en flatter."

"La crainte suit le crime, et c'est son châtiment."

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword."

"If England treats her criminals the way she has treated me, she doesn't deserve to have any."

"Poverty is the mother of crime."

"We don't seem able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business?"

"The doctrine that the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy is like saying that the cure of crime is more crime."

"Whatever opens opportunity and hope will help to prevent crime and foster responsibility."

"Hungry men have no respect for law, authority or human life."

"Anyone who takes it on himself, on his own authority, to break a bad law, thereby authorizes everyone else to break the good ones."

"One man's justice is another's injustice; One man's beauty another's ugliness; One man's wisdom another's folly."

"Justice is truth in action."

"Crime is contagious."

"The chief problem in any community cursed with crime is not the punishment of the criminal, but the preventing of the young from being trained to crime."

"If creativity is the field, copyright is the fence"

"For the first time, we saw everything they could bring to the battle. And it was... nothing. Not even a fizzle. All they can say is "thief, we have our rights, we want our rights, nothing must change, we want more money, thief, thief, thief". And shove some poor artists in front of them to deliver the message. Whereas we are talking about scarcity vs. abundance, monopolies, the nature of property, 500-year historical perspectives on culture and knowledge, incentive structures, economic theory, disruptive technologies, etc. The difference in intellectual levels between the sides is astounding."

"I was in the pub last night, and a guy asked me for a light for his cigarette. I suddenly realised that there was a demand here and money to be made, and so I agreed to light his cigarette for 10 pence, but I didn't actually give him a light, I sold him a license to burn his cigarette. My fire-license restricted him from giving the light to anybody else, after all, that fire was my property. He was drunk, and dismissing me as a loony, but accepted my fire (and by implication the licence which governed its use) anyway. Of course in a matter of minutes I noticed a friend of his asking him for a light and to my outrage he gave his cigarette to his friend and pirated my fire! I was furious, I started to make my way over to that side of the bar but to my added horror his friend then started to light other people's cigarettes left, right, and centre! Before long that whole side of the bar was enjoying MY fire without paying me anything. Enraged I went from person to person grabbing their cigarettes from their hands, throwing them to the ground, and stamping on them. Strangely the door staff exhibited no respect for my property rights as they threw me out the door."

"The parties are advised to chill."

"Imagine an Internet geek running for office, perhaps none too seriously, on a platform saying: "If elected, I will insert 'The Internet is for Porn' into the congressional hearing record, which will be preserved as an official public document for all time." Whatever his motivations, Polis did just that."

"Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it. Culture is impossible without a rich public domain. Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire, is genuinely new: Culture, like science and technology, grows by accretion, each new creator building on the works of those who came before. Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it's supposed to nurture.""

"Often one person can steel another, and another and another, until many are working together. You don’t have to form a majority to have an effect. Two or three people speaking out can sometimes get a school board, a church board, a board of aldermen to reconsider authoritarian actions. Lack of any opposition teaches bullies simply to go for more. But it takes one person, an individual, to start the opposition."

"Republicans in Congress have failed the country more than anyone else. They had several opportunities to rid us and themselves of Trump, but nearly all of them instead crowded together to squeeze into the group photo of Trump’s Blind Mice. John McCain, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and a few others have stood up to him, but most have publicly backed him 100 percent. I doubt they do this happily. Most of the GOP candidates who would kiss Trump on both cheeks on the county court house steps on a Saturday afternoon next spring to get his endorsement in the primaries probably wish he would drop dead. He is the biggest RINO of all, having no allegiance to conservative traditions and values unless they served his personal interest. Since 2015 he has spewed as much venom and assassinated as many characters in the Republican ranks as in the Democrats’. Eventually everyone gets attacked, including Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Trump’s own vice-president. That’s why Republican politicians should disown him, and it’s also why they don’t. Some GOP officials want Trump to become the all-powerful king that the framers of the Constitution went to such lengths to prevent, but whether they do or not, almost all of them are scared (insert a vivid gastro-intestinal metaphor here) of the big bully."

"Harry Truman famously said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” and he had a sign on his desk that read, “The buck stops here.” Trump can’t stand the heat, and accordingly he always makes sure the buck stops somewhere else. Like most bullies, he usually gets another person to do his dirty work and face all the danger. The mob who attacked the Capitol on January 6th were the latest version of the throngs who bought Trump’s junk bonds in earlier days, taking all the risks, for his benefit, while he watched."

"Regina Huerter, Director of Juvenile Diversion for the Denver District Attorney's office, compiled a report on Columbine's "toxic culture," as Dylan Klebold's parents later described it. One Jewish student she interviewed told her how jocks threatened to "build an oven and set him on fire," and how, during P.E. basketball, each time someone scored a basket, the bullies would cheer, "that's another Jew in the oven!" The student complained over and over, but, he said, the school administration not only didn't punish the jocks, they "did everything but call me a liar." Another student was physically and verbally abused by a group of jocks so badly that he refused to go back to the school. The father tried contacting the administration, but they didn't return his calls for six weeks, and when they did, they were curt and rude. The father pulled his son from the high school and told Huerter that "he still refuses to enter Columbine property to this day." "All the students with whom I spoke, independent of their status at the school, acknowledged there was bullying," Huerter wrote. Students and parents all complained of Columbine's exceptionally brutal culture, but the administration did nothing about it. Some who worked in the school district told Huerter that they kept mum about the bullying because they were afraid for their jobs. As Brown noted, "The bullies were popular with the administration.""

"Bullying was so deeply ingrained that, as the American Psychology Association Monitor wrote, "Columbine students said teachers and staff did not seem to notice the bullying and aggression; apparently such behaviors were culturally normative." Here again is a perfect, modern example of how what is considered normal is not only tolerated, but is simply not seen, no matter how brutal it is. From this example, it's a little easier to understand how whites accepted- did not even notice- slavery, in spite of its cruelty. Many parents and students said that the reason for Columbine's bully-coddling culture went straight to the top, to principal Frank DeAngelis, himself a jock."

"One reason why our society has failed to curb bullying is that we like bullies. Hell, we are bullies. Research has shown that bullies are not the anti-social misfits that adults, in their forced amnesia, want them to be. Rather, bullies are usually the most popular boys, second only on the clique-ranking to those described as friendly, outgoing, and self-confident. The Santana High kids and parents both felt that there was no point in complaining to the administration because they wouldn't have done anything anyway, a reflection of the fact that popular winners are treated better than losers. At Columbine, parents and students both felt that bullies were favored by teachers and administrators, and that complainers were often ignored or blamed. Indeed, losers pay for being losers twice over in our schools, taking both the punishment and the blame."

"I don't know a single useful lesson that I or anyone else ever learned from getting bullied- it only brought shame and debilitating memories. Getting bullied always leads you to wrong decisions and wrong conclusions. You compensate in all the wrong ways. You wind up looking for someone weaker to bully yourself, you lose confidence and hate your weakness, and you fear and distrust the wrong people, all of which are reasons why bullied kids overwhelmingly wind up as failures in the real world, according to recent studies. You have to have never been bullied to think that it teaches something valuable and necessary and makes you a stronger person. Dr. Tonja Nansel, who worked on a 1998 World Health Organization survey on Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, showed that both bullies and the bullied develop far greater problems later on in life- bullied kids particularly have difficulties making friends, and suffer from lifelong loneliness."

"I know that I learned far more valuable lessons when I was the bully than when I was bullied. The lesson was simple: it felt better to be the one dishing it out. The pangs of remorse after pummeling a scrawny dork wore off pretty quickly; the humiliations of being on the receiving end, however, were replayed over and over and over, for years and years. I cannot imagine what kind of callous moron could possibly see anything in being a victim of bullying. Maybe the idea comes from our cultural propaganda, where the bullied nerd, like Back to the Futures McFly, always fights back in the triumphant climax, becomes a stronger person for it, and goes on to be a successful patron of a nuclear family, while the bully winds up washing his car. Bullying, in our cultural propaganda, is simply a dramatic plot device which the hero overcomes. Rarely, if ever, is it represented as it really works- as something privately eating away at kids, flat and uninteresting, and never overcome... As Dr. Nansel said, "In the past, bullying has simply been dismissed as kids will be kids," but now that we are waking up to its effects, "it should not be accepted as a normal part of growing up.""

"While bullying (a playground word that seems to cheapen its truly devastating effects) is finally being recognized as wrong in specific settings where rage massacres have taken place, what is still being avoided is bullying on the broader, cultural level. We ignore the bullying of the Al Dunlaps, who abuses his wife, fires tens of thousands of workers and walks away with tens of millions for himself... and not only gets away with it, but becomes adored for his "mean business". Just as bullies are popular in schools. Or the bullying of Reaganomics, where the vulnerable were sacrificed in order to fatten up the rich, an uninterrupted policy that is only getting worse. Or the bullying of the new management style that pushes for increased fear and stress to squeeze "unlimited juice," and that creates a workforce that "never leaves" in spite of it. Not to mention, of course, the bullying of President Bush's foreign policy, which has turned most of the world against America to a degree not seen in our lifetime, yet which has made Bush even more popular at home... that is until the bullied started fighting back."

"[S]ocial media has enabled the rise of mass movements that use trolling as a deflection tool for "doing the most damage I can do and then saying it was just a joke.""

"There are no two ways about it. Trump is a bully. By intimidating others, he believes he can get what he wants, not what is fair. It's a philosophy he brags about. He regales staff with stories about filing meritless claims in court against other companies in order to coerce them to back down or get a better deal. That's how you get them to do what you want. During the 2016 campaign, journalist Bob Woodward asked Trump about President Obama's view that "real power means you can get what you want without exerting violence." In his response, Trump made a revealing confession: "Real power is through respect. Real power is, I don't even want to use the word, fear." President Trump shows no mercy. Political opponents are wartime opponents, and there should be no clemency. Trump remains fixated ion his previous presidential rival years into his tenure, continuously disparaging and demeaning her. It might be a different situation if he expected to face off again with Hillary Clinton, yet she appears to be finished with public office. Don't get me wrong. No one in the Trump White House is a fan of Hillary Clinton, but we started to find the president's chronic animosity toward her to be a little weird. He has tweeted about Clinton hundreds of times since taking office. He has even flirted with using the powers of his office to investigate and prosecute her... Electoral defeat is not enough; Donald Trump wants total defeat of his opponents."

"The president's obvious admiration for Vladimir Putin ("a great guy," "terrific person") still continues to puzzle us, including those on the team who shrug off his outlandish behavior. Where did the Putin hero worship come from? It's almost as if Trump is the scrawny kid trying to suck up to the bully on the playground. Commentators have speculated, without any evidence, that Moscow must "have something" on the president. I wish I could say. All I know is that whatever drives his love for Putin, it's terrible for the United States because Vladimir Lenin is not on our side and no US president should be building him up. We need a comprehensive strategy to counter the Russians, not court them. But Trump is living on another planet, one where he and Putin are companions and where Russia wants to help America be successful. As a result, US officials fear they're "on their own" in fighting back against Moscow. They're right. They are. If an agency wants to respond to Russia's anti-US behavior around the world, they shouldn't plan on steady air cover from the president. In fact, officials know they risk Trump's ire if the subject comes up in public interviews or congressional testimony. "I don't care," one fellow senior leader snapped when reminded by his staff that he needed to watch his words in Senate meetings. "He can fire me if he wants. I'm going to tell the truth. The Russians are not our friends.""

"In high school, they don't call it cyber bullying at all. They call it digital drama, they call it life. They don't want to call it bullying because they think it makes them look weak."

"Imagine being unable to escape as the bully relentlessly pursues them online in a form accessible 24/7. Imagine how bleak that must be; imagine how lonely it must be."

"The U.S. is supposed to be different, but Trump sees the world as an extension of himself — a place where bullies gain wealth and power by mistreating others and controlling them with fear."

"Dominick Krankall was playing at his Connecticut home when the boy who lived below him called out his name. Moments after 6-year-old Dominick went to go meet the 8-year-old neighbor who had bullied him on Sunday, Krankall’s family said, Dominick shrieked in horror when the 8-year-old allegedly launched a tennis ball at his face that was soaked in gasoline and lit on fire. “As soon as he walked down the stairs, the bully called his name and lured him over around the corner,” Dominick’s sister, Kayla Deegan, told WNBC in New York City, “and in a matter of seconds he came back around the corner screaming, saying, ‘Mommy, they lit me on fire! They lit me on fire!’” The attack left Dominick with second- and third-degree burns on his face and legs, and most of the boy’s body is swollen and bandaged. Authorities in Bridgeport, Conn., noted in a police report how preliminary findings show that “up to four unattended children were seen playing with gasoline and lighting objects on fire.” “The incident is currently still under investigation as to the exact cause of the burn injuries by the Bridgeport Police, Bridgeport Fire and State Fire Investigation Teams,” police wrote in the report. No charges have been handed down as of early Wednesday. Scott Appleby, the director of emergency management for Bridgeport, told The Washington Post that no other details were immediately available to be shared to the public. Neither the 8-year-old nor his family have been publicly identified."

"Dominick’s family wrote in an online fundraiser that the 8-year-old boy’s mother “thinks he is innocent.” But Maria Rua, Dominick’s mother, told WTNH that her son’s alleged bully “purposefully threw a gasoline-saturated ball that they lit on fire at my son’s face.” “They threw it at Dominick and left him outside alone to die,” she said. The 6-year-old is being treated at Bridgeport Hospital and is expected to recover, Rua said to local media. John Cappiello, a hospital spokesman, told The Post that Dominick is in fair condition as of Wednesday morning. “Fair is better than critical and better than serious, so we’re trying to do our best for him,” Cappiello said. “It’s a terrible thing.” The 6-year-old’s family say Dominick has been bullied by the 8-year-old for the past year. Deegan alleged to WNBC that the 8-year-old previously sent Dominick to the hospital with a concussion after her younger brother was pushed into a wall and fell to the floor about two months ago. Dominick was playing at their Louisiana Avenue home in Bridgeport on Sunday afternoon when he was called over by the 8-year-old. Dominick’s family alleged to local media that the 8-year-old neighbor gained access to a shed on the property, which is how he was able to get a hold of gasoline and lighters. Then, Deegan said to WNBC, the 8-year-old lit the gasoline-soaked tennis ball and “just chucked it right at my brother’s face — and then ran away from him and watched him burn.” Bridgeport authorities responded to a report of a child burned shortly after 3:45 p.m., according to the police report. Dominick was transported to the burn unit of Bridgeport Hospital, police said."

"Burns and fires account for an estimated 3,500 child and adult deaths annually, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. The incident has left Dominick’s family devastated and searching for answers. Deegan said her brother could barely eat, sleep or talk. Family members have shared photos of Dominick completely bandaged up, surrounded by stuffed animals and Iron Man and Spider-Man dolls in his hospital bed. Rua said his whole body is swollen with blisters and that “his face is about twice the size it normally is.”A GoFundMe started by Deegan to help pay for Dominick’s hospital bills has raised more than $76,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. Aaron Krankall, Dominick’s father, told WTIC that they were grateful for the community support in the days since Dominick was burned. “I’m telling Dominick, all these people love you and care about you,” the father said, adding that people have offered to move the family out of the home and away from the alleged bully. “Everyone’s really just helping. The whole community is coming together.” But the boy’s family is left wondering when Dominick, who they described in the online fundraiser as a happy-go-lucky boy who befriended everyone, will be able to ride his bike, play basketball or go fishing again. “He’s such a tough little cookie,” Deegan wrote on GoFundMe. “The bravest 6 year old i’ve ever known.”"

"Jack was made a sergeant, but he shouted at the men so much and bullied them so often, in an effort to convince them of an authority he did not possess, that he was replaced. Or rather, he resigned. "Keep your lousy sergeancy," he said. "I don't want it anyhow.""

"Bullying at work is not only about aggressive behavior. The covert nature of workplace bullying behavior can destroy a target’s health, ability to work, emotional well-being, self-worth, and financial condition. This research is one of the first studies on workplace bullying in the United States. Workplace bullies have a serious negative impact upon the organizations for which they work (Namie & Namie, 2003; Prentice, 2005). Once the bullying atmosphere begins to pervade an organization, morale is destroyed and productivity is affected. The workplace often includes distorted personality types that seem to have just one purpose: to find somebody else to attack, to belittle, to criticize, and to destroy (Prentice). Bully behavior, whether committed by men 94 or women, should be further examined due to the long-term costs for both employees and the organizations for which they work. Many leaders and managers either fail to recognize the problem or are themselves the problem. Early studies on bullying focused on the behavior of the bully, the target, or the bully-target pairing (Olweus, 1999). Recent approaches have adopted an ecological perspective that examines the broader context in which bullying can occur and especially the many interrelated systems of the environment, such as the workplace and its leadership (Namie, 2003). This study presents methods of aggression employed by bullies that leaders must recognize and cease."

"Questions at home and school should be decided in the light of the future. It is a process of toughening, but not the sort of false physical thing that we have called toughening. Our boys and girls ought to know that the bully type, the false "tough," has been the first to break down under the actual fire of battle. The quiet, the calm, the determined have made the best soldiers. Why? Obviously the bully is insecure in himself- he blusters to muster his own courage. Children ought to know that. They ought to be taught to retort to the bully, "You're a coward or you wouldn't make such a noise about being brave. The really brave man simply acts brave- he doesn't have to talk about it.""

"Imagine seeing an attractive girl in the hallway who's in one of your classes, but who you've never really had the chance to talk with. Somehow, you get into a conversation with her. She seems nice, and you like her, and she's laughing and you're starting to get hopeful. Then a couple of football players come around the corner and say, "Hey, what the hell are you talking to her for, faggot? Do you actually think you have a chance with her?" And then they pick you up and push you into a locker, and you look like a pathetic weakling in front of the girl you were trying so hard to impress. Such things were commonplace at Columbine. If a guy was acting in the Columbine drama program, he was immediately labeled a "drama fag." Not only was he not playing sports- which was what all normal guys were supposed to do at Columbine- but he was into that fine arts crap! The bullies found whatever weakness they could and went after it. I was a wuss because I wasn't in sports. I was gay because I liked theatre. Then when I was in debate, it was like, "Ooh, you must be smart, huh huh huh." Apparently, they thought calling someone "smart" was an insult."

"Plenty of people in Littleton criticized the media for being too evasive and violating their privacy. But to be honest, I understood their predicament. They were good people who didn't want to be there any more than we did, but they had a job to do. There were some isolated examples of assholes, sure, but most of the people I met in the media were pretty cool to me. And it was their work that kept information coming out. If it had been up to the police and the school, any reports of bullying would have been suppressed, and the police would have kept quiet about our family's report on the web pages. The questions about police response would have been pushed aside. It was the media who fought to keep that from happening."

"I told them [the press] the truth; I didn't censor myself. Other kids were sugarcoating Columbine, making it sound like this peaceful, tranquil land of flowers and honey that Eric and Dylan had just walked into and shattered. "Oh, sure, there were jocks and everything," they'd say. "But it was never that bad. We just can't understand how this happened in a school like ours." If people wanted to know what Columbine was like, I'd tell them. I'd tell them about the bullies who shoved the kids they didn't like into lockers, or called them "faggot" every time they walked past. I'd tell them about the jocks who picked relentlessly on anyone they considered to be below them. The teachers who turned a blind eye to the brutalization of their pupils, because those pupils weren't the favorites. I told them about the way those who were "different" were crushed, and fights happened so regularly outside school that no one paid attention. I told what it was like to live in constant fear of other kids who'd gone out of control, knowing full well that the teachers would turn a blind eye. After all, those kids were their favorites. We were the troublemakers. "Eric and Dylan are the ones responsible for creating this tragedy," I told them. "However, Columbine is responsible for creating Eric and Dylan.""

"When it comes to Columbine, some solutions are more obvious than others. We have to crack down on all forms of bullying. Obviously, this means the kids on the playground who beat up the outcasts, or the high schoolers who mock and harass the kids wearing black and keeping to themselves. But we also have to look at teachers. Teachers who only like the "good kids" and turn their backs on the rest are causing untold pain and anger in those forgotten students. If students are given up on early, then they learn to hate the system and can no longer be rescued by it. We have to reevaluate what we as a society are doing to our children. They, and not our careers or our personal lives, must be our priority. When people choose to become parents, they must make those children their primary focus- not just say it, but live it. Our kids need that kind of guidance in today's world."

"Eric and Dylan have continued to remain cult heroes to some. Shortly after a programmer used home RPG-maker software to build a video game called Super Columbine Massacre RPG, a visit to the discussion forum on his website revealed just how many kids- kids whose ages were still in the single digits when Columbine happened- idolize the two killers. These kids constantly say things like, "Eric and Dylan struck a blow for bullied kids everywhere." They conveniently leave out the fact that Eric and Dylan didn't kill bullies, but instead shot innocent kids like Rachel Scott. We mentioned kids like these in the first edition of this book, and four years later, their numbers seemed to hold strong. For a time, we would hold online talks with these kids, trying to make them understand. But after a while, you start to spot the ones who have no interest in really listening. Some people will believe what they want to believe, on matter how much evidence you throw at them. If the legend sounds more interesting than reality, the legend often wins."

"Take The Power Out Of Bullying"

"Drill sergeants known how to deal with bullies... "Want to stop a bully? Man the fuck up and punch that motherfucker in the throat! Problem solved.""

"Bullying bosses, studies find, differ in significant ways from the Blutos of childhood. In the schoolyard, particularly among elementary school boys, bullies tend to pick on smaller or weaker children, often to assert control in an uncertain social environment in which they feel uncomfortable. But adult bullies in positions of power are already dominant, and they are just as likely to pick on a strong subordinate as a weak one, said Dr. Gary Namie, director of the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, an advocacy group based in Bellingham, Wash. Women, Dr. Namie said, are at least as likely as men to be the aggressors, and they are more likely to be targets. In leadership positions that require the exercise of sheer violent will- on the football field or the battlefield- this approach can be successful: consider Vince Lombardy or George Patton. But in an office or on a factory floor, different rules apply, and bullying usually has more to do with the boss's desires than with the employee's needs."

"If you don't give power to the words that people throw at you to hurt you, they don't hurt you anymore — and you actually have power over those people. … So, if you can, realize that the things that people say about you — they don't really matter — it's who you are. And the older you get, the more you'll understand that — because it gets better. And people get nicer too."

"The more animosity reporters sensed, the deeper they probed. What was it like to be an outcast at Columbine? Pretty hard, most of the kids admitted. High school was rough. Most of the students in Clement Park were still speaking confessionally, and everyone had a brutal experience to share. The "bullying" idea began to pepper motive stories. The concept touched a national nerve, and soon the anti-bullying movement took on a force of its own. Everyone who had been to high school understood what a horrible problem it could be. Many believed that addressing it might be the one good thing to come out of the tragedy. All the talk of bullying and alienation provided an easy motive. Forty-eight hours after the massacre, USA Today pulled the threads together in a stunning cover story that fused the myths of jock-hunting, bully-revenge, and the TCM. "Students are beginning to describe how a long-simmering rivalry between the sullen members of their clique [the TCM] and the school's athletes escalated and ultimately exploded in this week's deadly violence," it said. It described tension the previous spring, including daily fistfights. The details were accurate, the conclusions wrong. Most of the media followed. It was accepted as fact."

"There's no evidence that bullying led to murder, but considerable evidence it was a problem at Columbine High. After the tragedy, Mr. D took a lot of flak for bullying, particularly since he insisted he was unaware it had gone on. "I'm telling you, as long as I've been an administrator here, if I'm aware of a situation, then I deal with that situation," he said. "And I believe our teachers, and I believe our coaches. I turned my own son in. I believe that strongly in rules." That may have been part of his downfall. Mr. D did believe strongly in the rules. He held his staff to the same standard, and seemed to believe they would meet it. His unusual rapport with the kids also created a blind spot. It was all smiles when Mr. D strode down the corridor. They sincerely warmed at the sight of him, and sought to please him as well,. Sometimes he mistook that joy for pervasive bliss in his high school. Personal affinities also obscured the problem. Mr. D knew he was drawn to sports. He worked hard to offset that by attending debate tournaments, drama tryouts, and art shows. He conferred regularly with the student senate. But those were all success stories. Mr. D balanced athletics and academics better than overachievers and unders. "I don't think he had a preference on purpose," a pierced-out girl in a buzz cut and red tartan boots said. "He's got a lot of school spirit, and I think he aims it in the direction he's most comfortable with, like school sports and student congress." She saw DeAngelis as a sincere man, making a tremendous effort to interact with students, unaware that his natural inclination toward happy, energetic students created a blind spot for the outsiders. "My Goth friends hated the school," she said."

"Despite the press's obsession with bullying and misfits, that's not how the boys presented themselves. Dylan laughed about picking on the new freshmen and "fags." Neither one complained about bullies picking on them- they boasted about doing it themselves."

"Loyalty is not an entitlement. It must be earned, both by leaders and by those who follow them. And even when loyalty has been earned, it must have limits. (Who among us can forget being asked by our chiding parents, "If your friend told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" Every day we see misplaced loyalty contributing to problems such as bullying, hazing, sexual harassment, discrimination, and corruption. To be sure, it can be difficult to say no to someone in a position of power who is using loyalty as leverage, especially when that person makes it clear that they expect total and unconditional loyalty. But that's where loyalty must meet moral courage, if we are to act honorably and do what's right."

"BULLYING. A form of harassment that includes acts of aggression by Service members or DoD civilian employees, with a nexus to military service, with the intent of harming a Service member either physically or psychologically, without a proper military or other governmental purpose. Bullying may involve the singling out of an individual from his or her coworkers, or unit, for ridicule because he or she is considered different or weak. It often involves an imbalance of power between the aggressor and the victim. Bullying can be conducted through the use of electronic devices or communications, and by other means including social media, as well as in person."

"I was a victim of bullying. I think with the cyber bullying, the viciousness, the cruelty, that's what I think is really getting people's attention. It's hard to say that bullying in and of itself is going to lead to a suicide attempt, but if a kid is already having difficulty with family issues, or some mental health issues, bullying could really be the thing that pushes them over."

"Definitions of bullying at work further emphasize two main features: repeated and enduring aggressive behaviours that are intended to be hostile and/or perceived as hostile by the recipient (Einarsen and Skogstad, 1996; Leymann, 1990b; Zapf et al., 1996). In other words, bullying is normally not about single and isolated events, but rather about behaviours that are repeatedly and persistently directed towards one or more employees. Leymann (1990b, 1996) suggested that to be called 'mobbing' or bullying, such events should occur at least once a week, which characterises bullying as a severe form of social stress. In many cases this criterion is difficult to apply because not all bullying behaviors are strictly episodic in nature. For example, a rumour can circulate that may be harmful or even threaten to destroy the victim's career or reputation. However, it does not have to be repeated every week. In cases we have been made aware of, victims had to work in basement rooms without windows and telephone. Here, bullying consists of a permanent state rather than a series of events. Hence, the main criterion is that the behaviours or their consequences are repeated on a regular as opposed to an occasional basis."

"Parents who are intimidated by texting and social-networking sites view cyberbullying as a terrifying new form of bullying, but the truth is that cyberbullying is just a continuation of existing adolescent behavior, played out in a new arena. Approximately 20-25 percent of kids have been bullied online, and this is a conservative estimate. Bullies and victims can trade places at the click of a mouse, and things move so fast online that it is difficult to process information rationally before acting. For unfortunate kids who find themselves on the receiving end of massive cyberbullying attacks, the relentless barrage of cruelty can create a sensation of sinking into a black hole of pain."

"How exactly does the pain of severe bullying affect the most vulnerable kids? Studies investigating the neuroscience of bullying have found that bullying victims experience anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, difficulty concentrating, headaches, and stomach pain as a result of being bullied. Studies of early social deprivation show that human beings are hardwired to belong, and nowhere is this more evident than in kids jockeying for social position. And the old adage- sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me? Not true. Neuroimaging studies have shown that parts of the cortical brain network are also activated when a person is socially excluded. This goes not just for adults but for children as well. The brain of a child as young as thirteen has been shown to react to pain as if the child were being physically injured. Taunting and bullying hurts, and we have the brain scans to prove it. Even worse, repeatedly being victimized by peers- which is the very nature of bullying, the repetitiveness of it- actually alters brain functioning, which increases the victim's sensitivity to future attacks, even causing the person to perceive an ambiguous situation as threatening. Years after the bullying has ceased, victims are left picking up the wreckage."

"Bullying is a learned behavior. Children are not born cruel. Babies in diapers do not assess each other as too fat, too poor, too dark-skinned, to nerdy, too conceited. Born innocent, they start learning stereotypes as soon as they understand language, and we see bullying behavior in children as young as toddlers. Since preschoolers who display marked aggressiveness have a higher likelihood of being bullies in older grades, the earlier intervention begins, the better the results. It is much easier to inculcate kindness and acceptance into a five-year-old who acts like a bully than a fifteen-year-old who acts like a bully."

"The problem than arises of when to define operationally the duration of bullying behaviours. Leymann (1990b, 19960=) suggested exposure for more than six months as an operational definition of bullying at work. Others have used repeated exposure to negative behaviours within a six-month period as the proposed timeframe (Einarsen and Skogstad, 1996). Leymann's strict criterion has been argued to be somewhat arbitrary, as bullying seems to exist on a continuum from occasional exposure to negative behaviours to severe victimisation resulting from frequent and long-lasting exposure to negative behaviours at work (Mattiesen et al., 1989). Yet, the criterion of about six months has been used in many studies in order to differentiate between exposure to social stress at work and victimisation from bullying (e.g. Einarsen and Skogstad, 1996; Mikkelsen and Einarsen, 2001; Niedl, 1995; Varita, 1996; Zapf et al. 1996). The reason for this criterion for Leymann (1993, 1996) was to argue that mobbing leads to severe psychiatric and psychosomatic impairment, stress effects which would not be expected to occur as a result of the normal occupational stressors such as time-pressure, role-conflicts or everyday social stressors. Hence, the period of 6 months was chosen by Leymann because it is frequently used in the assessment of various psychiatric disorders."

"The duration of the bullying seems to be closely related to the frequency of bullying, with those bullied regularly reporting a longer duration of their experience than those bullied less frequently (Einarsen and Skogstad, 1996). This seems to be in line with a model of bullying highlighting the importance of conflict-escalation, with the conflict becoming more intense and more personalised over time (Zapf and Gross, 2001). The negative and unwanted nature of the behaviour involves is essential to the concept of bullying. Victims are exposed to persistent insults or offensive remarks, persistent criticism, personal or, even in some few cases, physical abuse (Einarsen, 200b). Others experience social exclusion and isolation; that is they are given the 'silent treatment' or 'sent to Coventry' (Williams, 1997). These behaviours are 'used with the aim or at least the effect of persistently humiliating, intimidating, frightening or punishing the victim' (Einarsen, 2000b, p. 8)."

"Based on both empirical and theoretical evidence, Zapf (1999a) categorised five main types of bullying behaviour: 1 work-related bullying which may include changing the victim's work tasks in some negative way or making them difficult to perform; 2 social isolation by not communicating with somebody or excluding someone from social events; 3 personal attacks or attacks on someone's private life by ridicule or insulting remarks or the like; 4 verbal threats in which somebody is criticised, yelled at or humiliated in public;and 5 spreading rumors."

"Bullies are typically attempting to promote or assert an identity rather than defend one. Their behavior is typically predatory rather than dispute related. Bullies prey on vulnerable targets, usually in the presence of third parties, in order to show how tough they are (see Olweus, 1978). For the bully, dominating the victim is an accomplishment, a way of demonstrating power to himself and others. In case of jealousy, a person may intentionally harm another person who has not attacked or wronged them in any way. Both justice and self-image concerns can produce an aggressive response when someone is jealous. When people think that someone has received an unfair share of some reward, they may attempt to restore equity by harming the person, even when that person is not held responsible for the injustice. We have referred to this behavior as "redistributive justice" (to distinguish it from "retributive justice"). Thus, an employee may blame the supervisor who gives a raise to someone else but attempt to produce unfavorable outcomes for the coworker who received a raise. Jealous people may also attempt to harm the object of jealousy for purposes of downward comparison (Wills, 1981). They may engage in aggressive behavior that lowers the standing of the target on some dimension, thereby providing a favorable comparison for the actor. They put themselves "up" by putting others "down". Wills (1981) suggested that downward comparison was an alternative explanation for the displacement effects obtained in experiments testing frustration-aggression theory. He noted that investigations of displaced aggression, scapegoating, and hostility generalization all involve some challenge to the participants' identities."

"There is no doubt in my mind that in the majority of quarrels the Hindus come out second best. But my own experience confirms the opinion that the Mussalman as a rule is a bully, and the Hindu as a rule is a coward. I have noticed this in railway trains, on public roads, and in the quar­rels which I had the privilege of settling. Need the Hindu blame the Mussalman for his cowardice? Where there are cowards, there will always be bullies. They say that in Saharan­pur the Mussal­mans looted houses, broke open safes and, in one case, a Hindu woman's modesty was outraged. Whose fault was this? Mussalmans can offer no defence for the execrable conduct, it is true. But I, as a Hindu, am more ashamed of Hindu cowardice than I am angry at the Mussalman bullying."

"Bullies are cowards and if you stand up to them they back away."

"Have courage. Be bold. Do not let yourself be intimidated. Do not yield to the bullies. Stand up. Speak out. Fear God, not men."

"Why is it that our fear, suspicion, and hatred of others different from us have overpowered our good sense and moral commitments to civility, goodwill, justice, and tolerance? When we think of Columbine we now know that these kids were bullied. School violence is on the rise and we as educators must consider the way students treat others who are different."

"Some bullies are put into leadership positions because they appear to be smart, ambitious, results-oriented and "take-charge." All of which may be true (as in Brenda’s case), but in addition to those more positive characteristics, most bullies lack empathy. They seem immune to the suffering of others."

"Bullying is bad. By definition, it's a type of regular unwanted negative communication or behavior. This behavior can be from a single person or a multitude of people. However, it's an aggression towards another person against their will. It's communication with the intent to demean, degrade, torment, shame, humiliate or insult another human being. Bullying does not discriminate. Bullying can happen to anyone at any time. It can find you no matter your age, race, or gender. Bullies tend to pick on people who are not inclined to fight back. They target individuals that appear to be weaker and easier to impose their control over. Bullying could include threatening another person, spreading rumors or excluding them socially from a group. It's a monster with many heads. A very bad monster."

"Bullying doesn't always happen to a single individual. If it's a group, it's usually a significantly small group. Maybe two or three people at the hands of another larger group or higher authority. There is typically an upside to the bully which gives them the upper hand once the bullying begins. Their upper hand denotes a presence of power or dominance. That's the core concept of bullying- an imbalance of perceived power. Sometimes that power is revealed by a ton of different reasons, but other times it can be delegated to a person with an authoritative position."

"We use our words to verbally communicate with one another. Verbal bullying is using this kind of communication to openly assault another person with words. It is often times used in the form of teasing, humiliation, insults, racist comments, putdowns, name-calling, or mean and harsh criticism. Unlike physical bullying, verbal bullying is harder to see and stop. It tends to occur when adults or a authority are not around to stop it. The effects of it are not always obvious. It's one of the sneakiest ways to bully someone. Also, it's one of the most difficult things to prove actually happened. You have to pay attention to what people say and how it could potentially affect the other person. Someone might use their verbal language to gain power over them and intentionally cause psychological turmoil. Unwanted words towards another person could potentially elicit negative emotions. They are used to degrade or insult someone's character or state of being."

"We all want the same thing; for humanity to work together for the greater good of each other. To treat the next person as we want to be treated and vice-versa. What a great nation we would be if we could apply a simple principle like that. But we live in a world full of hate, racism, classism, colorism, jealousy, bitterness, abuse of power, molestation, drunkenness, violence, gangs, war, crime, etc. There's more, but it hurts just to identify a small portion of what really happens in this world on that list. All of that is born out of evil. Some of these can certainly be reasons for people turning to bullying. They can indirectly affect children if parents participate in any of these acts. We don't always think about it that way, but it's true. What young people see older people do, they begin to mimic their actions and thus could end up duplicating several offenses. Those offenses would start at a young age and will begin to show its head in elementary, middle and high school. In situations like that, the question is always- why do they act that way? What is making them do that? You always have to start with what's going on at home and what are the influences that surround the student. Evaluate the parents and their involvement with the student, then move on to who they hang out with and what they are feeding their minds from the television and the internet. Once you do that, you will quickly find answers to all your questions."

"Remember, boys and girls. Your school, like our country, is made up of Americans of many different races, religions, and national origins. So, if YOU hear anybody talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of his religion, race, or national origin, don't wait. TELL HIM THAT KIND OF TALK IS UN-AMERICAN. HELP KEEP YOUR SCHOOL ALL AMERICAN!"

"The man's eyes shifted to me. "Another one," he said, as if marveling that there could be so many assholes in the world. "You want me to take you both on? Is that what you want? Believe me, I can do it." Yes, I knew the type. Ten years younger and he would have been one of the guys at school who thought it terribly amusing to slam Arnie's books out of his arms when he was on his way to class or to throw him into the shower with all his clothes on after phys ed. They never change, those guys. They just get older and develop lung cancer from smoking too many Luckies or step out with a brain embolism at fifty-three or so."

"Since the tragedy, much has been written about the school culture at Columbine High School, and Dylan's place in it. Regina Huerter, director of Juvenile Diversion for the Denver district attorney's office, compiled a report in 2000, and Ralph W. Larkin independentley confirmed many of her findings in his exhaustively researched 2007 book, Comprehending Columbine. Both researchers found Columbine High School was academically excellent and deeply conservative; that much we knew. But they also describe a school with a pervasive culture of bullying- in particular, a group of athletes who harassed, humiliated, and physically assaulted kids at the bottom of the social ladder. Larkin also points to proselytizing and intimidation by evangelical Christian students, a self-appointed moral elite who perceived the kids who dressed differently as evil and targeted them."

"This research lines up with many anecdotal stories we heard after the tragedy from kids who suffered physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their classmates at the school. One story in particular stands out. When Tom went to the sheriff's department in the fall of 1999 to retrieve Dylan's car from the impound lot, a county employee offered his condolences and told him how his own son's hair had been set on fire by some other students while he was attending Columbine High School. The boy, who sustained fairly serious burns to his scalp, refused to allow his father to go to the administration because he was afraid it would make the situation worse. Shaking with anger as he spoke, though the incident was no longer recent, the outraged dad told Tom he had wanted to take the school apart "brick by brick.""

"About five years after the massacre, I spoke with a Columbine High School counselor. He told me that, after an earlier, publicized bullying incident, the high school had implemented closer supervision of the student body, including teachers in the hallways between classes, and in the cafeteria at lunch. But we agreed it's impossible to control what two thousand students are doing on a campus- or to know what those kids are doing to one another in the Dairy Queen parking lot. Despite the administration's claim that steps were taken to stem conflict among students, their efforts fell short. For many people, Columbine High School was a hostile and frightening place even if you were one of the most popular kids, and Dylan and his friends were not. One of our neighbors told us her grown son's reaction to the tragedy, a refrain we heard many times: "I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner.""

"I personally fall somewhere in the middle. Bullying, however severe, is not an excuse for physical retaliation or violence, much less mass murder. But I do believe Dylan was bullied, and that along with many other factors, and perhaps in combination with them, bullying probably did play some role in what he did."

