Personal experiences with crime: victim and perpetrator

[Wynton]

As a criminal defense lawyer, I may have a skewed perspective on crime. Sometimes, it seems to me that everyone has either committed or been a victim of a crime. So, here are my questions. Feel free to answer however many are of interest.

(1) Have you been the victim of any crimes, and if so, has that had any lasting affect on you, psycholgically, politically or otherwise?

(2) What crimes, if any, have you personally committed, and again, what kinds of lasting affects has that had on your life or perspective?

For the record, my personal (non-professional) experience is probably extremely common: I have been the victim of car-related crimes a few times (radios stolen), but nothing else substantial. And, as George Bush used to say, when I was a young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible (i.e., did my share of partying, underage drinking and some drunk driving).

But these types of experiences seemed - at the time - so trivial or borderline that I doubt they affected me in any discernible way. In retrospect, I mostly feel lucky, aware that I easily could have got into a lot more serious trouble had I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Oh, one more question:

(3) What was your first experience with anything criminal? I know I shoplifted some candy when I was like 10-12 years old. Seemed pretty thrilling at the time.

[ScottieK]

1. Yes, someone tried to break into my house about six months ago. They broke the window on my back door, but they couldn't unlock the double-key dead bolt. So they used a chair to climb over the door and into my utility room. There's a solid door that leads into the kitchen, and he was trying to dig at the lock with a screwdriver he found in my utility room.

My gf and I came home to a wide open garage door, with my car still inside, and the door to the utility room was also open with the light on. I was confused until I got closer, and I saw the damage...but I also smelled something like strong cologne or alcohol. I was pretty sure he was still in the room, and if I had taken a step or two closer, he could have attacked me. I backed off and called 911.

I wasn't positive the guy was still in there, but then my gf said she saw him climb back out the back door, so the cops came pronto. They came and cleared my house and backyard out...then they got a report of someone jumping backyard walls on a street near mine, so they took off to find him. Never heard either way if they got him or not.

My gf and I came home at that time to change into costumes for a Halloween party. I had suggested that we take our costumes with us for the day, so we could just change and go, but she said she needed to be at the house to change. If we had just gone to the party, the burglar probably would have taken all my stuff. Also, I have a little sliding latch on the door the burglar was trying to get at, but didn't have a dead bolt at the time. He had defeated the door knob lock but couldn't get in. That latch prevented him from getting into the house. If I had driven that day instead of my gf, I wouldn't have latched the door.

A very lucky set of circumstances for me, given that someone was trying to break into my house. The next day, I got a new solid back door and installed dead bolts and two sliding latches on both. Also installed motion lights on the back porch, and a nighttime light on my front porch. Only lasting effect it's had on me is that I'm much more aware of my home's security, and I make very sure that everything's locked when it needs to be.

2. Other than speeding and occasionally driving drunk (something I haven't done in years, after blowing my tire out on a curb and not remembering any of it), just kid stuff I did a long time ago, like shoplifting.

As for DWI's, it's now a practice of the city of Albuquerque to publish the mugshots and circumstances of all DWI offenders for the week in the Sunday paper. Why not just tattoo a scarlet A on their foreheads? They are also sending undercover detectives into bars to "test whether or not drinks are poured too strongly," whatever that means. It's totally unwarranted persecution. Yes, offenders should be punished, but not outed to the general public. And IMO bars should not be held liable for drunk drivers.

3. First experience, probably shoplifting when I was a kid.

ScottieK

[SoloAJ]

Is it weird that I don't think I fit too much into any of these categories?

I'm sure I stole some stuff when I was really really young (6?). I never drank or smoked underage. I think I might have got my hands on a porno at age 16 or 17, but is that illegal? Haha.

Seriously, I don't think I've been the victim....oooh wait a minute. We had a house party a month ago and someone walked in my room and stole HalfLife2 and my swiss army knife. There is one time I was a victim of a crime.

The most lasting effects though were when my sister was molested a few years ago. It affected her life so much that it drasticly affected how I am around her. We are relatively distant now, and I attribute it somewhat to that. Bleh, child molesters should be pwned.

Edit: I think I've led a relatively naive life when it comes to crimes personally committed against me. Either I just have gotten lucky or I don't know when things bad happen to me. Weird.

[dcasper70]

I had a pretty good drug problem from about 17 to 24 y.o., so I got my fingers into a lot of these types of things. Some that made the list:

- Helped 2 friends break into next door neighbor's house. They were much poorer than I imagined. We didn't get much.
- I was declared the best drunk driver in my college fraternity. Didn't matter how bad I got, people gave me the keys.
- Sold lots of pot. Needless to say, I smoked my fair share.
- Here's a complete list of mainstream drugs I didn't do: X, Meth. Hmmm, yup, that's it.
- Scaled a 3rd floor ledge to break into prof's office & steal a final exam.
- Was a TA for a college psych course, sold test answers at $20/test.
- Shoplifted at will.
- Stole from registers of every cashier job I ever had. Not to mention product from those stores.
- Wrecked grandma's car when I was 16. Didn't have permission (or a license for that matter).
- General random vandalism

Crimes against me:
- Car broken into a handful of times.
- Had a half pound of weed stolen from me.
- Molested at 9 by cub scout troop leader. He went to jail for doing some other kid.
First time I ever mentioned that to anyone....

