[Rio de Janeiro, December 7. Image via Getty]

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - DECEMBER 07: Women walk by a special units police officer at the entrance of a favela in the area of Copacabana where fighting between the police and drug dealers is continuing on December 7, 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is estimated that there are over 1,000 favelas in Rio where violent crime is rampant. The police are attempting a softer touch in many favelas by participating in community policing after they clear the area of drug gangs. Police are believed to want to continue with these programs citywide ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games. As Brazil prepares to host the 2016 Summer Olympics international scrutiny is falling on Rio de Janeiro's favelas where over 5,000 people were murdered last year alone. In the last week violence in tourist areas has increased as drug gangs are progressively reacting to a growing police presence in the favelas. In figures released Tuesday by the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica) statistics agency it was found that an average of 68 young Brazilian men died violently each day between 1998 and 2008. These numbers included murder, traffic accidents and gang violence involving the police. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

• Her official photographer has posted many of the pictures on Palin's Facebook page, along with the credit "The Photo Opportunity is Provided By SarahPAC," so, if you want a shot of yourself wearing an Obama shirt next to Palin you'll have to contribute to her PAC. • Sarah Palin will give the keynote address at the International Bowl Expo 2010, the "premier international convention" of bowling in June. A rep said: "Regardless of your political affiliation, Ms. Palin is a force in American politics and culture. Her presence underscores the impact and importance of bowling, one of our country's leading national pastimes and a growing $10 billion industry." • Leroy Benros was charged with rape at a New York nightclub after his alleged victim texted her friends during the attack. After he forcibly kissed her, the woman texted her friend: "I'm being molested. Help." By the time two of her friends found her, police say she was partially naked under a coat with her eyes closed and her arms dangling. Her friends pulled her away and Benros was arrested. • Now that Maurice Clemmons, the ex-convict suspected of killing four police officers, is dead, authorities are focusing on the people who may have helped him escape and stay on the lam for two days. Prosecutors are expected to charge alleged getaway driver Darcus D. Allen today. Clemmons' aunt and another woman have been arrested and are expected to be charged for giving him first aid and helping him escape. Police are still investigating a handful of other suspects. "Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they're all partners in crime," said a police spokesman. • Cocaine abuse is on the rise among young English women. Among women ages 18 to 25, the number of women who needed treatment for cocaine abuse in England. jumped 80 percent in the past four years from 329 to 592. Experts point to a growing "ladette" culture, which is also blamed for increasing alcohol abuse among young women. • In a new British study, researchers say they have discovered how and where androgenic hormones work in the testis to control normal sperm production and male fertility, which may allow for the development of a male birth control pill. "This study provides a new opportunity to identify how androgens control sperm production, which could provide new insight for the development of new treatments for male infertility and perhaps new male contraceptives," said Michelle Welsh, Ph.D., co-author of the study. • An increasing number of British women are hiring doulas to help them give birth, but anesthetist Dr. Abhijoy Chaklader questioned their role in the British Medical Journal. He wrote the trend toward hiring doulas, who have no medical training, may "be a sad reflection of failures in the delivery of medical and midwifery care, a sticking plaster concealing greater problems... a cynic might ask whether the doula business is actually necessary or whether it is exploiting - for profit - unspoken fears about NHS perinatal care and the seemingly limitless market for birth related products and service." • Switzerland elected women to the nation's top three political positions today: president, speaker of parliament's lower house, and speaker of the upper house. Swiss women couldn't even vote in national elections until 1971. • A Dutch man was arrested for allegedly collecting information on more than 30 girls from social networking sites, then blackmailing their parents. He posed as a photographer and told the parents their daughters had performed sexual acts on camera, or suggested they had been raped by others, then said he'd upload the non-existent pornography online if they didn't pay him. • Family members say a New York hairdresser who disappeared last week after dropping her 6-year-old daughter off at school complained about a creepy man she kept encountering near the school. "She mentioned to us about this guy in the street she would see every day," said Jamaica Smith's niece. "He was real aggressive toward her, always saying, 'Hey, baby, you look so pretty.' ... We know for a fact she was abducted because she would never leave her daughter." There are rumors that some people saw her struggling with a man near her home, but police deny the story and say they don't think foul play was involved. • After General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson announced yesterday that he was stepping down, someone claiming to be his daughter Sarah Henderson posted on GM's Facebook page, "HE FUCKING GOT ASKED TO STEP DOWN ALL OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. I'M FRITZ'S FUCKING DAUGHTER, AND HE DID NOT FUCKING RESIGN. WHITACRE IS A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIFT [sic], WHO CARES ABOUT HIMSELF AND NOT THE FUCKING COMPANY. HAVE FUN WITH GM, I HOPE TO NEVER BUY FROM THIS GOD FORESAKEN [sic] COMPANY EVERY [sic] AGAIN. FUCK ALL OF YOU." It was later removed. • Adeline Bayne-Goody, a 56-year-old New York City subway driver, may lose her job over an incident in October in which she subdued a crazed man who threatened other passengers, spewed racial epithets, punched her and spit in her face. She held him down until the police arrived, but officials told her she committed "gross misconduct" and should be fired because she left her post. • Carmen Huertas, the woman accused of driving drunk in Manhattan, injuring six children who were in the car and killing one, has been trying to commit suicide in jail. "She's tried to place objects around her neck," said her lawyer. "She's confused and devastated, and understands the consequences of her actions." • Thirteen female ski jumpers have filed a request with Canada's Supreme Court to allow the sport in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The International Olympic Committee voted in 2006 not to include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympics because they say the sport is not developed enough. • The Japanese man who recently married his virtual girlfriend from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus has responded to media reports with a letter and some photos from his honeymoon. He writes: "Now that the ceremony is over, I feel like I've been able to achieve a major milestone in my life. Some people have expressed doubts about my actions, but at the end of the day, this is really just about us as husband and wife. As long as the two of us can go on to create a happy household, I'm sure any misgivings about us will be resolved." •