"Dylan's struggles may have been hidden from us, but they were not uncommon ones. A 2011 study by the Centers for Disease Control found that 20 percent of high school students nationwide reported they had been bullied on school property in the thirty days before the survey; an even higher percentage reported they'd been bullied on social media. Anti-bullying advocates suggest the number may be closer to 30 percent. A tremendous amount of research has been done on the effects of peer harassment, and there is unquestionably a correlation between bullying and brain health disorders that stretches all the way into adulthood. A Duke University study found that, compared with kids who weren't bullied, those who were had four times the prevalence of agoraphobia, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder as adults. The bullies themselves had four times the risk of developing antisocial personality disorder. There is also a strong association between bullying and depression and suicide. Both being a victim and bullying others is related to high risks of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Researchers at Yale found that victims of bullying were two to nine times more likely to report suicidal thoughts than other children."

"The connection between bullying and violence toward others is more complicated, although again there's a correlation. Bullied kids often become bullies themselves, which appears to be what happened with Dylan and Eric. Larkin cites a student who claims they terrorized her brother, a student with special needs, so badly he was afraid to come to school. Researchers call students who both bully and suffer bullying "bully-victims," and find that these bully-victims are at the greatest psychological risk. "Their numbers, compared to those never involved in bullying, tell the story: 14 times the risk of panic disorder, 5 times the risk of depressive disorders, and 10 times the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior."

"The issue that has received the most attention as a factor in school shootings is bullying. According to this sound bite, school shooters are victims of bullying who seek revenge for their mistreatment. It is understandable that this idea would take hold in the minds of many people. We can easily grasp and relate to the concept of being hurt and wanting to retaliate. If a student attacks his peers, it seems logical that he must have been driven to such an act. In reality, however, this sound bite is not accurate. The situation is much more complex."

"This same dynamic occurred with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School, where they were teased in response to their own provocative behavior. In contrast, the sound bite coverage of Columbine focused on them as innocent victims of a toxic peer culture in which they were persistently harassed. This one-sided view has become fixed in many people's minds, often leading to an assumption that bullying is the primary cause of school shootings. Because this sound bite has assumed the proportion of a myth, it is necessary to take an in-depth look at what really happened. Based on the available evidence, the extent that Eric and Dylan were bullied has been exaggerated, and their harassment and intimidation of other students has been overlooked or minimized."

"This point may seem obvious, but it needs to be said: School shooters are disturbed individuals. These are not ordinary kids who were bullied into retaliation. These are not ordinary kids who played too many video games. These are not ordinary kids who just wanted to be famous. These are simply not ordinary kids. These are kids with serious psychological problems. This fact has often been missed or minimized in reports on school shooters. Why, then, if school shooters are a complex phenomenon, has there been such a focus on simplistic explanations like bullying? One reason is that in the immediate aftermath of an attack, detailed information about the perpetrator is not available. It may take months or years for relevant details to be made public, and by that point, the story is no longer front-page news. As a result, the more in-depth information does not reach as large an audience as the initial reports. Another issue is that most people are not mental health professionals and therefore cannot be expected to understand personality disorders, depression, trauma, and psychotic disorders. In addition, there is sometimes a suspicion regarding reports of psychosis. People often believe that criminals invent reports of hallucinations or delusions in order to avoid being found guilty. There is yet another reason for the triumph of the sound bite. Put simply, we can all understand the concept of revenge."

"There are two contradictory views of Eric Harris. One is that he was an ostracized, lonely boy who was tormented by peers into an act of retaliatory violence. The alternate view is that he was essentially an evil monster. This is a pejorative label, however, not an explanation. To understand Eric, we need to go beyond labels to the internal workings of his mind. When we do so, we find that both views- the mistreated loner and the evil monster- are inadequate. The view of Eric as a lonely victim of harassment is not only inadequate but, to a significant extent, inaccurate... Eric was not a loner. He had lived in Colorado through middle school and high school, had multiple groups of friends and engaged in a wide variety of activities with his peers. He lived a highly social life and was liked by both boys and girls. On April 9, 1999, just 11 days before the attack, a group of Eric's friends took him out to dinner to celebrate his eighteenth birthday. But he was teased, wasn't he? Yes, he was. But so were many other kids at Columbine, not to mention everywhere else. And bullying? Having read thousands of pages of interview reports from nearly every student at Columbine High School, I found only one report of an incident in which Eric was physically harassed, and this consisted of being pushed into lockers."

"Trump's standard tool kit for getting out of trouble- bullying, bluster, and manipulation- was useless in managing the pandemic. He tried to cloak reality with happy talk. He promised cures that would never be realized. He floated dangerous and unproven treatments, such as injecting bleach into patients' bodies. He muzzled experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who challenged his shaky claims and became more popular than the president. He refused to lead by example and wear a mask. He picked feuds with health officials and state governors scrambling to respond to emergency outbreaks, striking out at those who didn't praise his haphazard response. Not only did he fail to keep Americans safe; he couldn't keep himself safe. Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October 2020, zapping his false air of invincibility."

"It's unbearable to think any young person should feel there is no other option but to end their life because of bullying on social networking sites."

"Shame is a powerful driver not to tell someone something, so telling a parent that you have sent a naked picture of yourself... it's no wonder they don't tell. Sexual shame is a double whammy."

"[Trump ... alpha male] they’re overcompensating for how insecure they feel — a man who is secure with himself, a human who is secure with themselves, doesn’t have to go around bullying people all the time."

"I don't know about you, but for me, sixth grade was rough. None of the kids were into the same music or clothes as me. And that was fine with me, but it mattered to them. It got to the point where I looked forward to my visits to Granddad and Mema's, not only because I loved hanging out with them but also because I could relax there and not worry about some kid looking at me funny or calling me names, just because I liked sneakers instead of cowboy boots. I pretended that getting teased didn't bug me, but of course it did back then."

"I didn't take any of the social stuff at school that seriously. My main way of dealing with it was this: I was really quiet in school. I sat in the back and watched everyone and didn't say much. But for some reason, the kind of kids who care about being popular in high school are never content to let you do your own thing. As I got older, some kids still gave me a hard time about the way I dressed and the fact that I wasn't obsessed with the rodeo and country music like everyone else was. The one good thing I can say about this time is that it made me get clear on something: Either they were right or I was right. And I knew they weren't right. I knew there was a whole world out there, with all different kinds of music and people, and I knew I was going to get out of this small town someday and join it. And when I did, I was never going to look down on anyone. I was going to let everyone be who they wanted to be and not worry about it. I'd be too busy enjoying my life."

"The person hurt most by bullying is the bully himself. Most bullies have a downwardly spiraling course through life. Bullies... are fare more likely than nonaggressive kids to commit crimes, batter their wives, abuse their children- and produce another generation of bullies."

"I talked to a lot of kids that get bullied, they brought it on themselves."

"Bullying is one violent way that boys try to demonstrate their masculinity. Smaller, physically ineffectual boys are often singled out as targets of bullying by older boys. The captain of the debate team at Heath told us how he had his head knocked into the lockers on one occasion, and was beaten up by a bigger kid on the bus on another. One (not small) freshman told us that for months he would dodge behind a teacher when he saw an older bully coming, to avoid receiving hard punches on the shoulder that "really physically hurt." Another senior told us that he witnessed a group of twelve older boys chase and tackle younger and smaller ones for fun. Students described bullying and harassment as an everyday occurrence in the hallways, in "flex time," and in the bathrooms and said that despite its prevalence, teachers were either unaware of it or unable to stop it. Bullying makes it possible for more powerful students to call attention to their superiority on grounds that favor them. Scholarly students told us that bullying was often initiated by farm boys who had been held back at least one grade and often two and resented the brighter futures of the college-bound kids. Pushing others around was a means for these kids to draw attention to the ways that they were strong and others weak (literally)."

"In addition to physical bullying, teasing that degraded the victim's masculinity was also common. Bullying experts have suggested that in recent decades, as teachers have become more aware of the importance of cracking down on physical bullying, teasing with the explicit intention of lowering the victim's self-worth is on the rise, and it has even been given a name: shaming. While the purpose of physical bullying is to control the victim (in the classic case, such as to make him turn over his lunch money), the purpose of shaming is to make the victim feel worse about himself."

"There is probably no more powerful source of stigma for an adolescent boy than being labeled gay. The risk to a boy's reputation is immeasurable, and his place on the social ladder is utterly compromised if even a smidgeon of it sticks."

"The power of this epithet has grown so much that it now covers a much wider range of behavior than the purely sexual reference that it connoted in the past. The term "gay" is now used as a slang term for any form of social or athletic incompetence. Students routinely say to one another "that's gay" when they are talking about a wide array of mistakes or social failures. If someone fails to make the right move on a soccer field or drops a lunch tray in the cafeteria, the kid behind him is quite likely to say, "That's really gay." Why? one fifteen-year-old girl provided an explanation: "Boys have a fascination with not being gay. They want to be manly, and put each other down by saying 'that's gay.'" Thus for boys, the struggle for status is in large part competition for the rank of alpha male, and any loss one boy can inflict on another opens up a new rung on the ladder that he might move into."

"For the record if someone did that to me I'd hitch a ride to the International Space Station straight away; of coarse who am I kidding, they would never let me in, I've got spiders for hands! Internet is mean!"

"If there’s one goal of this conference, it’s to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up."

"LITTLETON, CO— On April 20, when two students at Columbine High School opened fire in a brutal shooting spree that left 12 classmates and a teacher dead, many feared that this affluent suburban school would never be the same. But now, more than four months after a tragedy that shook the nation to its core and marked the most notorious incident of school violence in U.S. history, the atmosphere is optimistic. Slowly but surely, life at Columbine is returning to normal. Thanks to stern new security measures, a militarized school environment and a massive public-relations effort designed to obscure all memory of the murderous event, members of Columbine's popular crowd are once again safe to reassert their social dominance and resume their proud, longstanding tradition of excluding those who do not fit in."

"As the school year begins under the watchful eye of 24-hour electronic monitoring and police protection, a sense of normalcy has returned to Columbine. Just like at any other school, the computer geeks are mocked, the economically disadvantaged kids are barely acknowledged, and the chess-club, yearbook and debate-team members are universally reviled. While these traditions are nothing new, from now on they will be much easier to preserve, thanks to the high-tech, draconian security measures that now dominate Columbine life."

"I believe this is the new claim that employers will deal with. This will replace sexual harassment. People who oppose it say these laws will force people to be polite at work. But you can no longer go to work and act like a beast and get away with it."

"I do not like to see an atmosphere of fear in an organization, where shouting, screaming and abuse of subordinates are common. You're probably saying, "Well, who does?" You'd be surprised. I have worked in fear- and abuse-filled organizations and have seen a lot more. Their leaders were at bottom insecure bullies who substituted Sturm und Drang for leadership. I have never known any leader who got the best out of his people that way."

"Bullying is a mean behavior. It is a way to make fun of other people. Some bullies pick on kids or say bad things about them. They also keep other kids from feeling like they are part of the group. Usually, bullying is not a one-time thing. Instead, bullies tease their victims over and over."

"Some bullies spread lies about other kids. They tell mean stories that embarrass kids. Bullies can make their victims feel awful. Bullying can make kids feel like they don't fit in at school. Bullies might say things like, "You can't play with us." Or they might say, "Don't sit at our table." This is how kids make bullies feel as though they are not liked. Kids who are bullied may feel like they are not good enough to be part of the group. But all kids deserve respect."

"Bullying can happen just about anywhere... Bullies can taunt kids in the cafeteria or on the bus. Usually, they choose places where adults are watching too many kids at once. Or they find places where there are no adults at all."

"If you see someone being bullied, try to help. Tell the person being bullied to come sit at your table. Offer to be her partner for a school project. With a group of friends, tell the bully to leave the victim alone. Sometimes a bully will be surprised if a group stands up to him."

"Yet the unwritten code that prevailed in that time and place stigmatized sex. Everyone masturbated but no one admitted it. Getting caught provoked months of merciless ridicule. Older boys, bullies, smacked you on the back of the head on the school bus, taunted you to tears. I only got caught once; I made sure I was never caught again."

"Do try to stand up for others. Maybe your friend is being bullied. Maybe it's happening to someone you don't even know. Either way, just saying something might make it stop. When someone bullies, the person doesn't expect anybody to say anything. Speaking up by saying "Hey, leave him alone!" can be a big surprise for people who bully. Sometimes, other kids might join you in standing up to bullying. When that happens, you have a chance to make a big change in your classroom- and even your whole school! One of the most important things you can do is be kind to kids who are being bullied. Invite them to hang out with you. Sit with them on the bus or at lunch. Let them know they are not alone. Don't say, "Whew, glad it's not me being picked on," and walk away thanking your lucky stars. The people who witness bullying are called bystanders. When bystanders stand together, they can make big changes. It's only when people act like bullying is okay that it keeps going on. And on, and on, and on."

"People have more ways than just words and physical force to bully others. They can also use their cell phones, tablets, and computers. No, they don't use these devices as weapons to throw at people. They use them to embarrass, threaten, humiliate or shame people. They might put hurtful or embarrassing photographs, videos, information, text messages, or Web posts online. They might do this with social media like Instagram or on websites. They might use text messages and email. This type of bullying is called cyberbullying. Bullying online is happening more and more because it's easier to do than other types of bullying. Plus, kids can do it anywhere- at home, in school, and anywhere else people go online. Someone might not have the courage to call you a name to your face. But posting a rude message online just takes a few clicks. These messages and images are even easier to spread- and they scan spread fast. As soon as one person forwards a message or "likes" a post, the audience grows. The pain and embarrassment multiplies. Meanwhile, the person who started it all gets to hide behind a computer or phone."

"It's not okay for anyone, whether they're a friend or not, to bully you. If something a friend or group of friends does online upsets you, be sure to let them know that you are not happy with what they have said about you. If they say it's just a joke, tell them it's not a joke to you. If it continues, tell an adult. If you can't trust your friend to treat you fairly and with respect, you might have to end the friendship. Friendship does not give people permission to treat you badly."

"Everybody, everywhere has been bullied at some point in their lives. Even people who bully have been bullied! (Which is one reason why they act the way they do.) But that doesn't mean bullying is okay. Or that you should suffer in silence. Or that you should bully. What will you do the next time someone bullies you? Think about it. Make a plan. Be ready to speak up, walk away, or run away. Bullying is a pain in the brain. But it doesn't have to give you a permanent headache."

"With nearly a million children educated in our schools, we not only must demonstrate a profound commitment to stamp out such stereotyping and bullying, but we must also take action. We are therefore developing a programme for use in our schools, taking the best advice we can find anywhere, that specifically targets such bullying... I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: "The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair." In these words he epitomized the history of the human race."

"Adult bullying at work is a shocking, frightening, and at times shattering experience, both for those targeted and for onlookers. Workplace bullying, mobbing, and emotional abuse essentially synonymous phenomena*are persistent, verbal, and nonverbal aggression at work that include personal attacks, social ostracism, and a multitude of other painful messages and hostile interactions. Because this phenomenon is perpetrated by and through communication, and because workers’ principal responses are communicative in nature, it is vital that communication scholars join the academic dialogue about this damaging feature of worklife. The harm to workers runs the gamut of human misery including ‘‘anxiety, depression, burnout, frustration, helplessness, ... difficulty concentrating, alcohol abuse (Richman, Flaherty, & Rospenda, 1996), and posttraumatic stress disorder (Leymann & Gustafsson, 1996; Mikkelsen & Einarsen, 2002). Witnessing co-workers experience increased fear, emotional exhaustion, hypervigilance, stress, and intentions to leave (Jennifer, Cowie, & Anaiadou, 2003; Vartia, 2001, 2003). Bullying also hinders group communication, cohesion, and performance by creating hostile environments marked by apprehension, distrust, anger, and suspicion (Frost, 2003; Lockhart, 1997; Vartia, 2003). What makes this communicative phenomenon especially grave is its elevated prevalence in US workplaces. From 28% to 36% of US workers report persistent abuse at work (Keashly & Neuman, 2005; Lutgen-Sandvik, Tracy, & Alberts, 2005; Neuman, 2004), and nearly 25% of US companies report some degree of bullying (Blosser, 2004). Furthermore, over 80% of workers say they have witnessed bullying sometime during their work histories (Keashly & Neuman, 2005; Lutgen-Sandvik, 2003a; Namie, 2003b). Given its prevalence and negative consequences, bullying warrants the attention of communication scholars, particularly those studying power and oppression."

"On the other hand, witnesses were also deeply disturbed by their experiences. Similar to target-witnesses, they spoke of how the workplace experience took over their entire lives, they worried about it at and away from work, they talked about it continually to family and friends, they spent large segments of work time speaking with others or figuring out how to deal with or avoid being abused. Witnesses and targets reported that their experiences and failure of organizational authorities to stop abuse stripped away their beliefs that good prevails over evil."

"Resistance to abuse at work is a complex, dynamic process in which workers fight to have a voice and are often punished for their efforts. If and when organizational authorities finally intervene, many have already left the organization or suffered years of abuse. The human cost is staggering and workers’ stories heartbreaking. Neither is resistance straightforward; worker dissent is easily reframed as deviant behavior by those for whom the resistance is threatening. Nonetheless, workers faced with bullying at work say they have a moral imperative to act against the injustice and in some cases actually alter their situations. Furthermore, workers often collectively organize against abusers, even in the absence of formal unions. Organizations would be well-informed to heed these voices. Resistance and the emotional communication that springs from it are warning signs that "act as signaling devices when expected appropriate norms of communication are violated" (Waldron, 2000, p.72). These should not be ignored. Organizational authorities must learn to "read the traces" of resistance to bullying, diagnose the problem early, and construct effective interventions."

"More than 90% of adults experience workplace bullying—that is, psychological and emotional abuse—at some time during the span of their work careers (Hornstein, 1996). The supervisors who inflict psychological abuse on subordinates represent one of the most frequent and serious problems confronting employees in today’s workforce (Yamada, 2000). Although the television news is quick to report the rare but sensational incidents of disgruntled employees returning to their former workplaces seeking revenge (e.g., “Office Rampage,” 1999), rarely do we see stories of employee humiliation and psychological violence perpetrated by more powerful organizational members. Research indicates a link between workplace abuse and workplace violence as the aggressor becomes increasingly more threatening to targeted employees (Namie & Namie, 2000). In addition to increased threats of violence from abusers (Leymann, 1990), employees who feel unfairly treated may express their anger and outrage in subtle acts of retaliation against their employers, including work slowdown or covertly sabotaging the abuser (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997). As reported in a government study, “The cost to employers is untold hours and dollars in lost employee work time, increased health care costs, high turnover rates, and low productivity” (Bureau of National Affairs [BNA], 1990, p. 2). Employee emotional abuse (EEA) is a repetitive, targeted, and destructive form of communication directed by more powerful members at work at those less powerful."

"For the purposes of this article, EEA is defined as targeted, repetitive workplace communication that is unwelcome and unsolicited, violates standards of appropriate conduct, results in emotional harm, and occurs in relationships of unequal power (Keashly, 2001). EEA has also been labeled workplace mistreatment (Price Spatlen, 1995), workplace aggression (Baron & Neuman, 1998), workplace harassment (Bjorkqvist et al., 1994), verbal abuse (Cox et al., 1991), psychological abuse (Sheenan et al., 1990), and chological violence (Institute for Workplace Trauma and Bullying, 2002)."

"Emotional abusers appear to be particularly skilled at appearing to provide constructive feedback because the organization formally requires it. The extremes to which managers go to build a verbal and written case against the target suggest that this is done to “make . . . action appear justifiable and reasonable to all parties” (Fairhurst et al., 1986, p. 569). They are inclined to systematically distort these communicative processes if they want to get rid of an employee (author’s experience), and because the more powerful member creates the documenting language, they author the formal record of “what occurred.” Rather than improve performance, this form of chronic criticism more often unnerves targets (Lockhart, 1997) and results in further poor performance that substantiates the abuser’s initial claims of incompetence (Wyatt & Hare, 1997)."

"A lot of kids are bullied because of their sexual identity or expression. It's often the effeminate boys and the masculine girls, the ones who violate gender norms and expectations, who get bullied."

"Last year, when I was in sixth grade, our class watched a video about a boy who was bullied because of his disabilities. A girl at his school went on the internet and told everyone she wanted to have a relationship with him. Once she put it out there, she couldn't take it back. When the boy found out it was just a joke, he wrote on the Web, "People like you make me want to kill myself." And then he did; he hanged himself."

"Kids are sneaky about bullying. They don't want to get caught, so they make sure to do it when there are no teachers around."

"Don't stand by and do nothing. Sometimes kids who are being bullied need to borrow strength from someone else. If you see someone getting picked on, try to take him or her away from the bully. If you don't feel safe doing this, report the incident to an adult."

"Junior high was actually sort of hard because I got dumped by this group of popular girls. They didn't think I was cool or pretty enough, so they stopped talking to me. The kids at school thought it was weird that I liked country music."

"Although considerable research has linked workplace bullying with psychosocial and physical costs, the stories and conceptualizations of mistreatment by those targeted are largely untold. This study uses metaphor analysis to articulate and explore the emotional pain of workplace bullying and, in doing so, helps to translate its devastation and encourage change. Based on qualitative data gathered from focus groups, narrative interviews, and target drawings, the analysis describes how bullying can feel like a battle, water torture, nightmare, or noxious substance. Abused workers frame bullies as narcissistic dictators, two-faced actors, and devil figures. Employees targeted with workplace bullying liken themselves to vulnerable children, slaves, prisoners, animals, and heartbroken lovers. These metaphors highlight and delimit possibilities for agency and action. Furthermore, they may serve as diagnostic cues, providing shorthand necessary for early intervention."

"But it was one thing for Donald to stay out of his father's crosshairs and another to get into his good graces. Toward that end, Donald all but eradicated any qualities he might have shared with his older brother. Except for the occasional fishing trip with Freddy and his friends, Donald would become a creature of country clubs and offices, golf being the only thing on which he and his father differed. He would also double down on the behaviors he had thus far gotten away with: bullying, pointing the finger, refusing to take responsibility, and disregarding authority. He says that he "pushed back" and Fred "respected" that. The truth is, he was able to push back against his father because Fred let him."

"Eventually, when Donald went away to military school at thirteen, Fred began to admire Donald's disregard of authority. Although a strict parent in general, Fred accepted Donald's arrogance and bullying- after he actually started to notice them- because he identified with the impulses."

"At the military academy, Donald had survived the first couple of years as an underclassman by using the considerable skills he'd acquired growing up in the family house: his ability to feign indifference in the face of pain and disappointment, to withstand the abuse of the bigger, older boys. He hadn't been a great student, but he'd had a certain charm, a way of getting others to go along with him that, back then, wasn't entirely grounded in cruelty. In high school Donald had been a decent athlete, a guy some people found attractive with his blue eyes and blond hair and his swagger. He had all the confidence of a bully who knows he's always going to get what he wants and never has to fight for it."

"During the most crucial juncture of the Steeplechase deal, its unraveling, and its aftermath, Donald did a fair amount of armchair quarterbacking. Freddy, who had never developed the armor that might have helped him withstand his father's mockery and humiliation, was particularly sensitive to being dressed down in front of his siblings. When they were younger, Donald had been both a bystander and collateral damage. Now that he was older, he felt increasingly confident that Freddy's continuing loss of their father's esteem would be to his benefit, so he often watched silently or joined in."

"A couple of years ago, I was driving in Cincinnati with Usha, when somebody cut me off. I honked, the guy flipped me off, and when we stopped at a red light (with this guy in front of me), I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the car door. I planned to demand an apology (and fight the guy if necessary), but my common sense prevailed and I shut the door before I got out of the car. Usha was delighted that I'd changed my mind before she yelled at me to stop acting like a lunatic (which has happened in the past), and she told me that she was proud of me for resisting my natural instinct. The other driver's sin was to insult my honor, and it was on that honor that nearly every element of my happiness depended as a child- it kept the school bully from messing with me, connected me to my mother when some man or his children insulted her (even if I agreed with the substance of the insult), and gave me something, however small, over which I exercised complete control. For the first eighteen or so years of my life, standing down would have earned me a verbal lashing as a "pussy", or a "wimp" or a "girl." The objectively correct course of action was something that the majority of my life had taught me was repulsive to an upstanding young man. For a few hours after I did the right thing, I silently criticized myself. But that's progress, right? Better that than sitting in a jail cell for teaching that asshole a lesson about defensive driving."

"Somebody who is bullied and has a lot of coping skills, support in their family and in other friends, is probably more resilient than somebody who doesn’t perceive others as being supportive or has low self-esteem, identity issues, or depressed mood."

"Once you have power you have everything."

"It's mostly the popular people that can get away with a lot of stuff because everyone else wants to be friends with whoever is popular."

"Dr. Dan Olweus, a social science researcher in Norway who did much of the original research on bullying, found that by the time bullied children become adults, some "normalization" takes place. Victims are freer to choose or create their own social life. At the same time, he said, they are still at risk for depression and negative feelings about themselves. Another researcher found that adults who had been victims of bullying in childhood reported higher levels of loneliness than did nonvictims. In addition, that study showed that adult men who never married and were shy with women often had a history of being bullied in childhood. That suggests the social withdrawal often seen in victims may continue in later life. Of course, it is not always that way. Many children, perhaps most of them, who are bullied grow up to be normal, happy people. But for some, the fear and self-hatred caused by the bullies never leave."

"For a television special on bullying, children on a playground were videotaped. When the producers watched the tape, they saw a bullying incident about every eight minutes. When they asked teachers how often they stepped in to stop bullying, the teachers said, "All the time." Yet the tape showed them stepping in just 5 percent of the incidents. One teacher admitted, "We rarely see it, we don't intervene and we don't hear it. But kids hear it, see it and are a part of it.""

"Just telling bullies to stop or telling victims to ignore them or fight back are not solutions to a school's bullying problem, experts say. "To prevent bullying, educators need to do nothing less than change the school culture," says researcher J. David Hawkins, "the school environment in which learning takes place.""

"Society is just beginning to understand the effects of bullying and to learn what to do about it. Every child in elementary, middle, or high school needs to ask, "Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?" When more of us are part of the solution than part of the problem, the issue of bullying will no longer devastate as many lives and cause so much pain."

"As the last decade has unfolded I have watched the public discourse on bullying change from trying to understand who is involved in bullying, to a focus that puts the responsibility on children to assume responsibility for changing a culture of bullying and intimidation at school, to a systems-based approach that recognizes the absolute necessity for adults, schools, and communities to take the lead in effecting change."

"It is time to expand the conversation about bullying in childhood and adolescence to consider the long-term effects into adulthood. The trauma of bullying and harassment can leave serious and painful scars on the lives of adults. The anxiety, depression, stress, and relationship dysfunction that can come as a result of childhood bullying are serious at the individual and family level. The consequences are a national health issue and warrant our concern and attention."

"It is critical that we begin to recognize that the effects of so-called typical childhood teasing and bullying do not just go away; instead they shape development and last a lifetime. After reading this book, I would like people to understand that childhood bullying is detrimental. It cannot be considered lightly as in "Kids will be kids." If you stop to ask and then truly listen, you will hear the accounts of many for whom childhood was a time to be endured, not enjoyed. For many, the memories of bullying are indelible. The shadows of their experiences are the basis of this book."

"Problems trusting others can take a generalized state form (as in "I don't trust anybody") or can be very specific to certain groups. People suffering with APBS tend not to trust others. They are particularly cautious in intimate relationships such as friendship and marriage, always expecting that they will be betrayed. Further, they do not trust people who look, act, or even dress like those who bullied them. This lack of trust is problematic for establishing relationships in the first place and for managing them."

"The problem of mistrusting others significantly impairs a person's ability to connect with other people and then to stay connected. People who trust easily establish relationships readily and maintain them. They do not have attachment problems. Children who have been bullied and then end up with adult post-bullying syndrome often appear to either run from relationships or manage to get into abusive ones. After all, they have learned as children that their peers or siblings will treat them badly. For the most part, they never learned how to stop bullying as children. Consequently, they do not know how and often do not even want to extricate themselves from physically or emotionally abusive relationships as adults. This is all they know. At the other end of the continuum are adults so scarred from their bullying experiences that they are willing to end their marriages based on what, to others, might seem reparable. But to some adults suffering with APBS any hint of disrespect or bullying is intolerable."

"Social learning theory indicates that we learn from each interpersonal interaction and we learn how to treat one another (Bandura, 1969). The result, for some people who have been bullied and who have lost trust is to keep a certain emotional distance in all of their relationships."

"Parents tend to think that sibling violence is "sibling rivalry" and is just a normal part of growing up. They fail to understand that kids can only tolerate so much demeaning before a "kick-the-dog" syndrome sets in. In other words, Colin had nowhere else to take his anger except to his sibling. I asked him if he thought about telling his parents to intervene. His response was very typical: "No, I don't think they could do anything. I was also worried it might get worse. Also some of the bullies were my friends." This last sentence tends to perplex parents. Bullied by friends is a concept that does not seem to compute. However this is exactly what happened to Colin, and it happens to many kids."

"This is an area of research needing more investigation. Mackey, Fromuth, and Kelley (2010) did a small study with about 145 undergraduates asking about sibling bullying. Their results indicated that those who considered themselves to be bullied by a sibling when they were children continued to experience anxiety. There are questions that still must be addressed. When a child has been bullied by a sibling or more than one sibling, are there continuing effects into adulthood? The studies above indicate that children bullied by their siblings are more likely than those who have not been bullied to experience anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and self-harming behaviors needing clinical intervention. Do these issues carry over to other stages of life? What happens to these sibling relationships once they are adults? Is all forgotten or forgiven? Or is there always a sense of mistrust? Bowes et. al. (2014) found that children who were bullied by their siblings were more likely to be bullied by peers and, as we have discussed in other sections of the book, the impact of peer bullying does last a lifetime. At this point in time, most have figured out that peer bullying at school and in the community is not acceptable, but sibling bullying remains an arena where adults still take a hands-off attitude."

"Of the participants in my study, 37% told their parents that they were bullied at school. Of that group, about half felt supported by their family whether or not the parent could do anything effective or not. The other half were met with a less than nurturing response. One example that stands out for its lack of compassion is shared by Shana. She was bullied throughout elementary and middle school. At the end of middle school, when she was feeling particularly low, she considered hurting herself. Her father found out about her solution and took her outside with a loaded shotgun. He showed her how to commit suicide by kneeling down, putting the gun under her chin, and pulling the trigger. He very forcefully told her that if that was the route she wanted to take she should do it right then and there. Fortunately, Shana did not follow her father's suggestion. Whether Shana's father behaved in this way out of ignorance or his own fears, we don't know. What we do know is that children who feel connected to and supported by close relationships with family members fare much better at overcoming bullying and developing a sense of resilience that lasts a lifetime (Bowes et al., 2020; Hong & Espelage, 2012; Levin, 2011; Resnick et al., 1997)."

"Parents and caregivers are our first teachers. Siblings, too, model ways of behaving and settling conflicts. They help or harm our psychological and social development. In terms of bullying, they can be bullies or they can teach respectful family interactions and be a child's best advocate. All of these choices carry immediate and long-term consequences. When there has been psychological injury, people may forgive but they rarely forget. There are lifelong reverberations."

"Despite the efforts of adults, bullying, harassment, and hazing continue to be widespread problems in our nation's schools. Virtually all students are involved as victims, bullies, bully/victims, or witnesses. With severe impacts on lifelong development and mental health, finding a way to prevent bullying is a major public health concern. Far more prevalent than we once believed, bullying occurs in our schools and via cyberspace on an around-the-clock basis. There are long-term costs that haunt those involved, and these consequences are not solely carried by the victims. Bullies are more likely than the general population to become workplace bullies (Matthiesen & Einarsen, 2007; Zapf & Einarsen, 2011) or to end up involved with the criminal justice system (Apel & Burrow, 2011; Carter, 2012). As noted earlier, research establishes that both bullies and victims can experience lifelong depression, anxieties, difficulties in relationships, and an inability to trust others. Because bullying is traumatic, it can result in post-traumatic stress disorder."

"While adults admonish children to stop bullying each other, there is an adult moral code witnessed in their behavior that allows for- and promotes- bullying and revenge. Consequently, we have to realize that children do not have enough power to change it and it is not their responsibility. Prevention of this pervasive phenomenon is the direct responsibility of adults. Adults at school and in the community need to make the commitment to examine and change their own behavior if they hope to diminish bullying among children."

"Parents, educators and policy makers must see the serious long-term consequences of bullying. Only in this way will there be a concerted and ongoing effort to interrupt bullying at first signs in childhood. We can no longer afford the attitude that says, "Bullying is just a rite of passage" or "Bullying happens; you get over it." Clearly this is not the case. The adults in this study and in other research prove otherwise. Health and mental health practitioners need a comprehensive vision of the effects of bullying on both children and adults. With the understanding that bullying and harassment may lead to a lifetime of poor decisions, of relationship problems, and of mental health issues, practitioners can begin to regularly ask about current or past bullying episodes. Doing so will provide a key to unlocking the history behind problems clients are experiencing and will offer a direction for treatment. This is a call to parents, educators, and health practitioners, and policy makers to stand up and make a difference so that a childhood of bullying does not turn into an adult life full of its aftermath. Bullying scars."

"The outlook for the most-affected victims is serious, but I believe there is hope that we can continue to reduce the number of victims. Bullying is a learned behavior. Children are not born cruel. Babies in diapers do not assess each other as too fat, too poor, too dark-skinned, too nerdy, too conceited. Born innocent, they start learning stereotypes as soon as they understand language, and we see bullying behaviors in children as young as toddlers. Since preschoolers who display marked aggressiveness have a higher likelihood of being bullies in older grades, the earlier intervention begins, the better the results. It is much easier to inculcate kindness and acceptance into a five-year-old who acts like a bully than into a fifteen-year-old who acts like a bully."

"Social pain changes as kids grow older, and the reasons for bullying become more complex. Tweens and middle schoolers can find themselves perfectly accepted one day and ostracized the next, leaving them bewildered as to how things fell apart. This is what happened with Deanna, who told me that her problems began in sixth grade. "I had never had trouble making friends before, but now that I was in middle school, the girls did not like me because I wore short hair and weird clothes." Deanna's family was barely making ends meet, and her school was located in a wealthy neighborhood. By the middle of the year, the ostracism was overwhelming. "I asked one of the girls why she didn't like me, and she just said, 'because you're weird.' I held out my hand and said, 'I think we got off on the wrong foot; let's start over. Hi, I'm Deanna.' She looked at me and said, 'Start over? We're not going out! What are you, some kind of lesbian?' and then spread the rumor around the school that I was, in fact, a lesbian, and that if any female talked to me, I would rape them.""

"Do kids "invite" bullying by acting differently than others? Stan Davis is one bullying expert who is working to combat that type of thinking. He spoke passionately to me about the need to stop assigning responsibility to the victim, insisting that "we as a society must give up on the adult idea that if someone did something to you, it must be because you did something wrong. Adults think that the only people who get picked on are too passive or too annoying, and if we react to a kid's report of injury from that frame of mind, we have a problem." Davis commented that this mentality is exactly how the police used to react to reports of rape. Police would ask a rape victim what she was wearing. "We have lobbied to change that way of thinking," he said. "Sure, it was a task, but it was successful, and now police would never say to a rape victim, 'Well, what were you wearing?' We need to do the same thing with bullying." Davis stressed that mean behavior is the fault of the person that does it. "I tell parents that their child is teased because there are people who think making fun of someone who is different is acceptable, not because your child has an awkward social style. This requires a big conceptual change: teasing tells us about the person who did it and nothing about the person who was teased.""

"At the same time that we teach empathy to the bullies, we need to stop sending the victims the message that their own behavior or traits are bringing on the attacks. This requires a fundamental change in the way adults view bullying. A child is not bullied because he is gay or autistic or overweight. A child is bullied because a bully has decided that the target is unacceptably different and less worthy of respect. We must teach the targets how to cognitively frame the bullying so that they do not think the abuse is their fault or something they deserve. Groundbreaking new research by Stan Davis and Charisse Nixon has shown that when a victim learns to think about the bullying in new ways- "This bullying is not happening because I am overweight. It is happening because the bully is choosing to act in a mean and hateful way, and that is his fault, not mine"- then the effects of the mistreatment are greatly diminished. Davis and Nixon's research also shows that many bullied kids find relief when they tell an adult or peer, but many are reluctant to do so."

"We need to empower the bystanders and witnesses to speak up or go get help, and we need to teach them that silent or laughing or joining in makes them accountable too. If even a single witness reaches out to a victim, the tide can change. Others will join in, and the balance of power shifts. The situation diffuses, and the bullying will cease. How do we teach these skills? By creating caring environments in which all of the different worlds our children inhabit: the home, the school, the neighborhood, the Internet, the playing fields, and all the places in between. Increasing the adult supervision of high-risk bullying areas is part of the picture. But our budget-strapped schools will be the first to admit that it is impossible to always have a connected, respected teacher in every corner, and time-pressured parents will protest that they cannot be everywhere. This is why our kids need better social skills. We don't want to create a "helicopter parent" approach to bullying intervention. Yes, adult monitoring and intervention are critical, but so is the ability of children to resolve conflict on their own. If we swoop in and rescue our kids every time someone picks on them, we inadvertently teach them that they cannot take care of themselves."

"Bullying is a multifaceted problem, and thus it requires a many-pronged solution. It is not enough to monitor our children's media use, teach empathy to bullies, empower and support the victims, and provide children with social skills and conflict-resolution skills. We have to step back and analyze our own culpability in creating a culture that has fostered attitudes of entitlement and condescension toward those who are different. It is uncomfortable to explore our own secret inconsistencies and stereotypes. One mother told me she initially recoiled at the sight of her preschool son in a dress, before she ultimately decided that he should be allowed to play dress up if that is what makes him happy. Many people disagree with her, and issues of gender noncomformity are particularly controversial. Gender-based bullying is rampant, and it stems from a myriad of places. Even within gender-based bullying, not all victims receive equal defending. The world was quick to defend Katie's right to be a Star Wars-loving girl, but a princess-loving boy is unlikely to receive such universal support. Some people say Star Wars is for everyone and princesses are just for girls. But if you walk into a toy store, Star Wars toys are clearly displayed in the "boys' section" and princesses are relegated to the pink "girls' section". Gender-based toy marketing contributes to gender-based stereotypes and creates situations ripe for bullying."

"None of us is without blame. None of us is without strengths. If we keep these two truths in mind, we are well positioned to take on the problem of bullying with grace and maturity. Every person has a voice that deserves to be heard, even the marginalized and the mute. We just need to listen, and change will occur."

"When I was growing up, bullying was assumed to be a rite of passage. If you got beat up on the playground, that was supposed to toughen you up and show you how to "be a man." If kids called you names, that was "just teasing," and you were told to ignore it and it would stop. And almost no one talked about bullying among girls. The good news is that society is taking bullying a lot more seriously these days. The bad news is that it took tragedies like school shootings to make us wake up. Bullying is abuse, and it carries serious short-term and long-term consequences for all involved: the bullies, the targets, and the observers. Nearly everyone can remember that white-hot feeling when a bully said something meant to humiliate, or the time you tried to will yourself torment you in the locker room, even twenty or thirty years after it happened. Nearly everyone can remember the poor kid who was at the bottom of the social totem pole at school, and any of us can remember wishing to help, but keeping our mouths shut out of fear of being the next target of looking "uncool.""