Don't remember my first criminal act.

Lasting effect? I'm sure that last item helped move me on the path leading to the top list.

When I was 25, I decided to stop being an a**hole. Simple as that, I was done being that other guy. I now go out of my way to be the opposite of the old me. It seems to be a hell of lot easier and more enjoyable too... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Every now and then I run into my old cronies who are still in that kind of life. Makes me sad.

[entertainme]

[ QUOTE ]
(1) Have you been the victim of any crimes, and if so, has that had any lasting affect on you, psycholgically, politically or otherwise?

[/ QUOTE ]

A few years ago someone smashed my van window while I was in a restaurant and stole my briefcase. By strange coincidence, it was one of the very very few times I didn't have my laptop with me, (which would have been HUGE as my entire business is on that laptop.) My briefcase was recovered within a few days at a nearby apartment complex.

I'm pretty paranoid about leaving my laptop anywhere. For example, I don't like to leave it in my hotel room if we go to dinner.

[ QUOTE ]
(2) What crimes, if any, have you personally committed, and again, what kinds of lasting affects has that had on your life or perspective?

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe I shoplifted once on a dare when I was about 11, a small candle. I also "ran with the wrong crowd" in high school and partying with my friends, (and all that entails - this was late 70's -early 80's), was my biggest priority for quite a few years.

While I don't regret those times, it's very important to me that my kids don't take the same path. They've been told that I will yank them out of school in a heartbeat if they begin to make bad choices. They are responsible to have a core group of friends that share their values. Hell has no wrath like a Momma protecting her cubs.

[ QUOTE ]
In retrospect, I mostly feel lucky, aware that I easily could have got into a lot more serious trouble had I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I strongly believe in the "thin red line" concept.

The difference between a lifetime of happiness and blessings and one of despair can be razor thin. It only takes one bad decision, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to end up on path to destruction.

I agree there are a hundred times in my past where things could have gone differently and it would have changed my life for the worst forever. As a parent, it scares me to death.

[FeliciaLee]

I am either the luckiest person alive, or I just give off something that keeps criminals away (I most definitely do not fit any victim profile).

I heard once that someone who is constantly paranoid that he is being stolen from will be stolen from. Same thing with other crimes. I have an attitude of not being a moron (keeping doors locked, not showcasing expensive items in windows, etc), but not being constantly scared of things. I figure if someone wants something bad enough, he is going to get it. He obviously needs it more than me. So no 25 deadbolts or whatever on my steel door. No bars on my windows. No Club in my car.

This seems to have worked well for me over the past 20+ years of adulthood.

When I was about nine or ten, a close family friend, aged 17, but well over six foot tall and 250 lbs. tried to molest me. Or did molest me? I mean, if he is trying, I guess he is doing, to a certain extent, right? At any rate, he was trying to kiss me and was holding me down. I still don't like tongue kissing. It is something I cannot get past. My problem. I could have gotten psychological help for this, but I never think about it, from day to day, so I suppose it's a wash.

After that incident, I became very picky about men. So in the long run, I think this helped me be a strong person. I have chased wannabe neighborhood boys out of our house with a butcher knife. I have done some extremely strong things to protect myself and my three step-sisters in our teen years. I have beaten the crap out of neighborhood, bully type kids who were always touching and kissing us.

In the end, I think the attempted molestation or whatever it was made me a stronger person. And since my teen years were so horrific, I am glad I had that strength to fall back on.

I have never committed any crimes, really. I remember one time hearing the ice cream man and taking some coins out of my mom's purse. She told me why this was wrong without asking, and that was that.

Sure, I have speeded, and a few times maybe had a drink or two too many and drove (this was before I even turned 21), but I have never really been in the position to be arrested.

I'm just not one of those people who gets off on a thrill. I have a great life as it is (barring the health stuff). Orgasm is enough thrill to last me a lifetime [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Poker is good enough to get my heart rate going sometimes.

Jeez, I sound so dull. I guess it's amazing that I feel I have an awesome life.

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Fishwhenican]

First time I was ever in trouble with the law I got busted in Ohio for buying the wrong kind of Beer. I was 18 and could buy 3.2% beer(Low alcohol comtent) but I had a place that sold me regular(6%) beer. The only real difference between the two was that you had to drink a lot more 3.2 beer to get a buzz and even worse yet you had to pee all the time! I went to court and the judge gave me a $10 fine suspended it and told me to get out of there and go home.