Knox and Sollecito are accused of murdering Knox's roommate, Meredith Kercher, during what the prosecution claims was a drug-fueled sex game gone terribly wrong. A third suspect in the murder, Rudy Guede, has already been convicted of homicide and sexual assault and sentenced to 30 years in prison, though he is currently in the process of appealing. Knox has been painted by the prosecution as a jealous, hate-filled roommate who sought revenge of sorts on Kercher, backing up this characterization by presenting a knife they believe is the murder weapon; a knife that has Knox's DNA on the handle and Kircher's DNA on the blade.

Responding to the charges, Knox tearfully told the court that the prosecution's characterization of the night was "pure fantasy," and stating "Meredith was my friend, and I didn't hate her." Knox's family, meanwhile, remains optimistic, even going so far as to purchase a ticket home for Knox, so that she may rejoin them in Washington state should she be found innocent.

Amanda Knox To Jury: Charges Pure Fantasy [CBS]
Lawyer: Prosecution Wants Life Sentences In Knox Murder Case [CNN]
Parents Buy Ticket Home To Seattle For Amanda Knox[Seattle Times]
Life Sentence Sought In Italy For U.S. Student, Amanda Knox [NYTimes]

Shane Ryan, creator of classics like Amateur Porn Star Killer and Sex, Kids, Party, says that the film will handle her story with care: "We're trying to figure out a way to do that so it's not exploitative." • Prosecutors have decided that a 59-year-old man from the UK probably did murder his wife in her sleep, as his defense has claimed. Brian Thomas dreamt that his wife was an intruder, and strangled her to death. Prosecutors, persuaded by expert testimony about automatism and sleep disorders, are now arguing for a ruling of not guilty by reason of mental insanity - the alternative being a "simple verdict of not guilty." • Back in June, New York State decided to allow researchers to pay women for their eggs for stem cell research. But many fear that this policy will take advantage of underprivileged women, since donating eggs is not without risks. • The March of Dimes' Premature Birth Card has graded the U.S. a "D" when it comes to preterm birth rate. Not a single state was awarded an A, and only Vermont was given a B. • Government researchers report black women are twice as likely as white or Hispanic women to suffer a stillbirth, partly due to higher pregnancy rates and because African-American women are more at risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, and pregnancy complications like uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus. The racial gap is even wider between more-educated women. Higher education is linked to a 30 percent reduction in stillbirths among white women, but no reduction in risk among African-Americans. • An interesting new study from the University of Pennsylvania found that children who are insensitive to fear are more likely to grow up to be criminals. Researchers examined toddlers, measuring their sweat output to determine fear. Years later they pulled the records of participants, and found that toddlers who did not sweat in response to a loud noise were more likely to have a criminal record. •  A government watchdog group has asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether Michele Bachmann violated house rules by organizing the November 5th Tea Party rally. • Wanda Eileen Barzee, the woman accused of helping her then-husband kidnap Elizabeth Smart, has plead guilty to charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor. The terms of her plea agreement have not yet been made public. • According to a children's charity, Britain lacks the resources to protect thousands of young girls vulnerable