"Note that bullies are not typically jealous of the kids they pick on, and they don't usually have low self-esteem. That's another myth- one that experts believed for decades until psychological tests showed that bullies typically had self-esteem to spare. When I was growing up, the stereotype of the bully was an overweight, overaggressive, not very intelligent boy who beat up on others to make himself feel better by proving his physical strength. There are still some of this type of bully out there, sure, but there's a much more dangerous bully type now. Today's bullies are often popular, smart, charming to adults, and have many friends, even if their friendships are based on fear. They maintain their social status by making others objects of scorn and ridicule. To most people, they look like leaders. What bullies may not have is empathy, and that may be the most critical element differentiating them from kids with true leadership skills."

"The thing that makes it so hard to deal with these types of bullies is that they're often hard to recognize, and hard for bystanders to stand up to. People like them. Teachers are amused by them. Coaches value them. Their social skills enable them to sweet-talk and appear innocent to adults, and their peers are terrified of standing up to them when they witness bullying behaviors because they could easily become the next targets. Whether they admit it or not, nearly all kids want to be popular. They want to have friends on the highest rung of the social ladder. They'll rarely contradict or confront a popular kid who's doing something wrong because that would make them "uncool" and likely to lose social status themselves. Because of this, the popular bullies learn that they can get away with anything, and their empathy declines. They feel more and more powerful, and feel contempt for the less powerful kids. They're likely to repeat this pattern throughout life in their workplaces, towns, and families- teaching their kids how to climb the social ladder so they can annihilate the "worthless" kids below them, too. That is part of the reason we have to deal with these issues early when they occur, because the longer kids get away with bullying, the less their empathy kicks in to stop these situations."

"By now, most of us realize that the adage "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me" is a load of bull. The truth is that broken bones heal. Broken hearts are much harder to mend, and broken spirits can be lifetime handicaps. And parents, no matter how many times you tell your kids, "You're smart and attractive," if all they hear from their peers is "You're stupid and ugly," the latter is what they'll internalize. They don't believe you. You're biased- and besides, you're "old"! You're not going to negate the effects of verbal bullying just by assuring your child that the kids' words aren't true."

"Bullying is meant to humiliate, and it does its job quite well. Often bullied kids are so embarrassed that they don't even want to tell their parents."

"Sensitive kids expect other kids to be sensitive. When they're not, often the sensitive kid wants to tell the bully how she feels, particularly when they're young and the bullying is verbal. ("You hurt my feelings." "I don't like it when you say that!" "Stop, you're making me upset.") Some parents encourage this, too, believing that if the bully just understood the words or behaviors were hurtful, they'd stop. This is wishful thinking, and works only when you're not dealing with a true bully. True bullies don't have empathy--at least not for your child. They do not care that they've hurt your child's feelings...in fact, that's exactly what they want. So if your child expresses that his feelings are hurt, it's just as good as your child saying, "Way to go! You're accomplishing your goal. Please, keep it up! I might fall apart any second! Get popcorn!""

"It's extremely hard for good people to believe that anyone could be so cruel at heart, especially children. We want to believe just talking to them and helping them understand the effects of their behavior can turn them all around. Some of them can and will learn empathy, sure. Others never will."

"However, for some children, camp can be a nightmare if they experience bullying and they don't feel safe when they are away from home. Bullying thrives in unstructured atmospheres where supervision may feel looser, and camps can provide the perfect atmosphere for bullying to flourish, unfortunately. Kids generally have a lot more free time and possibilities to mingle with each other in camp, as opposed to school. In school, bullying happens about four times more often on the playground versus in the classroom, and camp can be like one giant playground. For example, bullying in camp occurs when supervision is lean: on the way to activities, during shower time, during free play, and when kids are in their cabins and counselors are not readily visible."

"How many times do we hear children speak about their summer being "great" because of their mentors, the counselors? What makes a great summer are the relationships the kids make. Besides friends, they want to feel accepted, loved, cared for, and connected to their staff. From my own work in the bullying arena, one can see where there's an obvious overriding problem: Most of the staff are teenagers and young adults. The average age of a counselor is nineteen to twenty-two, but in many camps, high school students are hired for theses jobs, even if it is in the counselor-in-training format. The potential problem that brings is that these counselors are not very far removed from the prime bullying years in their own lives. They don't necessarily yet have any insight about how to handle bullies, and they're still worried about their own popularity and social standing."

"Kids tend to know the social hierarchy in any group situation, whether that's at school, camp, or elsewhere. They figure out pretty quickly who's at the top of the ladder, who's in the middle, and who's on the bottom. So do counselors, even if they don't know it themselves, and counselors tend to align themselves with the ids at the top of the ladder. This is a normal human trait, wanting to connect with popularity. However, for a counselor, this issue has severe consequences, especially if it involves a child who is not a popular kid."

"If they hear hurtful talk, counselors should jump in and defend the target. If a group of girls make fun of a camper's clothing or hair, the counselor needs to say something like, "I think Eileen's hair is beautiful." If they try to keep a kid out of an activity, the counselor needs to step in and make sure the kid is included and not picked on. Counselors need to be vigilant about jumping in when they hear gossip, or any negative talk about other campers or even other counselors. When counselors jump into camp situations and say, "Hey, what's going on here?" or "Hey, what's up with that?" or "We don't talk about anyone behind their back" or "How would you feel if someone was saying that about you right now behind your back?" counselors see that their behavior has an impact. This kind of training helps counselors define who they are as models and gives them the power to stop bullying. More important, it shows campers who's in charge and what they can get away with."

"The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God’s method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future!"

"There are several ways a scoundrel might make others view him in a more positive light. One way would be to start from within, abandon evil, become good, and stop being a scoundrel. Other people would then over time naturally come to recognize the transformation. The second way would be to begin exerting pressure on others, trying to brainwash them into not recognizing a scoundrel for what he is. Finally, a scoundrel might even mount the most audacious plan, and attempt to use manipulation, lies, gaslighting, and brainwashing to turn everyone else into scoundrels too. This would offer the greatest protection."

"So what is government? Very simply, it is an agency of coercion.Of course, there are other agencies of coercion—such as the Mafia. So to be more precise, government is the agency of coercion that has flags in front of its offices.Or to put it another way, government is society's dominant producer of coercion. The Mafia and independent bandits are merely fringe competitors—seeking to take advantage of the niches and nooks neglected by the government."

"the use of threatened force, including the limited use of actual force to back up the threat, to induce an adversary to behave differently than it otherwise would."

"The exercise of one coercion always makes another inevitable."

"The capacity to resist coercion stems partly from the individual's identification with a group. The people who stood up best in the Nazi concentration camps were those who felt themselves members of a compact party (the Communists), of a church (priests and ministers), or of a close-knit national group. The individualists, whatever their nationality, caved in. The Western European Jew proved to be the most defenseless. Spurned by the Gentiles (even those within the concentration camps), and without vital ties with a Jewish community, he faced his tormentors alone—forsaken by the whole of humanity. One realizes now that the Ghetto of the Middle Ages was for the Jews more a fortress than a prison. Without the sense of utmost unity and distinctness which the ghetto imposed upon them, they could not have endured with unbroken spirit the violence and abuse of those dark centuries. When the Middle Ages returned for a brief decade in our day, they caught the Jew without his ancient defenses and crushed him."

"Disorder is more exacting, arising when coercion is substituted for coordination—preventing members in a system from determining their own destiny. History is littered with examples of excluded parts rising up to confront those exclusive few who claim they are representing the whole."

"The idea of painless, non-threatening coercion is an illusion. Fear is the inseparable companion of coercion, and its inescapable consequence. If you think it your duty to make children do what you want, whether they will or not, then it follows inexorably that you must make them afraid of what will happen to them if they don’t do what you want."

"The physical capacity to coerce others can never generate a moral obligation to obey the dictates of [government] power."

"Legal coercion is a course which the law allows."

"In different places over the years I have had to prove that socialism, which to many western thinkers is a sort of kingdom of justice, was in fact full of coercion, of bureaucratic greed and corruption and avarice, and consistent within itself that socialism cannot be implemented without the aid of coercion. Communist propaganda would sometimes include statements such as "we include almost all the commandments of the Gospel in our ideology". The difference is that the Gospel asks all this to be achieved through love, through self-limitation, but socialism only uses coercion."

"Amid this life based on coercion, one and the same thought constantly emerged among different nations, namely, that in every individual a spiritual element is manifested that gives life to all that exists, and that this spiritual element strives to unite with everything of a like nature to itself, and attains this aim through love."

"Le souverain même n’a aucun droit d’employer la contrainte pour amener les hommes à la religion, qui suppose essentiellement choix et liberté. Ma pensée n’est pas plus soumise à l’autorité que la maladie ou la santé."

"Lynch law held sway in the far West until civilization spread into the Territories and the orderly processes of law took its place. The emergency no longer existing, lynching gradually disappeared from the West."

"There is nothing we can do about the lynching now, as we are out-numbered and without arms."

"We of the South have never recognized the right of the Negro to govern white men, and we never will. We have never believed him to be the equal of the white man, and we will not submit to his gratifying his lust on our wives and daughters without lynching him. I would to God the last one of them was in Africa and that none of them had ever been brought to our shores."

"The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they learn their place again."

"If it is necessary every Negro in the state will be lynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy."

"I am utterly powerless. The State has no troops, and if the civil authorities at Ellisville are helpless, the States are equally so. Furthermore, excitement is at such a high pitch throughout South Mississippi that any armed attempt to interfere would doubtless result in the deaths of hundreds of persons. The negro has confessed, says he is ready to die, and nobody can keep the inevitable from happening."

"This is a white man's country, with a white man's civilization and any dream on the part of the Negro race to share social and political equality will be shattered in the end."

"This new generation, for example, is not content with preachings against that vile form of collective murder —lynch law— which has broken out in our midst anew. We know that it is murder, and a deliberate and definite disobedience of the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." We do not excuse those in high places or in low who condone lynch law."

"To defeat this measure, so help me God, I would be willing to speak every day of the year 1938."

"When once the flat-nosed Ethiopian, like the camel, gets his proboscis under the tent, he will overthrow the established order of our Saxon civilization."

"If you succeed in the passage of this bill, you will open the floodgates of hell in the South. Raping, mobbing, lynching, race riots, and crime will be increased a thousandfold; and upon your garments and the garments of those who are responsible for the passage of the measure will be the blood of the raped and outraged daughters of Dixie, as well as the blood of the perpetrators of these crimes that the red-blooded Anglo-Saxon white Southern men will not tolerate."

"It is essential to the perpetuation of our Anglo-Saxon civilization that white supremacy be maintained, and to maintain our civilization there is only one solution, and that is either by segregation within the United States, or by deportation of the entire Negro race to its native heath, Africa."

"I am ready to wage the most strenuous fight of my life to defeat the Fair Employment Practices Commission, the anti-poll tax bill, the anti-lynching bill, and the $4 billion loan to England...If you draft Negro boys into the army, give them three good meals a day, a good uniform and let them shoot craps and drink liquor around the barracks for a year, they won’t be worth a tinker’s damn thereafter."

"This civil rights program about which you have heard so much is a farce and a sham; an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I fought it in the Congress. It is the province of the state to run its own elections. I am opposed to the anti-lynching bill because the federal government has no business enacting a law against one kind of murder than another ... If a man can tell you who you must hire, he can tell you who not to employ. I have met this head on."

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

"For a quarter of a century, in the Congress of the United States, we tried to get passed an anti-lynching bill. A simple law to protect the lives of black citizens below the Mason-Dixon line. This was not legislation, as our protesting brethren so often take us to task for—the legislation of brotherly love with they say is impossible. It was a law making it a federal offense to hang a human being from a tree, cover him with kerosene and cremate him. But the loudest cheerleaders of our current law and order rallies—the Eastlands and the Strom Thurmonds—were the very gentlemen who fought against that legislation until it was ultimately passed."

"Not only is democracy mystical nonsense, it is also immoral. If one man has no right to impose his wishes on another, then ten million men have no right to impose their wishes on the one, since the initiation of force is wrong (and the assent of even the most overwhelming majority can never make it morally permissible). Opinions—even majority opinions—neither create truth nor alter facts. A lynch mob is democracy in action. So much for mob rule."

"No reporter of my generation, whatever his genius, ever really rated spats and a walking stick until he had covered both a lynching and revolution."

"A picture in a book, a lynching. The bland faces of men who watch a Christ go up in flames, smiling, as if he were a hooked fish, a felled antelope, some wild thing tied to boards and burned. His charred body gives off light--a halo burns out of him. His face is scorched featureless; the hair matted to the scalp like feathers. One man stands with his hand on his hip, another with his arm slung over the shoulder of a friend, as if this moment were large enough to hold affection."

"Central High School was where I first learned about the power of circumstances, about economics. I learned about what people of color were like through my neighborhood relationships, and also that there was racist hatred because there was a lynching in our neighborhood...I still have a recurring nightmare--the smell of burning flesh and a boy about my age whose father is trying to put this open pocketknife in his hand, pushing him, and telling him to go up [to the hanged man] and bring back part of his ear."

"My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped."

"For lynching was also a woman's issue: it had as much to do with ideas of gender as it had with race."

"Paris ... On this side of the ocean it is difficult to understand the susceptibility of American citizens on the subject and precisely why they should so stubbornly cling to the biblical version. It is said in Genesis the first man came from mud and mud is not anything very clean. In any case if the Darwinian hypothesis should irritate any one it should only be the monkey. The monkey is an innocent animal—a vegetarian by birth. He never placed God on a cross, knows nothing of the art of war, does not practice lynch law and never dreams of assassinating his fellow beings. The day when science definitely recognizes him as the father of the human race the monkey will have no occasion to be proud of his descendants. That is why it must be concluded that the American Association which is prosecuting the teacher of evolution can be no other than the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals."

"The artifacts that persist in my memory are the photographs of lynchings. But it’s not the burned, mutilated bodies that stick with me. It’s the faces of the white men in the crowd. There’s the photo of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana in 1930, in which a white man can be seen grinning at the camera as he tenderly holds the hand of his wife or girlfriend...Their cruelty made them feel good, it made them feel proud, it made them feel happy. And it made them feel closer to one another... Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump."

"Lynching is an absolute evil; it represents the survival of an obsolete civilization, the perpetuation of a struggle of races which has to disappear; it is a fault without justification or excuse."

"During the first Intifada, before the PA was established, hundreds of alleged collaborators were lynched, tortured or killed, at times with the implied support of the PLO. Street killings of alleged collaborators continue in the current Intifada ... but so far in much fewer numbers."

"It startled him even more when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute's Prize for Extreme Cleverness he got lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists who had finally realized that the one thing they really couldn't stand was a smart-ass."

"Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities. Our government has failed to take forceful measures to protect its citizens while at the same time bending over backwards to placate the West Pak[istan] dominated government and to lessen any deservedly negative international public relations impact against them. Our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy,(...) But we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the Awami conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term genocide is applicable, is purely an internal matter of a sovereign state. Private Americans have expressed disgust. We, as professional civil servants, express our dissent with current policy and fervently hope that our true and lasting interests here can be defined and our policies redirected."

"It is a failure not only for the United Nations; it is a failure for the international community. And all of us are responsible for this failure ... it is a genocide which has been committed. More than 200,000 people have been killed and the international community is still discussing what ought to be done."

"Ah, but this time it was not so easy. This time it was not all one way. The Russian Armies and all the peoples of the Russian Republic have rallied to the defence of their hearths and homes. For the first time Nazi blood has flowed in a fearful flood. Certainly a million and a half, perhaps two millions of Nazi cannon-fodder, have bitten the dust of the endless plains of Russia. The tremendous battle rages along nearly two thousand miles of front. The Russians fight with magnificent devotion. Not only that, our generals who have visited the Russian front line report with admiration the efficiency of their military organization and the excellence of their equipment. The aggressor is surprised, startled, staggered. For the first time in his experience mass murder has become unprofitable. He retaliates by the most frightful cruelties. As his armies advance, whole districts are being exterminated. Scores of thousands, literally scores of thousands of executions in cold blood are being perpetrated by the German police troops upon the Russian patriots who defend their native soil. Since the Mongol invasions of Europe in the sixteenth century there has never been methodical, merciless butchery on such a scale or approaching such a scale. And this is but the beginning. Famine and pestilence have yet to follow in the bloody ruts of Hitler's tanks. We are in the presence of a crime without a name."

"How could so many reputable and responsible churchmen have lent their support, even if only passively, to the perpetration of such crimes as genocide? What fever seized so many millions of German Christians, both Evangelical [Lutheran] and Catholic, in those few short years of Nazi tyranny? ... The Church was unprepared and totally unsuited to cope with the situation."

"How could I deny the power of evil when I see what is occurring and what has occurred since I was born: The second world war, with over 40 million victims; Auschwitz and the death camps; the genocide in Cambodia; the bloody tyranny of the Ceauşescu regime; torture as a system of government in many places throughout the world. The list of horrors is endless. . . . So I believe that we are justified in calling such acts ‘diabolic,’ not that they are inspired by a Devil with horns and cloven feet but by a Devil that is the symbol of the spirit and power of evil operating in the world."

"Sometimes I have feared that, in some wild paroxysm of rage, the white race, forgetful of the claims of humanity and the precepts of the Christian religion, will proceed to slaughter..."

"Uzza heard their verdict, and he said: "O Lord of all the worlds! I know that my people deserve the punishment Thou has decreed, but may it please Thee to deal with them according to Thy attribute of mercy, and take pity upon the work of Thy hands, for Thy tender mercies are over all Thy works!" Almost the Lord had yielded to Uzza's entreaties, when Michael gave a sign to Gabriel that made him fly to Egypt swiftly and fetch thence a brick for which a Hebrew child had been used as a mortar. Holding this incriminating object in his had, Gabriel stepped into the presence of God, and said: "O Lord of the world! Wilt Thou have compassion with the accursed nation that has slaughtered Thy children so cruelly?" Then the Lord turned Himself away from His attribute of mercy, and seating Himself upon His throne of justice He resolved to drown the Egyptians in the sea."

"In 1973, CIA-psychological operatives in Chile scrawled graffiti on the sides of buildings that read "Jakarta se acerca" – "Jakarta is coming." This was a reference to the in Indonesia which overthrew Sukarno and made the country safe for US corporations like . The American and Indonesian governments have never acknowledged the truth of those events. But we must confront these sorts of dark truths if we are to move forward as a civilization."

"Genocide lies at the core of Western imperialism. It is not unique to Israel. It is not unique to the Nazis. It is the building block of Western domination. The humanitarian interventionists who insist we should bomb and occupy other nations because we embody goodness — although they promote military intervention only when it is perceived to be in our national interest — are useful idiots of the war machine and global imperialists. They live in an Alice-in-Wonderland fairytale where the rivers of blood we spawn make the world a happier and better place. They are the smiley faces of genocide. You can watch them on your screens. You can listen to them spout their pseudo-morality in the White House and in Congress. They are always wrong. And they never go away."

"We dominate the globe not because of our superior virtues, but because we are the most efficient killers on the planet. The millions of victims of racist imperial projects in countries such as Mexico, China, India, the Congo, Kenya and Vietnam are deaf to the fatuous claims by Jews that their victimhood is unique. So are Black, Brown and Native Americans. They also suffered holocausts, but these holocausts remain minimised or unacknowledged by their western perpetrators."

"Gaza is only the start. The new world order is one where the weak are obliterated by the strong, the rule of law does not exist, genocide is an instrument of control and barbarism is triumphant."

"Genocide can be hidden for a while with friendly visits, but one day it will be revealed."

"Can someone who has ignored a genocide at home truly feel empathy for suffering elsewhere?"

"It may well be that when Sapines encountered Neanderthals, the result was the first and most significant ethnic-cleansing campaign in history."

"We would be deceiving both ourselves and the people if we concealed from the masses the necessity of a desperate, bloody war of extermination, as the immediate task of the coming revolutionary action."

"Overt debates about genocide have been relatively slow in developing, in part because of the creation of a TRC, mandated with collecting the ‘truth’ about the IRS system while similarly engaging in ‘reconciliation’ (a contested term) with settler Canadians. While Canada's history wars may seem slow in getting off the ground, the TRC's more ‘balanced’ approach and wide-ranging engagement with non-Aboriginal societal actors may have a greater effect in stimulating national awareness than in the United States and Australia."

"Even before the and the annihilation of almost all the territory's infrastructure, the situation there was much worse. According to the World Bank, the water supply in Gaza has been at "crisis levels" since 2005. UNICEF reported that in 2020 only 10 percent of the population in Gaza had direct access to clean and safe drinking water. Palestinians in Gaza were prevented from drilling wells and importing materials such as cement and iron needed to repair water infrastructure. At the same time, the chronic electricity deficit also heavily impaired functional water management. These past years have shown that economic dependency can easily be transformed into a genocidal instrument. After October 2023, Israel cut off electricity to Gaza, making the of water dependent on fuel, which was also subjected to repeated blockades of one hundred days for longer. This catastrophic man-made drought has meant that thousands of children have died of thirst and suffered from diarrhea, scabies and polio."

"India’s 1971 armed intervention in East Pakistan—undertaken for a mixture of reasons—is widely and fairly regarded as one of the world’s most successful cases of humanitarian intervention against genocide. Indeed, India in effect applied what we would now call the ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) principle, and applied it well."

"What we’re seeing in Gaza now is much worse because the United States and the United Kingdom and some other Western powers have actually been complicit in the . That’s a separate crime under the , the crime of complicity. And that’s because the United States, as you know, during this genocide, has been actively providing economic, military intelligence, diplomatic support. It’s been using its veto at the Security Council to stop a ceasefire. And after each veto, we’ve seen thousands and thousands of more Palestinians lose their lives in the genocide."

"It is called a genocide. That's what it was... No other way to describe it and that's the way it needs to be described in the history books. And so I'm here to say the following: I'm sorry on behalf of the state of California... It's humbling for me, having believed I was educated, to have been so ignorant of our past, to have been so unaware of how ashamed I should be, as a Californian, 5th generation... I'm sorry that we've had generations of your kids and grandkids, your ancestors, that have had to suffer through indignities, lack of capacity, empathy and understanding..."

"Utopian ideologies invite genocide for two reasons. One is that they set up a pernicious utilitarian calculus. In a utopia, everyone is happy forever, so its moral value is infinite. Most of us agree that it is ethically permissible to divert a runaway trolley that threatens to kill five people onto a side track where it would kill only one. But suppose it were a hundred million lives one could save by diverting the trolley, or a billion, or - projecting into the indefinite future - infinitely many. How many people would it be permissible to sacrifice to attain that infinite good? A few million can seem like a pretty good bargain. Not only that, but consider the people who learn about the promise of a perfect world yet nonetheless oppose it. They are the only things standing in the way of a plan that could lead to infinite goodness. How evil are they? You do the math."

"We cannot forget Hitler's demonstration that genocide at home can become wider massacre abroad, that domestic genocide develops into the larger genocide that is predatory war."

"In the European century that began in the 1840s from Engels's article of 1849 down to the death of Hitler, everyone who advocated genocide called himself a socialist, and no exception has been found."

"Sometimes, when the allocution is raw with begging and bargaining and terror and fear, I will take my glasses off as I look directly into the defendant’s eyes. When I do, the defendant’s facial features becomes fuzzy and obscured and indistinct even though I appear to be focused on the face. I know that doing so is cowardly. But when I reject the plea for mercy, it helps to get me through the long nights that follow."

"Bad cops are the product of bad policy. And policy is ultimately made by politicians. A bad system loaded with bad incentives will unfailingly produce bad cops. The good ones will never enter the field in the first place, or they will become frustrated and leave police work, or they'll simply turn bad. At best, they'll have unrewarding, unfulfilling jobs."

"If even the earliest attempts at centralized police forces would have alarmed the founders, today's policing would have terrified them. Today in America SWAT teams violently smash into private homes more than 100 times per day. The vast majority of these raids are to enforce laws against consensual crimes. In many cities, police departments have given up the traditional blue uniforms for 'battle dress uniforms' modeled after soldier attire. Police departments across the country now sport armored personnel carriers designed for use on a battlefield. Some have helicopters, tanks and Humvees. They carry military-grade weapons. Most of this equipment comes from the military itself. Many SWAT teams today are trained by current and former personnel from special forces units like the Navy SEALs or Army Rangers... At the time the Third Amendment was ratified, the images and memories of British troops in Boston and other cities were still fresh, and the clashes with colonists that drew the country into war still evoked strong emotions. What we might call the 'symbolic Third Amendment' wasn't just a prohibition on peacetime quartering, but a more robust expression of the threat that standing armies pose to free societies. It represented a long-standing, deeply ingrained resistance to armies patrolling American streets and policing American communities."

"How did we get here? How did we evolve from a country whose founding statesmen were adamant about the dangers of armed, standing government forces&ndash;a country that enshrined the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights and revered and protected the age-old notion that the home is a place of privacy and sanctuary&ndash;to a country where it has become acceptable for armed government agents dressed in battle garb to storm private homes in the middle of the night&ndash;not to apprehend violent fugitives or thwart terrorist attacks, but to enforce laws against nonviolent, consensual activities? How did a country pushed into a revolution by protest and political speech become one where protests are met with flash grenades, pepper spray and platoons of riot teams dressed like RoboCops? How did we go from a system in which laws were enforced by the citizens&ndash;often with non-coercive methods&ndash;to one in which order is preserved by armed government agents too often conditioned to see streets and neighborhoods as battlefields and the citizens they serve as the enemy?"

"Yet in 1992, a year after the King beating, an LAPD survey indicated that 92 percent of officers believed they should have the right to use the chokehold. Former LAPD sergeant and defense attorney Darryl Mounger, who represented police officer Stacey Koon in the Rodney King case, told the Los Angeles Times in May 1991, “Normally, you spin him around, choke him out and nobody gets hurt. But when they took that tool away, you were forced to physically fight with people and that’s when officers began sticking people.”"

"Too many of our citizens have cause to doubt our nation’s justice when the law points a finger of suspicion at groups, instead of individuals. All our citizens are created equal and must be treated equally... A strong America is the world's best hope for peace and freedom. Yet the cause of freedom rests on more than our ability to defend ourselves and our allies. Freedom is exported every day, as we ship goods and products that improve the lives of millions of people. Free trade brings greater political and personal freedom."

"Every officer has accepted a calling that sets them apart. Most of us imagine, if the moment called for it, that we would risk our lives to protect a spouse or a child. Those wearing the uniform assume that risk for the safety of strangers. They and their families share the unspoken knowledge that each new day can bring new dangers. But none of us were prepared – or could be prepared – for an ambush by hatred and malice. The shock of this evil still has not faded. At times, it seems like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates too quickly into dehumanization. Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions. And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose. But Americans, I think, have a great advantage. To renew our unity, we only need to remember our values. We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the spirit – by shared commitments to common ideals."

"Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor for the US Department of Justice, professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men, acknowledges that Tupac’s experience represents a perversion of justice that was meant to be corrected in 1857. “When police officers forcibly detain someone and then frisk them, which means to put their hands all over the person’s body, the message is that you don’t have any bodily integrity,” Butler says. There’s the famous [Dred Scott] Supreme Court case which says that the Black man has no rights that the white man is bound to respect. What the act of frisking does is to communicate that same racist sentiment."

"According to Butler, Black men who face constant police intervention handle it in two different ways. In both instances, he asserts that when they leave their houses, their lives become heightened performances. “One reaction — and I think the typical reaction — is what’s called ‘learned helplessness,’ ” says Butler. “It makes a lot of Black men in communities where they’re subject to being stopped and frisked reluctant to leave their homes. When they do leave the home, [they] engage in performances to assure the whole world that they’re not thugs. They might wear their high school or college T-shirt. In Chokehold I tell the story about a group of high school football players in Brooklyn who got stopped and frisked when they were walking down the street together after practice. They asked their coach if they could wear their uniforms when they’re in the street, because that way they wouldn’t get stopped. Again, that’s what the impact of being stopped and frisked over and over does to a person, and the police exploit that. Another, [that] I think is healthy, is anger and outrage. And I think that we see that response consistently from 2Pac.”"

"We are pretty free in America when you compare us to other nations around the world, but we're not pretty free in America when you compare us to past generations... I chronicle easily a hundred different cases where government has overreached and encroached on Constitutional liberties of Americans. We're at the point now in America, a little girl can't run a lemonade stand in her driveway without having the local zoning zealots come in and fine her fifty dollars. We're at the point now where elementary school kids down in Georgia have their irises scanned as they board the bus, all in the name of 'safety'. We're at the point now where nebulous environmental laws prevent homeowners from building a shed in their own back yard because there might be a flood plain issue in a hundred years. This is the America where we're at."

"Whether it's in Ferguson or Baltimore, the response from senior officials, the president or the attorney general, is to vilify law enforcement. That's wrong. It’s fundamentally wrong. It’s endangering all of our safety and security."

"Political repression in the United States has reached monstrous proportions. Black and Brown peoples especially, victims of the most vicious and calculated forms of class, national and racial oppression, bear the brunt of this repression. Literally tens of thousands of innocent men and women, the overwhelming majority of them poor, fill the jails and prisons; hundreds of thousands more, including the most presumably respectable groups and individuals, are subject to police, FBI and military intelligence surveillance. The Nixon administration most recently responded to the massive protests against the war in Indochina by arresting more than 13,000 people and placing them in stadiums converted into detention centers. ... Repression is the response of an increasingly desperate imperialist ruling clique to contain an otherwise uncontrollable and growing popular disaffection leading ultimately, we think, to the revolutionary transformation of society."

"Now, as a cadet, your training barely covered the importance of how to interact with America's one million Deaf citizens."

"American Sign Language is naturally big and expressive. But some officers mistake it as wild or aggressive."

"Presentations of police are often over-dramatized and romanticized by fictional television crime dramas while the news media portray the police as heroic, professional crime fighters . In television crime dramas, the majority of crimes are solved and criminal suspects are successfully apprehended. Similarly, news accounts tend to exaggerate the proportion of offenses that result in arrest which projects an image that police are more effective than official statistics demonstrate. The favorable view of policing is partly a consequence of police’s public relations strategy. Reporting of proactive police activity creates an image of the police as effective and efficient investigators of crime). Accordingly, a positive police portrayal reinforces traditional approaches to law and order that involves increased police presence, harsher penalties and increasing police power."

"The public has a long-standing fascination with crime, law, and justice. Crime is a central feature in news, newsmagazines, documentaries, reality-based shows, and fictional drama. The experiences of police, lawyers, judges, private investigators, medical examiners, correctional workers, criminals, and victims are probed in a variety of television shows. Every year, television executives attempt to find crime and justice programs that capture viewers and enjoy high ratings. In particular, the police drama or procedural is a staple of television programming in the United States, and several shows have experienced critical acclaim, large viewing audiences, and longevity. Since 1950, there have been almost 300 police dramas that have appeared on network, cable, and syndicated television. This number does not include the large number of shows that focus on other elements of crime and justice, such as detective shows, shows based on lawyers, judges, correctional workers, and criminals."

"It is the police and the government who are the main perpetrators of violence against Black people. Every day we read of the police murdering and maiming the people in our community, all in the name of “.” [...] They are an oppressive occupying army, are not of our community, cannot understand its problems, and do not identify with its people and their needs. Further, it is the corruption of the cops that protects organized crime and vice in our community, and Capitalism with its exploitative economic conditions which is responsible for all crime."

"Oftentimes helping others means putting your own life at risk if you are a law enforcement professional."

"Every friend of freedom... must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence."

"The chances of an innocent black man being gunned down by racist cops are vanishingly small. And that is good news indeed... Black Americans will be taught to hate and fear law enforcement, fed on a steady diet of lies about their own country. America is a better place than they’ve been led to believe. Radical racial politics will only make it worse."

"I'm a black man wearing a hoodie and strapped. According to certain social movements, I shouldn’t be alive right now because the police are allegedly out to kill minorities. Maybe, just maybe, that notion is bunk. Maybe if you treat police officers with respect, they will do the same to you. Police officers are people, too. By far and large, most are good people and they're not out to get you."

"Bad boys, bad boys! What are you going to do? What are you going to do, when they come for you?"

"Once they see that you don't have to bribe the police here, they're satisfied."

"I'm convinced that it is the psychopathic personality that searches out a uniform. There's little doubt of what's going on in that man's head who will voluntarily don any uniform"

"America entered 2023 with two big problems and two leading theories about what was causing them. Over the preceding three years, the murder rate had reached levels not seen since the mid-1990s, which was widely attributed to reductions in policing following the protests over the murder of George Floyd. The inflation rate was even worse, by historical standards, peaking in 2022 at 9 percent, the highest number since 1981. This, in turn, was believed to be the result of Congress and the Biden administration pumping too much money into the economy. Each theory implied a solution to its respective crisis. To bring crime back down, America’s cities would have to empower their depleted and demoralized police forces. To tame inflation, the Federal Reserve would have to crush consumer spending by triggering a recession. Both theories now appear to have been wrong. Over the course of 2023, police forces kept shrinking, yet overall violent-crime rates plummeted to their lowest levels since the 1960s. And the economy boomed even as inflation came just about all the way down to the Fed’s 2 percent target. In surveys, most Americans say that crime and inflation are still rising, but they’re wrong. Call it the Great Normalization: The twin crises largely evaporated, and no one is totally sure why."

"The year 2020 was a bloody one. Murder spiked by 30 percent that year and continued to rise in 2021, abruptly reversing decades of progress on violence in America. One of the most common explanations was that the protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020 had created a hostile environment for police officers, many of whom responded by pulling back from their duties or leaving the force altogether. Officer resignations jumped 35 percent in 2020 and 9 percent in 2021. Then the unexpected happened. Even as police forces across the country continued to shrink, violence began falling fast. According to the crime researcher Jeff Asher, murders fell by 13 percent and violent crime overall by 8 percent in 2023, some of the largest single-year decreases on record—a shift that my colleague David Graham recently called “America’s peace wave.” The improvement, though not universal, was particularly striking in some of the cities that needed it most. Baltimore and Philadelphia each experienced a roughly 25 percent decrease in homicides despite being down about 700 and 1,000 officers, respectively. Detroit experienced its fewest murders since 1966, even though it lost an average of nearly an officer a day for much of 2022. New York City lost more than 2,500 officers in 2023 alone. The murder rate fell there too."

"We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality."

"It is an open secret long shared by prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges that perjury is widespread among law enforcement officers."

"Every single U.S. attorney around the country works for them and with them. So, it is very important that we get this role right, and that they’re actually focused on diminishing crime in America and making sure we’re getting good prosecutions"

"Oh, no! Look in the mirror! It's a five-oh! I shouldn't have smoked so much weed, I shouldn't have done so much blow."

"All suspects are innocent until proven guilty, in a court of law."

"In America, black people are treated very much as the Vietnamese people or any other colonized people because we’re used, we’re brutalized. The police in our community occupy our area, our community, as a foreign troop occupies territory, and the police are there in our community not to promote our welfare, or for our security and our safety, but they’re there to contain us, to brutalize us and murder us, because they have their orders to do so, just as the soldiers in Vietnam have their orders to destroy the Vietnamese people. The police in our community couldn’t possibly be there to protect our property because we own no property. They couldn’t possibly be there to see that we receive the due process of law for the simple reason that the police themselves deny us the due process of law. And so it’s very apparent that the police are only in our community, not for our security, but the security of the business owners in the community and also to see that the status quo is kept intact."

"Always, the rulers of an order, consistent with their own interests and solely of their own design, have employed what to them seemed to be the most optimal and efficient means of maintaining unquestioned social and economic advantage. Clear-cut superiority in things social and economic—by whatever means—has been a scruples-free premise of American ruling class authority from the society's inception to the present. The initial socioeconomic advantage, begotten by chattel slavery, was enforced by undaunted violence and the constant threat of more violence."

"Modern policing did not evolve into an organized institution until the 1830s and '40s when northern cities decided they needed better control over quickly growing populations. The first American police department was established in Boston in 1838. The communities most targeted by harsh tactics were recent European immigrants. But, as African-Americans fled the horrors of the Jim Crow south, they too became the victims of brutal and punitive policing in the northern cities where they sought refuge. In 1929, the Illinois Association for Criminal Justice published the Illinois Crime Survey. Conducted between 1927 and 1928, the survey sought to analyze causes of high crime rates in Chicago and Cook County, especially among criminals associated with Al Capone. But also the survey provided data on police activity—although African-Americans made up just five percent of the area's population, they constituted 30 percent of the victims of police killings, the survey revealed. "There was a lot of one-on-one conflict between police and citizens and a lot of it was initiated by the police," says Malcolm D. Holmes, a sociology professor at the University of Wyoming, who has researched and written about the topic of police brutality extensively. That same year, President Herbert Hoover established the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement to investigate crime related to prohibition in addition to policing tactics. Between 1931 and 1932, the commission published the findings of its investigation in 14 volumes, one of which was titled “Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement.” The realities of police brutality came to light, even though the commission did not address racial disparities outright."

"Fuck the police comin' straight from the underground A young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brown And not the other color so police think They have the authority to kill a minority."

"We are an organizational culture held together by an invisible web of obligations: duty, honor and country. We do not abandon one another. That is why we gather here today, to remember our fallen colleagues. These men and women died on duty. Some were killed in accidents, and some were deliberately murdered. We remember many of them now as they once were. Some were very young, at the beginning of their careers. Some were middle-aged and then they were gone from our midst, and we mourned our loss. There is, sadly, nothing as ruthless as truth and nature. Still, we do not lose hope. We are strengthened by their memory. Death ends a life, but not a relationship. Those memories, I think, linger in love. These honored dead have returned to the love that created them, and we miss their faces that we’ll see no more. Yet, we know at the deepest level of our being that something of who they were, and are now, endures at a whole new dimension of reality. And our true nature is to trust and embrace both life and death. As Thornton Wilder once wrote, 'There is a land of the living and the land of the dead, and the only bridge is love, the only survivor, the only meaning.'"

"In the United States, police officers fatally shoot about three people per day on average, a number that’s close to the yearly totals for other wealthy nations. But data on these deadly encounters have been hard to come by."

"Although the databases are still imperfect, they make it clear that police officers’ use of lethal force is much more common than previously thought, and that it varies significantly across the country, including the two locations where Brown and Garner lost their lives. St Louis (of which Ferguson is a suburb) has one of the highest rates of police shooting civilians per capita in the United States, whereas New York City consistently has one of the lowest, according to one database. Deciphering what practices and policies drive such differences could identify opportunities to reduce the number of shootings and deaths for both civilians and police officers, scientists say."

"The number-one cause that prevents , that promotes , that protects police lawlessness, is a culprit called the Fraternal Order of Police. They're the organized guardians of continuous police lawlessness, of police murder and police brutality. The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police is the most rabid, racist body of criminal lawlessness by police in the land. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the Ku Klux Klan then and the Ku Klux Klan now."