Got busted for DWI when I was 21(26 years ago). Went to a concert in Milwaukee and was driving out to my girlfriends house after that. I was trying to take a different route that I had never gone before and so when the officer asked if I knew where I was I had to answer, "well sort of". Blew a .20 on the breathalyser and went to jail for the night. I didn't know much about drunk driving and what Blood alcohol levels were until I had to go through a state mandated point reduction class to keep my license. One of the sessions was how Much does it take got get to a certain point of Blood alcohol level. I started looking at how much I had to drink that night and how much I weighed and all of that and and I would not have been even close to that .20 I wouldn't even have been over the .10 that was the limit back then. Didn't really matter at that point but it still pisses me off that I got busted for that and shouldn't have. I knew at the time that I wasn't drunk but had no point of reference to back it up. Oh Well.

My latest run in with the law was a couple of years ago when I got caught up in a buddies bad hunting deal. He shot a cow elk, legally, and the bullet passed through, deflected and hit a bull standing behind it and off to the side in the gut. I went back in with him to help him get the cow out and held a leg while he dressed out the bull(it was too big for him to have dressed it out by himself). We took his legal cow out and told another guy we knew, who had a bull permit, that if he wanted it it was all his. He had told us earlier in the season that he just wanted the meat for the freezer and if any of us saw elk to just shoot one for him. So, we figured this was a good way to fix a problem where everyone was happy. Only problem was Fish wildlife and parks finds out about it and we are busted. I am charged with possession since I held a leg to dress it out and lose my license for two years and had to pay about $600 in fines all together. I just got my license to hunt back this spring.

I learned that no matter what the correct ethical answer might be always do the legal thing. There are times when hunting, and I am sure with other stuff as well, where the correct "ethical" answer and the correct "Legal" answer are two different things. I will never ever do the correct ethical thing if it does not equal the correct legal thing again. Kind of sad in a way. I always had thought that I held ethics over being strictly legal before this and it kind of killed that. I also learned that when they start reading you your rights to take them up on that one about being silent, even if they tell you that you are not in trouble. I already knew that they knew everything and I cooperated with them but as soon as I told them I helped dress out the bull I could see their eyes light up. I knew right then I had said too much and sure enough I had.

The only times I have been a victim was having a car window broken and stuff stolen from the car.

We did have a situation, though, a couple of years ago where our daughter was molested by another student at a School summer camp. We have ended up OK but we went through some pretty bad stuff with her and a lot of $$'s and time spend on therapy to get her OK. Good thing the little bastard lives several hundred miles away and we had a very good person in the police department who went after him legally or I would probably be writing up another story about being arrested for murder. Well maybe not. I do live in the middle on nowhere and know plenty of spots to make someone go away and never be found.

[ScottieK]

Oh, heh, almost forgot about this run-in with the law in college. Buddies and I decided to steal a five-foot blow-up Icee display from a movie theatre one night. We got the counter girl to just go away for a bit while we deflated it and snagged the thing. We made it out of the theatre and about a hundred yards down the street....until a rent-a-cop outside stopped us and asked us what we were doing with this thing. We said we bought it from the theatre. He called the theatre to confirm. Eventually, we were surrounded by about six rent-a-cops and eight real cops. Must have been a slow night downtown. Theatre manager came down, called us liars, and took it back. Then the cops split the four of us up for questioning.

According to the cops, the only thing we agreed on in questioning is that my friend "J" was the one who physically took it out of the theatre...even though I was holding it when the rent-a-cop stopped us. They told three of us that if we ever went in there again, we'd be cited with criminal trespass....and they let us go. They took J to lockup overnight and charged him with petty theft (I believe). I bailed him out the next day.

Well, J forgot his court date and missed it. Bail bondsmen and the sheriff's department served the bench warrant and took J out of his dorm room at 4am during finals week. He missed four finals over two days and had to retake those classes since he failed. He did ask one of his prof's if he could take a makeup final. Apparently, being in jail is not a good enough excuse.

I write it off to being stupid. If we had pulled the car up to the front of the theatre and put the Icee thing in the trunk, we probably would have gotten away with it.

EDIT: also for victims, my friend was basically mugged outside my house after a Halloween party. He was so drunk he didn't remember much, but he figured he lost about $5K (pro poker player) when he went outside to go home. He didn't want to drive, so he decided to walk four miles to his apartment in the middle of the night. He never asked to spend the night, because I definitely would have let him.

I don't know if his bankroll fell out of his pants or not, but he said it should have been with his wallet, which he still had on him. He had a bruise on his face, either from getting hit or from falling down. He also got his car broken into twice and his apartment once, all after that incident. We figure whoever mugged him also followed him home, thinking that he must have more stuff worth stealing if he had that much cash on him.

Also, another friend's car got stolen out of her apartment garage. They found it at a chop shop being run out of an apartment complex (??) two days after. Of course, she left the garage door wide open, her car unlocked, and her purse with the keys inside the car. Easiest theft ever. They found meth at the chop shop, hopefully the perps will get nailed for that too.

Again, just reinforcement for me to lock up and be cautious.

ScottieK