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Crime

Crime, Government Spending

Justin K. Laxton Stole Money from the Wrong People

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Still Time to Learn the Craft One reads that Justin K. Laxton, an employee of a public relations firm, has pled “guilty to theft in a business setting, forgery and fraudulent writings for thefts at Klaetsch Public Affairs Strategies, where he worked.” (The Dane County District Attorney’s Office is recommending probation with conditional jail time…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Federal Government, Government Spending, Libertarians, Official Misconduct, University

If Universities Want Federal Money…

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If universities want federal money (and they want as much as they can get), then it’s wrong for them to shirk federal legal standards for reporting assault and for proper treatment of those alleging assault.  (Make no mistake: I’d contend that universities have a duty to manage campuses well and fairly even if there were…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Federal Government, Law, Official Misconduct, University

UW-Madison Now Joins UW-Whitewater Under Federal Title IX Investigation

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In the Wisconsin State Journal this morning, one reads that a second Wisconsin school is under investigation for its handling of sexual assault complaints.  Dan Simmons writes that UW-Madison is now the second university in the state to be included in a growing probe of possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime

What a Headline Says

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When someone alleges a sexual assault, or other violent crime, the immediate significance of that claim affects the alleging victim, and one or more alleged assailants.   Fundamentally, violent acts are about actual people, not headlines, policies, politics, etc.  Even if there were no criminal law, if there were no statutes criminalizing any kind of conduct,…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Film, Official Misconduct, University

The Hunting Ground

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Academy-award nominated filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering have a new film now in limited-release, entitled, The Hunting Ground, about campus sexual assault.  The film addresses violence, institutional cover-ups, and the damage done to victims & families from both assault and subsequent, institutional misconduct.  The official trailer for the film is embedded above.  (The same…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Law, Open Government, University

Former Coach Fader Vindicated Five Times Over

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It’s been over nine months since Chancellor Richard Telfer suspended former UW-Whitewater wrestling coach Tim Fader, and later effectively fired him (Fader’s contract was not renewed).  In April 2014, a woman alleged that a wrestling recruit assaulted her, and Fader has consistently said that he contacted the Whitewater Police Department about the incident, and that…

Crime, District Attorney, Law, Misconduct, Sheriff, Walworth County

Seventeen Questions: Injustice in Walworth County Wrongly Sends a Fourteen-Year-Old to Jail

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Yesterday, I posted about an appellate court decision that reversed a juvenile’s conviction and remanded the case for a new trial.  See, Injustice in Walworth County Wrongly Sends a Fourteen-Year-Old to Jail.  Today I’ll post several questions concerning the decision and two published accounts about of it.  The appellate decision (“Appellate Decision”) is online at…

Crime, Open Government, University

Support the Campus Accountability and Safety Act

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Discussion is better than silence; knowledge trumps ignorance. Thousands of universities receive federal funds, including our own campus. Under the law, those universities are required, since the Clery Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), 34 C.F.R. 668.46 to record and report instances of crime on and near their campuses. (UW-System schools publish that information in compliance…

Crime, Law, University

The Dean’s Drug-War Equality Argument

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I’m sorry I didn’t get to this sooner, but one of UW-Whitewater Dean of Students Mary Beth Mackin’s remarks about drug busts on campus deserves a reply.  She’s offered an argument for equality of treatment on and off campus.  Her argument implies that she either misunderstands the underlying justification for equality arguments, or that she…

City, Crime

An Evening Not Worth Having

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There’s video online from a security camera of two people stepping into the Birge Fountain, climbing on the statue, tugging on it until a piece comes off, and (presumably) stealing that piece.  (For prior FW posts against vandalism, see The Crude Illegitimacy of Vandalism and Update: Vandalism, of Property and Opportunity.) Watching the video, it…

Crime

Update: Vandalism, of Property and Opportunity

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Yesterday, I posted about a lack of information on April vandalism amounting to about fifty-thousand dollars in damage at the Spring Creek Golf Center. (See, Vandalism, of Property and Opportunity.) Today, fortuitously, there’s a story at the DU with an update about the investigation: Seven Whitewater juveniles eyed in Cold Spring golf course vandalism. Here’s…