"There's a lot of dealings with police officers right now. I don’t think all cops are bad. You know, I think there’s some great cops out there, who do everything in their power to uphold the badge and uphold the honor and protect the people in society. But there are bad cops, and I think that also needs to be addressed. I think the police officers we have right now, you know, some of it is being brought to light, because of video cameras, everybody has a camera phone. But these are things a lot of us have dealt with our whole lives. And I think right now is a perfect time to deal with it. The climate we're in, everybody's being more accepting, you know, so I think the ignorance should stop. I think people realize that, at the end of the day, we're all human beings. So, you know, before we're black, white, Asian, Polynesian, Latino. We're humans. So, it's up to us to stop it."

"We do want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we will have."

"The police are often the source of violence, especially in the lives of women, people of color, trans women, sex workers, and the poor. And the police enforce the laws of the United States of America, which is one of the greatest sources of violence in the world. US foreign policy is enforced by the military who are a global police, and domestic order is enforced by the federal, state, and city structures of policing. The law is designed to protect the state, not the people who are victimized by the state."

"What was even more distracting and confusing was that the job of punishing the expressions of patriarchy, racism, and poverty was assigned to the police, who also cause violence. This responsibility, in some cases, produced additional acts of violence on the part of the government, like “,” and that committed violence in the name of claiming to fight violence. These laws also produced more access for the state into the homes and families of the poor, and more incarceration of Black and other poor men. Instead of empowering women and the poor, the fate of the traumatized was increasingly in the hands of the power of the police acting as a group to represent oppressive systems."

"Time and time again, Americans are reminded of the fact that the people who become police officers in the United States are often absolutely incapable of problem solving. There are famous examples of parents calling the police to “scare” their children, and the children ending up being murdered by the police. In cases of Conflict, calling the police is the last thing any of us should be doing unless our only objective is to cause more pain."

"Due to the lack of federal record-keeping, we can’t even tell you precisely how many people are killed by police in the US in any given year, let alone how many of them are disabled. But we do know it’s a lot: A report from the Ruderman Family Foundation earlier this year found wildly varying estimates of the number of disabled people killed by police, from 25 percent to more than 40 percent of police shooting victims. For perspective, census data puts the overall incidence of disability at about 20 percent of the population."

"In a world where young blacks, especially, are bombarded with claims that they are being unfairly targeted by police, and where a general attitude of belligerence is being promoted literally in word and song, it is hard not to wonder whether some people's responses to policemen do not have something to do with the policemen's responses to them. Neither the police nor people in any other occupation always do what is right but automatic belligerence is not the answer."

"We are trying to help; we are trying to help reduce the violence in Baltimore city. It is a hard, hard game. Hard game. People get hurt who shouldn't, all the time. Citizens, police, family members, everybody. Okay? Even somebody who may be doing something wrong, that's petty, ends up getting hurt beyond a scope that shouldn't ever happen. ... If we didn't care, we wouldn't come out in the street every day."

"In 1953, a U.S. Senate subcommittee was formed to investigate the causes of juvenile delinquency in America and to assess the effectiveness of current laws designed to combat what the public was told had become a national epidemic. Statistically, juvenile crime was on the rise in post–World War II America, but as historian James Gilbert suggests, the increase may have been due to the lack of a uniform definition of juvenile delinquency by the FBI and state and local law enforcement agencies. For example, whether an underage teen caught drinking and/or breaking curfew was branded a “JD” depended on the state and county where he or she lived."

"No California gentleman or lady ever abuses or oppresses a Chinaman, under any circumstances, an explanation that seems to be much needed in the east. Only the scum of the population do it; they and their children. They, and, naturally and consistently, the policemen and politicians, likewise, for these are the dust-licking pimps and slaves of the scum, there as well as elsewhere in America."

"Avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."

"Collecting data in and of itself is a good mechanism to hold police agencies accountable."

"A hundred years ago they used to put on a white sheet and use a bloodhound against Negroes. Today they've taken off the white sheet and put on police uniforms, they've traded in the bloodhounds for police dogs, and they're still doing the same thing."

"Whenever you’re going after something that belongs to you, anyone who’s depriving you of the right to have it is a criminal. Understand that. Whenever you are going after something that is yours, you are within your legal rights to lay claim to it. And anyone who puts forth any effort to deprive you of that which is yours, is breaking the law, is a criminal. And this was pointed out by the Supreme Court decision. It outlawed segregation. Which means segregation is against the law. Which means a segregationist is breaking the law. A segregationist is a criminal. You can’t label him as anything other than that. And when you demonstrate against segregation, the law is on your side. The Supreme Court is on your side.Now, who is it that opposes you in carrying out the law? The police department itself. With police dogs and clubs. Whenever you demonstrate against segregation, whether it is segregated education, segregated housing, or anything else, the law is on your side, and anyone who stands in the way is not the law any longer. They are breaking the law; they are not representatives of the law."

"America isn't easy. America takes work. Today, February 12, is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. He spoke at Gettysburg about a 'new birth of freedom' because we spent the first four score and seven years of our history with fellow Americans held as slaves. President Healy, his siblings, and his mother among them. We have spent the 150 years since Lincoln spoke making great progress, but along the way treating a whole lot of people of color poorly. And law enforcement was often part of that poor treatment. That's our inheritance as law enforcement and it is not all in the distant past."

"Serious debates are taking place about how law enforcement personnel relate to the communities they serve, about the appropriate use of force, and about real and perceived biases, both within and outside of law enforcement. These are important debates. Every American should feel free to express an informed opinion—to protest peacefully, to convey frustration and even anger in a constructive way. That’s what makes our democracy great. Those conversations—as bumpy and uncomfortable as they can be—help us understand different perspectives, and better serve our communities. Of course, these are only conversations in the true sense of that word if we are willing not only to talk, but to listen, too."

"Let me start by sharing some of my own hard truths. First, all of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty. At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo, a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups. It was unfair to the Healy siblings and to countless others like them. It was unfair to too many people."

"I am descended from Irish immigrants. A century ago, the Irish knew well how American society—and law enforcement—viewed them: as drunks, ruffians, and criminals. Law enforcement’s biased view of the Irish lives on in the nickname we still use for the vehicles we use to transport groups of prisoners. It is, after all, the “paddy wagon.”"

"The Irish had tough times, but little compares to the experience on our soil of black Americans. That experience should be part of every American’s consciousness, and law enforcement’s role in that experience—including in recent times—must be remembered. It is our cultural inheritance."

"Earlier studies have shown that arrests depend heavily on witnesses' or victims' identifying or carefully describing the suspect (Greenwood, Petersilia, Chaiken, 1978). Prosecutors may have a more difficult time making cases against minorities "beyond a reasonable doubt" because of problems with victim and witness identifications. Frequently, witnesses or victims who were supportive at the arrest stage become less cooperative as the' case proceeds. Defenders of the system argue that the statistics do not lie, and that the system does not discriminate but simply reacts to the prevalence of crime in the black community."

"When the' crime is murder, forcible rape, robbery, or aggravated assault, a judge has less latitude in deciding about probation, sentence length, or whether the sentence will be served in jail or prison-no matter what color a man is. As we move down the line to lesser crimes, disparity emerges. The most striking example is larceny; Blacks make up only 30 percent of the arrest population, but 51 percent of the prison population. Why the disparity for these crimes? One explanation may be that judges can exercise more discretion in dealing with offenders convicted of these crimes."

"For critics of the criminal justice system, the arrest and imprisonment rates for blacks and other minorities suggest that the system discriminates against those groups. They argue, for example, that blacks, who make up 12 percent of the national population, could not possibly commit 48 percent of the crime: Yet that is exactly what arrest and imprisonment rates imply about black criminality. Defenders of the system argue that the arrest and imprisonment rates do not lie; the system simply reacts to the prevalence of crime in the black community. As we have noted repeatedly, prior research has not. settled this controversy. For every study that finds discrimination in arrests, convictions, sentencing, prison treatment, or parole, another denies it."

"Research on sentence patterns lends support to the contention that the system "values" whites more than it does minorities. For example, Zimring, Eigen, and O'Malley (1976) found that black defendants who killed whites received life imprisonment or the death sentence more than twice as often as blacks who killed blacks. Other research has found this relationship for other crimes as well: Defendants receive harsher sentences if the victim is white and lesser sentences if he or she is black. If harsher sentences do indicate that minority status equals lower status in the criminal justice system, that equation may also help explain why minorities serve longer terms, all other things held equal, than white prisoners."

"A minority male is almost four times more likely than a white male to have an index arrest in his lifetime: One in every two nonwhite males in large U.S. cities can expect to have at least one index arrest. However, the RIS data indicate that, once involved in crime, whites and minorities in the sample have virtually the same annual crime commission rates. This accords with Blumstein and Graddy's (1981) finding that the recidivism rate for index offenses is approximately .85 for both whites and nonwhites. Thus, the data suggest that large racial differences in aggregate arrest rates must be attributed primarily to differences in involvement, and not to different patterns among those who do participate. Under these circumstances, any empirically derived indicators of recidivism should target a roughly equal number of whites and minorities. In other words, even if recidivism among whites had different causes or correlates than recidivism among non-whites, they should at least balance one another. They should not consistently identify nonwhites as more appropriate candidates for more severe treatment."

"John Doe: Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data? Süddeutsche Zeitung: We're very interested. John Doe: There are a couple of conditions. My life is in danger. We will only chat over encrypted files. No meeting, ever. The choice of stories is obviously up to you. Süddeutsche Zeitung: Why are you doing this? John Doe: I want to make these crimes public. Süddeutsche Zeitung: How much data are we talking about? John Doe: More than anything you have ever seen."

"The cat's out of the bag... So now we have to deal with the aftermath."

"It has not been a great week. I know that I should have handled this better, I could have handled this better... I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them... Don't blame Number 10 Downing Street or nameless advisers, blame me... I want to be open... I was obviously very angry about what people were saying about my dad. I loved my dad, I miss him every day... He was a wonderful father and I'm very proud of everything he did. But I mustn't let that cloud the picture. The facts are these: I bought shares in a unit trust, shares that are like any other sorts of shares and I paid taxes on them in exactly the same way... I sold those shares. In fact, I sold all the shares that I owned, on becoming prime minister... Later on I will be publishing the information that goes into my tax return, not just for this year but the years gone past because I want to be completely open and transparent about these things... I will be the first prime minister, the first leader of a major political party, to do that and I think it is the right thing to do."

"Everything I’m doing is legal, it’s a perfectly legitimate structure."

"In tax havens, boundaries between what’s legal and illegal become very blurred. The recent leak on the Panama Papers revealed how international leaders, celebrities and businessmen from all over the world were using offshore companies to avoid making their assets public and, in some cases, potentially to dodge tax or hide illegal activities. Panama is where criminal capitalism and legal capitalism become one."

"The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system. The people who make our clothes, assemble our phones and grow our food are being exploited to ensure a steady supply of cheap goods, and swell the profits of corporations and billionaire investors."

"Work—work—work Till the brain begins to swim! Work—work—work Till the eyes are heavy and dim! Seam, and gusset, and band, Band, and gusset, and seam,— Till over the buttons I fall asleep, And sew them on in a dream! O Men, with sisters dear! O Men, with mothers and wives! It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives! Stitch—stitch—stitch In poverty, hunger, and dirt,— Sewing at once, with a double thread, A shroud as well as a shirt."

"There can be no political prisoners in a democracy, nor detention without trial in a state of law."

"Political prisoners, detention without trial and unlimited imprisonment define tyranny."

"For years, proponents of wiping out the right to jury trials in U.S. medical malpractice cases have pointed to two countries with “no-fault” systems – Sweden and New Zealand – maintaining that if such systems work in those countries, they can also work here. This contention has become part of the case for so-called “health courts,” a U.S. proposal that would force all medical malpractice cases into a system based on workers’ compensation “no-fault” models."

"The Swedish system begins, like U.S. “health court” proposals, with an insurance component. This is where the great majority of Swedish claims are settled. The insurance adjuster confers with doctors and medical advisors who are specialists in their fields and decides within a year whether to pay the victim this extra amount above what the government is already paying. Compensation is based on each victim’s specific injury. Non-economic (i.e., pain and suffering) damages, based on age and injury, are capped."

"In response to increasing costs of medical malpractice insurance and insurers withdrawing from the market in the late 1980s, Virginia and Florida both created funds to compensate families for the lifetime medical expenses they incur when their child is born severely impaired because of neurological injuries suffered during the birthing process. Infants were singled out because lawsuits associated with these cases have a relatively high success rate and successful cases tend to result in large monetary awards. The fund and claims process is an alternative to malpractice litigation. If a family that volunteered for the program is eligible for coverage, it cannot pursue a malpractice claim; if it is found ineligible for coverage, it can then litigate."

"In 1978 the Pearson Commission in the United Kingdom rejected a no-fault system in dealing with clinical negligence. While declaring the existing tort system as costly, cumbersome, prone to delay, and too capricious in its operation to be defensible, the commission rejected no-fault compensation on grounds of the difficulty in overhauling the tort liability system and the perceived difficulties in causation judgments. A general conservatism in the legal profession and opposition from the insurance industry were other factors. Much has changed in the NHS since then."

"In Canada, as in the United States, there is a perception that the country is in the throes of a malpractice "crisis" involving both liability and insurance issues-health care providers perceive an increased exposure to or risk of legal availability for ever larger amounts of money. However, claims data from the two countries vary widely, in part because of procedural and doctrinal difference between the two legal systems."

"In order to prevail in a medical malpractice action, the patient must prove that an injury resulted from the substandard medical care. If the patient has other medical conditions, the patient may have to prove that a claimed injury was caused by the alleged medical negligence and not by a different medical condition. Not all incidents of medical malpractice will support a medical malpractice claim, as even a clear medical error may not result in damages to the patient. Damages are a necessary element of a medical malpractice claim. If the patient's treatment or prognosis is not affected by the negligent act or omission, the patient may not be entitled to compensation."

"A claim based upon lack of informed consent alleges that had the risks been properly disclosed to the patient, the patient would have declined treatment or sought a different course of treatment. If a healthcare professional fails to obtain informed consent, even if the care provided satisfied the governing standard of care, it may be possible for the patient to bring a medical malpractice case if the patient experiences an unexpected side-effect or complication."

"“Health courts” would “entail some huge potential increases in total system costs. …If we take health care proponents at their word, their goal is to bring…currently non-claiming people into the process.” This, however “would multiply the number of claims involving negligence by a factor between 33 and 50.”"

"Overall, the German system for compensating for medical injury illustrates the imagination and freedom of the courts in developing the rules patient. As noted, the effect is over-compensation (on a corrective justice approach), but this has been seen as an aspect of permissible loss redistribution. At least in the past, in the context of the affluent conditions of German society, with costs shared between the social security system and liability insurers, this was a stable solution with broad support, which kept reform initiatives in this area largely off the political agenda. This position is now under threat in light of the ever higher sums of damages awarded in a minority of cases, as well as the increasing tendency for patients' social and private insurers to invoke their rights of subrogation. As noted above, this is beginning to produce a crisis in the medical liability insurance sector. Although some commentators have expressed the hope that patient safety initiatives, once they bear fruit, may lead to a fall in such cases, this seems unlikely: as noted, one of the findings underlying the patient safety movement is how rarely cases of medical injury lead to a compensation claim. It will at any rate be interesting to see how matters develop in the future."

"Under state law, a patient may pursue a civil claim against physicians or other health care providers, called medical liability or medical malpractice, if the health care provider causes injury or death to the patient through a negligent act or omission. To recover damages, the patient must establish: 1. The physician owed a duty to the patient. 2. The standard of care and that the physician violated that standard. 3. A compensable injury. 4. The violation of the standard of care caused the harm suffered by the patient."

"Medical malpractice and compensation for medical injuries are highly visible, controversial, and publicly debated topics that regularly create tension and innovation in legal systems around the world, but the analysis and debate in each country is often limited to national audiences with an assumption that the issues are unique to that location. These chapters address this subject matter in a uniquely global context that demonstrates the universal nature of the issues and the diversity of approaches currently taken around the world and reveal key areas of tension and the likely direction of future developments. Wherever possible, the analysis is supported by reference to the available empirical data, though in many countries this is unfortunately very limited."

"Mr Darnley’s lawyer, Deborah Blythe of law firm Russell Cooke, told the HSJ: “The defendants were arguing that the giving of information about the availability of medical assistance is purely a matter of courtesy. Even if they get it horribly wrong the trust shouldn’t be responsible for any consequences. That has now changed.” Today’s ruling overturned judgements made in the High Court and Court of Appeal. After its success in the Court of Appeal last year, NHS Resolution said this claim was “a novel one which we considered important to resist in the interests of the NHS” because “opening up receptionists to negligence claims of this kind would have had very serious consequences for the NHS.”"

"As is the problem in other countries, there has been an increasing recognition in Germany of the prevalence of avoidable patient injury in the course of medical treatment. In 2007 an expert committee charged with monitoring developments presented statistics (compiled on the basis of 184 studies) suggesting an annual rate of preventable adverse events (vermeidbare unerwiinschte Ereignisse) of 2-4% in hospital care, and a PAE-related mortality rate of 0.1%.6 Given that some 17 million in-patient treatments take place each year, this corresponds to half-a-million injuries and 17,000 preventable deaths."

"Overall, 32 reports examining the association between doctors’ sex and medico-legal action were included in the systematic review (n=4,054,551), of which 27 found that male doctors were more likely to have experienced medico-legal action. 19 reports were included in the meta-analysis (n=3,794,486, including 20,666 cases). Results showed male doctors had nearly two and a half times the odds of being subject to medico-legal action than female doctors. Heterogeneity was present in all meta-analyses. Male doctors are more likely to have had experienced medico-legal actions compared to female doctors. This finding is robust internationally, across outcomes of varying severity, and over time."

"The story starts March 18, 2019, in a big Air Force combat operations center in Al Udeid in Qatar. And there we have, it almost looks like mission command for NASA. You have banks of computers, big screens, all of them watching the air war against the Islamic State... on this day, a lot of people in the command center are watching a drone that was flying up overhead. Now, what they saw was a field that was just littered with a tangle of cars and makeshift tents of debris of the leftovers from weeks of combat. But also within there was a lot of people. And the drone hovered over and focused in on a group of women and children who had found refuge down by the river against a steep sand bank. The drone, it lingered for several minutes, slowly circling with its cameras focused on these folks, either sleeping or just laying down low to take cover from whatever combat might be coming. And the people in the operation center were calmly watching this when, suddenly... an American F-15 attack jet came right through and dropped a large bomb dead center into this group of women and children... killing nearly all of them."

"In the last days of the battle against the Islamic State in Syria, when members of the once-fierce caliphate were cornered in a dirt field next to a town called Baghuz, a U.S. military drone circled high overhead, hunting for military targets. But it saw only a large crowd of women and children huddled against a river bank. Without warning, an American F-15E attack jet streaked across the drone’s high-definition field of vision and dropped a 500-pound bomb on the crowd, swallowing it in a shuddering blast. As the smoke cleared, a few people stumbled away in search of cover. Then a jet tracking them dropped one 2,000-pound bomb, then another, killing most of the survivors....a legal officer flagged the strike as a possible war crime that required an investigation. But at nearly every step, the military made moves that concealed the catastrophic strike. The death toll was downplayed... Reports were delayed, sanitized and classified. The Defense Department’s independent inspector general began an inquiry, but the report containing its findings was stalled and stripped of any mention of the strike. United States-led coalition forces bulldozed the blast site... Civilian observers who came to the area of the strike the next day described finding piles of dead women and children."

"WikiLeaks and Julian, as we know, have been persecuted for revealing to the world, especially to liberals, Democrats, Tories, social democrats — revealing to them the crimes against humanity perpetrated by our own elected leaders, in our name, behind our backs..."

"A war crimes complaint has been filed against President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump adviser Jared Kushner in the International Criminal Court (ICC).... The complaint, filed by Middlesex University law professor William Schabas on June 30 on behalf of four Palestinians who live in the West Bank, states “there is credible evidence” that Trump, Netanyahu and Kushner “are complicit in acts that may amount to war crimes relating to the transfer of populations into occupied territory and the annexation of the sovereign territory of the State of Palestine.” Under article 15 of the ICC’s Rome Statute, any individual, group or organization can bring a complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor. ... Schabas’ complaint comes on the heels of unusual moves last month from the Trump administration, which declared a “national emergency” in June in an effort to shield U.S. and Israeli officials from ICC accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity."

"At their debate, Biden confronted Sanders about his praise for Fidel Castro’s literacy campaign after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Sanders replied that he opposed authoritarian governments but “it is incorrect to say they never do anything positive.” He cited China’s reduction in poverty... Biden said it’s one thing to occasionally mention something positive a country has done, but, he added, “the idea of praising a country that is violating human rights…” It is unlikely Biden was referring to the United States, whose officials are being investigated by the International Criminal Court for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the “war on terror.”"

"[Fatou]Bensouda (the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor since June 2012) found the alleged crimes by the CIA and U.S. military “were not the abuses of a few isolated individuals,” but were “part of approved interrogation techniques in an attempt to extract ‘actionable intelligence’ from detainees.” ... The Pretrial Chamber agreed with Bensouda that there were reasonable grounds to believe that, pursuant to a U.S. policy, members of the CIA had committed war crimes. They included torture and cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity, as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence against those held in detention facilities in the territory of States Parties to the Rome Statute, including Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania."

"After the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) found a reasonable basis to believe that U.S. military and CIA leaders committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, Team Trump threatened to ban ICC judges and prosecutors from the U.S. and warned it would impose economic sanctions on the Court if it launched an investigation..."

"Recently, hundreds of PBS stations around the United States were scheduled to broadcast a powerful new Frontline documentary: One Day in Gaza. But viewers tuning in found that it had been replaced... The documentary was to be aired on the one-year anniversary of events that took place on May 14, 2018 [in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza-Israel border] when tens of thousands of men, women, and children in Gaza gathered with the intention of deploying the tactics Gandhi had used in freeing India from British control... Palestinians months earlier had announced their plan for a mass, peaceful demonstration in which Gazans would march for an end to Israel’s crippling 12-year blockade and, especially, for their right to return to homes stolen by Israel... Palestinians’ right to return to their homes and ancestral land is well established in international law. Israel had responded by immediately deploying a hundred snipers. In the first seven weekly marches, Israeli forces killed about 50 of the marchers and injured over 7,000. During the 8th march on May 14, the day depicted in the film, Israeli forces killed 60 more and shot 1,000 – an average of one person every 30 seconds."

"What does torture have in common with genocide, slavery and wars of aggression? They are all “jus cogens.” That’s Latin for “higher law” or “compelling law.” This means that under international law, no country can ever pass a law that allows torture. There can be no immunity from criminal liability for violation of a “jus cogens” prohibition. The United States has always prohibited torture — in our Constitution, laws, executive orders, judicial decisions and treaties. When we ratify a treaty, it becomes part of US law under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture,” [the United Nations] Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the US ratified, states unequivocally: Torture is considered a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, also ratified by the United States. Geneva classifies grave breaches as war crimes. The US War Crimes Act and 18 USC, sections 818 and 3231, punish torture, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and inhuman, humiliating or degrading treatment. And the Torture Statute criminalizes the commission, attempt, or conspiracy to commit torture outside the United States."

"Despite the promises made after World War II to eliminate the commission of atrocities, crimes against humanity persist with horrifying ubiquity. Yet the absence of a consistent definition and uniform interpretation of crimes against humanity has made it difficult to establish the theory underlying such crimes and to prosecute them in particular cases. In the 1990s, several ad hoc international criminal tribunals were established to respond to the commission of atrocity crimes, including crimes against humanity, in specific regions of the world in conflict. Building on this legacy, in 1998 a new institution—the International Criminal Court (ICC) — was established to take up the task..."

"UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect works to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity....Crimes against humanity have not yet been codified in a dedicated treaty of international law, unlike genocide and war crimes, although there are efforts to do so. Despite this, the prohibition of crimes against humanity, similar to the prohibition of genocide, has been considered a peremptory norm of international law, from which no derogation is permitted and which is applicable to all States."

"The truly distinguishing element of crimes against humanity is the fact that they are part of a State plan or policy rather than that they are widespread or systematic... crimes against humanity were originally designed to capture crimes of State that went unpunished precisely because the State was complicit in them. It was a way of addressing State crimes, and not perverse individuals."

"We may as bootless spend our vain command Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil As send precepts to the leviathan To come ashore."

"Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, And purchase friends, and give to courtesans, Still revelling like lords till all be gone."

"I’ll be so bold to take what they have left. The cry of “Talbot” serves me for a sword; For I have loaden me with many spoils, Using no other weapon but his name."

"Our greedy seamen rummage every hold, Smile on the booty of each wealthier chest; And, as the priests who with their gods make bold, Take what they like, and sacrifice the rest."

"A farmer has 4.5 times more chance of being murdered in South Africa, than an average South African. That means a farmer is three times more likely to be murdered in South Africa than a police officer in this country. So farmers have by far the most dangerous job of all people in this country, at the moment. We cannot allow this to continue the way it is"

"Every time I read of a cruel farm attack, my genes rebel, my memory cells kick in and I feel angry and despondent"

"If you look at the footage and read the stories,you hear the accounts, it's a horrific circumstance they face"

"I do think on the information that I've seen, people do need help, and they need help from a civilized country like ours"

"The farmers live in fear, because being a farmer in South Africa is the most dangerous occupation in the world"

"We need for these officers to be specially trained to work in hotspot areas. We find many times that court cases are often thrown out because of poor (police) investigations"

"Kill the boer (farmer)"

"There are no killings of white farmers in South Africa"

"There is a very clear upward variance in farm attacks and farm murders after high-profile incidents of hate speech"

"Our analysis of five incidents of hate speech from high political leaders against farmers indicated that farm murders in the months following these incidents increased by an average of 74.8%"

"There is a climate in which violence towards farmers is being romanticized by politicians"

"We believe there are important reasons why the US should take a stance on what is happening in South Africa"

"The truth of the matter is that there was a massive vacuum left in rural safety when the commando system was disbanded under the then minister of defence, Lekota, and we were told there was going to be a new system, but his new system never arrived"

"I have asked Secretary of State to closely study the South African land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers"

"The American Medical Association and the Red Cross both condemn force-feeding as a form of torture. And yet, the U.S. government and the United Nations have both force-fed hunger-striking prisoners. The real problem? Most people probably don’t realize how complicated force-feeding is, and how much can go wrong."

"1914 New York World magazine article. Barnes wrote, "If I, play acting, felt my being burning with revolt at this brutal usurpation of my own functions, how they who actually suffered the ordeal in its acutest horror must have flamed at the violation of the sanctuaries of their spirits. I had shared the greatest experience of the bravest of my sex.""

"In 2013, a mass hunger strike took place in Guantanamo Bay as a response to the indefinite detention and unjust treatment of prisoners captured during the ‘war on terror’. In response, the US used force-feeding against the hunger strikers, arguing it was needed to save their lives and uphold US security. Although the US argued its force-feeding policy was legal and humane, human rights and medical organisations criticised US force-feeding practices as constituting torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This article argues that the US undermined international human rights norms, laws and medical ethics in its management of hunger striking prisoners by using force-feeding to suppress hunger strikers and achieve national security interests. In doing so, the Obama administration reignited accusations of US torture and harmed its ethical standing in international society. The article argues that the US needs to incorporate international human rights standards into its hunger striker policy to uphold the dignity of prisoners in detention and overcome its legacy of torture in the ‘war on terror’."

"Dec. 30, 2005 – At least 46 people held at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba detention camp joined a disputed number of fellow detainees already refusing food in protest of their indefinite detention last week, the Department of Defense said in a statement yesterday. The announcement puts the official number of prisoners still fasting at 84. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and other humanitarian groups maintain that the real number of detainees refusing food could be much higher, a contention that is impossible to verify because the prison facility is closed to nearly all visitors. Two months after the hunger strike began, CCR and other detainee lawyers put the number who have been involved in the fast at over 200. But the military told The NewStandard that the number topped off at 131 and had dropped to about 26 in October. In a recent statement released by the Southern Command, the military said the number of participants fluctuated with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks and with the arrival of detainee lawyers, possibly accounting for the discrepancies between the two sides. "This technique [hunger striking] is consistent with Al-Qaeda training and reflects detainee attempts to elicit media attention and bring pressure on the United States government to release them," the statement added. The new hunger strikers refused food on Christmas day, according to the military, and joined a five-month fast kept up by detainees to draw attention to what they, human rights groups and their lawyers say are inhumane conditions outlawed by international accords and domestic law. The renewed strike comes amid accusations from the United Nations that long-term hunger striking detainees have been treated cruelly. According to UN torture investigator Manfred Nowak, prison guards and doctors involved in force-feeding some of the prisoners did so with particular zealousness, causing an unspecified number to bleed and vomit. Nowak was among the investigators who had previously turned down an invitation to visit the camp, citing access restrictions imposed by the US. Thirty-two hunger strikers have been hospitalized and force-fed through nasal tubes, a prison camp spokesperson told the Boston Globe. In late October, US District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the Defense Department to notify the lawyers of prisoners it intends to force-feed before doing so."

"A man jailed in the US for trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his shoes has gone on hunger strike, court papers have revealed. Briton Richard Reid is said to have been refusing food for several weeks and is being force-fed and hydrated."

"A government lawyer said that Reid had refused 58 meals by 9 April and that prison officials decided "that medical intervention was necessary". The lawyer added that prison officials were monitoring his condition."

"Six weeks into his hunger strike, Israel's parliament passed a law permitting the force-feeding of prisoners in order to keep them alive. Allan might have become a test case for the law, but doctors made it clear they would not participate, calling it unethical medical treatment. "It's like rape," says Yoel Donshin, a retired anesthesiologist and a member of Physicians for Human Rights. "You will ask a physician to rape a patient for treatment? This is unacceptable." Donshin doesn't believe Israeli politicians who supported the law want to save the lives of prisoners. "They do not care for the welfare of the prisoners," he says. "They just want him not to become a symbol or martyr.""

"Romanos has not been charged with terrorism. But two cases concerning terrorism acts are still pending — a fact that has kept Romanos from attending school. The only way he could think to claim his rights was to use his “body as a roadblock, for a breath of freedom,” as he stated at the start of his hunger strike. At N.Gennimatas general hospital, where Romanos was transferred after his health began to deteriorate, the atmosphere is tense. Hundreds of protesters are gathered outside. Inside, police officers are everywhere, trying to control the flow of information. The minister of justice is working on a proposal that would allow Romanos to take distance learning courses. But Romanos has rejected that idea, insisting he should be able to attend classes. With the help of the doctors in the hospital, Romanos is successfully resisting an order issued by a district attorney to force feed him. His lawyer confirmed last week that the order had been issued, adding that “This is obviously torture. It’s something never seen before in Greece.”"

"When federal prison officials at British Columbia’s Matsqui Psychiatric Centre routinely examined a Doukhobor woman on a hunger strike last week, they quickly realized that the frail 69-year-old was deteriorating. Doctors who saw Mary Astaforoff, a member of the radical Sons of Freedom sect, sent her by ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital about 90 km away. There, hospital staff force-fed Astaroroff for the second time since she again began refusing food in late September to protest against a three-year prison sentence for arson."

"Previously secret sworn statements by detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq describe in raw detail abuse that goes well beyond what has been made public, adding allegations of prisoners being ridden like animals, sexually fondled by female soldiers and forced to retrieve their food from toilets. The fresh allegations of prison abuse are contained in statements taken from 13 detainees shortly after a soldier reported the incidents to military investigators in mid-January. The detainees said they were savagely beaten and repeatedly humiliated sexually by American soldiers working on the night shift at Tier 1A in Abu Ghraib during the holy month of Ramadan, according to copies of the statements obtained by The Washington Post. The statements provide the most detailed picture yet of what took place on the cellblock. Some of the detainees described being abused as punishment or discipline after they were caught fighting or with a prohibited item. Some said they were pressed to denounce Islam or were force-fed pork and liquor. Many provided graphic details of how they were sexually humiliated and assaulted, threatened with rape, and forced to masturbate in front of female soldiers."

"Mohanded Juma Juma, detainee No. 152307, said he was stripped and kept naked for six days when he arrived at Abu Ghraib. One day, he said, American soldiers brought a father and his son into the cellblock. He said the soldiers put hoods over their heads and removed their clothes. Then, they removed the hoods. "When the son saw his father naked he was crying," Juma told the investigators. "He was crying because of seeing his father." He also said Graner repeatedly threw the detainees' meals into the toilets and said, "Eat it.""

"Doctors force-feeding prisoners at |Guantanamo are acting as an arm of the military and have abrogated their medical-ethical duties."

"Through the biotechnology of the force-feeding chair and the hunger strike in Guantanamo, this paper examines the camp as a site of necropolitics where bodies inhabit the space of the Muselmann – a figure Agamben invokes in Auschwitz to capture the predicament of the living dead. Sites of incarceration produce an aesthetic of torture and the force-feeding chair embodies the disciplining of the body and the extraction of pain while imposing the biopolitics of the American empire on “terrorist bodies”. Not worthy of human rights or death, the force-fed body inhabits a realm of indistinction between animal and human. The camp as an interstitial space which is beyond closure as well as full disclosure produces an aesthetic of torture on the racialised Other through the force-feeding chair positioned between visibility and non-visibility. Through the discourse of medical ethics and the legal struggle for rights, the force-feeding chair emerges as a symbol of necropolitics where the hunger strike becomes a mechanism to impede death while possessing and violating the corporeal body."

"In February 1914 Ethel Moorhead became the first suffragette to be force fed in Scotland. Force feeding, whilst it could never be described as fun, was particularly brutal in Perth Prison where rectal feeding was forced on some suffragettes. Fortunately for Ethel, she was confined in Calton Jail in Edinburgh and was released with nothing more severe than double pneumonia – the result of food getting into her lungs whilst being forcibly fed."

"She was on the run for several months during which time police attributed at least four arson attacks to her. Presumably they would have ascribed a fifth if she hadn't been spotted and arrested at Traquair House. This time though there was no Cat and Mouse Act release and she was force fed, causing the double pneumonia. She was released again with instructions to return to prison to complete her sentence. Guess what .... she went on the run again."

"A Greek prosecutor on Tuesday called for convicted terrorist Dimitris Koufontinas to be forced-fed as he entered the 47th day of a hunger strike, demanding to be moved to an Athens prison. Koufodinas, 62, has been in intensive care at Lamia Hospital since last week. On Monday he announced that he will also stop receiving liquids, including water. A Lamia court of first instance prosecutor ordered that all necessary medical measures be taken to ensure that he continues to receive liquid pharmaceutical treatment. The prosecutor’s order was issued at the suggestion of doctors “for the purpose of ensuring the life and health of the hunger striker.” Doctors say that the convicted killer’s life is in danger."

"3rd. By means of “gavage”.-This way of feeding infants is in use in France only, so far as I know. It is easily learnt, but cannot be performed by an uninstructed person. It is of great service in the case of prematurely born or weakly infants, whose power of suction is feeble. The illustration is from a photograph taken at the “Maternite de Paris”. Belluzzi appears to have been the first to try “gavage”."

"Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. on October 16, 1916 in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. Sanger, her sister Ethel Byrne, who was a registered nurse, and Fania Mindell, an interpreter from Chicago, rented a small store-front space in Brownsville and canvassed the area with flyers written in English, Yiddish and Italian advertising the services of a birth control clinic. Sanger modeled the Brownsville Clinic after the birth control clinics she had observed in Holland in 1915. For ten cents each woman received Sanger's pamphlet What Every Girl Should Know, a short lecture on the female reproductive system, and instructions on the use of various contraceptives. The Clinic served more than 100 women on the first day and some 400 until October 26 when an undercover police woman and vice-squad officers placed Sanger, Byrne and Mindell under arrest. After being arraigned, Sanger spent the night in jail and was released the next morning. She re-opened the Clinic on November 14, only to be arrested a second time and charged with maintaining a public nuisance. Sanger opened the Clinic once again on November 16, but police forced the landlord to evict Sanger and her staff, and the Clinic closed its doors a final time. Sanger, Byrne and Mindell went to trial in January of 1917. Byrne, tried first, was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in Blackwell's Island prison and immediately went on a hunger strike. After 185 hours without food or water, she was forcibly fed. Before Byrne's condition proved fatal, Sanger and supporters prompted New York's Governor Whitman to issue a pardon. Sanger's own trial began on January 29, and she too was convicted. However, the court offered her a suspended sentence if she promised not to repeat the offense. She refused and was offered a choice of a fine or jail sentence. She chose the latter and spent thirty days in the Queens County Penitentiary without incident."

"I'll fuckin', I'll fuckin', sew your asshole closed, and keep feedin' you And feedin' you, and feedin' you, and feedin' you."

"Leaflet issued by the Men's Political Union for Women's Enfranchisement referring to 'The Case of William Ball.' In 1912 William Ball was sentenced to two months in Pentonville prison for breaking a window in the Home Office in protest against the sentence passed on a fellow suffragist. Subtitled 'Official Brutality on the Increase' the leaflet written by Henry W. Nevinson refers to the hunger-strike and force-feeding of William Ball whilst in prison and his subsequent detention in a 'lunatic' asylum for the mentally disturbed. The militant Men's Political Union for Women's Enfranchisement was founded in 1910 by Victor Duval as a male counterpart to the Women's Social and Political Union. This leaflet, printed in purple and green reflects the close links between the two organisations that shared the same colour scheme."

"Mr Nowak has not been to Guantanamo, and turned down an invitation to the camp because the US refused to give him unrestricted access to the detainees. He told the BBC that he had received reports that some hunger strikers had had thick pipes inserted through the nose and forced down into the stomach. This was allegedly done roughly, sometimes by prison guards rather than doctors. As a result, some prisoners had reported bleeding and vomiting he said. "If these allegations are true then this definitely amounts to an additional cruel treatment," Mr Nowak said."

"Faced with the nightmarish conditions of the voyage and the unknown future that lay beyond, many Africans preferred to die. But even the choice of suicide was taken away from these persons. From the captain's point of view, his human cargo was extremely valuable and had to be kept alive and, if possible, uninjured. A slave who tried to starve him or herself was tortured. If torture didn't work, the slave was force fed with the help of a contraption called a speculum orum, which held the mouth open."

"Holloway became a place of horror and torment. Sickening scenes of violence took place almost every hour of the day, as the doctors went from cell to cell performing their hideous office. …I shall never while I live forget the suffering I experienced during the days when those cries were ringing in my ears."

"Thursday morning, 16th July ... the three wardresses appeared again. One of them said that if I did not resist, she would send the others away and do what she had come to do as gently and as decently as possible. I consented. This was another attempt to feed me by the rectum, and was done in a cruel way, causing me great pain. She returned some time later and said she had ‘something else’ to do. I took it to be another attempt to feed me in the same way, but it proved to be a grosser and more indecent outrage, which could have been done for no other purpose than torture. It was followed by soreness, which lasted for several days."

"WASHINGTON -- The US military said yesterday that a long-running hunger strike among detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison underwent a very significant increase" starting on Christmas Day, more than doubling the number of prisoners who are protesting their indefinite detention without trial by refusing to eat. A bloc of 46 prisoners began refusing meals on Dec. 25, the military said, bringing the total number of participants in the hunger strike to 84. A spokesman at the base said yesterday that 32 of the longer-term strikers have been hospitalized and are being force-fed through nasal tubes and the rest are under close medical observation. The numbers had more or less stayed at the same levels -- in the mid to high 30s -- for several weeks," said Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Martin, a spokesman for the prison. Then we had this very significant increase in the number of hunger strikers all of a sudden.""

