Herbert Manago, who is just 18, gets life for a heinous carjacking that left one man dead. He was convicted of first degree murder of Donell King. King was just 20 and on a doubles date when it happened. Manago read a poem that he wrote in court and then was sentenced. While his lawyers […]

The ordeal has finally come to an end. Today, two teen girls are back at home safe. Their captor, Rickey Donnell Jones, is now locked up in Knoxville, Tennessee. He’s facing at least two counts of kidnapping. The FBI is currently deciding on possible other offenses to charge him with. It all started innocently enough when Jones was about to start a furniture run.

In a rare event, a sunbather at Daytona Beach, Florida was run over. Apparently, Volusia County beach patrol officer, Robert Augustynowski, was working the beach in his pickup truck. He never saw Danielle Taylor, 20, who was sunbathing on the beach—even though he was only going about 2.5 miles an hour. As a result, Augustynowski ran over Taylor with his pickup truck.

Two years ago, in Florida, three men committed a heinous crime. They murdered five people. Among those murdered was 19 year-old, Michelle Ann Nathan. Crime analysis showed that the victims did not put up a fight. They were all stabbed then beaten to death. The crime occurred around 1am—most of the victims were asleep. Slaughtering five people was not enough for these vicious criminals. They even killed two small dogs.

St. Mathew’s Cemetery in Posey County, which is in southern Indiana, has been under surveillance. That turns out to be bad news for Lucinda J. Jacobs. Those who have buried their loved ones at St. Mathew’s had complained of theft occurring at the cemetery. It turns out that someone was stealing Beanie Babies—stuffed animals—from the grave sites of children no longer with us. The disgusting and cruel crime was allegedly committed by Lucinda J. Jacobs, a 43 year-old woman.

We see them at every professional sports game—the mascots. Just who is under the costume though? Well, under Benny the Bull—the Chicago Bulls mascot—was Barry Anderson, who is 26 years old. Anderson was charged with battery recently for an incident at the Taste of Chicago. According to police, Anderson—dressed as Benny the Bull—attacked an off-duty officer during the event.

There are eight stages to a criminal trial. Today, I will briefly lay out the sequence of a typical criminal trial. In future articles, I will delve deeper into each criminal trial stage. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Stage One: Trial Initiation

This is the first part of any criminal trial. By federal law, those accused of a crime must be brought to trial in a speedy fashion. On specific federal law pertaining to this stage is the Speedy Trial Act. The Speedy Trial Act was formulated in 1974. It requires that proceedings being within a specified period of time. The accused can’t simply get lost in jail while the government takes its time getting to the matter.

Are you afraid of being a victim of some type of criminal activity? If so, you are not alone. Fear of becoming a victim of crime is a common feeling among citizens in the United States. Across the board, fear of becoming a victim is more prevalent in women. According to the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 32% of women surveyed had occasional to frequent worries about being sexually assaulted. 33% of women were occasionally to frequently worrying about being mugged and 45% being a victim of terrorism.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the current population of the federal prison system is 189,984. Looking over the most recent data confirms that men are more likely to commit crime and be convicted than women. Of the 189,984 inmates, just 12,786—6.7%—are female. An overwhelming 93.3% of the inmates populating federal prisons are males. This journalist set out to determine the breakdown of the population’s race and offenses.