Almanac chapter 11: Crime

                                     Chapter 11

                                       CRIME

              The latest drug craze: licking toads! If you  get  the  right
         species,  you  will  get  high  - or sick.  The slightly-poisonous
         slime from a certain species of beautiful, large  green-red  toads
         is  an  illegal  drug  but  owning  such a toad as a pet is legal.
         According to Robert K.  Sager of the Drug Enforcement Agency,  "If
         you  had  a  toad,  we  would have to prove you were licking it on
         purpose."

              In Colonial America, not only was growing marijuana legal, it
         was encouraged by the government.  The  fiber  from  pot,  usually
         called  hemp in this context, was excellent material for the ropes
         and sails that ships of that era used.

              Fifty percent of the people who are killed by bombs  are  the
         people who were trying to make or set the bombs.

              Twenty  percent  of  women visiting emergency rooms are there
         because of injuries inflicted by the men they love.

              Every day 4 women will be beaten to death by  their  husbands
         or boyfriends.

              Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr, a high-school dropout, posed as a
         monk,  a  professor  of  psychology,  a cancer researcher, a penal
         officer,  a  teacher,  and  a  surgeon,  all  without  the  proper
         education   or   certification.   As  a  surgeon  he  successfully
         performed amputations and even thoracic surgery.

              There is a policeman in Ontario, Canada who is blind.

              Personal  crimes  (rapes,  robberies,  assaults)  were  up  3
         percent  between  1988  and  1989.  Black and Hispanic people were
         twice as likely to suffer a personal crime in  1988  at  10.4  per
         1000 people, whereas white people had 4.7 crimes per 1000.

              In  Atlantic  City,  since they legalized gambling, the crime
         rate is up nearly 200 percent.

              In Portland, Oregon a man was  arrested  for  car  theft  and
         released  on  bail.  Later the same day, he was arrested again for
         trying to take another car.

              Every day 69 Americans are murdered. Three out of four of the
         victims were related or friends with the murderer.

              Every day 20 banks are robbed. The average take is $2,500.

              American police arrest about 3,000 people per day.

              One out of every six robbery victims knows the robber.

              Every day 400  purses  get  snatched  and  1,000  people  are
         victims of pick pockets in America. The average take is $250.

              Every  day,  $20,000  is  stolen  from  coin operated vending
         machines.

              American  counterfeiters  print  over   one-quarter   million
         dollars a day.

              A  thief  killed Dr. Felix Marsanne and took his wallet which
         was embossed with the initials Dr.  F. M. Three months later,  Dr.
         Felix  Marsanne,  Jr.   worked on a patient admitted to a hospital
         suffering burns from a lightning strike. This patient had "Dr.  F.
         M.   burned  onto  his  chest because he was carrying the doctor's
         father's stolen wallet in his jacket pocket.

              In New York City, car radio theft is so prevalent  that  many
         people  are putting signs in their cars that say, "NO RADIO." This
         is supposed to discourage thieves who would break car  windows  in
         order  to steal a radio. One resident had such a sign, but found a
         window broken one morning anyway. In the car was a note that said,
         "JUST CHECKING."

              Scientific research has been conducted which determined  that
         criminals  convicted in court who are good-looking receive lighter
         sentences than ugly criminals. Only in  cases  where  crooks  used
         their  attractiveness  to  swindle  people  did  they receive more
         severe sentences.

              One car out of every 230 made was stolen last year.

              If you own a new Pontiac Firebird or Trans  Am,  you  run  an
         unusual risk, 29.4 per thousand get stolen.

              In English gambling dens they used to  have  employees  whose
         job it was to swallow the dice if the police arrived.

              You  have  the greatest chance of being assaulted in Arizona.
         North Carolina and  New  Mexico  are  also  assault-likely  places
         compared to other states.

              Six  percent  of  murders  are  committed  by poisoning, nine
         percent by hitting the  victim  with  an  object,  20  percent  by
         stabbing  and  59  percent by shooting. Eight percent are by other
         means.

              In the past fifteen years, airport  security  personnel  have
         detected  more  than 15,000 guns that people have tried to smuggle
         onto airplanes.

              Nine percent of gun owners admit that they have  fired  their
         guns  is  self-protection,  and seven percent said they have fired
         their guns to scare someone.

              Of gun owners, the average person owns 4.41 guns.

              2%  of gun owners said they feel less safe in their own homes
         because they have a gun.

              In Houston, Texas, a man came in to a convenience store  with
         two  guns  and  announced  to  Wazir  Jiwi, who was the only clerk
         there, that he wanted cash.  Mr. Jiwi  offered  to  buy  one  gun,
         since the robber only needed one. They worked out a deal for $100,
         while  the  clerk  pressed a silent alarm button which also locked
         the front door. The robber offered to abort  the  robbery  if  the
         clerk  would  unlock  the door before the police arrived.  And so,
         the robber escaped.  As it turns out, the clerk ended  up  keeping
         his $100 and the gun.

              According  to The National Rifle Association one out of every
         four Americans  owns  a  handgun.  These  are  handguns,  used  as
         weapons,  not  rifles and shotguns primarily designed for hunting.
         They say four handguns are sold per minute in America.

              A handgun has been invented that has a camera built into  the
         butt  and  a  fiber-optic  lens  mounted along the barrel.  Police
         officers would use this gun, and there  would  be  a  photographic
         record  of the scene at every shot fired. This way, there would be
         no argument as to whether a  perpetrator  had  a  gun.   To  avoid
         tampering,  the  camera  would  be locked with a special key.  The
         film  could  be  taken  out  only  by  another  officer  back   at
         headquarters.