"In October, lawyers for detainees told a judge that medics tried to persuade those on a hunger strike to start eating on their own by force-feeding them with unusually large feeding tubes inserted through their noses -- without painkillers."

"Since President Obama mentioned Supermax in a speech about Guantanamo, we wanted to take you there again. It's a sort of a 21st century Alcatraz, where convicted al Qaeda terrorists are force-fed and some guards worry about their own safety."

"60 Minutes has been told that there have been frequent hunger strikes among the Islamic terrorist inmates inside Supermax and to keep the inmates alive there are often force feedings. That's when an inmate is restrained and liquid nourishment is poured down a tube in his nose. We're told there have been about a dozen hunger strikers and one of them used to be Osama bin Laden's secretary. Former Warden Robert Hood told us that he supervised many of these feedings. "I probably conducted, authorized, conducted 350, maybe 400 of involuntary feedings. Again, not…individuals, because you could have one person, three meals a day for, you know, two months. That adds up," he tells Pelley. Bureau of Prisons' records that 60 Minutes has seen show there have been as many as 900 of what the bureau called "involuntary feedings" of terrorists in H-unit since 2001. Why did the prisoners stop eating? What was the complaint? Says Hood, "It was conditions of confinement." Some of the conditions they object to are outlined in a document: inmates get letters only from people approved by the prison and they get one, monitored, phone call a month, for 15 minutes."

"We must face the fact that artificial feeding is attended with risk and we must teach [suffragette prisoners] that, while we appreciate the risks, we are quite prepared to go on and will not be deterred from detaining people like [Moorhead] because there is a risk to their health, if we take the necessary steps to make sure their detention is effective... They have the idea that they can frighten us by pointing out the risk to health."

"The nation of Mauritania faces a myriad of social, political and economic problems, which has greatly impacted it’s ability to develop. While most Mauritanians live and work in urban centers, a sizable number still depend on agriculture and animal husbandry, specifically in rural areas where the government has had little influence in affecting policy. One area where this is most apparent has been with gavage, or the practicing of force feeding. In his book Mauritania, Alfred G. Gerteiny wrote this of gavage: Women are subjected to gavage-that is, forced feeding, in order to gain weight. Fathers send daughters 10 or 11 years of age to live with herdtending dependent aznagui who see to it that the girls gain weight … often by being tied to the ground, and, to expand their stomachs, given nothing by water for three days. Then they are crammed with milk, usually camel’s milk. Though decades have passed since Gerteiny wrote of the practice, gavage still occurs. In Mauritania, women who are overweight, or in some cases, obese, are considered beautiful and alternatively, women who weigh what we here would consider a healthy weight are shunned. In recent years, the government and NGO’s have forcefully led a campaign to discourage the practice. The forceful feeding of adolescent girls creates a plethora of health complications as the young girls mature into women. In the larger cities, the practice has visibly been cut, both by a changing of the times and by the discouragement of the practice. However, things are different in the desert, where people continue traditional practices."

"They have to restrain the prisoners when they feed them because they attack the nurses. They spit in their faces. They're simply restrained for 20 minutes so they can be fed Ensure. They get their choice of four flavors of Ensure. It's put in a very unobtrusive feeding tube smaller than a normal straw and it's put in there for 20 minutes, so they get breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

"6. Where a prisoner refuses nourishment and is considered by the physician as capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially. The decision as to the capacity of the prisoner to form such a judgment should be confirmed by at least one other independent physician. The consequences of the refusal of nourishment shall be explained by the physician to the prisoner."

"The unfortunate patients had their mouth clamped shut, had a rubber tube inserted into their mouth or nostril. They keep on pressing it down until it reaches your esophagus. A china funnel is attached to the other end of the tube and a cabbage-like mixture poured down the tube and through to the stomach. This was an unhealthy practice, as the food might have gone into their lungs and caused pneumonia."

"While stating that any force-feeding deemed necessary for lifesaving purposes should not contradict "compelling internationally accepted standards of medical ethics or binding rules of international law", the judges at the tribunal also noted that the body of law laid down by the European court of human rights did not view force-feeding as "torture, inhuman or degrading treatment if there is a medical necessity to do so ... and if the manner in which the detainee is force-fed is not inhuman or degrading"."

"Opponents of torture have spent the past seven years advocating for a halt to the brutal excesses of the "War on Terror" from the Bush administration's rejection of the Geneva Conventions for detainees in Afghanistan to the waterboarding of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Ironically, as progress is finally being made in the international struggle against torture, the state of Connecticut has chosen this moment to launch a radical, pro-torture initiative of its own. In the case of Coleman v. Lantz, now awaiting a ruling by Superior Court Judge James T. Graham, the state's Department of Corrections has argued for the right to force feed a hunger-striking inmate in an excruciatingly painful manner -- although doing so has been condemned by the American Medical Association, the World Medical Association and the nation's leading medical ethicists."

"Coleman's stated purpose in starving himself was to draw attention to perceived injustices within Connecticut's legal system. He was neither suicidal nor mentally ill -- and, even today, retains his full mental capabilities. On September 16, 2008, he raised the stakes of his protest by refusing liquids. Shortly afterward, the prison's medical director, Dr. Edward Blanchette, had Coleman strapped down and -- without sedation -- tried to force a feeding tube through his nose into his stomach. This first attempt failed. "Success" only came after the inmate was screaming in agony and sneezing up blood. Eventually, Coleman succumbed to this torture and agreed to ingest liquids once again. He is now fighting in court for the right to resume his hunger campaign."

"One of the nation's preeminent bioethics scholars, Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania, testified on Coleman's behalf that the feeding of competent prisoners against their will -- even to save their lives -- violates the most basic tenets of the medical profession. Rational, competent adults have a fundamental right to reject medical care. Force-feeding prisoners is no different than forcibly transfusing Jehovah's Witnesses or providing unwanted chemotherapy to terminally-ill cancer patients. The World Medical Association's 1975 Declaration of Tokyo strictly prohibits physicians from engaging in such practices, which it describes as "contrary to the laws of humanity." The AMA has fully embraced this document. When the United States began force-feeding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, two hundred fifty prominent physicians signed an open letter to a leading British journal, The Lancet, called for sanctions against the medical professionals involved in these nonconsensual interventions. Among the reasons for this outcry is that forcible feeding through a naso-gastric tube ranks alongside the most unpleasant and downright horrific experiences that one human being can inflict upon another. The British journalist Djuna Barnes volunteered to be "forcibly" fed for a muckraking exposé in The World Magazine (1914) and later wrote that "it is utterly impossible to describe the anguish of it." Others have compared it to being orally sodomized while paralyzed. Having placed such tubes into the noses of willing patients myself, in order to save their lives, I can assure you that driving one down the throat of an unwilling subject must be unspeakably ghastly."

"Another reason that physicians and bioethicists so strongly oppose forcible feeding is that this procedure is intimately tied to the ugliest passages in the history of modern medicine and associated with the worst political and social abuses of the calling. Great Britain inadvertently turned public opinion in favor of women's suffrage by force-feeding hunger-striking suffragists before World War I. Britain used the same tactic, with no more success, against Irish Republicans -- a practice that led to the gruesome death of Tom Ashe at Dublin's Mountjoy Jail in 1917. Finland adopted such tactics to suppress Communists in the 1930s; Turkey allegedly force-fed leftist prisoners as recently as 2001. Most notoriously, the Soviet Union pumped food into the stomachs of prominent dissidents, including Vladimir Bukovsky and Andrei Sakharov, to prevent the negative publicity that might have stemmed from their starvation. In Bukovysky's description of his torment, among the most haunting of all descriptions of human torture, he wrote, "I would have screamed if I could, but I could not with the pipe in my throat. I could breathe neither in nor out....I wheezed like a drowning man -- my lungs felt ready to burst." That is the species of "medical care" that Connecticut now seeks to defend."

"Doboj, Bosnia - Outside the door of the Red Cross office here in the Serbian sector of northern Bosnia, a dozen anxious women gather on the off-chance of news. Their husbands are not among the 109 prisoners released by the Bosnian Muslims in Tuzla, 60 miles away, but perhaps one of the former captives has seen or heard of their men, most of them missing since the Serbs were pushed back in the September 1995 offensive. No news is not good news. One woman, pale and jumpy, poured out her fears that her husband had been "ritually murdered" by the mujahedin, whom many Serbs believe were sent in their thousands from Arab countries to fight for the Muslims. The Red Cross managed to register lists of Tuzla prisoners last month, but many men are unaccounted for. Former prisoners said they were not visited by any humanitarian agency for the first three or four months of their captivity. All the newly released prisoners I talked to were reluctant conscripts, and none seemed to know what the war was about. One, a grizzled, unshaven sergeant wearing a bright new jacket, described his 45 days of solitary confinement and of interrogation - on how many women he had raped and how many Muslims he had killed - accompanied by blindfolding and beatings. Later, he said, he was put in a shared cell in a regular prison. "Work" consisted of being handcuffed to a fence and made to pull grass. Sometimes he was taken into the prison yard to pick up cigarette butts dropped by more-kindly treated Muslim prisoners - deserters - who were kept separate from the Serbs, but who could watch him at his task. His guards got some fun out of making him shout: "I'm a dirty Chetnik!" Another prisoner, Goran Pandurevic, told of being captured when Muslim forces overran Serb positions. He was shut in a disused ambulance shed for two days, where he claimed he and his companions were beaten and humiliated, forced to "eat paper and soap", and given one-and-a-half litres of water a day for 30 men. Later, the prisoners were taken to Tuzla and put into a civilian prison, he said. Forty men were held in a cell measuring four metres by five and were kept there for three months without exercise or medical attention, apart from aspirins, for the wounded and sick. The men were often forbidden to sit down during the day. Drinking-water had to be collected in bottles from the toilets, which they visited three times a day. They were given no changes of clothes, no heating, and nothing to do. After three months they were taken out on work details, digging canals and rebuilding ruined buildings. After the months of darkness and confinement, Mr Pandurevic said, they "could hardly see or walk". He claimed that as the prisoners worked, guards subjected them to random beatings. Mr Pandurevic described his release as "a new birth". I asked him what he had done the night before, after being reunited with his family. "No going out drinking", he said. "I was drunk on the alcohol of life.""

""The tube filled up all my breathing space, I couldn't breathe. The young man began pouring in the liquid food. "I heard the noises I was making of choking and suffocation - uncouth noises human beings are not intended to make and which might be made by a vivisected dog. Still he kept on pouring." These horrific words aren't from the dark ages or a testimony of torture. They are the memories of a Scottish suffragette named Ethel Moorhead, and they describe events in a Scottish jail less than 100 years ago."

"[W]hat's not widely known is that Scotland was a key battleground of the suffragette movement. Our cities were the scenes of demonstrations and violent protest. Politicians were attacked, buildings were set on fire. Women who'd been brought up to be second class citizens found themselves battling with the authorities, going on hunger strike and facing the dehumanisation of being force fed. They did it for the right to vote and Ethel Moorhead was just one of the many Scots women at the front of the campaign. But how did a beautiful and talented artist form a well-to-do family end up being held down and force fed in Edinburgh's Calton jail?"

"One perpetrator of militancy was Ethel Moorhead, the daughter of an army surgeon. In 1911 she threw an egg at Winston Churchill, who was an MP for Dundee and a bitter opponent of votes for women. Later, Ethel was jailed for breaking a glass case at the Wallace monument, an act symbolising women's fight for freedom. She was jailed several times, but even behind bars Ethel ran the authorities ragged. But in 1914 she became the first woman to be force-fed in Scotland. Force-feeding had been carried out in England and doctors wrote petitions condemning the practice as barbaric. In Scotland, the judiciary was reluctant to follow, but in 1914 they capitulated. A newspaper spoke of "Scotland disgraced and dishonoured." "...Instead of passing through into the throat, the tube went into the top of my nose and injured the nerves of my right eye. They began feeding me through the mouth. One doctor used to put his finger through the extreme end of the left side of my jaw and cut me while the wardress put her finger through the right side of my jaw. Between the two my lips were nearly torn." That account from a recipient of force-feeding shows why it polarised public opinion. Perth prison became notorious for its brutal treatment of the women it held."

"There are credible allegations that Guantanamo hunger strikers are being force-fed in a cruel manner, the UN special rapporteur on torture has said. Manfred Nowak's comments came after it emerged that the number of detainees refusing food at the prison camp had more than doubled since 25 December. Some 84 inmates are now refusing food, according to the US military."

"Mr Nowak has not been to Guantanamo, and turned down an invitation to the camp because the US refused to give him unrestricted access to the detainees. He told the BBC that he had received reports that some hunger strikers had had thick pipes inserted through the nose and forced down into the stomach. This was allegedly done roughly, sometimes by prison guards rather than doctors. As a result, some prisoners had reported bleeding and vomiting he said. "If these allegations are true then this definitely amounts to an additional cruel treatment," Mr Nowak said. The allegations were rejected by Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Brian Maker. "To suppose that these people are being left bleeding - I know of no instance of that, there's been no reports of that, there's been no credible evidence produced by any investigation of that fact," he told the BBC. All those receiving what he called "internal nutrition" were being monitored by trained medical personnel, Lt Col Maker said."

"The US military defines a hunger strike as missing nine consecutive meals. Lawyers for some of the detainees have said the hunger strikers are protesting against their continued detention without trial and against the conditions in which they are being held, he adds. About 500 prisoners remain at Guantanamo, many of them captured in Afghanistan. Some have been held for nearly four years without charge. Human rights campaigners have expressed growing concern about the treatment of inmates at Guantanamo. The Bush administration has denied allegations of abuse at Guantanamo, insisting it does not torture prisoners."

"More than 250 medical experts have signed a letter condemning the US for force-feeding prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The experts, from seven nations, said physicians at the prison had to respect inmates' right to refuse treatment. The letter, in the medical journal The Lancet, said doctors who used restraints and force-feeding should be punished by their professional bodies."

"The open letter in the Lancet was signed by more than 250 top doctors from seven countries - the UK, the US, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands. "We urge the US government to ensure that detainees are assessed by independent physicians and that techniques such as force-feeding and restraint chairs are abandoned," the letter said. The doctors said the World Medical Association - a world body representing physicians, including those in the US - specifically prohibited force-feeding. They said the American Medical Association, a member of the world group, should instigate disciplinary proceedings against any members known to have violated the code. Detainees at the camp have said hunger-strikers were strapped into chairs and force-fed through tubes inserted in their noses."

"Dr David Nicholl, a UK neurologist who initiated the Lancet letter, told the BBC's World Today programme that US doctors going to Guantanamo Bay were being screened to ensure they agreed with the policy of force-feeding. "In effect they are screened to make sure they don't have doctors with a conscience." Dr Nicholl said it was the patient's decision to go on hunger strike and the doctor's responsibility was to explain the consequences and confirm the patient was sane. In February, Lt Col Martin, chief military spokesman at the US detention facility, said force-feeding was administered "in a humane and compassionate manner" and only when necessary to keep the prisoners alive. But Dr Nicholl said that "horrible as it may sound" the doctor had to conform to the wishes of hunger strikers, even if it led to their deaths. Dr Nicholl said the letter's signatories felt there was not enough publicity about the matter in the US media and that Americans needed to be challenged."

"July 2005: 52 detainees begin hunger strike, second of the year, in protest at detention and treatment 14 Sept: Lawyers say more than 200 are refusing food. The US military says 128 21 Sept: US says number falls to 45. No explanation given but some tube-feeding admitted 7 Oct: US says number down to 28, 20 of whom are force-fed 27 Oct: US judge "deeply troubled" by force-feeding 25 Dec: Hunger strikers leap to 84, the US says 9 Feb, 2006: US says number down from 84 to four but gives no reason"

"The United States could be violating the U.N. Convention Against Torture by force-feeding immigrant detainees on a hunger strike inside an El Paso detention facility, the United Nations human rights office said Thursday. The Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is concerned that force-feeding could constitute “ill treatment” that goes against the convention, which the United States ratified in 1994, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told The Associated Press. The U.N.'s statement echoes concerns raised by 14 Democratic lawmakers who sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday requesting more information about nine Indian men who are being force-fed through nasal tubes after refusing to eat to protest what they described as unfair treatment. One of the hunger strikers, a 22-year-old asylum seeker who has not eaten in more than a month, said he was dragged from his cell three times a day and strapped down on a bed as a group of people poured liquid into tubes inserted into his nose. “It is critical that ICE commit to ending this practice,” said the letter spearheaded by Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who toured the El Paso Processing Center and met with the men after AP reported on the force-feeding last week."

"Hunger strikes are relatively uncommon inside ICE detention. Last month, ICE began non-consensual feeding and hydration of numerous El Paso detainees after a federal judge issued a court order allowing them to be force-fed against their will. “ICE is committed to preserving the lives of those in its custody and maintaining orderly detention facility operations,” the agency said Thursday in response to the U.N.'s statement. “For their health and safety, ICE closely monitors the food and water intake of those detainees identified as being on a hunger strike. Medical staff constantly monitor detainees to evaluate whether the hunger strike poses a risk to the detainee’s life or permanent health.” While ICE doesn’t keep statistics on force-feeding throughout the immigration detention system, attorneys, advocates and agency staffers AP spoke with did not recall a situation where it had come to force-feeding. Federal courts have not conclusively decided whether judges must issue orders before ICE force-feeds detainees, so rules vary by district and orders are sometimes filed secretly. The controversy comes as President Donald Trump prepares to visit El Paso on Monday for his first campaign rally of the year to be held at a coliseum in the bustling border city. The detainees, who are refusing food to protest what they describe as verbal abuse and threats of deportation from guards, are being held in a highly guarded facility surrounded by a chain-link fence on a busy street near the airport."

"Force-feeding raises ethics issues for medical professionals who work inside ICE facilities. The American Medical Association has expressed its concerns about physicians participating in the force-feeding of hunger strikers on multiple occasions, and its own principles of medical ethics state “a patient who has decision-making capacity may accept or refuse any recommended medical intervention.” The association also endorses the World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo, which states that when prisoners refuse food and physicians believe they are capable of “rational judgment concerning the consequences of such a voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or she shall not be fed artificially.”"

"When a Palestinian man in Israeli custody came close to death this week, doctors challenged an Israeli law. Palestinian prisoner Mohammad Allan was in critical condition after he had refused food for two months, protesting his detention since last November in Israeli custody. Suspected of ties to a militant group, he was held with no charges, no lawyer and no accusations to face in court. Six weeks into his hunger strike, Israel's parliament passed a law permitting the force-feeding of prisoners in order to keep them alive. Allan might have become a test case for the law, but doctors made it clear they would not participate, calling it unethical medical treatment. "It's like rape," says Yoel Donshin, a retired anesthesiologist and a member of Physicians for Human Rights. "You will ask a physician to rape a patient for treatment? This is unacceptable." Donshin doesn't believe Israeli politicians who supported the law want to save the lives of prisoners. "They do not care for the welfare of the prisoners," he says. "They just want him not to become a symbol or martyr.""

"Mohammad Allan's situation was different. Solo, and much closer to death, Palestinian protests over his continued detention grew as his health got worse. Israeli authorities feared his death could trigger street violence. But amid the turbulent public debate, one lawmaker who had voted against allowing force-feeding said he changed his mind. Yaakov Peri also used to head Israel's internal security. "The only solution is that he be fed," said Peri on an Israeli radio program last Wednesday. "I was against the force-feeding bill, but the alternative is an end to his life. There are times when the state of Israel has to make a decision, and if we need to force-feed him, we will have to force-feed him." He spoke before an Israeli high court ruling that ended the question of force-feeding Allan. The court suspended his detention until doctors could determine any long-term health consequences and Allan agreed to take nutrients."

"Israel's public security minister opposed the ruling. He warned that more Palestinian prisoners will now go on extreme hunger strikes and, on his Facebook page, criticized the doctor who heads the Israel Medical Association for telling physicians to ignore the new Israeli law. (Updated 1:30 p.m., Aug. 24: On Sunday, four days after the court ruling, Israeli media reported that more than a dozen well-known Israeli academics and physicians signed a paper supporting the state's position, saying a doctor's responsibility is to save lives). That doctor, Leonid Eidelman, says he did nothing wrong. "It's not breaking [the] law because there is no law in Israel to force doctors to use a treatment they don't believe should be used," he said. Under Israel's force-feeding law, a judge can allow, but not order, a doctor to participate. Israel is not the only place force-feeding is an issue. The U.S. military has repeatedly force-fed hunger strikers held at Guantanamo Bay, and American courts have upheld the practice."

"In Israel, Eidelman and other physicians say they would honor a patient's wish to refuse food, but would step in to save that same patient's life if he or she were unconscious. Eidelman says that worked for Mohammad Allan, who wanted a trial or freedom — not death. "And in this case actually, it was proven. Because after he was resuscitated he regained his consciousness and didn't regret that he was resuscitated." Mohammad Allan ended his hunger strike after the Israeli court ruling. The force-feeding law remains on the books, awaiting a future case and a future debate with Israel's doctors."

"Manual restraint, a type of physical restraint, is a common practice in inpatient mental health settings linked to adverse physical and psychological staff and patient outcomes. However, little is known about the use of manual restraint for compulsory nasogastric feeding of patients with anorexia nervosa within inpatient eating disorder settings. The present phenomenological study aimed to explore nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for compulsory nasogastric feeding of young persons with anorexia nervosa. The study followed COREQ guidelines. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight nursing assistants from one UK inpatient child and adolescent eating disorder service. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Thematic Analysis. Three themes were extracted: An unpleasant practice, Importance of coping, and Becoming desensitised and sensitised. Nursing assistants commonly experienced emotional distress, physical exhaustion, physical injury and physical aggression as a result of their manual restraint use. Nursing assistants appeared to cope with their distress by talking with colleagues and young persons who were further in their recovery, and by detaching themselves during manual restraint incidents. The findings highlight that the use of manual restraint for compulsory nasogastric feeding of young persons with anorexia nervosa in the UK, is a highly distressing practice for nursing assistants. It is therefore important that sufficient supervision, support and training is made available to staff working in these settings."

"Manual restraint is a form of physical restraint practice, used particularly within inpatient mental health settings, whereby one or more persons restrict the movement of another by manually holding them (Stewart et al., 2009; Stubbs & Paterson, 2011). This differs from mechanical physical restraint which refers to the use of devices (e.g., belts or cuffs) to restrict movement (Care Quality Commission, 2018). Manual restraint is commonly used in conjunction with seclusion and chemical restraint to prevent harm to patients and staff, or to administer medications and other treatments (Chapman et al., 2016; Hawkins et al., 2005; Ryan & Bowers, 2006). For instance, the literature has highlighted the use of manual restraint in response to patient self-harming, aggressive and attempted absconding behaviours (Bowers et al., 2015), and patient medication refusal (Owiti & Bowers, 2011). Concerns have been raised about manual restraint use (Mind, 2013), and internationalguidelines and programmes advocating for its reduction have emerged (e.g., Department of Health, 2014; Mental Health Commission, 2014; O’Hagan et al., 2008; Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, 2016). Within England alone, over 50,000 incidents of manual restraint were recorded between the years of 2016 and 2017 in National Health Service funded secondary mental health, learning disability (LD) and autism services (Collinson, 2017), demonstrating the commonality of manual restraint practice. This study explores nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for compulsory nasogastric feeding (CNF) of young persons with anorexia nervosa (AN)."

"The literature has highlighted the numerous adverse physical and psychological staff outcomes as a result of manual restraint use. Staff have reported experiencing physical exhaustion, physical pain and injury, and numerous unpleasant emotions (e.g., anxiety, fear, anger) as a result of administering manual restraint (Bigwood & Crowe, 2008; Bonner et al., 2002; Chapman et al., 2016; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004; Wilson et al., 2017). Manual restraint has also been linked to staff feelings of internal conflict, as staff may perceive the act of manually restraining patients as incongruent with their therapeutic role (Bigwood & Crowe, 2008; Chapman et al., 2016; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004; Wilson et al., 2017). Although manual restraint is commonly administered within inpatient mental health settings (Stewart et al., 2009; Wilson et al., 2017), the literature has also illustrated its use within the emergency department, LD services, and paediatric general hospital and residential childcare settings (Chapman et al., 2016; Fish & Culshaw, 2005; Lombart et al., 2019; Steckley & Kendrick, 2008; Svendsen et al., 2017). The manual restraint of young persons raises ethical and moral issues for staff, and this has been evidenced by the distress and internal conflict staff may experience when manually restraining young persons (Lombart et al., 2019; Steckley & Kendrick, 2008; Svendsen et al., 2017). For instance, staff have reported feeling guilty when restraining children for medical procedures, with some describing how “difficult and demanding” the process can be (Lombart et al., 2019; Svendsen et al., 2017). Presently, little research has been conducted on the use of manual restraint within child and adolescent settings. However, even less research has been conducted on the use of manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN within inpatient eating disorder settings."

"AN is an eating disorder characterised by an extremely low body weight, a severe restriction of food, a strong desire to be thin, and an intense fear of gaining weight (National Institute of Mental Health, 2018). Under relevant mental health legislation, patients with AN can be administered CNF in extreme cases when they are presenting with very low body weight, and refusing to eat and/or drink (Fuller et al., 2019; Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2014). In the rare case when a patient is resistant to nasogastric feeding, staff members may administer manual restraint to ensure the safety of themselves and the patient during feeding (Fuller et al., 2019, 2020; Neiderman et al., 2001). Within the UK, manual restraint in this context may be used in the absence of other restrictive practices (e.g., seclusion), and may involve holding the patient’s arms, legs and head in a safe position, in order to allow for the safe passing of a nasogastric tube and subsequent feeding (Fuller et al., 2019; Neiderman et al., 2001). Feeding in the context of active resistance is a rare event and raises ethical, legal and clinical issues for all those involved (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2004). Despite the wealth of research that exists on the treatment of AN, we could only locate one published qualitative study that explored the experience of CNF in the context of AN, including the experience of CNF under manual restraint (Neiderman et al., 2001). In this qualitative survey study exploring children and adolescent patients’, and their parents’ experiences of nasogastric feeding, the authors summarised patients’ nasogastric feeding experiences into two main categories: “I regretted it at the time but think that it was necessary” and “I hated it then and hate it now”. This study however did not focus specifically on the practice of CNF under manual restraint, and did not use in-depth qualitative data collection methods such as individual interviews (the authors used qualitative questionnaires). Studies specifically exploring the experience of CNF under manual restraint from either the patient or staff member’s perspective using in-depth data collection methods, could provide valuable insight into this under-researched practice."

"Within the UK, it is common for graduates of non-nursing degrees (e.g., psychology) who are wishing to pursue a career in mental health (e.g., clinical psychology) to first start out working as healthcare and nursing assistants in mental health settings to gain relevant clinical experience."

"Participants were recruited from a private 25-bed locked inpatient specialist child and adolescent eating disorder service in the UK which provides inpatient treatment to young persons aged 9-18 years with eating disorders. In addition to providing multidisciplinary input from a number of professionals including psychiatrists, paediatricians, psychologists, family therapists and dieticians, the eating disorder service, under the powers of the Mental Health Act 1983 (Department of Health, 2015), and occasionally parental consent, also provides CNF under manual restraint as an intervention to young persons with AN presenting with ongoing food and/or fluid refusal and subsequent non-compliance with nasogastric feeding. A standard CNF intervention under manual restraint within the eating disorder service could typically last between 10 and 30 minutes, and involve up to five nursing assistants restraining the young person in the seated position, and up to two registered mental health nurses inserting the nasogastric tube, checking the tube’s placement, and delivering subsequent dietary nutrition through the tube via syringe. As reported by participants, up to 12 CNF interventions under manual restraint could occur per shift within the eating disorder service. This was owing to the fact that some young persons had care plans in place for pre-planned CNF interventions under manual restraint to be implemented multiple times per day (e.g., at specific times during the mornings, afternoons and evenings) due to their global and ongoing refusal of all foods and fluids, and their non-compliance with nasogastric feeding. Chemical restraint was not routinely used within the eating disorder service, and there was a service policy in place for CNF interventions under manual restraint to be aborted and reattempted at a later time in circumstances where it was not possible to safely administer nasogastric feeding within 30 minutes of manual restraint holds being applied."

"Three themes were extracted from the analysis: An unpleasant practice, Importance of coping, and Becoming desensitised and sensitised. It is important to consider these themes in relation to the 5-36 month difference within the experience level of nursing assistants."

"An Unpleasant Practice Administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN was an unpleasant practice for all nursing assistants, and this was evidenced by the numerous reported adverse physical, psychological and interpersonal outcomes. Some felt that they did not receive enough support from the eating disorder organisation in managing these outcomes. Six subthemes are reported. Emotional distress. Despite recognising the necessity of CNF under manual restraint for young persons with AN who were refusing all foods and/or fluids, seven of the eight nursing assistants described the emotional distress they experienced as a result of administering manual restraint. Some described the practice as “traumatising” both for themselves and the young person; this was predominately attributed to the coercive nature of the practice and the young person’s distressing response to it, which typically included active resistance, aggression, screaming, coughing, complaints of discomfort, and occasional nasal bleeding from nasogastric tube insertion: It’s scary, it’s emotionally draining for both the patient and staff . . . there’s blood coming out [from the young person’s nose], the child is screaming down the place, so as much as you’re supporting the child, it becomes very difficult because it seems like you’re either attacking or physically punishing somebody. (Participant 2) Seven nursing assistants reported experiencing a range of unpleasant emotions as a result of applying manual restraint for CNF. Anxiety, guilt and anger were commonly cited emotions. Participants felt anger, often, in response to being hurt by the young person during restraint, and the young person’s lack of cooperation. Anxiety and guilt were commonly attributed to the unpredictability and coerciveness of manual restraint respectively: Before I go into a restraint, my heart starts pumping a bit more . . . I feel very anxious because we don’t know what could happen. (Participant 4)"

"Physical exhaustion. All nursing assistants described the physical exhaustion they felt in relation to applying manual restraint for CNF, especially in circumstance where the young person was highly resistive. There were multiple manual restraints to perform per shift, and reports of sweating during restraints were not uncommon. At times, the manual restraint continued even after nasogastric feeding had been completed because the young person was either trying to self-harm or purge the liquid supplement they had just been given. This made the whole restraint even more tiring for participants: Once you’ve been in a restraint in a feed you just want to be done with it because it’s a physical thing, your body’s tired, you’re hot and sweaty, you’re covered in their sweat as well . . . and if someone continues it by trying to purge, it’s more tiring than anything else. (Participant 5) Despite the physical exhaustiveness of using manual restraint, all nursing assistants also reported that the restraint of some young persons involved minimal physical exertion because of their increased compliance and preference to be fed under restraint: I was restraining her arm and one of her legs, and it wasn’t very intense. The patient was going through this process for a very long time, so she was at that stage where she wanted this holding let’s say, but she wasn’t aggressive or very resistive. (Participant 1) Once you’ve been in a restraint in a feed you just want to be done with it because it’s a physical thing, your body’s tired, you’re hot and sweaty, you’re covered in their sweat as well . . . and if someone continues it by trying to purge, it’s more tiring than anything else. (Participant 5)"

"Patient aggression. All nursing assistants frequently reported being subjected to physical and/or verbal aggression by some young persons during manual restraint use. It appeared from their accounts that these young persons were using whatever means they could, to prevent or stop the restraint, in order to stop or avoid nasogastric feeding. Commonly cited verbal aggression included swearing and shouting. Commonly cited physical aggression included spitting, kicking, scratching, biting, punching and head-butting. Some participants reported being subjected to such physical aggression even when nasogastric feeding had been completed: We were starting to leave the restraint . . . I was doing the lower part of the legs and I was kind of tilted over and she actually head-butted me on the head . . . the feed’s finished but she still lashes out at staff. (Participant 4) Being on the receiving end of physical aggression elicited reciprocal urges of aggression for two nursing assistants. These urges were cited in the context of self-defence and the participants in question were clear that they did not reciprocate aggression in any form: One of the patients was trying to dig her nails in my skin and rip whatever I was wearing to protect my arms. . . I hate these moments particularly because I feel I want to hurt the child . . . at that moment you want to hurt them in order to protect yourself. (Participant 1)"

"Physical injury. All nursing assistants reported sustaining frequent physical injuries as a result of applying manual restraint for CNF. Injuries typically ranged from back pains to bruises and were reportedly sustained by the physical aggression of young persons or through the execution of the manual restraint itself: When the patient was moving, as we were restraining her, I got thrown at a door handle and that caused quite big bruising on my back. (Participant 8) Some nursing assistants reported only becoming aware of a sustained injury after they had returned home from their shift: Sometimes it happens with bruises, like you go home, you haven’t realised how you might have sustained this bruise and then you realise . . . or you might feel back pains which you don’t really realise when you’re in the restraint. (Participant 6) In addition to back pains and bruises, two participants reported that they had either obtained, or had witnessed their colleagues obtain more severe physical injuries during manual restraints such as dislocated shoulders, head injuries and being kicked in the groin. In all reported instances this was due to the physical aggression of a young person: For some reason, one of the legs had not been held tightly, and she kicked the nurse who fell over and landed down. That was very scary because the staff banged her head and she got unconscious . . . they had to call an ambulance. (Participant 2)"

"Pressure and responsibility. Six of the eight nursing assistants voiced feeling pressured and responsible for their colleagues and themselves while applying manual restraint for CNF. These participants appeared to attribute these feelings to their manual restraint performance, which could have a direct impact on their colleagues’ ability to effectively restrain, and the overall success of the nasogastric feeding procedure: You know in every restraint that if you lose your grip and they get a hand through or a leg through, the whole thing’s going to go wrong, so you feel responsible . . . If you lose their hand, they’ll grab the tube out and then the whole process has to start again . . . you feel the responsibility from all the other staff as well. (Participant 7) Failure to execute or maintain restraint positions could result in feelings of frustration and failure, and this was explicitly expressed in four nursing assistants’ interviews. It appeared that these participants placed a great deal of pressure and responsibility on themselves to execute their designated manual restraint positions."

"Importance of Coping Seven of the eight nursing assistants valued coping, and this was evidenced by the strategies they consciously employed which helped them cope with applying manual restraint for CNF. Coping strategies were typically utilised during and after manual restraint use. Two subthemes are reported."

"Detaching the self. Five of the eight nursing assistants reported actively detaching themselves from the process when they were administering manual restraint for CNF. This was predominately described by female nursing assistants and was evidenced through the use of terms such as “zoning out”, “shutting off” and “taking my mind off”. Detaching the self appeared to be a conscious response used by participants to cope with the adverse psychological outcomes of manual restraint use: I sort of try to stay focused on what I’m doing during the whole process but sort of try to take my mind out of this as well so that I can cope with it because it’s a very stressful procedure so I’m trying to think of something more calming. (Participant 1) I get to a point when I just shut off and then I’m just staring into nowhere and just trying to remain in the restraint position because it’s just too much to take in. (Participant 8) For one nursing assistant, detaching the self was a “necessary” coping strategy that guarded against the adverse psychological outcomes that could result from paying attention to the young person’s distress during restraint. Failing to “zone out”, in this participants view, was self-destructive: It becomes quite emotionally damaging to pay attention too much to what the patients are screaming and shouting about in the feed so I prefer to kind of zone out, it’s my coping mechanism . . . it’s necessary to zone out and I kick myself if I don’t do it because it’s just self-destructive not to. (Participant 5)"

"Talking with others. Six of the eight nursing assistants reported seeking out conversations with their colleagues and young persons who were further in their recovery, after they had been involved in a manual restraint for CNF. For some participants, this appeared to be a method of cheering up through humour: Sometimes you just need to get away and be lifted up by someone else. If you can bounce off of a staff member it’s pretty good...or go to some of the hyper kids, the kids that at the moment are really doing well, and if they’re all having banter with each other, you can sort of get brought into it and sometimes you just forget what’s just happened in the restraint. (Participant 5) For other participants conversing with their colleagues was a method of “venting out” after a particularly challenging restraint which had elicited feelings of frustration: You can vent out amongst each other as the people that have done the restraint. (Participant 3) Four nursing assistants reported seeking out trusted staff members to confide in. For the majority of these participants this was a method of expressing their feelings, especially in circumstances where they had partaken in a restraint that had upset them: . . . and then I spoke to a member of staff that I trusted in that situation and it turned out that the same thing had happened to her so it was nice to have that understanding, it made me feel much less alone. (Participant 7)"

"Becoming desensitised and sensitized Despite the physical and emotional challenges that encapsulated participants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN, and unlike the “Importance of coping” theme which described participants’ conscious attempts to cope with the procedure, five of the eight nursing assistants reported becoming emotionally desensitised to the practice over time. This was an adaptation predominately reported by male nursing assistants through descriptions such as “getting used to it”, becoming “desensitised” and becoming “immune”: We’re kind of immune to the screams, the noises, the fighting, the everything so it’s much easier nowadays, if it’s done properly and you’re not being hurt, it’s easy to go through a restraint without feeling very guilty that you’re doing anything wrong. (Participant 2) For some nursing assistants, this familiarity to the practice of applying manual restraint for CNF appeared to be facilitated by a change in their attitudes towards the practice over time. This attitude change appeared to involve the acceptance of CNF under restraint as something that was necessary, either as part of their job role or for the young person’s own safety: Now it’s just what needs to be done, it’s what needs to be done because the patient is not taking the responsibility of feeding themselves so we have to take on that responsibility. (Participant 4) In contrast to becoming desensitised, two nursing assistants reported that they had become emotionally sensitised to the manual restraint procedure. Participating in the restraint had become more emotionally challenging for these participants over time due to the therapeutic relationship they had built with the young person over time: The first restraints were a lot easier because I didn’t have a connection with the patients, whereas the later on it’s got, the more connection I have with the patients, the more worried I am, and the more emotionally demanding it is. (Participant 5)"

"The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN. The findings paint a physically and emotionally distressing picture of the participants’ experiences and provide valuable insight into the experience of applying manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN. It is clear from the analysis that administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN was a distressing practice for nursing assistants. The practice elicited numerous unpleasant emotions including anxiety, guilt and anger, and a small number of participants described becoming emotionally sensitised to the practice over time. Although the majority of participants expressed becoming emotionally desensitised to the manual restraint procedure, their accounts were often contradictory, suggesting that they had not necessarily become desensitised to the practice. These findings are in line with that of previous studies of staff’s manual restraint experiences in both child and adolescent, and adult consumer settings, which have also highlighted the experience of distress and numerous unpleasant emotions as a result of administering manual restraint (e.g., Bigwood & Crowe, 2008; Bonner et al., 2002; Chapman et al., 2016; Lombart et al., 2019; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004; Steckley & Kendrick, 2008; Svendsen et al., 2017; Wilson et al., 2017). It is not surprising that the theme “Importance of coping” was extracted from the analysis, given the illustrated adverse physical and psychological staff consequences that could result from applying manual restraint for CNF of young persons. The majority of nursing assistants described consciously detaching themselves from manual restraint incidents as a means of coping with the distress it elicited. Detaching oneself appeared to serve a protective function for participants, somewhat safeguarding them against the experience of distressing emotions; this is in line with the findings of previous studies in both child and adolescent, and adult consumer settings which have highlighted how some staff “switch off” their feelings or “temporarily suspend” their ability to empathise with patients during manual restraint incidents (Lombart et al., 2019; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004). Talking with colleagues and young persons who were further in their recovery were also cited by nursing assistants as coping strategies. These strategies appeared to help nursing assistants regulate their emotions through humour (e.g., “banter”), and through cathartic processes (e.g., “venting out”). Staff participants from previous studies of manual restraint within adult mental health settings have similarly highlighted the importance of colleague support in coping with restraint use (Bigwood & Crowe, 2008; Bonner et al., 2002; Sequeira & Halstead, 2004). However, this finding has not been explicitly reflected in studies within child and adolescent settings (e.g., Lombart et al., 2019; Steckley & Kendrick, 2008; Svendsen et al., 2017)."