to being forced into sexual slavery. Only 20% of local authorities have the specialist sources to intervene, said the chief executive of Bernardo. • A 21-year-old Army mom may face criminal charges after she skipped a deployment flight to Afghanistan in order to stay home and care for her infant son. Alexis Hutchinson's attorney says her superiors ordered her to place the child in foster care and resume service. •  Several organizations are trying to get more British girls to ride bikes, but the campaigns focus too much on looking good while cycling, according to an editorial in The Guardian. One site called Bike Belles actually advises girls to, "Use waterproof mascara when it's raining on your bike, and take a powder compact for a quick refresher on arrival." • Burkittsville, Maryland, the town where The Blair Witch Project was filmed, had to design new welcome signs because people keep stealing the ones that were shown in the movie. • Hooters Las Vegas lost millions of dollars this year and now the company has received a notice of default from its lenders. The company is trying to restructure, but maybe frat boys just don't have as much money to throw around these days? • A New Jersey high school student is suing her school because administrators wouldn't let her participate in the Pro Life Day of Silent Solidarity, an annual worldwide protest. She wanted to remain silent on October 20, except when called on in class, wear an armband with the word "life" on it, and hand out anti-abortion pamphlets. "The school district basically held that there is no religion allowed in school, which violates the students' First Amendment rights," said her lawyer. • On Saturday, a French woman was allowed to marry the father of her two children nearly a year after his death in a car accident. She stood next to his picture while she recited her vows. "I'm not really in the mood to celebrate," she said afterwards. "We're going to drink a cup of coffee and I will thank those who have supported me." •

According to Teresa Chance, a spokeswoman for the Fayetteville Police Department, arrest documents for Davis state that she "knowingly provide(d) Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude," a terrifying accusation, especially when you consider the fact that Shaniya's alleged kidnapper, Mario Andrette McNeill, who was seen on a hotel camera carrying Shaniya into a hotel room on Tuesday, the day she was reported missing, has since been arrested and has admitted to taking Shaniya, though she was not with him when he was caught and charged. Her whereabouts at this time are still unknown, though police are currently conducting a search, and, as Sgt. John Somerindyke tells WRAL, "Finding Shaniya is the top priority."

Search For Missing Girl Continues After Mother's Arrest [WRAL]
Man Admitted Kidnapping Missing NC Girl[AP]
Mother Arrested In Missing Girl Case [ABC11]

Michael Rothfeld of the LA Times quotes from the report by Inspector General David R. Shaw, which details myriad oversights by parole agents, including the following:

— Federal parole records showed Garrido had a soundproof room in his yard, but the state never reviewed these records.
— Garrido's parole officer actually met one of his daughters with Dugard last year, but accepted the explanation that she was his niece.
— Garrido wore a satellite tracking device, but agents ignored alarms that indicated he had gone outside his allowed area or broken curfew. They also didn't investigate when the device stopped working for nine hours nearly every night for an entire month.
— Parole officers didn't make all of Garrido's required home visits or perform all required drug tests, and they didn't interview witnesses who saw children on his property.

