It is being reported on June 16, 2016 that convicted murderer, Oscar Pistorius, is in trial which will determine his sentencing. “Walking in court on his stumps while dressed in sportswear emblazoned with the logos of his former sponsor Nike, Pistorius was unsteady at times, holding onto wooden desks and helped by a woman at one point.” While they wrap up his trial, some may wonder what comes next. The answer is most likely a book deal.
It is a historical fact that criminals enjoy telling their stories. Before the advent of the internet, miscreants were limited to bragging about their lawbreaking in public spheres, usually bars. This self-aggrandizement would often get back to the police and lead to their arrest. Nowadays, ne’er-do-wells have multiple paths to spread their lies.
The public’s fascination with the abnormal human mind led to book publishers offering deals to these deceitful defendants. The more heinous the crime, the better for book sales. Of course, in the criminal world, every murderer, robber and rapist claims to be completely innocent. One of the favorite tactics of these conscienceless culprits is to play the victim themselves. The recent performance in court by convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius who pretended to have difficulty walking without his prosthetics in court. Meanwhile, earlier video captured him running and carrying his sister on his stumps with ease.
After criminals are rightfully arrested and convicted for their crimes, they squawk about being a victim of the justice system. Their distorted minds cannot seem to fully fathom how repugnant and repulsive their offenses are and consequently they feel no remorse. Psychiatrists call this ‘psychopathology.’ Psychopaths are mendacious, refuse to take responsibility for their wrongdoing and refuse to accept the punishment they know they deserve.
Nowadays, the criminally insane are allowed to become published authors. Through the hard work of ghost writers, the aberrant minded assaulters of human decency are given a platform of respectability. Their narcissistic self-inflated sense of importance is given some validity. Although others are well-aware that their book deals are only offered to appease the public’s appetite for an insight into the minds of the criminally insane, it is nonetheless a platform which should not be given. Violent social outcasts should not be allowed to profit from telling their stories about their crimes. Even if, as they usually do, claim to be innocent.
“New York’s ‘Son of Sam’ law requires that an accused or convicted criminal’s income from works describing his [or her] crime be deposited in an escrow account. These funds are then made available to the victims of the crime and the criminal’s other creditors..”
The wording includes all people who are accused of a crime as well as convicted. Simply put, a storyteller of a crime who has been suspected of the crime, regardless of whether they were actually convicted, should not profit from such stories. Any and all proceeds should be sent directly to the victims and their families.
“In the summer of 1977, New York was terrorized by a serial killer popularly known as the Son of Sam. The hunt for the Son of Sam received considerable publicity, and by the time David Berkowitz was identified as the killer and apprehended, the rights to his story were worth a substantial amount. Berkowitz’s chance to profit from his notoriety while his victims and their families remained uncompensated did not escape the notice of New York’s Legislature. The State quickly enacted the statute at issue, N.Y.Exec.Law § 632-a (McKinney 1982 and Supp.1991).”
“It is abhorrent to one’s sense of justice and decency that an individual . . . can expect to receive large sums of money for his [or her] story once he [or she] is captured . . .”
Alas, this noble truth appears to have been thrown to the wayside by a legal technicality in some cases. If an American born degenerate commits his/her despicable acts in a foreign land, then this U.S. law does not apply. One example is the murder of Meredith Kercher case where a brilliant young scholar was murdered in Perugia, Italy. Two of the three accused murderers, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito received a combined five million dollars in book advances. Regardless of whether there is a dispute of guilt or innocence of the accused, the Son of Sam law stipulates that one only need to be accused of the crime for this law to take effect. The question that has been waiting to be heard is ‘Why hasn’t it?’
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