"By far the most prevalent finding in this study concerned the adverse physical outcomes that pervaded nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN. Nursing assistants were subjected to frequent physical aggression by some young persons, they sustained physical injuries from being physically abused and from executing manual restraints, and they were often physically exhausted from applying manual restraint, typically multiple times during each shift. These findings are in line with previous studies of manual restraint within adult consumer settings which have highlighted the commonality of staff injuries during manual restraint use (Chapman et al., 2016; Lancaster et al., 2008; Southcott & Howard, 2007; Wilson et al., 2017), the physical exhaustion associated with administering manual restraint (Hawkins et al., 2005), and the patient physical aggression staff may be subjected to during manual restraint incidents (Wilson et al., 2017). However, with the exception of one study which reported staff physical exhaustion (Lombart et al., 2019), these findings have not been reflected in previous studies of manual restraint within child and adolescent settings. An important finding in this study concerned the interpersonal challenges that the majority of nursing assistants reported experiencing including staff conflict, and feelings of pressure and responsibility. In almost all cases, the former and latter experiences were associated with manual restraint performance, that is, the nursing assistants’ effectiveness at executing their designated manual restraint positions. Although these findings have not been explicitly reflected in previous studies of staff manual restraint experience, two of the participant extracts in one study within an adult mental health setting, were illustrative of the feelings of pressure and responsibility described by participants in this study (e.g., “they were all there watching, and I am thinking Oh God, have I done this right”; Bigwood & Crowe, 2008, p. 219)."

"In light of the findings of this study, it is crucial that eating disorder services providing CNF under manual restraint sufficiently support their frontline nursing staff. Support can include the implementation of policies ensuring that manual restraints are spread out fairly between nursing staff, so that the same staff members are not repeatedly involved in manual restraint incidents. Support can also include, access to adequate manual restraint training and refresher training, access to adequately sized and ventilated ward areas/rooms for administering manual restraint for CNF, and access to sufficient supervision, post-restraint debriefing, reflective sessions, and talking therapy. Under the close working between psychiatrists, physicians and anaesthetists, it would also be reasonable for relevant eating disorder services to consider the supplementary risk-assessed use of chemical restraint (e.g., oral and parenteral benzodiazepines and oral olanzapine) and mechanical restraint (e.g., restraining belts and soft cuffs) in extreme cases where patients present with ongoing extreme levels of physical aggression and resistance to staff during manual restraints for CNF (Ridley & Leitch, 2019; Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2012, 2014). The aforementioned points are particularly important given the risk of burnout, compassion fatigue and physical injury which may lead to high staff turnover and sickness, and poor standards of care if left unresolved."

"It is critical that relevant eating disorder services prioritise the use of psychological interventions, and alternatives to CNF interventions under manual restraint where practically possible, given the highly distressing impact this practice may have on both nursing staff and patients. This can include offering a range of psychological interventions (e.g., art, family, individual and group therapy, etc) and dietary choices to patients (e.g., diverse food types, liquid supplements, etc), with such options frequently being re-communicated to patients who refuse them. The provision of staff training in communication and trauma-informed approaches may help nursing staff develop improved therapeutic relationships with patients (Maguire & Taylor, 2019), which in turn may have an impact on patients’ receptiveness towards staff support, their willingness to accept dietary intake, and in turn, their recovery from AN (Sly et al., 2013). CNF interventions under manual restraint should only be used as a last resort after exhaustive unsuccessful attempts have been made to offer oral dietary intake to patients, and there is a clinical need for feeding. This is particularly important for patients who present with ongoing refusal of significant dietary intake, where there may be a risk of the habitual use of manual restraint for CNF as a first resort intervention rather than a last resort. The findings of this study can be used as a useful source of information for relevant eating disorder services, to illustrate the potential adverse physical, psychological and interpersonal challenges that administering manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN, could pose to their nursing staff. The findings from this study could also be used as a reference for manual restraint for CNF training programmes to highlight the challenges this practice may pose to trainees."

"The participants in this study were recruited from a single inpatient eating disorder service in the UK, meaning that their experiences are likely to have been specific to this service. Caution is thus needed when transferring the findings of this study to other inpatient eating disorder settings. Further research exploring the phenomenon of CNF under manual restraint within different inpatient eating disorder services would be valuable in clarifying the extent to which the experience described in this study is common. The first author [MK] had lived experience of administering manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN, and conducted all interviews and performed data analysis. Although he maintained a descriptive phenomenological stance throughout, kept a reflexive diary, and made revisions to the analysis following discussions with [JM] and [NS] who both had no lived experience of manual restraint, his lived experience is likely to have had some influence on the analysis. However, we employed member checking to improve credibility, and all our participants expressed that the analysis had accurately captured their experiences. Notwithstanding, it may be beneficial for future research exploring staff’s experiences of CNF under manual restraint to be conducted by researchers who do not have lived experience of this practice, in order to reduce potential bias. The participants in this study were nursing assistants and thus were not registered nurses. Consideration thus needs to be taken into account of how this participant group may differ to registered nurses, for example, in their training, experience, duties and levels of responsibility. Although the majority of our participants were educated to degree or masters level in related subjects such as Psychology and Biology, and were supervised by registered mental health nurses (so it is likely that they possessed adequate clinical knowledge and skills), the aforementioned points still need to be taken into consideration when transferring the findings of this study to other inpatient eating disorder settings. Participants all volunteered to participate in this study. Therefore, they were self-selected. Consequently, the participants may have potentially represented those who were more vocal or those with more negative or positive experiences. This needs to be taken into consideration when interpreting the findings of this study."

"To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore nursing assistants’ experiences of administering manual restraint for CNF of patients with AN, and makes a substantial contribution to the limited literature on this practice. The findings highlight that the use of manual restraint for CNF of young persons with AN is a highly physically and emotionally distressing practice for nursing assistants. It is therefore important that sufficient supervision, support and training is made available to staff working in these settings."

"Eating disorder services that provide CNF under manual restraint as an intervention need to ensure that their frontline nursing staff have access to sufficient support, supervision and training at a minimum, given the adverse physical and psychological staff outcomes that may result from this practice. Such eating disorder services also need to have policies in place that ensure that manual restraints for CNF procedures are spread out fairly amongst staff, especially in services in which this intervention is frequently used."

"This case presents the question of whether the state may force-feed an inmate engaged in a hunger strike. There appears to be no recorded Connecticut decision on point.[1] The plaintiff, Theresa C. Lantz, is the current commissioner (commissioner) of the department of correction (department). The defendant, William B. Coleman, is a sentenced prisoner, under the care of the department. He was convicted, after a jury trial, of sexual assault in a spousal relationship and unlawful restraint in the first degree. In May, 2005, he was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, execution suspended after eight years. His maximum discharge date is December 30, 2012."

"On January 9, 2008, the plaintiff filed a verified complaint, seeking both a temporary and permanent injunction to allow the department to force-feed the defendant. On January 14 and 23, 2008, the court held an evidentiary hearing on the application for a temporary injunction. At the conclusion of the evidence, the court heard oral argument from counsel for each party and, because of the exigent circumstances, issued an order orally. The court issued a temporary injunction authorizing the department to provide the defendant with intravenous fluids or nasogastric feeding and other necessary health care measures, even by means of reasonable force, and enjoining the defendant from interfering with same. The court's findings and reasoning were deferred to this subsequent written decision."

"Ducate has experience with hunger strikes, and ending them, on six occasions in Texas. She indicated that the preferred means of feeding an inmate on a hunger strike is to sedate the prisoner, insert a nasogastric tube into his stomach, via the nose and throat, and then pipe nourishing liquid directly into the stomach. It is not a medically difficult procedure, and, in her experience, inmates who are so fed begin to eat normally soon thereafter. On the basis of her experience with hunger strikes in Texas, she believes that such incidents have a serious and detrimental effect on the other inmates. In her experience, inmates look to the department for their care and would be shocked if an inmate was allowed to kill himself without intervention. She adds that a hunger strike has a detrimental impact on prison safety and security. In this case, where the defendant is in the infirmary full-time, it leads directly to mentally ill prisoners being transferred to other facilities, away from treatment teams familiar with them, because this inmate is taking an otherwise available bed for his self-induced hunger strike."

"Edward Blanchette, an internist, is the clinical director for the department. He has examined the defendant from a physical aspect and has been monitoring his condition since the end of last September. He reviews the defendant's medical records thrice weekly and has met with him twice. The defendant has been taking only liquids, those being water, some juice and some milk. Although the defendant is adequately hydrated, he is taking insufficient calories to sustain himself. The defendant has already suffered muscle wasting and anemia but, by taking some milk, has slowed the speed of his deterioration. Blanchette testified that as of January 14, the defendant could cause himself serious physical damage within one month, and be in dire straits. Risks include the possibility of heart arrhythmia due to electrolyte imbalance, a life threatening situation. A sustained hunger strike will lead to kidney and liver failure, and eventually to death. Blanchette opined that the timing of such deterioration is not subject to precise calculation by a physician or fine-tuning by an inmate. He stated that it is unusual for an inmate to engage in a protracted hunger strike, such as the defendant's. Brian K. Murphy, deputy commissioner of operations for the department, who is responsible for supervision of all inmates and is a career department employee, testified as to the impact of a hunger strike on the inmate population. Murphy has risen, in twenty-six and one-half years, from a correctional officer to his present position, always with direct supervision of inmates. He became aware of the defendant's hunger strike last September and has been following it since, including meeting with the defendant. The department has taken no disciplinary action of any kind against the defendant for his hunger strike. On more than twenty past occasions, Murphy has had to deal with hunger strikes. He is adamant that there are no secrete in prisons, that inmates rely on the department to intervene to protect inmates from self-harm and that the defendant's death from a hunger strike could cause unrest, including demonstrations and physical violence. There is also the risk of copycat hunger strikes to manipulate the prison system, should the defendant's hunger strike continue."

"In State ex rel. Schuetzle v. Vogel, 537 N.W.2d 358, 360-61 (N.D.1995), the Supreme Court of North Dakota determined that the state could force-feed and administer insulin to a diabetic prisoner who refused to eat or take medicine. Finding that the prisoner attempted this to "manipulate the system and ... blackmail ... prison officials"; (internal quotation marks omitted) id., at 360; the court ruled that "the state's interest in orderly prison administration is the controlling factor here...." Id., at 361. This issue has arisen in federal cases in the specific context of civil contemnors trying to circumvent the judicial process. A civil contemnor being held for refusing to testify before a grand jury went on a hunger strike for political and religious reasons. In re Grand Jury Subpoena John Doe v. United States, 150 F.3d 170, 171 (2d Cir.1998) (per curiam). In a very brief opinion, the court held that "the district court's force-feeding order ... does not violate a hunger-striking prisoner's constitutional rights.... Although Doe, as a civil contemnor, has been convicted of no crime, the institution where he is housed is still responsible for his care while incarcerated. Other compelling governmental interests, such as the preservation of life, prevention of suicide, and enforcement of prison security, order, and discipline, outweigh the constitutional rights asserted by Doe in the circumstances of this case." Id., at 172. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has also addressed this issue in the context of a civil contemnor, focusing on preventing the contemnor from undermining the judicial process. In re Sanchez, 577 F.Supp. 7 (S.D.N.Y.1983). The court held that "Sanchez is, by his own admission, attempting to bring maximum pressure to bear upon the Judge who will ultimately rule upon his motion to vacate the contempt order. Moreover, the prolongation of this hunger strike will soon render Mr. Sanchez physically or mentally incapable of testifying before the grand jury, thereby rendering further coercive sanctions futile. In one sense, therefore, Mr. Sanchez is attempting to escape from prison and to frustrate the lawful authority of the courts. This is a purpose that we cannot condone." Id., at 9."

"In contrast, three courts have decided that the state has no right to force-feed an inmate. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed a trial court's decision to deny the state's petition to force-feed a hunger striking inmate. Zant v. Prevatte, 248 Ga. 832, 286 S.E.2d 715 (1982). In so doing, the court considered that "[the inmate] is not mentally incompetent, nor does he have dependents who rely on him for a means of livelihood. The issue of religious freedom is not present. Under these circumstances, we hold that [the inmate], by virtue of his right of privacy, can refuse to allow intrusions on his person, even though calculated to preserve his life. The State has not shown such a compelling interest in preserving [the inmate's] life, as would override his right to refuse medical treatment." Id., at 834, 286 S.E.2d 715. The state did not claim any of the traditional factors except a duty to preserve the inmate's health and life. In 1993, the Supreme Court of California determined that the state had no authority to interfere with an inmate's hunger strike. Thor v. Superior Court, supra, 5 Cal.4th 725, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. The court's holding specified that "under California law a competent, informed adult has a fundamental right of self-determination to refuse or demand the withdrawal of medical treatment of any form irrespective of the personal consequences." Id., at 732, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. The court further stated that "[u]nder the facts of this case, we further conclude that in the absence of evidence demonstrating a threat to institutional security or public safety, prison officials, including medical personnel, have no affirmative duty to administer such treatment and may not deny a person incarcerated in state prison this freedom of choice." Id."

"Thor involved a prison physician petitioning the court to allow him to force-feed a quadriplegic patient who had decided to die. Id. The court considered four state interests: preserving life; preventing suicide; maintaining the integrity of the medical profession; and protecting innocent third parties. Id., at 737, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. Finally, the court considered how this would affect orderly administration of the prison system. Id., at 744, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. In considering the first four factors, the court, noted that this patient was quadriplegic and serving a life sentence; the patient's decision to refuse medical treatment was an informed decision, and there were no other persons involved in this decision. Id., at 743-44, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. Finally, the state had presented no evidence on the effect this would have on administration of the prison system. Id., at 745, 21 Cal.Rptr.2d 357, 855 P.2d 375. The third case prohibiting state interference with a prisoner's hunger strike is from Florida. The inmate went on a hunger strike to protest his transfer to a different prison and to protest the lodging of complaints against a prison chaplain. Singletary v. Costello, 665 So.2d 1099, 1101 (Fla.App.1996). The court first recognized a strong interest in the inmate's rights to privacy and to refuse medical treatment. Id., at 1104. The court then weighed the state's interests in preserving life, preventing suicide, protecting third parties, maintaining the ethics of the medical profession, and maintaining order in the prison. Id., at 1105. On the facts of the case, the court stated that "although the state interest in the preservation of life is powerful, in and of itself, it will not foreclose a competent person from declining life-sustaining medical treatment.... This is because the life that the state is seeking to protect is the life of the same person who has competently decided to [forgo] the medical intervention." (Citation omitted.) Id., at 1109. The court found it important, also, that the prisoner had expressly stated that he did not want to die, meaning that the state's interest in preventing suicide was not implicated. Id. Finally, no evidence was offered on the other factors; therefore, the court denied the state's petition."

"Nasogastric/Orogastric Tube Placement Indications: * Pre-term: immature suck swallow reflex * Neurological disease: impaired sucking reflex * Respiratory support: increased tachypnea with risk of aspiration * Gastric decompression * NEC * Abdominal surgery"

"Nasogastric tubes should be used preferentially except under conditions below where orogastric tubes may need to be placed: *Nasal prong CPAP *Choanal atresia *Respiratory distress respirations >60bpm grunting recession *Babies with an oxygen requirement *Nasal trauma *Cranio-facial anomalies"

"Follow the steps to measure the correct length of tube required and ensure the baby's comfort. 1.Measure the distance from either the nostril or the mouth (depending on insertion site) to the earlobe then to the half way point between the xiphisternum and the umbilicus. 2.Swaddle infant to provide comfort, offer dummy if infant normally has one. 3. Gently check nostrils for patency if inserting nasogastrically. 4. Select the appropriate size gastric tube; size 6 French for the majority of infants, alternatively size 8 French for large infants or those requiring gut drainage. 5. Gently insert the tube in a smooth swift motion, advancing slightly down and towards the ear on that side, to the desired length. Do not force the tube -if resistance is felt or the tube comes back via the mouth or other nostril then the procedure should be stopped to allow the child to recover prior to any further attempts. If a tube is unable to be inserted in after two attempts, a senior nurse colleague may have one further attempt. If still unsuccessful, discontinue procedure, notify medical staff and document same in clinical record."

"Follow the steps below to ensure correct tube placement, and the ongoing safety of the baby is maintained whilst receiving tube feeds. 1.On inserting a new tube verify placement by aspirating gastric contents and test with the pH indicator strips. Correct position is confirmed when the pH reading is less than or equal to 5. Presence of aspirate alone does not guarantee correct placement Note: Some medications, frequent feeds and continuous feeding may alter the pH and/or the colour of the aspirate e.g. acid inhibiting medications. If pH is >5 or there is difficulty in obtaining aspirate, follow the NPSA Decision tree for nasogastric tube placement checks in Children and Infants. The ‘whoosh’ test (injecting air down the tube and listening) is no longer considered safe practice and should not be used to confirm correct tube placement. 2. Record citing of tube, including internal length and pH in the child’s care map and observation chart. 3. Ensure tube remains in correct position by visually checking the tube position, and checking the aspirate with pH strips prior to each bolus feed or administration of any oral medications. This should be recorded in the feeding section of the observation charts. Note: The tube does not need to be fully aspirated prior to each feed, only enough to pH test, or if there is significant abdominal distention from air which needs aspirating. Infants on continuous feeds should have the position of the tube visualised every hour with routine observations, and pH tested every 4 hours with bottle/syringe changes. 4. Secure the tube using duoderm and hypafix tape placed either on the cheek or chin, and ensure this is firmly attached to the tube. 5. Continually assess feeding tolerance. Observe for vomiting, painful and firm abdominal distension, abdominal discolouration, abnormal bowel sounds, blood in stools, haemorrhagic or heavily bile stained (spinach or avocado) gastric aspirate during pH check. Seek medical review if there is any suspicion of feed intolerance. 6. If findings are not reassuring on medical review then feeds should be withheld. Start gastric decompression, consider further investigation and management for suspected NEC, discuss a feeding plan at the next ward round. 7. Ensure infants who are NBM have their gastric tubes on free drainage with the free end of the tube draining into a specimen pot. Do not attach the syringe connected to the gastric tube to the lid of the incubator. For infants on respiratory support, consider aspirating air from the stomach before each feed. 8. Tubes should be routinely replaced every 2 weeks. Note: if the gastric tube is not to be removed this should be recorded clearly on the observation chart and in the clinical notes (e.g. post TOF repair – see surgical guideline)"

"Trans-pyloric feeding All infants with a trans-pyloric feeding tube require a gastric tube in place for aspiration, potentially drainage and possible medication administration (consult the Pharmacist or Neonatologist involved). Trans-pyloric tubes may be on free drainage but are not used for regular aspiration. Indications *Infants who are not tolerating gastric feeds. *Duodenal atresia - post-operatively *Infants who are at great risk for aspiration, e.g. gastro-oesophageal reflux receiving CPAP. Risk is minimised because the end of the tube is beyond the pyloric sphincter. Complications *Aspiration *Difficulty with tube placement *Perforation of the gut *Malabsorption Considerations *Trans-pyloric feeding may induce symptoms of malabsorption because the stomach is not able to aid in digestion e.g. frequent bowel motion, slow weight gain, necrotising enterocolitis. *Consider where medication is absorbed prior to administration (i.e. stomach or small intestines)"

"Trans-pyloric tube placement Follow the steps below for placement of trans-pyloric tube. 1. A weighted tube is required for trans-pyloric placement (white Vygon paediatric duodenal tube with weighted tip, 6 Fr or Corpak Jejunal weighted tube). These do not harden over time and may be left in situ for several weeks. 2. Length for tube insertion is measured from as per gastric placement with a further length from the xiphoid to the left or right costal margin. 3. The tube is allowed to cool in the refrigerator for an hour; this reduces the chance of it coiling during insertion. 4. Swaddle infant to provide comfort 5. With the infant lying supine at a 15o-40o angle, insert the tube to the stomach as normal. 6. Check stomach positioning by aspirating and testing on a pH strip (reading of 5 or less) 7. Place the infant into a right lateral position 8. Advance the tube 1 cm at a time while instilling up to 2-3 ml of air and auscultate the abdomen 9. Transpyloric placement is characterised by high pitch crackles and the inability to withdraw air ('snap test') 10. Insert further length (as measured) to ensure distal duodenal or proximal jejunal placement. 11. Give a 3 ml feed and remove stylet (if present with brand). 12. The infant should then be placed right side down for 1-1.5 hours 13. Confirmation of placement will then be made by a radiograph. 14. Secure tubing to infant's cheek in same manner as gastric tubes 15. Insertion should be documented in the infant's caremap (equipment section) and in the clinical notes"

"Commencing continuous Gastric or Trans-pyloric feeding Continuous feeding should only be instituted once the infant has reached volumes of at least 7 ml/hr, or on discussion with Neonatologist. This restriction is to avoid the need to purge the tubing every 4 hr with the change of bottle that would be required for lower rates (due to safe hang times). Follow the steps below for commencing continuous Gastric or Jejunal feeding: 1. Draw up prescribed volume of milk. 2. Label with type of milk, date and time. 3. Ensure the correct procedure for setting up the continuous feed pump is observed. 4. Check that the tube is in the correct position and the tape is secure (observe hourly). 5. Commence continuous feed 6. Aspirate gastric tube at least once per shift to confirm placement and determine residual volume"

"Follow the steps below to ensure the nutritional needs of the baby are met. 1. Check that the correct ml/kg are calculated daily 2. Infant's weight is updated as ordered and documented. 3. Observe for spills and abdominal distension. 4. Accurate intake is recorded hourly. 5. Ensure correct type of milk is given and documented. 6. Ensure the amount of EBM/milk mixture in the bottle is recorded"

"Follow the steps below to ensure the safety of the infant is maintained. *That the correct hourly rate on the continuous feed pump is maintained *The total volume infused is accurate. *Two nurses check and sign on the balance sheet each time rate is changed and at the change of shift. *The tubing is changed every 24 hours and labelled clearly with date, time and EBM/NIF. *Ensures that the trans-pyloric tube is not aspirated unless on Doctor's/NS-ANP's orders. *Gastric tube is aspirated 6 hourly and documented. *Administer medication as prescribed by disconnecting at the junction of the trans-pyloric tube and the pump tubing or as per medical staff/NS-ANP instruction (be aware of where of where medication is absorbed) *Only use four hours worth of milk at a time (unless otherwise specified on the bottle label)"

"If an infant is expected to require long term gastric feeding the parents need to be taught care and insertion techniques prior to discharge. See Parent information. 1. Prior to tube insertion the tube must be lubricated with water. 2. Measure length of tube as for short term gastric tubes. 3. Ensure that the cap is on the medication port of the Corpak long term feeding tube. 4. Insert long term feeding tube as for short term tubes. 5. Remove stylet once inserted. 6. Establish gastric placement by aspirating stomach contents and testing on pH strips. A reading of 5 or less should be apparent when touched with stomach fluid. 7. If unable to aspirate fluid then push 1-2 ml of air with a 50 ml syringe. Listen with a stethoscope on the baby's stomach. You should hear a 'whoosh' of air. 8. Secure tube to face with duoderm base and hypafix on top. 9. Flush tube with 3 ml of water using 50 ml syringe. 10. Rinse stylet with warm soapy water and save for future use."

"Follow the steps below for commencing feeds via a long term tube. 1. Warm milk in a bottle and bowl of warm water as usual. 2. If the infant is in a cot pick them up for feeds and utilise a pacifier for non-nutritive sucking if appropriate 3. Connect a 50 ml syringe to the long term feeding tube and pour feed into syringe. 4. Adjust the flow of the feed by raising or lowering the height of the syringe. 5. When finished flush the tube with 3 ml of sterile water via 50 ml syringe. 6. Close tube. Note: USE ONLY A 50 ML SYRINGE TO ADMINISTER ANY MILK OR MEDICATION. The higher pressure of the smaller syringes has potential to perforate the tube."

"Short term enteral feeding in NICU *The optimal care is for all babies to receive breast milk only. This addresses those infants who do not need IV fluids and whose mothers have not established a breast milk supply. *In general, IV infusions should not be started if there are no medical indications for IV fluids (such as respiratory distress, hypoglycaemia etc.) *Babies who need feeding should be given what mother's breast milk is available and always receive mother's breast milk in preference to formula. Be sure to check that no breast milk is available before considering infant formula. *If they require additional feeds, infants should then be started on term infant formula, after discussion with their mother/father. In such discussions, parents should be informed that there are few - if any - adverse effects of formula used short term in this way in a neonatal unit. *For a baby who is already on an IV infusion, it is reasonable to continue the infusion for a short time if mother's milk supply is being established and there is a reasonable expectation that she will be producing enough breast milk with in a day or so. This time period needs to be judged against the ease of IV access and the condition of the baby. Babies should not have IVs re-inserted solely because no breast milk is available. *Smaller preterm infants will often have a medical indication for ongoing IV fluids and in them it is desirable to increase the oral fluids slowly. The pace of increase of oral fluids can usually be matched to the increase in the availability of expressed breast milk. *Mothers should be advised and helped with expressing. NICU staff should discuss expressing as soon as possible. It is accepted that the role of initially helping with expressing lies with postnatal ward staff. NICU staff should support mothers' expression of breast milk. *Nasogastric feeding rather than bottle or cup feeding is advantageous for ex-premature babies. Term babies who do not have problems with hypoglycaemia can usually transition directly from IV fluids to breast feeds. Alternatively, bottle or tube feeds may be used for larger infants. *NICU does not provide hydrolysed formula unless there is a clinical indication (other than a history of allergy). If there is a very strong family history of allergy, hydrolysed formula may be supplied on an individual basis. Parents may supply their own formula (hydrolysed or non-cow's milk preparations) if they wish."

"In recent years, two hunger strikes by prisoners received extensive international attention, in part because a number of prisoners died during the protests: the 1981 hunger strike by Irish prisoners in Maze prison during which ten prisoners died, and the hunger strike by Turkish political prisoners in the summer of 1996 during which at least twelve prisoners died and numerous others suffered neurological and psychiatric problems. When the ICRC visited Maze prison in Ulster, the ICRC team members became very concerned despite the fact that, unlike at Guantánamo, medical personnel were authorized to see the hunger strikers and permitted to maintain close communication with the prisoners’ families: “‘[O]utside intervention’ was totally unacceptable in the (northern) Irish hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981. Although the ICRC sent a team with a medical doctor to see the fasting prisoners (as was widely reported in the press at the time), the hunger strikers in this case refused to accept any outside medical mediation. As soon became clear, the hunger strikes in Ulster were deadly serious, with a total of ten prisoners dying over several months. The prison doctors respected the expressed will of the hunger strikers, and force-feeding was not envisaged at any time. (This position based on respect for a patient’s integrity and his right to refuse treatment, was the exact opposite of the attitude held earlier in the century, when political hunger strikers were force-fed by court order in 1909). In the Irish strike, the prisoners’ families were very much involved and communicated with the prison doctors. In a few cases, it was the families of prisoners who asked doctors to intervene at an advanced stage to save their sons’ lives, a request that was complied with. The bottom line in the doctors’ position was that a prisoner’s express will (not to be nourished) would be respected as long as he was fit to decide, but that families could obtain medical assistance for their fasting relatives if [the prisoners] were no longer in a position to express refusal. (This sometimes led to bitter arguments, with some hunger strikers telling their families they would never forgive them if they broke the strike by asking for medical assistance on their behalf. Most families, in fact, supported their sons or husbands on the strike.)"

"The ICRC’s observation of the Irish prisoners’ protest also emphasizes the ethical issues for medical providers raised by hunger strikes in prison facilities, particularly concerning the issue of force-feeding such prisoners. As is widely known, the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Tokyo of 1975 prohibits a medical doctor’s participation in torture, whether actively, passively, or through the use of medical knowledge. Article 5 of the Tokyo Declaration also stipulates that prisoners on hunger strikes shall not be force-fed. According to Dr. André Wynen, former and Honorary Secretary-General and founding member of the WMA, Article 5 of the Tokyo Declaration relates to the declaration’s prohibition on medical providers’ involvement intorture. “If a prisoner undergoing torture decided to protest against his plight by going on a hunger strike, a doctor should not be obliged to administer nourishment against the prisoner’s will and thereby effectively revive him for more torture.” The WMA supplemented Article 5 of the Tokyo Declaration with the 1991 Declaration of Malta. The Malta Declaration also prohibits force-feeding, but stipulates that doctors should ultimately act for the benefit of their patients when the prisoner’s detention does not raise concerns about physician involvement in torture and the hunger striker is no longer capable of sound judgment because of the effects of long-term fasting."

"As described below, the U.S. military has admitted to force-feeding prisoners at Guantánamo who are participating in hunger strikes. Although the ICRC stated that the indefinite detention and current conditions at Guantánamo are “tantamount to torture,” it is difficult to assess the ethical obligations of military medical personnel at Guantánamo without further information about the treatment of detainees and the psychological impact of their indefinite detention. The prisoners’ families, moreover, have little or no knowledge of whether their sons or husbands are participating in a strike. And if their relatives are participating in a protest, military medical personnel have not informed the families of their relatives’ health status or their wishes concerning nourishment. This failure contradicts the policy of the WMA that a “doctor has a responsibility to inform the family of the patient that the patient has embarked on a hunger strike, unless this is specifically prohibited by the patient.”"

"The first coordinated large-scale mass protest at Guantánamo began on February 27, 2002 when prisoners initiated a rolling hunger strike. This hunger strike appears to have started when an MP removed a homemade turban from a prisoner during his prayer. As the hunger strike expanded to a peak of 194 participants over a two-month period, it became a protest of the prisoners’ indefinite detention without any legal process and their harsh living conditions. A spokesman for the Guantánamo Joint Task Force, Marine Captain Alan Crouch, acknowledged in a February 28, 2002 official statement that 159 prisoners refused lunch and 109 refused dinner on February 27, 2002. On February 28th, 107 refused breakfast and 194 did not eat dinner. At the beginning of the hunger strike, the military attempted to minimize the seriousness of the protest. In a prepared statement, a Joint Task Force public affairs officer, Marine Major Steve Cox, stated that “[b]y no means is this an organized, concerted effort by the camp’s detainee population, but merely a demonstration of some of the detainees’ displeasure over the uncertainty of their future.” Several days into the hunger strike, Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa, Jr., Deputy Director for Operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that the detention center commander and the chaplain “have been out and around with and speaking to the detainees. The tensions have eased in their opinion.” But by mid-March, three detainees who had refused food and water for approximately fourteen days were forcibly given intravenous fluids. By this time, military officials were acknowledging that the prisoners were protesting “the fact that they don’t know what is happening to them” and that the hunger strike participants’ primary concern was “their murky future.” In early May, only two prisoners continued to participate in this hunger strike. Both men had been striking since March 1, 2002 to protest their indefinite detention. The military returned one man to Camp Delta on May 2, 2002 after force-feeding him, ending his 63-day hunger strike. The other final participant was forcibly fed through a tube inserted in his nose on May 10, 2002 after 71 days of fasting."

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is force-feeding nine detainees who are on a hunger strike at a detention center in El Paso, Texas. The protesters are mostly from India and are being held in ICE custody while their asylum or immigration cases are processed. Since the beginning of the year, they have been protesting their detainment and mistreatment by guards who they allege have threatened them with deportation and withheld information about their cases, according to the detainees’ lawyers. In mid-January, a federal court ordered ICE to force-feed the strikers. An ICE official stated: “For their health and safety, ICE closely monitors the food and water intake of those detainees identified as being on a hunger strike.” ICE policy states that the agency authorizes “involuntary medical treatment” if a detainee’s health is threatened by hunger striking. Force-feeding involves tying a detainee to a bed, inserting a feeding tube down the nose and esophagus and pumping liquid nutrition into the stomach. ICE detainees have reported rectal bleeding and vomiting as a consequence of being force-fed."

"Hunger strikes have plagued Guantánamo since it opened in 2002. In one of the largest hunger strikes to occur in a U.S. detention facility, about 500 detainees stopped eating under the slogan “starvation until death” in late June 2005. They began this strike to protest the conditions of their confinement, including alleged beatings, abuse of their religious freedom by mishandling the Koran and indefinite detention without trial. In response, military doctors authorized “involuntary intravenous hydration and/or enteral tube feeding” – in other words, IV treatment and force-feeding. Prisoners found ways to get around the feedings, like making themselves vomit or siphoning out their stomachs by sucking on the external end of the feeding tube. The strike overwhelmed camp commanders. In December 2005, they called in help from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which had previously authorized force-feeding. The consultants observed as strikers were force-fed twice a day and recommended using the emergency restraint chair, a “padded cell on wheels.” That requires strapping detainees down onto the chair, making it easier for guards to insert and remove a feeding tube. Detainees referred to it as the “execution chair.” This had the desired effect on the prisoners: Only a handful continued the hunger strike and it was over by February 2006. The camp ordered 20 more chairs."

"In 2013, a widespread hunger strike again swept through Guantánamo – 106 of 166 prisoners participated. Forty-one detainees met the requirements for being force-fed: skipping nine consecutive meals or their BMI dropping below 85 percent of their intake weight. One participant, Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a Yemini citizen detained for 11 years, told The New York Times, “I had never experienced such pain” as from the feedings."

"Guantánamo hunger strikers filed lawsuits against the U.S. government for force-feeding prisoners and using the restraint chair. Several judges ruled that force-feedings are legal. In one case, a judge wrote that it did not constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. Rather, she wrote that administrators “are acting out of a need to preserve the life of the Petitioners rather than letting them die.” This contradicts what many experts the medical and human rights professionals have said about force-feeding. The World Medical Association, an international medical ethics organization, asserted that force-feeding is “unjustifiable.” Organizations ranging from the ACLU to Human Rights Watch condemn the practice as “inherently cruel, inhuman, and degrading.”"

"While the courts can authorize interventions requested by the government such as force-feeding, immigrant detainees have limited power to appeal to courts about the conditions of their detention. As with the Guantánamo detainees, migrants are risking starvation, but not because they want to die. As Amrit Singh, the uncle of two men being force-fed, stated, “They want to know why they are still in the jail and want to get their rights and wake up the government immigration system.” Hunger striking offers one of few ways they can protest their prolonged confinement in pursuit of this goal."

"Eventually eight of the women received sentences of imprisonment varying from one month to fourteen days, whilst Charlotte Marsh was sent to prison for three months' hard labour, and Mrs. Leigh for four. We knew that Mrs. Leigh and her comrades in the Birmingham Prison would carry out the hunger strike, and, on the following Friday, September 24th, reports appeared in the Press that the Government had resorted to the horrible expedient of feeding them by force by means of a tube passed into the stomach. Filled with concern the committee of the Women's Social and Political Union at once applied both to the prison and to the Home Office to know if this were true but all information was refused. The W. S. P. U. now made inquiries as to the probable results of this treatment, and were informed that it was liable to cause laceration of the throat and grave and permanent injury to the digestive functions, and that, especially if the patient should resist, as the tube was being inserted or withdrawn there was serious danger of its going astray and penetrating the lungs or some other vital part. The whole operation, together with all the attendant circumstances, could not fail to put a most excessive strain upon the heart and the entire nervous system, and, if there were any heart weakness, death might ensue at any moment. In the Lancet for September 28th, 1872, a case was reported of a man under sentence of death, who had been forcibly fed by means of the stomach pump, that is to say by means of an india-rubber tube passed through the mouth into the stomach, the method used in the case of the Suffragettes. The man had died. In the same issue of the Lancet, appeared the opinion upon this question of several prominent medical men. Dr. Anderson Moxey, M.D,, M.R.C.P., had said: " If anyone were to ask me to name the worst possible treatment for suicidal starvation I should say unhesitatingly, forcible feeding by means of the stomach pump." Dr. Tennant stated that this method of feeding produced " an incentive to resistance," and that the exhaustion thereby introduced was sometimes so great as to cause death by syncope. Dr. Russell had met with a case in which death had occurred immediately after the placing of the tube " before it could be withdrawn, much less used " ; and Dr. Conolly was " appalled by the dangers resulting from the forcible administration of food by the mouth." Amongst the various important medical experts consulted by The Women's Social and Political Union was Dr. Forbes Winslow, whose wide experience in cases of insanity could not be questioned. When asked professionally to give his views on the subject he said: So far as the stomach pump is concerned it is an instrument I have long ago discontinued using, even in the most serious cases of melancholia, where the victim, perhaps from some religious delusion, refuses all nourishment. It possibly may be regarde by some as the most simple means of administering food, but this I challenge by saying at once that it is the most complicated and the most dangerous. . . . I have known some of the most serious injuries inflicted by the persistent use of the stomach pump. I have known a case in which the tongue has been partly bitten off where it had been twisted behind the feeding tube. He added that forcible feeding was especially dangerous in cases of heart and lung weakness or of rupture or hernia, and that the result of persistent use would be to seriously injure the constitution, to lacerate the parts surrounding the mouth, to break and ruin the teeth."