And last, but not least:
— In 1999, a parole agent misclassified Garrido as needing "only low-level supervision," a classification that enabled him to avoid more serious scrutiny all the way up to his arrest this year.

According to the report, California failed to follow parole protocols for Garrido 90% of the time — which, for those of you keeping score at home, is an F. Interestingly, California proposes to prevent future lapses like that not by cracking down further on all criminals — like, say, Miami — but by adjusting their priorities. Rothfeld writes that the state is moving to "reduce supervision on lower-risk parolees," allowing parole officers to work with smaller caseloads and devote more time to people who may turn out to be truly dangerous. As long as California can avoid further misclassifications, this sounds like a good strategy. Americans tend to respond to horrific crimes with calls for increased toughness, but the results can be measures like putting public urinators on sex offender registries — treating minor criminals like major criminals and giving men like Garrido a place to hide.

It wasn't just force that kept Jaycee Dugard prisoner for 18 years, or that kept his wife silent all that time. Garrido clearly knew how to manipulate people — so much so that when Dugard and her daughters finally appeared together before a parole agent, she initially lied to protect her captor. The state of California — and the country — will need more than across-the-board "tough on crime" measures to protect citizens from men like him. They'll need to be smart, and to distinguish between real threats and false ones — hopefully, California's reforms will allow its parole agents to do just that.

Jaycee Dugard Case Elicits Strong Criticism From California Prison Watchdog [LA Times]
Official Describes Jaycee Dugard's First Meeting With Authorities [LA Times]
Reform Vowed After Garrido's Shoddy Parole [CBS]

The victim was leaving the dance in Richmond, CA — a suburb of San Francisco, not too far from Antioch, where Phillip Garrido held Jaycee Dugard — when a classmate invited her to drink with him in a secluded area near the school. She agreed, becoming so inebriated that she fell over, at which point as many as seven young men raped her, beat her, took photographs, and stole her jewelry. They assaulted her for two-and-a-half hours, injuring her so badly that she had to be flown from the scene in critical condition.

A gang rape always has the added awfulness that the rapists are comfortable enough with their crime to commit it in front of others. This case is especially bad because the girl's attackers continued in front of multiple witnesses, assuming that they would do nothing. That assumption was correct. In fact, it was someone hearing about the assault at a local house party who called the cops. Richmond police lieutenant Mark Gagan said, "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it."

At first I thought this was a Kitty Genovese situation, in which indifferent bystanders failed to help a crime victim. In fact, it's worse. CNN's Nick Valencia writes that, "as many as 15 people, all males, stood around watching the assault, but did not call police or help the victim." Gagan adds, "As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated." This isn't a case of people turning their heads away and saying "none of my business." It's a situation in which 15 boys and men (one suspect in custody is 19, the other 15) treating public, brutal assault as a form of entertainment.

Anyone who went to a big, rough high school has seen this happen with a fight — everybody in the school rushes to the scene, cheering, booing, and even joining in as kids beat each other up. This practice is bad enough, exposing teen bloodlust and lack of compassion, but adding sexual assault to the mix makes the onlookers' situation all the more heinous. That all said onlookers were male seems important here — were they so afraid of having their masculinity questioned that they couldn't say anything? Or, more disturbingly, were they enthusiastic about the event, participating, however vicariously, in some kind of conquest? Whatever the case, not one, not two, but fifteen young men watched a gang-rape take place and essentially chose to side with the rapists — as Yes Means Yes would say, "that's rape culture."

Image via CNN.

