Purgatory and Cocaine Underwear
"After one year in Purgatory Correction Facility in Purgatory Flats, Utah, Warren Jeff's trial began".
I just have to make a comment: isn't Purgatory just the greatest name ever for a jail? (gotta love the irony)
Now to be serious. The first article I read centered Warren Jeffs. Jeffs has offically been charged with two felonies,two counts of rape; however, he did not comitt them. As the the leader of a sect of the FLDS church, Jeffs reportedly ordered a 14 year old to marry her 19 year old cousin against her will. He is facing the charges for being an accomplice to the union. Jeffts was arrested after the girl finally reported him to the police. She found release from the church when she became pregnant with anothe man's child. Polce found enough evidence against him, including statements from ex church members of past silmilar behavior, to charge Jeffs with two counts of rape. The case against Jeffs has moved past the grand jury. He has been arraigned and the trial has begun.
The victim is referred to as "Jane Doe", presumably because she is so embarassed by what has happened to her.
Also, nowhere in the article does it mention that the FLDS church is only an extremist sect of the mormon religion. There is no statement saying that the Mormon religion outlawed poligamy over 100 years ago. Warren Jeffs is just one extremist who is damaging the reputation of a religion. leaving crucial details like this out of a stroy can help further generalizations and prejudices against certain groups of people.
The next article I read was about a man who hid cocaine in the semmingly most unlikey of places: his undergarments. The man is being charged with a felony: posession of narcotics with intent of the manufacture and delivering of cocaine, and a misdemeanor: posession. He is being charged with two different crimes and will receive two differnt sentences. The article is very brief and only states what happened when the police found him. The article has a reason for being brief: the crime was committed only two days ago. It is a breaking story. There has no been sufficent time to research the criminal background (if any) of the suspect. Since there is an extreme lack of information, it can only be assumed that the reason why this particular case is newsworthy is because it is unusual. After all, its not every day that 8.2 grams of coke in someone's underwear.
I just have to make a comment: isn't Purgatory just the greatest name ever for a jail? (gotta love the irony)
Now to be serious. The first article I read centered Warren Jeffs. Jeffs has offically been charged with two felonies,two counts of rape; however, he did not comitt them. As the the leader of a sect of the FLDS church, Jeffs reportedly ordered a 14 year old to marry her 19 year old cousin against her will. He is facing the charges for being an accomplice to the union. Jeffts was arrested after the girl finally reported him to the police. She found release from the church when she became pregnant with anothe man's child. Polce found enough evidence against him, including statements from ex church members of past silmilar behavior, to charge Jeffs with two counts of rape. The case against Jeffs has moved past the grand jury. He has been arraigned and the trial has begun.
The victim is referred to as "Jane Doe", presumably because she is so embarassed by what has happened to her.
Also, nowhere in the article does it mention that the FLDS church is only an extremist sect of the mormon religion. There is no statement saying that the Mormon religion outlawed poligamy over 100 years ago. Warren Jeffs is just one extremist who is damaging the reputation of a religion. leaving crucial details like this out of a stroy can help further generalizations and prejudices against certain groups of people.
The next article I read was about a man who hid cocaine in the semmingly most unlikey of places: his undergarments. The man is being charged with a felony: posession of narcotics with intent of the manufacture and delivering of cocaine, and a misdemeanor: posession. He is being charged with two different crimes and will receive two differnt sentences. The article is very brief and only states what happened when the police found him. The article has a reason for being brief: the crime was committed only two days ago. It is a breaking story. There has no been sufficent time to research the criminal background (if any) of the suspect. Since there is an extreme lack of information, it can only be assumed that the reason why this particular case is newsworthy is because it is unusual. After all, its not every day that 8.2 grams of coke in someone's underwear.
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Nessa on Purgatory and Cocaine Underwear: Wouldn't you love to be the jo
Dennis G. Jerz on Purgatory and Cocaine Underwear: I have no direct experience wi
Madelyn Gillespie on Purgatory and Cocaine Underwear: Your first article demonstrate
Dennis G. Jerz on Purgatory and Cocaine Underwear: I have no direct experience wi
Madelyn Gillespie on Purgatory and Cocaine Underwear: Your first article demonstrate
Your first article demonstrates how often media sources leave out the name of the rape victim. The victims sense a stigma attached to such a crime and that's evidenced there too when you noted that she was embarassed by what had happened. As for the guy with cocaine in his underwear, I really hope he wasn't dealing to anyone. I mean, can you just imagine where he and that powder have been?
I have no direct experience with this sort of thing, but from what I can tell from reading countless stories about criminals, cocaine doesn't exactly do wonders for your powers of judgment, so the buyers are not likely to be any more finicky than the sellers. Low-ranking drug cartel members known as "mules" often carry the drugs from place to place so that the brains behind the operation don't get caught. If they start sampling the wares, they start making ridiculous choices, and their stories land on the "dumb criminals" or "Darwin Awards" websites. (But only after journalists find the stories and report them first!)
Wouldn't you love to be the journalist who got the cocaine underwear assignment? "Yeah, you need to cover this story about a guy who hid cocaine...in his underwear. Get three sources- good luck." I don't have any interest in crime reporting at all, but I think I would gladly have taken that assignment.
I like how you chose two really different articles for this assignment. The first one is a huge profile story- I've heard about this case in many news outlets (tv, online, TIME magazine). There is a lot of information about the case out there, so the reporters have a lot to work with now.
The second article has a lesser profile- yet still newsworthy. As you mentioned, there isn't much information, because the reporters had to write the story so quickly. Nice contrast.