"When the House of Commons met on Monday we learnt that our fears were only too well founded for Mr. Keir Hardie drew from Mr. Masterman who spoke on the Home Secretary’s behalf, the admission that the Suffragettes in Wison Green Gaol were being forcibly fed by means of a tube which pas passed through the mouth and into the stomach and through which the food was pumped. The unprecedented and outrageous nature of the assault was glossed over by the use of the term, “Hospital treatment,” in connection with it. Mr. Masterman admitted, however, that there were no regulations which authorized the proceeding, but he stated that it was resorted to in the case of men and women prisoners who were “weak minded” or “contumacious”. Mr. Hardie’s indignant protest and reminder that the last man prisoner to whom such treatment had been meted out had died under it, were met with shouts of laughter by the supporters of the Government. Horrified by their heartless and unseemly levity in the face of so serious a question, he at once addressed a statement to the Press in which he declared that he " could not have believed that a body of gentlemen could have found reason for mirth and applause " in a scene which had " no parallel in the recent history of our country." As far as he could learn, no power to feed by force had been given to prison authorities, save in the case of persons certified to be insane. He concluded by warning the public of the danger that one of the prisoners would succumb to the so-called "hospital treatment," and by appealing to the people of these islands to speak out ere our annals had been stained by such a tragedy. Others hastened to second this protest. Mr. C. Mansell-MouUin, M.D., F.R.C.S., wrote to The Times, as a hospital surgeon of thirty years' standing, to indignantly repudiate Mr. Masterman's use of the term " hospital treatment," declaring that it was a " foul libel " for that " violence and brutality have no place in hospitals as Mr. Masterman ought to know." Dr. Forbes Ross of Harley Street wrote to the Press saying: As a medical man, without any particular feeling for the cause of the Suffragettes, I consider that forcible feeding by the methods employed is an act of brutality beyond common endurance, and I am astounded that it is possible for Members of Parliament, with mothers, wives and sisters of their own, to allow it. A memorial signed by ii6 doctors, headed by Sir Victor Horsley, F.R.C.S., W. Hugh Fenton, M.D. M.A., C. Mansell-MouUin, M.D., F.R.C.S., Forbes Winslow, M.D., and Alexander Haig, M.D., F.R.C.P., was organised by Dr. Flora Murray and addressed to Mr. Asquith, protesting against the artificial feeding of the Suffragette prisoners, on the ground that it was attended by the gravest risks and was both unwise and inhuman. To this memorial many of the doctors added descriptive notes of their own. Mr. W. A. Davidson, M.D., F.R.C.S., wrote: " A most cruel and brutal procedure. Were the tubes clean? Were they new? If not they have probably been used for people suffering from some disease. The inside of the tube cannot well be cleaned; very often the trouble is not taken to clean them." In spite of every form of discouragement and ridicule, Mr. Keir Hardie continued constantly to raise the question of forcible feeding in the House of Commons only to be met by evasive, and sometimes grossly, inaccurate replies from the Home Office. Mr. Gladstone tried to shelter himself behind the officials who were his subordinates, and to place the responsibility on the medical officers. For this he was strongly condemned by the British Medical Journal which characterised his conduct as contemptible.*"

"In reply to the protests of medical men and the memorial from doctors, which had been addressed to him, Mr. Gladstone succeeded in drawing a statement from Sir Richard Douglas Powell, the President of the Royal College of Physicians, who said that he thought the memorial exaggerated, though he admitted that forcible feeding was not " wholly free from possibilities of accident with those who resist." He added that, in dissenting from the view expressed by the memorialists, he was assuming that the feeding of the prison patients was " entirely carried out by skilled nursing attendants under careful medical observation and control." We, of course, know that this was not the case. A large number of doctors, including Dr. R. G. Layton, physician to the Walsall hospital, replied to Sir Douglas Powell by again recapitulating the dangers of forcible feeding. But indeed the opinions of medical men were unnecessary to those who afterwards came in contact with the women who had been forcibly fed. Their exhausted condition was a form of evidence that no argument could upset. It is important to note also that during the year 1910 two ordinary criminals, a man. and a woman, were subjected to forcible feeding. The man died during the first operation; the woman committed suicide after the second."

"From 1905 until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 about 1000 women were sent to prison because of their suffrage activities, most of these being members of the WSPU... While these prison ‘experiences’ have not been ignored by historians, they have been discussed as a part of a broader account of the suffrage movement rather than focused upon in depth as a subject worthy of investigation. Furthermore, a dominant narrative of these experiences has emerged which [asserts] that the women themselves were to blame for their often harsh prison experiences, including the pain of hungerstriking and forcible feeding...."

"Early histories of the suffrage movement present a more sympathetic picture of prison life than many subsequent accounts. Metcalfe, for example, writing in 1917, speaks of the “scenes of horror which had taken place in Holloway and other prisons ... in the unavailing effort to govern women against their consent”. However, it is the history written by the constitutional suffragist, Ray Strachey, a member of the NUWSS and hostile to the WSPU, that became the influential text. Strachey blames the WSPU women themselves for the treatment they received... Unwilling to acknowledge the hunger strike as a political tool, Strachey comments how the suffragettes, once in prison, ceased to be militant and created a number of protests including the refusal to eat food. “Forcible feeding was tried in vain”, she continues; “the prisoners struggled so violently against it that the process became actually dangerous, and the prison officials were obliged to let them starve till they came to the edge of physical collapse, and then to let them go”. In spite of the severe pain and damage to health which the process involved, “scores of suffragettes adopted it ... The officials tried everything they could think of in vain ...”. This picture of irrational women, deliberately seeking their own torture was eagerly seized upon by male historians who sought to ridicule the WSPU and its politics. George Dangerfield’s The Strange Death of Liberal England, first published in 1935, discusses the suffragette movement as... a form of “pre-war lesbianism” of “daring ladies”... Dangerfield too presents the suffragettes as fanatical women who chose the hardships of prison life in a sado-masochistic way ... “How can one avoid the thought”, he questions, “that they sought these sufferings with an enraptured, a positively unhealthy pleasure?” If the victim does not resist, “forcible feeding is no more than extremely unpleasant. But the suffragettes were determined to resist”. In view of the fact that Dangerfield’s account contained no footnotes whatsoever to primary sources to support his claims, it is incredulous that his analysis was received so enthusiastically and became so influential. The Times and Tribune, for example, hailed it as “brilliant”... Thus the scene of the drama is set and the props are changed only with slight variations. Roger Fulford in 1957... mocked their prison experiences, claiming that solitary confinement in prison was “not always unwelcome to adults”. Furthermore, although “forcible feeding is a disgusting topic ... it was not dangerous ... [It] is of course a familiar form of treatment in lunatic asylums”. While Andrew Rosen is much more sympathetic to the women prisoners, he too, in a matter of fact way speaks of how forcible feeding involved mouths being prised open, lacerations, phlegm, vomiting, pain in various organs, loss of weight “and so on”..."

"Hunger striking and force feeding were acts committed by, and on, individuals in their own cells. Whether force fed by a cup, tube through the nostril (the most common method) or tube down the throat into the stomach (the most painful), the individual suffragette struggled on her own and often feared damage to the mind or body. Kitty Marion’s screaming in prison greatly upset the other women, but she found it was the only way she could fight against the torture of forcible feeding and remain sane. Rachel Peace, an embroideress, who had already experienced several nervous breakdowns, was not so fortunate. During a period of prolonged hunger striking and forcible feeding three times a day she feared, “I should go mad ... Old distressing symptoms have re-appeared. I have frightful dreams and am struggling with mad people half the night”. Her fears became true when she “lost her reason in prison” and spent the rest of her life in and out of asylums, with Lady Constance Lytton, an upper-middle-class WSPU worker, maintaining her. The forcible feeding of the disabled May Billinghurst in Holloway in January 1913 brought a particular wave of revulsion since she was “small, frail, and ha[d] been a cripple all her life”. Paralysed as a child and confined to a tricycle for mobility, she told how the three doctors and five wardresses who held her down: “forced a tube up my nostril; it was frightful agony, as my nostril is small. I coughed it up so that it didn’t go down my throat. They then were going to try the other nostril, which, I believe is a little deformed. They forced my mouth open with an iron instrument, and poured some food into my mouth. They pinched my nose and throat to make me swallow”. After 10 days of “almost incredible suffering”, when she was fed three times every 24 hours, she was released “a physical wreck”. Margaret Thompson, in prison in 1912, had a facial disability, resulting from a car accident; after examining her face to see if it was “fit” for forcible feeding, the doctor decided she should be fed by the cup rather than the tube. Miss McCrae, in prison at the same time, thought she too should take food through the cup, on account of her deafness, although she feared the other women would scorn her for doing so. For women with disabilities such as those mentioned here, imprisonment and forcible feeding were particular acts of courage."

"For many of these women, the worst feature of prison life was the ‘public’ violation of their bodies when being forcibly fed. Helen Gordon Liddle hated the lack of privacy when enduring the pain of forced feeding. Nell Hall spoke of the “frightful indignity” of it all. For Sylvia Pankhurst, the sense of degradation endured was worse than the pain of sore and bleeding gums, with bits of loose jagged flesh, the agony of coughing up the tube three or four times before it was successfully inserted, the bruising of her shoulders and the aching of her back. Sometimes, when the struggle was over, or even in the heat of it, she felt as though she was broken up into many different selves, of which one, aloof and calm, surveyed all the misery, and one, ruthless and unswerving, forced the weak, shrinking body to its ordeal. Although the word ‘rape’ is not used in the personal accounts of force fed victims, the instrumental invasion of the body, accompanied by overpowering physical force, great suffering and humiliation was akin to it, especially so for women fed through the rectum or vagina. 'Janet Arthur’, later identified as Fanny Parker, in Perth prison in 1914, was one such victim: Thursday morning, 16th July ... the three wardresses appeared again. One of them said that if I did not resist, she would send the others away and do what she had come to do as gently and as decently as possible. I consented. This was another attempt to feed me by the rectum, and was done in a cruel way, causing me great pain. She returned some time later and said she had ‘something else’ to do. I took it to be another attempt to feed me in the same way, but it proved to be a grosser and more indecent outrage, which could have been done for no other purpose than torture. It was followed by soreness, which lasted for several days. When released, a medical examination revealed swelling and rawness in the genital region. The knowledge that new tubes were not always available and that used tubes may have been previously inflicted on diseased persons and the mentally ill or be dirty inside the tube, issues that had been openly discussed in Votes for Women, undoubtedly added to the feelings of abuse, dirtiness and indecency that the women felt."

"Big has long been considered beautiful in Mauritania. But now, a generation of women are abandoning an ancient practice to fatten up – and some are even redefining beauty to put their health first. It's not a lifetime spent scoffing junk food and slurping fizzy drinks that's to blame for obesity here; rather, a tradition as old as the desert: gavage. On the tree-lined boulevards of Paris, the French word describes the process of fattening up geese to produce foie gras. On the sand-blanketed streets of Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, it describes the process of forcibly funneling sweetened milk and millet porridge down the throats of young girls. In this vast nomadic nation, thin women are an admission of poverty. Voluptuous wives and daughters, by contrast, are displays of a man's wealth, and that's where force-feeding comes in. After campaigns at the national and community level, the brutal practice is on the way out. The latest government survey, in 2001, estimated that about 10 percent of women ages 15-19 were force-fed as young girls, down from 35 percent among 45 to 54-year-olds. But that older generation of women is now battling a variety of illnesses as well as child-bearing complications, doctors and midwives say. "Even getting out of bed is difficult for some of them, never mind working," says Mariame Baba Sy, the head of a government commission on women's issues."

"While it's clear that the practice of force-feeding women is on the decline, the government doesn't keep statistics on obesity, or track if the decline in gavage is translating into a slimmer, healthier population. Indeed, some young girls may just be turning to a less painful way to meet the Mauritanian beauty ideal. "The real gavage is on the point of becoming extinct. But there's a new method," says Ms. Baba Sy. "They take pills, some of them ones you usually give to an animal.""

"After being force-fed as a child, M'haimid now won't touch milk or millet, staples that were pumped into her every two hours, even when she kept vomiting. While she talks proudly about the 22 lbs. she has lost in the past month, she knows that at 264 lbs., she cannot rest. "My husband tells me not to tire myself out with this weight loss. These Mauritanian men, they still love fat women. But my health is more important," she says. Mariam Aicha, a former mayor of Nouakchott, recalls a doctor addressing delegates at a recent conference on health. "He said that, from his professional point of view, it was the thinner the better, but then admitted that as a man, he liked something to hold on to," she says."

"The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last night ordered the force-feeding of a Serbian warlord and senior politician who has been on hunger strike in custody for almost a month. The decision, the first such order since the court was set up more than a decade ago to deal with war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, came after a medical examination of Vojislav Seselj concluded that he might be a fortnight away from dying."

"The tribunal last night told Dutch authorities to force-feed Mr Seselj if there was a risk of him dying. "There is a prevailing interest in continuing with the trial of the accused in order to serve the ends of justice," it said in a statement. "The trial ... should not be undermined by the accused's manipulative behaviour." Mr Seselj, who surrendered to The Hague tribunal more than three years ago, has consistently sought to use the court as a stage to belittle and mock the institution. He went on hunger strike last month to demand unlimited conjugal visits and the opening of frozen bank accounts in the US, he insisted on defending himself at the trial and has hurled abuse at anyone who contradicts him."

"Last night's statement from the tribunal was the first time it had resorted to such orders. It appears anxious to avoid creating another Serbian "martyr" after Milosevic died in its custody this year. Another Serbian warlord, Milan Babic, the former Croatian Serb leader, committed suicide while in custody. The tribunal said it had issued an "urgent order to the Dutch authorities" to ensure Mr Seselj did not die as a result of his hunger strike, now in its 27th day. While stating that any force-feeding deemed necessary for lifesaving purposes should not contradict "compelling internationally accepted standards of medical ethics or binding rules of international law", the judges at the tribunal also noted that the body of law laid down by the European court of human rights did not view force-feeding as "torture, inhuman or degrading treatment if there is a medical necessity to do so ... and if the manner in which the detainee is force-fed is not inhuman or degrading"."

"Whoever...5.(A)knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer; (B)intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, recklessly causes damage; or(C)intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, causes damage and loss."

"Sixteen alleged members of Anonymous were arrested for their role in the PayPal DDoS, and could face more than 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. They were charged with conspiracy and “intentional damage to a protected computer” under the CFAA. The charge of intentional damage to a protected computer carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern District of California, Middle District of Florida, and the District of New Jersey. The Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section also has provided assistance. . The FBI thanks the multiple international, federal, and domestic law enforcement agencies who continue to support these operations."

"The Palestinian foreign minister has called on the international criminal court to immediately open an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and apartheid. Riyad al-Maliki met the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, at the tribunal on Tuesday in The Hague and referred the case, calling it an “important and historic step towards justice for the Palestinian people who continue to suffer ongoing, widespread and systematic crimes”. He said the move was “due to the intensity and the rate and the severity of the crimes against our people” including the targeting of “unarmed protestors in the Gaza Strip”...Bensouda said in April: “Violence against civilians – in a situation such as the one prevailing in Gaza – could constitute crimes... as could the use of civilian presence for the purpose of shielding military activities.” The ICC considers itself a court of last resort, authorised to take on cases when authorities are unable or unwilling to launch prosecutions."

"US national security adviser John Bolton announced... that the US will use "any means necessary" to protect its citizens and allies from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. "United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court""

"Today, I announce that following a thorough, independent and objective assessment of all reliable information available to my Office, the preliminary examination into the Situation in Palestine has concluded with the determination that all the statutory criteria under the Rome Statute for the opening of an investigation have been met. I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the situation in Palestine... In brief, I am satisfied that (i) war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip ("Gaza")...; (ii) potential cases arising from the situation would be admissible; and (iii) there are no substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not serve the interests of justice."

"The US has revoked the visa of the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor in response to her intention to investigate potential war crimes by US soldiers in Afghanistan. A statement from the office of Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian national, said she would continue to pursue her duties for the court, in The Hague, “without fear or favour” and that she would continue to travel to the US. She has not been restricted from visiting the UN headquarters in New York. The US state department does not provide details of individual visa cases but made clear it was implementing the threat last month from the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to impose restrictions on any ICC staff who investigated US or allied personnel. The move marked a hardening of America’s policy of non-cooperation with the ICC, and a downgrading of the role of multilateralism."

"Bensouda’s office said she had an “independent and impartial mandate” under Rome Statute governing the ICC. “The prosecutor and her office will continue to undertake that statutory duty with utmost commitment and professionalism, without fear or favour,” it added. Bensouda makes regular trips to the UN in New York, where she gives briefings to the security council. The UN office is seen as covered by a form of diplomatic immunity... Bensouda asked ICC judges in November 2017 for authorisation to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by the Taliban, Afghan government forces and international forces, including US troops. The investigation is also expected to examine CIA activity in detention centres in Afghanistan. The court has not yet decided whether to launch a full-blown investigation that would cover events after 2002."

"The Trump administration has barred International Criminal Court investigators from entering the United States. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday that the U.S. will start denying visas to members of the ICC who may be investigating alleged war crimes by the U.S. military in Afghanistan. In September, national security adviser John Bolton threatened U.S. sanctions against ICC judges if they continued to investigate alleged war crimes committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan."

"John Bolton, the national security adviser to the U.S. president, held a speech last September in which he wished death on the International Criminal Court... The American security adviser held his speech at a time when The Hague was planning preliminary investigations into American soldiers who had been accused of torturing people in Afghanistan. The American threats against international judges clearly show the new political climate. It is shocking."

"I, along with my Office, execute our mandate under the Rome Statute with utmost independence, objectivity, fairness and professional integrity. We will continue to meet our responsibilities as required by the Rome Statute without fear or favor."

"If the U.S. government had prosecuted Bush administration officials for their war crimes during the “war on terror,” the ICC would not now take jurisdiction. But after Barack Obama said, “Generally speaking, I’m more interested in looking forward than I am in looking backwards,” his administration refused to prosecute those implicated in the torture and willful killings of detainees during the Bush administration."

"Bensouda (the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor since June 2012) found the alleged crimes by the CIA and U.S. military “were not the abuses of a few isolated individuals,” but were “part of approved interrogation techniques in an attempt to extract ‘actionable intelligence’ from detainees.” ... The Pretrial Chamber agreed with Bensouda that there were reasonable grounds to believe that, pursuant to a U.S. policy, members of the CIA had committed war crimes. They included torture and cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity, as well as rape and other forms of sexual violence against those held in detention facilities in the territory of States Parties to the Rome Statute, including Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania."

"After the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) found a reasonable basis to believe that U.S. military and CIA leaders committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, Team Trump threatened to ban ICC judges and prosecutors from the U.S. and warned it would impose economic sanctions on the Court if it launched an investigation... Once again, the Trump administration is threatening the International Criminal Court. Following the Appeals Chamber’s decision, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared, “This is a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution, masquerading as a legal body.” He added, “The United States is not a party to the ICC, and we will take all necessary measures to protect our citizens from this renegade, so-called court.” Pompeo is likely referring to the American Service-Members’ Protection Act... it says that if a U.S. or allied national is detained by the ICC, the U.S. military can use armed force to extricate the individual."

"No one except the world’s most brutal regimes win when the United States tries to impugn and sabotage international institutions established to hold human rights abusers accountable... Countries must fully cooperate with this investigation and not submit to any authoritarian tactics by the Trump administration to sabotage it."

"Today, 17th of March 2023, the International Criminal Court has issued two warrants of arrest in the Ukraine situation for Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation and for Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner of the Russian President's [office] for children’s rights, for the alleged war crimes of deportation of children from Ukrainian occupied territories into the Russian Federation. It is forbidden by international law for occupying powers to transfer civilians from the territory they live in to other territories. Children enjoy special protection under the Geneva Convention. The contents of the warrants are secret in order to protect victims. The ICC attaches great importance to the protection of victims especially children. Nevertheless, the judges of the chamber dealing with this case decided to make the existence of the warrants public in the interest of justice and to prevent the commission of future crimes. This is an important moment in the process of justice before the ICC, the judges have reviewed the information and evidence submitted by the prosecutor, and determined that there are credible allegations against these persons for the alleged crimes. The ICC is doing its part of work. As a court of law, the judges issued arrest warrants. Their execution depends on international cooperation."

"The International Criminal Court (ICC's) mandate to investigate war crimes has thus been hampered by the unwillingness of the world’s sole superpower to commit to the organization.... Recent statements...suggest that the United States is now preparing to go to war against the ICC itself, motivated largely by an effort to silence investigations into alleged American war crimes committed in Afghanistan, as well as alleged crimes committed by Israel during the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip....The unwillingness or inability of U.S. courts to seriously investigate war crimes carried out by American citizens is part of why the ICC mandate in Afghanistan has been viewed as an important effort to bring a minimum level of accountability over the conflict."

"France is... being sued in the International Criminal Court for alleged "crimes against humanity." The case has been brought by leaders of French Polynesia, citing nearly 200 nuclear tests France carried out in the South Pacific, causing thousands to become ill from radioactive fallout... French Polynesia, which is still officially a collectivity of France... was once the principle location of France's nuclear tests. The country's Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls faced 193 such tests between the 1960s and the mid-1990s, according to France 24.... About 150,000 civilians and military personnel were involved in the tests, and a large number later developed serious health problems as a result. Although about 1,000 people have officially filed complaints against the French government, only 20 have received any compensation... France had long denied any wrongdoing in conducting the tests, arguing that it had no bearing on health and the environment. It wasn't until 2010 that the country officially passed legislation allowing for compensation for veterans and civilians who suffered as a result of the experiments."

"The Prosecutor mandated to oversee the Occupied Palestinian Territory for the International Criminal Court (ICC) stated on Wednesday that her office is keeping “a close eye” on the planned demolition of a Palestinian village in the West Bank by Israeli authorities, warning that, according to international law, it could constitute a “war crime”."

"Approximately 190 herders, half of whom are children, live in Khan al-Ahmar, a village located in the outskirts of East Jerusalem. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the village is one of dozens affected by an Israeli settlement reorganization plan... “It bears recalling, as a general matter,” said the ICC Prosecutor, “that extensive destruction of property without military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute.”"

"In September... White House national security adviser John Bolton cited the ongoing investigation and another probe into alleged crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians as signs that the court was "ineffective, unaccountable, and indeed, outright dangerous" in a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington. He rejected "any attempts to constrain the United States," highlighting that the U.S. had "un-signed" the 2002 Rome Statute under former President George W. Bush... "We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us," Bolton argued, adding that "the U.S. will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court." Former judge Christoph Flügge cited these comments and U.S. threats to restrict the visas of ICC judges as one of the reasons he felt the need to resign from his decade-long post on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in a January interview with The Guardian. In March, Pompeo announced "a policy of U.S. visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of U.S. personnel.""

"After the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) found a reasonable basis to believe that U.S. military and CIA leaders committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, Team Trump threatened to ban ICC judges and prosecutors from the U.S. and warned it would impose economic sanctions on the Court if it launched an investigation"

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Thursday reiterated her position that Palestine is a state for the purposes of transferring criminal jurisdiction over its territory to The Hague. Dismissing the legal opinions of several states and dozens of international law scholars, Fatou Bensouda’s view, laid out in great detail in a 60-page document, could pave the way for an investigation of alleged war crimes committed in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. “The Prosecution has carefully considered the observations of the participants and remains of the view that the Court has jurisdiction over the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she wrote."

"On December 20, concluding a five-year preliminary examination of the “situation in Palestine,” Bensouda said she has “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed” in those regions by both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas and other “Palestinian armed groups." At the time, she said that she herself believes the court indeed has jurisdiction to investigate possible war crimes in the regions, but, due to the controversial nature of the case, asked for a definitive ruling on the matter from a pre-trial chamber. Member states and independent experts were invited to weigh on the matter as well. “Such a wide variety of perspectives will afford considerable legitimacy to the Court’s ultimate decision,” Bensouda wrote. In the document she published Thursday, Bensouda reiterated that her position is not about the question of Palestinian statehood per se, but rather about whether the “State of Palestine,” which is a member of the ICC, can convey criminal jurisdiction to the court. In her view, Palestine indeed fulfills all required criteria to do that."

"Palestine is a state and the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction involving its cases, the ICC prosecutor ruled Thursday, which could pave the way for a war crimes investigation against Israel. A three-judge panel of the ICC Pretrial Chamber must now affirm the decision by Fatou Bensouda. Israel has been accused of committing war crimes in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip... Under Bensouda’s 60-page decision, the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction in “territory” that “comprises the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.”"

"On Friday The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) welcomed the news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reiterated her position that Palestine is a state for the purposes of transferring criminal jurisdiction over its territory to The Hague, Wafa News Agency reported. Bensouda confirmed her position that the ICC has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem."

"Although the International Criminal Court considered and dismissed possible criminal charges against Tony Blair’s UK Government regarding the invasion and military occupation of Iraq, the actual crime, of invading and militarily occupying a country which had posed no threat to the national security of the invader, was ignored, and the conclusion was that “the situation did not appear to meet the required threshold of the Statute” (which was only “Willful killing or inhuman treatment of civilians” and which ignored the real crime, which was “aggressive war” or “the crime of aggression” — the crime for which Nazis had been hanged at Nuremberg). Furthermore, no charges whatsoever against the U.S. Government (the world’s most frequent and most heinous violator of international law) were considered. In other words: the International Criminal Court is subordinate to, instead of applicable to, the U.S. regime. Just like Adolf Hitler had repeatedly made clear that, to him, all nations except Germany were dispensable and only Germany wasn’t, Barack Obama repeatedly said that “The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation”, which likewise means that every other nation is “dispensable.” The criminal International Criminal Court accepts this, and yet expects to be respected."

"A war crimes complaint has been filed against President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump adviser Jared Kushner in the International Criminal Court (ICC).... The complaint, filed by Middlesex University law professor William Schabas on June 30 on behalf of four Palestinians who live in the West Bank, states “there is credible evidence” that Trump, Netanyahu and Kushner “are complicit in acts that may amount to war crimes relating to the transfer of populations into occupied territory and the annexation of the sovereign territory of the State of Palestine.” Under article 15 of the ICC’s Rome Statute, any individual, group or organization can bring a complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor. ... Schabas’ complaint comes on the heels of unusual moves last month from the Trump administration, which declared a “national emergency” in June in an effort to shield U.S. and Israeli officials from ICC accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity."

"Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute, thereby becoming a member of the States Parties of the International Criminal Court. The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) filed an amicus brief on March 16, 2020, urging the ICC to confirm its jurisdiction over Palestine. IADL bureau member Richard Harvey wrote: The ICC’s normative power and legal authority will be strengthened by confirming its jurisdiction over the State of Palestine, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, and opening an investigation into the Palestinian situation. Thereby the equal rights of all peoples to justice for international crimes will receive much-needed affirmation.... Sixty-seven ICC member countries representing regions throughout the world issued a joint statement expressing their “unwavering support for the Court as an independent and impartial judicial institution.”"

"As States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), we reconfirm our unwavering support for the Court as an independent and impartial judicial institution. In line with the 11 June press release of the President of the Assembly of States Parties, we reiterate our commitment to uphold and defend the principles and values enshrined in the Rome Statute and to preserve its integrity undeterred by any measures or threats against the Court, its officials and those cooperating with it. We remain committed to an international rules-based order."

"The president of the international criminal court has accused the US of acting unlawfully by threatening an economic and legal offensive against the institution following a decision by judges to open an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan... “This is unlawful … In any liberal democracy, or even not so liberal democracies, you pick up a statute book and it will tell you that it is against the law to coerce a court of law in order to have justice the way you want it,” Eboe-Osuji said in an interview. “Even in the US itself, the law forbids that form of conduct.”"

"If international finance Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and thereby the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!"

"A punitive expedition must come against the Jews in Russia. A punitive expedition which will provide the same fate for them that every murderer and criminal must expect. Death sentence and execution. The Jews in Russia must be killed. They must be exterminated root and branch."

"[If the British won the war] the German people, man, woman, and child would be exterminated [ausgerottet]. . . . The Jew would be wading in blood. Funeral pyres would be built on which the Jews would burn us... we want to prevent this. Hence it should be rather the Jews who fry, rather they who should burn, they who should starve, they who should be exterminated."

"Who should die, the Germans or the Jews? You know what your eternal enemy and opponent intends for you. There is only one instrument against his plans for annihilation."

"By unleashing this war, world Jewry completely misjudged the forces at its disposal. Now it is suffering a gradual process of annihilation that it had intended for us and that it would have unleashed against us without hesitation if it had had the power to do so. It is now perishing as a result of its own law: An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth. In this historical dispute every Jew is our enemy, whether he vegetates in a Polish ghetto orscrapes out his parasitic existence in Berlin or Hamburg, or blows the trumpets of war in New York or Washington. Due to their birth and race, all Jews belong to an international conspiracy against National Socialist Germany. They wish for its defeat and annihilation and do everything in their power to help bring [them] about."

"Comrades, believe me. I’m not painting too grim a picture. It is bitter for me, bitterly serious. The Jew is the great danger to humanity. If we don’t succeed in exterminating him [ihn auszurotten], then we will lose the war. It’s not enough to bring him someplace [ihn irgend wohin zu bringen]. That would be as if one wanted to lock up a louse somewhere in a cage. (Laughter) They would find a way out and again they come out from under and make you itch again. (Laughter) You have to annihilate [vernichten] them you have to exterminate them [for what] they have done to humanity . . . (interrupted by ongoing applause)."

"If we lose the war, you [Germans] will be annihilated [vernichtet]. . . . This is not the Second World War. This a great race war. It’s about whether the German and Aryan will survive or if the Jew will rule the world, and that is why we are fighting abroad."

"[W]e had the moral right vis-à-vis our people to annihilate this people [the Jews] which wanted to annihilate us."

"These people called Inyenzis are now on their way to attack us.... I am telling you, and I am not lying, it is...they only want to exterminate us. They only want to exterminate us: they have no other aim... Are we really waiting till they come to exterminate us?"

"I think we are fast approaching what I would call dawn … dawn, because—for the young people who may not know— dawn is when the day breaks. Thus when day breaks, when that day comes, we will be heading for a brighter future, for the day when we will be able to say “There isn’t a single Inyenzi left in the country.” The term Inyenzi will then be forever forgotten, and disappear for good."

"The day of judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jews will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say ‘O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'"

"[The Jews] suffer from a mental disorder, because they are thieves and aggressors.… They want to present themselves to the world as if they have rights, but in fact, they are foreign bacteria – a microbe unparalleled in the world. It’s not me who says this. The Koran itself says they have no parallel: “You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews.” May He [Allah] annihilate this filthy people who have neither religion nor conscience. I condemn whoever believes in normalizing relations with them, whoever supports sitting down with them, and whoever believes they are human beings. They are not human beings. They are not people. They have no religion, no conscience, and no moral values."

"Why did France, in 1253, expel and uproot the Jewish entity, which was represented by the ghetto? Why did they expel them? Because they sucked the blood of the French, because they shed the blood of the French, slaughtered them, stole their money, and conspired against them. At the end of the day, the French had no choice but to expel them in 1253. [Al-Zahar goes on to make the same assertion about the expulsion of Jews from other medieval European countries, from ancient Egypt, and from Germany under Hitler]... The series of expulsions continues to this day. Blood continues to be shed, martyrs continue to fall, our sons continue to hoist the banner high, and Allah willing, their expulsion from Palestine in its entirety is certain to come. We are no weaker or less honorable than the peoples that expelled and annihilated the Jews. The day we expel them is drawing near.... We have learned the lesson—there is no place for you among us, and you have no future among the nations of the world. You are headed to annihilation."

"The [Jews] are brought in droves to Palestine so that the Palestinians—and the Islamic nation behind them—will have the honor of annihilating the evil of this gang.... All the predators, all the birds of prey, all the dangerous reptiles and insects, and all the lethal bacteria are far less dangerous than the Jews.... In just a few years, all the Zionists and all the settlers will realize that their arrival in Palestine was for the purpose of the great massacre, by means of which Allah wants to relieve humanity of their evil."

"Child host (Rawan): “Tulin, why do you want to be a police officer? Like who?”"

"Girl (Tulin): “Like my uncle...”"

"Child host: “OK, so what does a policeman do?”"

"Nahul (adult in giant bee costume): “He catches thieves and people who make trouble.”"

"Child host: “And shoots Jews. Right?”"

"Girl: “Yes.”"

"Child host: “You want to be like him?”"

"[Girl nods]"

"Child host: “Allah willing, when you grow up.”"

"Girl: “So that I can shoot Jews.”"

"[Nahul the bee cheers]"

"Child host: “All of them? All of them?”"

"Child host: “Good.”"

"[G]o out and slaughter and kill Jews... [Palestinians] must attack every Jew who exists in the globe, slaughter and kill them."

"Upon conquering the region of Sinjar in Wilāyat Nīnawā, the Islamic State faced a population of Yazidis, a pagan minority existent for ages in regions of Iraq and Shām. Their continual existence to this day is a matter that Muslims should question as they will be asked about it on Judgement Day."

"Israel "must be wiped off the map""

"We know that the harming or killing of men and women is wrong, and we are reluctant consciously to do what we know to be wrong. But when particular men and women [and we must add, sadly, children] are thought of merely as representatives of a class, which has previously been defined as evil and personified in the shape of a devil, then the reluctance to hurt or murder disappears."

"It was impossible that hundreds of thousands of people should commit so many crimes unless they had been incited to do so .... He asked how, in those circumstances, the inciters and organizers of the crime should be allowed to escape punishment, when they were the ones really responsible for the atrocities committed. The peoples of the world would indeed be puzzled if the Committee, basing its decision on purely political arguments of doubtful validity, were to state that the instigators of genocide, those who incited others to commit the concrete acts of genocide, were to remain unpunished."

"Genocide is the foremost cause of preventable death and suffering in the last hundred years. Governmental incitement and use of hate language is a recognized predictor of genocide, and incitement to commit genocide is a crime in violation of the Genocide Convention. Indifference to incitement and inaction by the outside world are recognized predictors and risk factors forgenocide. Denial of previous genocides is another risk factor contributing to future genocides."

"[F]ree speech doctrine seeks to protect individuals against state repression, but incitement to genocide is speech in the service of the state, since genocide is a major organizational feat that so far has generally been carried out by state employees, albeit often aided by civilians."

"Speakers charged with international speech crimes have generally articulated the most extreme animus and conscious intent to harm, and gone beyond mere insult, libel and slander to incite others to commit mass atrocities. Moreover, their utterances usually occur in a context of an armed conflict, genocide and a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population."

"The propagandists who lent themselves to this evil mission of instigation and incitement are more guilty than the credulous and callous minions who headed firing squads or operated the gas chambers."

"Hitler's "prophecy" of January 30, 1939, comprised the core of Nazism’s narrative of World War II. A historical subject called "international Jewry" had launched World War II with the intent of bringing about the "Bolshevization" of the world. It would fail. Instead, Nazi Germany would retaliate for this aggression and annihilate the Jews. It would wage a "war" against the Jews in response to the "war" the Jews had started. This reversed logic of self-righteous retaliation constituted the core of Nazi antisemitic propaganda between 1939 and 1945."

"The Nazis were explicit about the status of their victims. They were Untermenschen— subhumans— and as such were excluded from the system of moral rights and obligations that bind humankind together. It’s wrong to kill a person, but permissible to exterminate a rat… . Jews were the main victims of this genocidal project… . Jewish people posed a deadly threat to all that was noble in humanity. [These] putative enemies of civilization were represented as parasitic organisms— as leeches, lice, bacteria, or vectors of contagion… . Sometimes the Nazis thought of their enemies as vicious, bloodthirsty predators rather than parasites."

"It was Dietrich, the Poisoned Pen, who led the press propaganda phases of the program which incited hatred and conditioned public opinion for mass persecutions on political, racial, and religious grounds. Heretofore, Dietrich’s role has been ignored by historians, but actually he, more than anyone else, was responsible for presenting to the German people the justification for liquidating the Jews."

"It is thus clear that a well thought- out, oft- repeated, persistent campaign to arouse the hatred of the German people against Jews was fostered and directed by the press department and its press chief, Dietrich… . The only reason for this campaign was to blunt the sensibilities of the people regarding the campaign of persecution and murder which was being carried out…"

"The eighth commandment’s dictate, “Hutus should stop having mercy on Tutsis,” was explained in graphic terms by one of the authors of this poisonous creed, Leon Mugesera, a friend of [Rwandan President Juvénal] Habyarimana: “We the people are obliged to take responsibility to wipe out this scum"."

"The propaganda campaign achieved its goals with respect to both the Bosnian Serb and the [non-Serbs]. While influencing the Bosnian Serb population to perceive and treat the non-Serb inhabitants as enemies and preparing the Bosnian Serb population for the crimes that were committed later, it also instilled fear among the non-Serb population and created an atmosphere of terror, which contributed to the subsequent mass exodus of non-Serbs."

"I don't think there was any overall Reich policy to kill the Jews. If there was, they would have been killed and there would not be now so many millions of survivors. And believe me, I am glad for every survivor that there was."

"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. For quite six years the English admirers of Hitler contrived not to learn of the existence of Dachau and Buchenwald. And those who are loudest in denouncing the German concentration camps are often quite unaware, or only very dimly aware, that there are also concentration camps in Russia. Huge events like the Ukraine famine of 1933, involving the deaths of millions of people, have actually escaped the attention of the majority of English russophiles. Many English people have heard almost nothing about the extermination of German and Polish Jews during the present war. Their own antisemitism has caused this vast crime to bounce off their consciousness. In nationalist thought there are facts which are both true and untrue, known and unknown. A known fact may be so unbearable that it is habitually pushed aside and not allowed to enter into logical processes, or on the other hand it may enter into every calculation and yet never be admitted as a fact, even in one's own mind."

"The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims. They block investigations of the crimes, and continue to govern until driven from power by force, when they flee into exile. There they remain with impunity, like Pol Pot or Idi Amin, unless they are captured and a tribunal is established to try them."

"Following the physical destruction of a people and their material culture, memory is all that is left and is targeted as the last victim. Complete annihilation of a people requires the banishment of recollection and suffocation of remembrance. Falsification, deception and half-truths reduce what was to what might have been or perhaps what was not at all.""

"[In] the act of denying this historical truth [of the Holocaust], the deniers denigrate the Jewish people and memories of historical occurrences, suggest that those who accept the truth of the Holocaust lie, and relativize the suffering incurred. Thus, the act of Holocaust denial is not simply an expression of belief in what did or did not happen historically, given that the Holocaust has been historically verified. It is an act of vilification that denigrates and harms."

"Negationism means the denial of historical crimes against humanity. It is not a reinterpretation of known facts, but the denial of known facts. The term negationism has gained currency as the name of a movement to deny a specific crime against humanity, the Nazi genocide on the Jews in 1941–45, also known as the holocaust (Greek: complete burning) or the Shoah (Hebrew: disaster). Negationism is mostly identified with the effort at re-writing history in such a way that the fact of the Holocaust is omitted."

"To this day, the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. This is strange, since the historical evidence of what happened is plentiful. Western observers like the US ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau, wrote detailed reports about what was being done - including the telling statement of Mehmed Talaat Pasha, the Interior Minister, that all the Armenians had to perish because 'those who were innocent today might be guilty tomorrow'. Western missionaries too wrote harrowing accounts of what they witnessed. Their testimony formed an important part of the wartime report on 'The Treatment of the Armenians' compiled by Viscount Bryce, who had also investigated the German atrocities in Belgium in 1914. It might conceivably be argued that the citizens of Christian powers already - or later to be - hostile to the Turks had an interest in misrepresenting them. The Young Turks themselves insisted that they were merely retaliating against a pro-Russian fifth column. That was also the line taken by the Sultan in his reply to Pope Benedict XV's intercession on behalf of the Armenians. Yet agents of the Turks' own wartime allies gave the lie to these claims. Rafael de Nogales, a South American mercenary who served as Inspector General of the Turkish forces in Armenia, reported that the Governor-General of the province had ordered the local authorities in Adil Javus 'to exterminate all Armenian males of twelve years of age and over'. A German schoolteacher at Aleppo was appalled by what he saw of the 'extermination of the Armenian nation' and wrote urging his own government to 'put a stop to the brutality'."

"The discourse in the Muslim world about Jews is utterly shocking. Not only is there Holocaust denial—there’s Holocaust denial that then asserts that we will do it for real if given the chance. The only thing more obnoxious than denying the Holocaust is to say that it should have happened; it didn’t happen, but if we get the chance, we will accomplish it. There are children’s shows in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere that teach five-year-olds about the glories of martyrdom and about the necessity of killing Jews."

"My grandfather’s often-uttered phrase echoes in my ears: "There’s no question the Nazis were evil monsters, but I blame the bystanders." My grandfather felt profoundly betrayed by the people who had a voice and did not use it. He understood the existential evil of the Nazis, but felt most betrayed by the neighbors, the shop keepers and the friends who stood silent. He never accepted that humanity was unwilling to help."