Witnesses Did Not Report Gang Rape [UPI.com]
Police: Gang Rape Outside School Dance Lasted Over Two Hours [CNN]
Teens held over homecoming dance gang rape [AP, via MSNBC]
Police Arrest Second Teen In Connection With Vicious Assault On 15-Year-Old Girl [Contra Costa Times]

• New data from Britain shows that the number of violent crimes committed by women has risen 81% in the last decade. Conservative politicians suggest that this is directly linked to a rise in binge drinking, which doesn't fully explain why the article is illustrated with a picture of a woman passed out drunk on a park bench. •  A woman spent her wedding night in a Spanish jail cell after she grabbed a cop by his neck and slapped him. The police officer was attempting to break up a fight that had broken out between members of the bride's family and relatives of the groom. We think this would make a great (read: horrible) rom-com, very Bridezillas meets Romeo and Juliet. • According to a recent study, pregnant lesbians are sick of being treated differently than heterosexual mothers. Researchers found that most lesbian couples have felt frustrated at some point or another with the uncomfortable way that midwives and doctors dealt with them. • Experts have disproved claims that Ida, a fossil recently discovered in Germany, was the missing piece that would link the evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes, and humans. In fact, Ida is the "about as far removed from the monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate could be." • 

Well, luckily for us, Broadview Security (formerly Brinks) knows the risks that come with being a successful young woman who owns her own home. They've already made it pretty clear that every dame's a potential damsel in distress - especially young, hip ones! - and that the world's full of lurking psychopaths who are invariably instantly deterred from malevolent intent by a beeping security system. Now, they're driving home that you can't trust anyone. Oh, except, of course, the cute cop who answers the alarm.

Because being a candle-loving, yogurt-lapping lady, you'll want to be able to adopt the inappropriately flirty body-language we all favor mere minutes after a violent scare! And Broadview (emphasis on 'broad') gives you that freedom!

Related: Security Systems And The Culture Of Fear

Banks, a pastor at the Word of Life Apostolic Church in Riverside, California, kept the girls in an unheated room in her garage, where she "beat them daily with cords, sticks, high-heeled shoes, extension cords and belts, fed them spoiled food, made them take sleeping pills, and sexually abused two of them with paint sticks," according to the San Jose Mercury News. She has been sentenced to 36 years and 8 months plus two consecutive life terms for her crimes.

Banks denies the charges, stating that her daughters are "mentally disabled" and are lying about the way they were treated. One of the daughters (all of them are now in new foster homes) wrote a letter to Banks, noting ""Mom, I know somewhere in your heart you were a nice person. It was not right what you did to me and my sisters. Mom, I want you to know that I forgive you and I will be praying for you. But mom, It will never be OK what you did to me and my sisters."

SoCal Pastor Gets Life Term For Abusing 5 Girls [Mercury News]
Female Pastor Jailed For Drugging, Abusing 5 Girls [MSNBC]

[Image via stock.xchng.]

In the article "Killer@Craigslist," which appears in the magazine's October issue, Orth explains that while Markoff and murdered masseuse Julissa Brisman both arranged their meeting through a series of temporary email addresses and texts in an attempt to remain anonymous, their electronic trail wound up helping police expose their identities. Orth writes:

Few Americans, even those from the younger, Internet generation, seem to understand how easily their clicks and text messages can be detected, and how little privacy any of us have anymore. Every search, every posting, every text message or Twitter, leaves a cyber footprint. The content of every e-mail sent by any one of us is kept by the Internet service provider and stored for a period of time, usually six to nine months. Google and Gmail used to store e-mails indefinitely; now they claim they're within the same range, but all the e-mail we choose to keep until we delete it can also be accessed by the provider.

Markoff responded to Brisman's Craigslist ad by sending emails from AMDPM@Live.com, an address he'd set up a few days earlier, using the name "Andy." Brisman advertised under the name "Morgan" and had messages sent to massagesbymorganboston@yahoo.com, an account that was being monitored by Mary Beth Simons, who owns the tanning salon where she worked. Simons screened offers for Brisman and even pretended to be her during a call with Markoff, who used a disposable Trac phone. Hours after her murder, when Simons hadn't received a text from Brisman to say how the meeting went, she contacted the police, who were gathering forensic evidence from the crime scene. Simons gave police the emails she had exchanged with AMDPM@Live.com and called Mark Rasch, the former head of the computer-crime unit of the U.S. Department of Justice, who she knew was an expert in computer forensics and could help the police.