"This case is about the first instance in which those who were appointed to keep the peace carried out attacks in cold blood. Yet, the Uttar Pradesh government has delayed the matter."

"We are looking at the possibility of arguing that the deaths amounted to custodial deaths since they occurred when the victims were in the custody of the PAC. If the court accepts the argument that these were custody deaths, the onus will shift to the accused to prove that they are not guilty."

"The fight against communalisation requires drastic changes in the policy of recruitment, training and syllabi of the police. The percentage of minorities, especially Muslims, is only 5 to 6 per cent in most States. I can say from 30 years of experience in the Police Department that this is the result of a deep and inherent communal bias in the leadership of the police. There are hundreds of government directives to recruit minorities into the department, but these are often flouted. Unless we reserve some seats for minorities, their quota will never be filled."

"To you I'm a thief, to my mother, a son, to the Triads I'm a hero."

"14K. First generation Chinese-American, tenth generation Triad. His father sent him to business school, and he's the only man in here who holds a degree from MIT. He's killed four men off the track."

"Looks like you guys should put more "try" in "Triad"."

"The Blairs pay full tax on all their earnings. And have never used offshore schemes either to hide transactions or avoid tax."

"[ South Dakota and Nevada are among the U.S. states that have] adopted financial secrecy laws that rival those of w:offshore jurisdictions"

"The ability to hide money has a direct impact on your life... it affects your child's access to education, access to health, access to a home"

"We're able to see how this parallel universe really works in a way we've never been able to before"

"We're talking about presidents, we're talking about prime ministers. We're talking about rock stars. We're talking about porn stars and people that have been convicted of crimes all over the world"

"[We would] crack down on the unfair schemes that give big corporations a leg up. It’s time to deal in hardworking Americans and ensure the super-wealthy pay their fair share"

"I know of no word in the English language other than massacre which better describes the wanton slaughter of thousands of defenseless men, women and children."

"The spread of crack is just a follow-up to massive government drug peddling that began at the end of the decade of the 1960s. The white House is the “rock house,” meaning the U.S. political administration is behind the whole drug trade. The U.S. government has actually been smuggling drugs into this country for many years aboard CIA and military planes to use as a chemical warfare weapon against Black America. These drugs were mostly heroin imported from the so-called “Golden Triangle” of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. But with the introduction of , there was no need to import drugs into the country at the same extent as before, because it could be chemically prepared in a mainland lab, and then distributed immediately. Crack created a whole new generation of drug clients and customers for the drug dealers; it was cheap and highly addictive."

"Crack and other drugs are a huge source of profits for the government, and it keeps the Black community passive and politically indifferent. That is the main reason why we cannot depend upon the police force and or the government to stop the drug traffic or help the victims hooked on drugs. They are pushing the drugs to beat us down, on the one hand, but the State is also made more powerful because of the phony “” which allows police state measures in Black and oppressed communities, and because of millions of dollars in government monetary appropriations made of “law enforcement” agencies, who supposedly are putting down the traffic in drugs. But they never go after the bankers or the big business pharmaceutical companies who fund the drug trade, just the street level dealers, who are usually poor Blacks."

"Unemployment is another reason that drug trafficking is so prevalent in our communities. Poor people will desperately look for anything to make money with, even the very drugs that are destroying out communities. But if people have no jobs or income, drugs look very lucrative and the best way out of the situation. In fact, the drug economy has become the only income in many poor Black communities, and the only thing that some people perceive will lift them out of lives of desperate poverty. Clearly, decent jobs at a union wage are part of the answer to ending drug trafficking in our community, rather than a dependence on police, courts and the State. The cops are not our friends or ally, and must be exposed for their part in protecting the trade, rather than suppressing it."

"Only the community can stop drug trafficking, and it is our responsibility however you look at it. After all, those junkies are our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends; they are no strangers. We must organize to save their lives and the life of our community."

"What about the other parts of the world? The criminologist Gary LaFree and the sociologist Orlando Patterson have shown that the relationship between crime and democratization is an inverted U. Established democracies are relatively safe places, as are established autocracies, but emerging democracies and semi-democracies (also called anocracies) are often plagued by violent crime and vulnerable to civil war, which sometimes shade into each other. The most crime-prone regions in the world today are Russia, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Latin America. Many of them have corrupt police forces and judicial systems which extort bribes out of criminals and victims alike and dole out protection to the highest bidder. Some, like Jamaica (33.7), Mexico (11.1), and Colombia (52.7), are racked by drug-funded militias that operate beyond the reach of the law. Over the past four decades, as drug trafficking has increased, their rates of homicide have soared. Others, like Russia (29.7) and South Africa (69), may have undergone decivilizing processes in the wake of the collapse of their former governments. The decivilizing process has also racked many of the countries that switched from tribal ways to colonial rule and then suddenly to independence, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea (15.2)."

"‘Myn housbond is so ful of Ialousye, That but ye wayte wel and been privee, I woot right wel I nam but deed,’ quod she."

"It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,— Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!— It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men."

"... Then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; ..."

"He did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on his hands When they found him with the dead, The poor dead woman whom he loved, And murdered in her bed."

"I saw through my father’s eyes ‘the bravest man I ever hanged’, the soldier who had come home from the South African War and found his wife unfaithful. He carried his little daughter in his arms up the stairs of his North London home, and cut her throat, and then tore down the decorations which had been put up for his return, and took a Union Jack from them and placed it over the child’s body. Then he went to the police and gave himself up. They asked why he had done it. ‘So that she would not grow up like her mother,’ he replied."

"There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined. But the Penal Code makes the convenient distinction of premeditation. We are living in the era of premeditation and the perfect crime. Our criminals are no longer helpless children who could plead love as their excuse."

"Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion."

"Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion."

"In Ida's shady vale a bull appeared, White as the snow, the fairest of the herd; A beauty spot of black there only rose, Betwixt his equal horns and ample brows; The love and wish of all the Cretan cows. The queen beheld him as his head he rear'd; And envied ev'ry leap he gave the herd. A secret fire she nourished in her breast; And hated ev'ry heifer he caress'd. A story known, and known for true, I tell; Nor Crete, though lying, can the truth conceal. She cut him grass (so much can love command) She strok'd, she fed him with her royal hand; Was pleas'd in pastures with the herd to roam, And Minos by the bull was overcome. Cease, Queen, with gems t'adorn thy beauteous brows, The monarch of thy heart no jewel knows. Nor in thy glass compose thy looks and eyes; Secure from all thy charms thy lover lies: Yet trust thy mirror, when it tells thee true, Thou art no heifer to allure his view. Soon wouldst thou quit thy royal diadem To thy fair rivals; to be horned like them. If Minos please, no lover seek to find; If not, at least seek one of human kind. The wretched queen the Cretan court forsakes; In woods and wilds her habitation makes; She curses ev'ry beauteous cow she sees; “Ah, why dost thou my lord and master please! And think'st, ungrateful creature as thou art, With frisking awkardly to gain his heart.” She said; and straight commands with frowning look, To put her, undeserving, to the yoke. Or feigns some holy rites of sacrifice, And sees her rival's death with joyful eyes; Then when the bloody priest has done his part, Pleas'd, in her hand she holds the beating heart; Nor from a scornful taunt can scarce refrain, Go, fool, and strive to please my love again.” Now she would be Europa.—Io now; (One bare a bull, and one was made a cow.) Yet she at last her brutal bliss obtain'd, And in a wooden cow the bull sustained; Fill'd with his seed, accomplish'd her desire, Till, by his form, the son betray'd the sire."

"Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If anyone has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill him and kill it along with him. I (Ikrimah) said: I asked him (Ibn Abbas): What offence can be attributed to the animal? He replied: I think he (the Prophet) disapproved of its flesh being eaten when such a thing had been done to it."

"'Asim reported from Abu Razin on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas saying: There is no prescribed punishment for one who has sexual intercourse with an animal."

"The volumes of fatwas devote pages and pages to an even more exotic subject—namely, what the believer should do with an animal which has been used for intercourse. ... While others may be a bit squeamish in discussing such questions, and a little surprised at encountering them in ‘religious’ books, the ulema have no qualms about discussing such matters and laying down the law on them as much as on any other matter. They regard it as one of their functions to do so."

"While I have seen few museum pieces for sale in Pakistan, there are a number of artifacts on the market that have recently been dug up in Afghanistan. Mujahideen commanders in all parts of the country are involved in this illicit activity, most notably in the east near the Hadda museum. An important Buddhist pilgrimage site in the second through seventh centuries, Hadda has been totally stripped of its exquisite clay sculptures in the Gandhara syle, which combines Bactrian, Greco-Roman, and Indian elements. Looted artifacts from Faryab and Balkh provinces in the north allegedly include jewel-encrusted golden crowns and statues, orbs (locally described as "soccer balls") studded with emeralds and all manner of exotic ephemera, as well as fluted marble columns similar to those found at Ai Khanoum in the northeastern province of Takhar. These are being carted away to embellish the houses of the newly powerful, according to witnesses."

"You have to remember that the items that have been stolen from the Museum or have been plundered, are not owned by only one person and usually not only by Afghans. It is usually one or two Afghans with five or six Pakistani partners. And the underground stolen art business in Pakistan is just as well organised and it is just as dangerous as the drug business. In fact, I have heard some people say that as far as the end-result is concerned, it’s even more profitable than drugs."

"Our sailing ships like common-sewers we use, And through our distant colonies diffuse The draught of dungeons, and the stench of stews; Whom, when their home-bred honesty is lost, We disembogue on some far Indian coast, Thieves, pandars, palliards, sins of every sort; Those are the manufactures we export."

"Confronted with criticism by the United Nations and other international bodies, Pakistan vowed to prevent kidnapping for the purpose of converting members of religious minorities to Islam and to regard conversions of minors forcibly separated from their parents as legally invalid. The Shahdadpur verdict goes in a different direction."

"…blasphemy allegations are increasingly employed as avenues for extortion. Organized entities often manufacture charges to extract financial gain or seize property, leaving both Muslim and non-Muslim victims with limited avenues for recourse, as defending against such allegations frequently invites further persecution."

"There is a new business in Pakistan, and it plays with the life and death of innocent people. It goes like this: hackers post online contents blaspheming Islam in the name of persons who do not even know what is going on. Then they report their victims to the police, who arrest them based on the fabricated blasphemy charges. At this stage, the hackers offer to retract the allegations and tell the police they were based on a “mistake” if the victim pays a significant sum of money. If [the] victims do not pay, [then the] cases go on and they face blasphemy charges which may lead to the death penalty under Pakistani law."

"The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) report, “Caught in the Crossfire: Civilians, Security and the Crisis of Justice in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Merged Districts” (Lahore: HRCP, 2025), reads like a tragic script for a play the state insists on performing over and over again. The title, “Caught in the Crossfire,” is apt: civilians are literally and figuratively trapped between militants who kill in the name of religion and a government that kills in the name of security. The statistics alone are chilling. In July 2025, 82 militant attacks nationwide—two-thirds of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. By September, 45 attacks in the province killed 54 people, while “security forces reportedly carried out 22 operations… killing 88 militants” but also 24 civilians. The arithmetic of counterterrorism in Pakistan has always been brutal: militants dead, civilians dead, justice dead."

"Following the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, Israel launched an intensive military campaign in the Gaza Strip... is still underway... Israel's onslaught on Gaza includes mass killing... in direct attacks and through creating catastrophic living conditions that... raise the massive death toll; serious bodily or mental harm to the entire population... large-scale destruction of infrastructure; destruction of the social fabric, including educational institutions and... cultural sites; mass arrests and abuse of detainees in Israeli prisons, which have... become torture camps for thousands of Palestinians held without trial; mass forced displacement, including attempts at and making the latter an official war goal; and an assault on Palestinian identity through the deliberate destruction of refugee camps and attempts to undermine the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (). The outcome... is severe, and at least in part, irreparable, harm to more than 2 million people..."

"...Israel's policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes... with statements by senior... politicians and... commanders about the goals... leads to the... conclusion that Israel is taking... action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip."

"Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

"Since the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide... genocide has... been recognized as one of the gravest crimes in international law, involving acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

"Both morally and legally, genocide cannot be justified... including as an act of self-defense."

"[G]enocidal acts are various actions intended to bring... destruction of a distinct group, as part of a deliberate, coordinated effort by a ruling authority."

"The current onslaught on the Palestinian people, including... Gaza... [is] in the context of... [>]seventy years in which Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime on... Palestinians... its most extreme form... in the Gaza Strip."

"As part of broader... settler-colonialism... from the early stages of Zionist settlement, the Israeli regime works to ensure Jewish supremacy over Palestinians — economically, politically, socially, and culturally."

"[T]he apartheid and occupation regime has institutionalized mechanisms of violent control, demographic engineering, discrimination, and fragmentation of the Palestinian collective."

"These foundations... made it possible to launch a genocidal attack on the Palestinians... after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023."

"The atrocious attack, aimed mostly at civilians, included many war crimes and likely... crimes against humanity."

"For Israelis, the... attack... generated a degree of anxiety and feeling of existential threat that led to profound social and political changes... These instigated a shift in... policy... from repression and control to destruction and annihilation."

"The Israeli genocide... in the Gaza Strip... [is] violence... implemented in its most extreme and lethal form. Yet the assault... cannot be separated from... escalating violence... inflicted... on Palestinians in the , including , and within Israel."

"[T]roops are operating... in the other areas, under the same commanders and political leadership. The practices... often reflect the... logic applied in Gaza: total disregard for human life, severe harm to innocents, widespread destruction of residential areas and living conditions, ... flouting... moral obligations and international law. ...[M]any senior military and political figures are threatening... the level of force... used in Gaza against Palestinians in other areas. In these areas..., lethal crimes are... committed... with no accountability... The violence and destruction... is intensifying... with no effective domestic or international mechanism acting to halt them. As a result... crimes are becoming normalized in the eyes of soldiers, commanders, politicians, media figures and Israelis..."

"Given the... escalation in... violence against Palestinians in all these areas — which... includes... grave crimes — we must call for an immediate end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and warn of clear and imminent danger that... genocide will not remain confined to Gaza."

"means "in the image [of God]"... from... "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him" (Genesis 1:27). It reflects the principle of the inherent value of all human life. This moral foundation has guided the organization's work..."

"Based on the information we collect and the resulting conclusions, we are committed to presenting unequivocal positions and demands regarding the state of human rights violations and the actions required to protect these rights."

"In 2021, joined many others, first and foremost Palestinian organizations and activists, who for decades... identified the Israeli regime as... apartheid... We wrote: ...the Israeli regime implements laws, practices and state violence designed to cement the supremacy of one group — Jews — over another — Palestinians. A key method... is engineering space differently for each group."

"[W]hen the State of Israel was established... [i]t... had a clear objective... to cement the supremacy of the Jewish group across... territory under Israeli control. The main tool... the establishment of an apartheid regime (one that, unlike... South Africa, has never been formally declared as such and... has been consistently denied...) This regime is designed to cement... supremacy... through demographic engineering, separation, shaping public discourse, indoctrination, militarism, and... use of force and violence."

"[T]he core objective... The... Israeli system — political, military, public, and legal — is structured to uphold Jewish supremacy, relying on a false pretense of... rule of law while... rights of... Palestinian subjects are... unprotected."

"As a human rights organization... our duty [is] to analyze human rights violations... in context, taking into account the regime... and its guiding political logic."

"[S]ince October 2023... we have gathered eyewitness testimonies and documented hundreds of incidents involving unprecedented and extreme violence... throughout the territory Israel controls, while key politicians and... commanders... openly declared the policies... Countless evidence... reflects the horrifying transformation of the... Israeli system in its treatment of Palestinians."

"At , Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians... work side by side, guided by... defending human rights... [as] a basic human and moral obligation. ...[A] discriminatory apartheid regime ...classifies some ...as privileged ...because we are Jewish, and others as undeserving of ...protection ...because we are Palestinian. Together, we fight for the right we all have to live... without discrimination, violent repression and annihilation."

"Israel is intensifying its brutal, merciless assault... [I]t is our duty to bear witness to... [what] we and many others have documented and investigated. It is our duty to name the reality... to recount it, and to stand with... victims."

"We call on the Israeli public and... the international community to... to put an immediate stop to Israel's assault on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and across all areas under Israeli control, using every means available under international law."

"Genocide can rarely be carried out without consent, support, and legitimization from within the perpetrating group. Yet... societies that perpetrate genocide often do not recognize themselves as such."

"Usually, the genocidal campaign is perceived by its direct perpetrators, and understood by the broader public, as a legitimate act of self-defense in response to... existential threat."

"[R]ecognizing that genocide is taking place against part of a group or in a specific location is... a grave warning: it signals the potential expansion of similar patterns of violence to other segments of the group or... other areas."

"The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (which came into force in 1951) defines... acts... considered genocidal if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group: killing members... causing serious bodily or mental harm... deliberately inflicting conditions... calculated to bring about the group's... destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births... and forcibly transferring children... to another group. ...[I]nternational tribunals that adjudicated... Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia... included acts of widespread sexual and gender-based violence. Thus... the intentional destruction... may, and... tends to occur through multiple forms of action, with direct killing being only one..."

"[T]he centrality of intent to destroy... is often framed in terms of ' — the mental... intent to destroy the group in whole or in part — and ' — the physical acts... as... in the Convention. Genocide requires a specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy the group in whole or in part..."

"There is an inherent gap between the legal and the historical analysis of genocide. The legal definition is narrow... shaped in large part by... interests of the states whose representatives drafted it. From a historical perspective, violent destruction of groups... has occurred... many of which do not align with the stringent legal definition. The high threshold... and... dominant interpretations... by international tribunals have led to... genocide... typically recognized only after a significant portion of the... group has... been destroyed and... suffered irreparable harm."

"[W]hile the legal debate over whether Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip is... important and necessary, there is a critical gap between the amount of time it will take the formal legal institutions deliberating... chiefly the International Court of Justice, to issue binding decisions, and the reality of society in Gaza being destroyed before our eyes."

"[T]he international community either remains passive or actively supports Israel's crimes."

"This report relies on the legal definition of genocide as outlined in the UN Convention, but adopts a broader analytical framework, drawing on 's original conception as well as historical and sociological research..."

"...Israel has imposed unprecedented restrictions on access to Gaza by organizations and media outlets, deepening its isolation from the world. B'Tselem's field researchers in the Gaza Strip, who managed to escape... continued collecting testimonies from hundreds of residents... despite the ongoing challenge..."

"[D]ata... not directly investigated and verified by B'Tselem was drawn from... publications and reports by human rights organizations, humanitarian agencies, UN offices and bodies, investigations and reports by reputable media outlets committed to journalistic ethics and data verification standards, expert... internationally recognized professionals, and primary sources... as testimonies and verified documentation from the field. In addition, we drew on... scholarly literature that has examined... genocide... throughout history.., as well as... researchers who have documented widespread practices... in the... war in Gaza and published... in recognized academic journals."

"With regard to the number of Palestinians killed and injured in the Gaza Strip, this report relies on figures published by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. These figures are widely considered reliable... Moreover, they are generally regarded as conservative..."

"[T]his section reflects only a partial picture of the scale of harm to... Palestinian life... under Israeli control. We estimate that years of documentation and research will be required to fully assess the scope of destruction that continues... and the long-term consequences... Palestinians... are expected to face in the future."

"Nearly two years of... onslaught has left most of the Gaza Strip in ruins. As of mid-July 2025, estimated... 58,026 fatalities, the overwhelming majority... civilians... not participating in... hostilities. The... wounded... approximately 138,520. All hospitals... destroyed or... partially functioning... the same is true of the vast majority of civilian infrastructure. ...Since ...early March 2025, hundreds ...have been killed or wounded every day: from airstrikes, shooting and shelling... malnutrition or a lethal combination of hunger, diseases.., contaminated water and a devastated healthcare system."

"This reality... cannot be justified or explained as an attempt to destroy the rule of Hamas or its military capabilities in Gaza."

"Statements by senior Israeli decision-makers... have expressed genocidal intent throughout."

"Genocidal intent was also expressed in numerous statements made by Israeli military officers... soldiers... military and security experts, and... Israeli media and cultural figures. These voices articulated a worldview... according to which... most... Gaza[ns] are... responsible for [October 7] crimes... or... support them."

"Accordingly, for many... the aspiration to destroy... Hamas and... to prevent future attacks... were translated into targeting the entire population of the Gaza Strip."

"The total dehumanization of Gaza's residents has led to a perception, still widely held among Jewish-Israelis, that their lives are of negligible value compared to Israel's national goals, if not worthless altogether."

"Israel's conduct... in the Gaza Strip... has included... massive, indiscriminate bombardment of population centers; starvation of more than two million... as a method of warfare; attempts at ethnic cleansing and formally including the ethnic cleansing... in the war aims; systematic destruction of hospitals and other medical facilities... entitled to... protection under international law... [and] the vast majority of civilian infrastructure... unprecedented killing of medical personnel, aid workers, persons in charge of... public order, and journalists. Israel's claim that Hamas fighters or members of... armed Palestinian groups were... in medical or civilian facilities, often... without... evidence, cannot justify or explain such widespread, systematic destruction."

"[T]his policy has been supported, legitimized and normalized by most of Jewish-Israeli and its institutions, including the Israeli legal system."

"The... intent... component in the definition of genocide, emerges unequivocally in... Israeli leadership's awareness of the... consequences of its open-fire and starvation policies; ...systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure..; the decision to continue, and... escalate, the assault despite... its impact on the civilian population..; and numerous statements by policymakers... indicating... Israel is targeting the entire population..."

"A... legal examination... appears in Amnesty International's December 2024... "You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel's Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza"; in the work of , currently being published; in the submissions by South Africa's legal team... filed with the International Court of Justice (ICJ); and in reports by United Nations experts."

"Israel's genocide against the Palestinians... in the Gaza Strip... cannot be separated from the sharp escalation of Israel's violence against Palestinians... in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and within Israel... [E]scalation of Israeli violence in Gaza is gradually extending to other areas... [A]... society that legitimizes genocide in Gaza — through participation, support, denial, or indifference—naturally legitimizes increasing violence against Palestinians as a whole."

"The sections below... focus on... killings, physical destruction, forcible displacement, and the destruction of political, cultural, and social life... address how Israel's genocide... targets Palestinian identity, particularly through attacks on refugees... [and] analyze key expressions of dehumanization and incitement against Palestinians..."

"[T]he Ministry of Health in Gaza.... [fatalities] breakdown released in July 2025 shows 15%... women, 29%... minors and 7% are elderly."

"A study... estimated that during the first 12 months of the Israeli assault, the life expectancy of men in Gaza dropped by 51.6%, to 40.5 years, a loss of 34.9 years compared to prewar... For women... 38.6%, to... 47.5 years, a loss of 29.9 years."

"Several studies... suggest... casualties... much higher. The duration... the... scale of infrastructure destruction, and... restriction of humanitarian and rescue organizations' access... are... some... factors..."

"Israel's... open-fire policy... systematically violates fundamental principles of international law, such as distinction and proportionality. Israel... policy... permits unprecedented levels of harm to uninvolved civilians when striking at what it considers military targets. ...These practices enable... increase... frequency of strikes and [to] reduce risk to soldiers at the expense of precautions... to reduce injury to innocents."

"[A]fter ordering residents to leave their homes, Israel repeatedly bombed... "safe corridors" that... s (IDPs) were to use to travel to "humanitarian zones"."

""[H]umanitarian zones"... meant to provide IDPs safety, offered unlivable conditions and were... systematically bombed."

"After breaking the ceasefire in March 2025, Israel resumed... aggressive... indiscriminate attacks... including... designated humanitarian zones and other areas densely populated by tens of thousands of destitute IDPs. As of 14 July 2025, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported more than 7,450 people killed and over 26,000 wounded since the ceasefire was violated."

"The mass killing of civilians in Gaza has been carried out... through permissive... at times deliberate, live fire by Israeli soldiers... Soldiers' testimonies reveal that... Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip defined "kill zones"... with arbitrary boundaries, sometimes unclear even to the soldiers... where permission was given to open fire at anyone... within them."

"Soldiers and officers... reported... absence of... , or... rules... at the discretion of commanders... or based on arbitrary criteria. Isolated incidents such as the killing of 15 paramedics in April 2025, or the December 2023 shooting of three Israeli hostages who had escaped captivity and were waving a white flag, illustrate that the open-fire regulations were... discarded. These practices were reinforced by statements from commanders... and by... volunteer doctors... including visual evidence of deliberate sniper shootings of children."

"Until 14 July 2025... 138,520 people were injured... Approximately 25%... life-altering injuries that require... rehabilitative care, including limb amputations, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and severe burns. ...[R]ecords ...refer only to ...treatment at an official medical facility. ... As with the death toll, it appears... official figures... understate... the... number."

"According to data provided by the Ministry of Health in Gaza to (PHRI), more than 4,700... have undergone amputations since October 2023, including over 940 children and... 370 women. ...[W]here basic medications ...as s were unavailable, doctors were forced to amputate ...though under normal circumstances ... not ...necessary. ...Tens of thousands of wounded ...and amputees were left without adequate care."

"[T]he UN warned that people with disabilities... are "at higher risks of dying, becoming injured and acquiring further impairments" as a result of the ongoing Israeli offensive."

"[E]stimates range from thousands to tens of thousands of deaths, in addition to the direct fatalities caused by the Israeli assault. ...[R]esearchers broadly agree that... figures released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza significantly understate... victims."

"[C]auses of indirect deaths are injuries, infectious diseases, , maternal and neonatal mortality, and complications from untreated chronic illnesses. All... a... result of... destruction of living conditions... restrictions on the entry of , and... assault on the healthcare system that has rendered it unable to cope with... casualties. Experts warn... along with the starvation... indirect deaths will rise further."

"In... October 2024... 100 American medical professionals who had volunteered in the Gaza Strip published a letter stating that almost every person they encountered... was ... sick or wounded, and... nearly every child under... five was suffering from ing and . ...[M]any of the surgeries ...resulted in s due to ..., poor sanitary conditions, and ...lack of . They ...stated that malnutrition and ...shortage of clean ...led to widespread ...low and post-partum women unable to breastfeed, often resulting in the infants' deaths. ...[P]regnant women and fetuses ...had died as a result of the decimation of the healthcare system."

"Gaza's residents have endured countless traumatic events... with... psychological consequences... [W]ithin a reality of omnipresent death, relentless displacement, and ongoing hunger and disease, many are suffering psychological distress after witnessing horrific events, including the violent deaths of... loved ones."

"[I]ncidence of mental health problems has increased significantly, particularly trauma-related disorders, depression, and anxiety, in a population already exhibiting high rates of mental illness due to prolonged exposure to occupation, blockade, and recurring military violence."

"[N]early all of Gaza's 1.2 million children were in need of mental health and support due to symptoms of depression, anxiety, , and more."

"6% of children in Gaza felt... death was imminent, and nearly half expressed a desire to die as a result of... trauma..."

"[B]efore the... offensive... 64%... in the Gaza Strip were classified as food insecure, and... 80% relied on... humanitarian aid. Immediately after launching its assault... Israel declared a complete blockade... which quickly led to... shortages of food..."

"In September 2024, 15 aid organizations published an analysis showing that Israel had blocked 83% of food assistance to the Strip."

"Israel attacked convoys... distributing humanitarian aid, as well as the Palestinian police officers tasked... with securing them. The [food] shortage... led to sharp price hikes... further limiting access... for most of the population."

"[W]e have witnessed relentless human suffering and loss of life on a scale unimaginable..."

"Entire cities bombed and razed, with scarcely a house left standing; hundreds of thousands torn from their lives... with what little they could take on their backs, searching for temporary shelter; adults and children... in endless lines for... little food, risking life and limb... to feed their starving families; and... death looming everywhere."

"Genocide... is an assault on humanity... on the fundamental belief that every life is precious, and the core principle that every human being is entitled to basic rights affording protection from arbitrary violence. ...[A]ttempting to eradicate a group of human beings is a crime... that every person has the duty to oppose and act to stop immediately. This is a moral, legal, and human imperative: to acknowledge the facts... stand with the victims, and demand an end to destruction and extermination..."

"[S]ince October 2023, the Israeli regime has been responsible for carrying out genocide..."

"Killing tens of thousands... causing bodily or mental harm to hundreds of thousands more; destroying homes and civilian infrastructure on a massive scale; starvation, displacement, and denying humanitarian aid... perpetrated systematically... aimed at annihilating... life in the Gaza Strip."

"Israel's decision to continue.... despite countless warnings and... evidence of its deadly consequences... with repeated public clarifications by... policymakers that the target is the entire population of Gaza, demonstrate the intent of... leadership to... destroy Palestinian life in the Gaza Strip."

"[T]he Israeli regime is leading an assault on the Palestinian population in the West Bank and a policy of egregious rights violations against Palestinian citizens of Israel. The form and extent of these actions... are rooted in the... denial of Palestinian humanity. ...[T]he lives and dignity of Palestinians have come to be regarded as disposable... and violence against them normalized."

"The routine killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip and the forced displacement of tens of thousands in the would not have been possible without international inaction in the face of the unfathomable scale and severity of these crimes."

"[M]any state leaders, particularly in Europe and the United States, have not only refrained from effective action to stop the genocide but enabled it — through statements affirming Israel's "right to self-defense" or active support, including the shipment of weapons and ammunition."

"[A]fter the International Court of Justice ruled... plausible risk that Israel's actions amount to genocidal acts, and... the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Gallant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the international community failed..."

"The genocidal nature of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip and the international community's failure to prevent them will... likely to reshape norms of conduct in international relations and the protection of human rights around the world."

"Trampling fundamental principles... and blatantly disregarding the moral norms that shaped the post-WWII world order, may turn... indiscriminate lethal force and deliberate targeting of civilians into... conduct of future violent conflicts."

"Confronting the... destruction and moral disintegration requires... acknowledging the crimes... [and] commitment to action and... accountability... international and domestic."

"[R]ebuilding after such devastation will be... long and arduous... [and] require a fundamental shift in the foundations of the Israeli regime."

"[T]he Israeli regime... stripped [of] every moral value and obligation of meaning, is a danger to all people under its rule. ...[E]verything must be done to prevent it from claiming more victims."

"[R]ecognition that the Israeli regime is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and the deep concern that it may expand to other areas... demand urgent... unequivocal action from both Israeli society and the international community."

"This is the time to save those who have not yet been lost forever, and use every means... under international law to stop Israel's genocide of the Palestinians."

"With the publication of these two reports, and become the first... Israeli organizations to state... based on meticulous documentation and research: Israel is committing genocide... This is another milestone in the human rights community’s efforts to hold Israeli authorities accountable for their crimes... Amid... efforts by the Israeli government to crack down on... human rights organizations, such publications demanded courage and unyielding commitment... Their findings must be heeded... and translated into action to... dismantle... apartheid against all Palestinians whose rights Israel controls. ...B’Tselem’s report builds on... work undertaken for decades to document Israel’s crimes... and demonstrate the cloak of that has sheltered Israeli authorities from accountability. The report’s findings... are... damning and illustrate the importance... to stop Israel’s genocide with... demands to end its unlawful occupation... and dismantle its system of apartheid. ...The publication... coincides with... the UN conference on Palestine in New York. Their... findings add to the... call for... states to recognize Israel’s action... for what it is: genocide. States... must take urgent and effective measures to end Israel’s impunity for its human rights violations against Palestinians and stop its genocide, apartheid and unlawful occupation. Palestinians have... suffered irreversible harm; the horrors... will require generations to recover... States must not miss yet another opportunity to change course, restore... faith in international law and enable Palestinians to begin their recovery..."

"Israel's military campaign in Gaza since October 2023... constitutes genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention."

"The evidence shows a deliberate and systematic dismantling of Gaza's health and life-sustaining systems—through targeted attacks on hospitals, obstruction of medical aid and evacuations, and the killing and detention of healthcare personnel."

"...Israel's actions have destroyed Gaza's healthcare infrastructure in a manner that is both calculated and systematic."

"Gaza's health system has been systematically dismantled—its hospitals rendered non-functional, medical evacuations blocked, and essential services like trauma care, surgery, dialysis, and eliminated."

"[K]illing and detention of over 1,800 healthcare workers... has decimated Gaza's medical capacity and rendered recovery nearly impossible."

"Humanitarian relief has been deliberately restricted, forcing civilians to approach militarized distribution points that have often become sites of s."

"This... assault has produced a... failure of health and humanitarian infrastructure, compounded by policies leading to starvation, disease, and the breakdown of , housing, and education systems."

"As of mid-2025, over 57,000 Palestinians - primarily women and children - have been confirmed killed, with estimates nearing 100,000 when indirect deaths are included."

"Gaza residents... detained and held in Israeli facilities report systematic torture, medical neglect, and degrading treatment..."

"Children face... trauma, while women endure... miscarriages, s, and maternal mortality amid famine and lack of reproductive healthcare services."

"[T]hese acts... part of a deliberate policy targeting Palestinians... fulfill... core acts defined in Article II of the : (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; and (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its destruction in whole or in part."

"Despite international legal rulings, Israel has not complied... and global enforcement remains weak."

"PHRI urges international bodies and states to fulfill their duty under Article I of the to stop the Gaza genocide."

"[D]estruction of Gaza's health system is not only a legal violation but a humanitarian catastrophe demanding urgent global solidarity and response."

"Understanding... requires following key events at least since the 1948 war—the Palestinian Nakba ("Catastrophe"). Israel forcibly displaced over 80% of the indigenous Palestinian population through mass deportations, internment of civilians, massacres, and the systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure. More than 200,000 of the 751,000 Palestinians recorded as refugees fled to the Gaza Strip, tripling its prewar population."

"In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank... and the Gaza Strip, displacing over 400,000..."

"Since 2007, Israel has imposed a comprehensive blockade on the Gaza Strip."

"Repeated Israeli military escalations between 2008 and 2021 severely damaged healthcare infrastructure and exhausted its emergency response capacity."

"Following Hamas' attack, Israel launched a sustained and far-reaching military offensive against the Gaza Strip."

"Today's rampant starvation and in the Gaza Strip carry critical long-term effects, particularly for children."

"The dismantling of long-term critical care, as well as preventative and diagnostic medicine, will have lasting consequences for the treatment of infectious, cardiac, oncological, and other diseases..."

"Mass displacement and the destruction of buildings... rendered the education system... inoperable, while also destroying family and community structures..."

"Collapsed water and systems have led to detrimental environmental effects."

"These issues are deeply interwoven with... categories... in the definition of genocide under Article II of the ..."

"[T]he destruction of healthcare infrastructure may constitute both the infliction of conditions of life (Article II(c)) and serious bodily or mental harm (Article II(b))."

"[A]cts of killing (Article II(a)) may also contribute to broader patterns of deprivation."

"The deliberate infliction of life-destroying conditions, where undertaken with the intent to eliminate a protected group, constitutes genocide under Article II(c) of the . The deprivation of basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, and medical care can thus fulfill the material element..."

"Through sustained military attacks, siege policies, and the obstruction of humanitarian access, including medical supplies, Israel has dismantled the institutions and services essential to health and survival."

"Hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and medical personnel have been systematically targeted, rendered non-functional, or killed. Diagnostic and treatment capacities have been eliminated, resulting in deaths due to acute and chronic life-threatening conditions, including infectious, cardiac, and oncologic diseases."

"The prolonged famine will have severe long-term effects, particularly on children. ...[[Psychological trauma|[M]ental effects]] of the atrocities will persist..."

"Very early into the war, all major hospitals in northern Gaza... were shelled, besieged, or forcibly evacuated."

"By late December 2023, only nine of the Gaza Strip's 36 hospitals remained partially functional - all located in the south."

"Repeated direct attacks on hospitals... obstruction of supply flows and aid, and the decimation of medical personnel through killings and detentions made recovery impossible."

"By early June, the health system had reached a state of near-total collapse. With only 14 out of 36 hospitals only partially functional, and most major facilities in Rafah and central Gaza either shuttered or overwhelmed, medical staff faced impossible conditions."

"From October 2024, Israel executed a military campaign aimed at physically and functionally erasing northern Gaza."

"[[w:Kamal Adwan Hospital sieges|[D]estruction of Kamal Adwan]] marked dealt a decisive blow to northern Gaza's healthcare system. With no remaining medical facilities, no operational ambulances, and no rescue infrastructure, northern Gaza's health system was erased."

"On March 2 [2025], Israel imposed a second total siege on the Gaza Strip—the longest yet... cutting off all humanitarian and medical access. The World Food Programme (WFP), WHO, and other UN agencies reported... bakeries ran out of flour and fuel, food stocks... depleted, and hospitals... unable to operate... In May alone, 5,000 children in Gaza were diagnosed with ..."

"On March 23, Israeli forces opened fire on marked ambulances and a fire-fighting vehicle, killing 15 Palestinian medics... attempting to assist wounded civilians after an airstrike. They were buried in an apparent attempt to eliminate evidence. The International Federation of the Red Cross called it "the most deadly attack on medical workers in a decade." (Jun 19, 2025)"

"As of May 23, over 90% of Gaza's 531 health service points were either entirely or partially out of service, with many of the last remaining sites located inside declared evacuation zones, inaccessible to civilians and medics alike."

"[A]ttacks on Gaza's hospitals... blocked medical evacuations, prevented patients from entering or leaving... and killed or detained... patients and medical staff. The raids caused significant damage... while denying... critical resources, including electricity, water, and medical supplies. These... endangered... lives... [and] severely undermined the hospitals' ability to function."

"Taking a health-focused approach to identify genocidal intent and policy, the report documents the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system, destruction of medical facilities, blocking of drugs, and killings and arrests of health workers. ...[T]hey implore health and humanitarian communities worldwide to confront the destruction of Gaza’s medical system, attacks on its infrastructure and environment, and deliberate targeting of the conditions needed for human survival in Gaza. ...[T]hird parties, PHRI argues, have a duty to terminate this genocidal campaign and protect the health, lives, and dignity of Palestinians."

"PHRI... ... documents.. a deliberate, cumulative dismantling of Gaza’s health system, and... its people’s ability to survive. This amounts to genocide. Israel’s bombing of hospitals, destruction of medical equipment, and depletion of medications have made medical care... impossible. ...Each day, dozens die of malnutrition. Ninety-two percent of infants aged six months to two years don’t get enough to eat. ...85 children have ...starved to death. Israel has displaced 9 in 10 Gazans, destroyed or damaged 92% of homes, and left... half a million children without schools or stability. It has wiped out essential health services... [A]ctions are critical—and must be taken immediately—to prevent further loss of life."

"The Prato case [of a war between rival Chinese criminal clans] is not simply an Italian story. It is a Chinese story that reveals how Beijing’s refusal to cooperate with European prosecutors amounts to complicity. The mafia is not only tolerated but instrumentalized. It provides economic leverage, channels illicit profits, and extends China’s reach into Europe’s industrial heartlands. The victims are many: exploited workers, intimidated entrepreneurs, and communities living under fear. But the larger victims are the Western economy, threatened by China’s unfair competition, and the principle of liberty itself. When a state shields criminal networks for its own advantage, it undermines the rule of law far beyond its borders."