After obtaining a search warrant, Microsoft, which owns Live.com, gave police the I.P. address used to access the account. Police found the I.P. address was linked to two similar robberies that had occurred recently in Boston and Rhode Island.

Craigslist was able to see what time and date the user of the Live.com address responded to each of its postings-when he clicked Morgan's or the other two women's ads, for instance. "People who use Craigslist leave more of a trail than people who just use the phone," says Rasch. [Suffolk County district attorney Daniel] Conley goes further: "People feel online communication is pretty discreet. That's entirely false." (Hotel security services routinely monitor Craigslist to see how much of the erotic trade they are attracting.)

Though the I.P. address gave police Markoff's name, it led to a wireless router in his apartment building, meaning anyone there could have been using the address. Police matched records of Simons' and Markoff's phone calls and texts to hotel surveillance footage, but also turned to more common methods to get an idea of who Markoff was.

Rasch says, the first thing police did, once they had a name, was exactly what many of us would do-they went to Facebook and Google to find out who their suspect was and what he looked like. Then they fell back on tried-and-true detective work and began an old-fashioned stakeout.

Police arrested Markoff on April 20 as he was driving with his fiancée, Megan McAllister to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, which was about a half an hour from the Rhode Island hotel where Cynthia Melton was robbed and assaulted.

...this would have been his 19th visit to Foxwoods in four and a half months. His first visit had been noted on December 8, 2008, when he signed up for the "Wampum" points awarded as perks for frequent gamblers. His presence had also been documented in the early evening of April 16, the night Melton was attacked. (Police were able to trace his Foxwoods visits by the computer records kept of his "burning Wampum.")

Though McAllister revealed to Orth in a phone call that Markoff was her first love, and she believes she was his too, internet evidence suggests he had a darker sexual life online she was not aware of. Orth writes:

A police source told me that Markoff's tastes were "wide and varied." That may be an understatement. A crime blogger recently uncovered evidence suggesting that Markoff once applied as a newcomer for sadomasochistic experiences.

Orth interviewed a transvestite who had communicated with Markoff on two separate occasions and exchanged explicit pictures with him. The transvestite showed her about 1,500 responses he'd received to ads on Craigslist.

"It's not blackmail per se," he explained, patting the laptop, "but in case I get murdered I have the information to share." One of the icons on the screen was for his complete Markoff file. "Hey sexy" was the first subject line. On May 2, 2008, at 12:29 a.m., the name "Phil Markoff" came up with the e-mail address Sexaddict5385@yahoo.com. He was replying to Craigslist personal No. 664395223... "I am 6'3" a 22y/o grad student." Along with the message, he sent his picture, which the tranny verified by going to Markoff's Facebook page and seeing the identical photo of him there, smiling, in a blue-and-white striped shirt, with a small drapery swag in the background.

In May, after pressure from the attorneys general of 43 states, Craigslist eliminated its Erotic Services category in the United States and changed it to Adult Services, which Craigslist C.E.O. Jim Buckmaster says is "manually reviewed to make sure a human reviewer looks at each ad and picture, reads each word, and compares the ad with our posting guidelines." Some still criticize Craigslist for only providing the police with information after a crime is committed rather than doing more to prevent crimes; however, Buckmaster says the site has many filters in place and it's not smart for people to arrange illegal activities via the site because, "It virtually guarantees they'll be caught."

Killer@Craigslist [Vanity Fair]

While the Godmothers continue to fill traditional roles (one, the AP notes, served spaghetti to her clan after they tortured, killed, and mutilated a victim in her basement) they're also starting to make executive decisions alongside the male leaders, and according to sociologist Anna Maria Zaccaria of Naples Federico II University, "they eliminate their enemies, their rivals, in a merciless way." [MSNBC]