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Home > Shows > Snitching

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Snitching

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Healing Burns by Phone

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The Dangers of Snitches

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Victims of Snitches

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Date:

11-21-09

Host:

Ian Punnett

Guests:

Alison
McDermott, Alexandra
Natapoff

Ian Punnett was joined by nationally-recognized expert on snitching, Alexandra Natapoff, for a
discussion on the perils of using informants in our criminal justice system. She
clarified that snitches are not the same as whistle blowers or even people
reporting a crime, but are people who have committed a crime and using
information to "get out from under their own criminal liability." Additionally,
unlike those who take a plea bargain to escape jail time, deals with informants
are never revealed to the public and the snitch is never charged with a crime.
This scenario creates a myriad of problems, she explained, as the informants are
not only allowed to get away with crimes they have already committed but also
future crimes they may commit since they are seen as valuable to police
investigators.

One particularly troubling aspect of this practice, she said, is that often
informants use the system to their advantage at the expense of innocent people.
She shared a number of instances where incorrect tips provided to police by
informants results in terrible consequences. One such story involved an
informant claiming to know of a home where drugs were being sold. When police
burst into the home, they shot and killed a 92-year-old woman, only to later
realize that they'd been misled. In an attempt to cover-up their mistake, they
actually offered to pay a second informant if he would claim to have bought
drugs at the house. Fortunately, this informant refused to cooperate and the
tragic story became public knowledge. If not for that, Natapoff said, "nobody
would ever learn what actually happened."

On how pervasive the power of snitches can be, Natapoff cited a Northwestern
University study of exonerated death row inmates which found that 45% of them
were convicted via the testimony of informants. Making matters even more
troublesome, she also noted that a study of jurors determined that they will
believe the testimony of an informant even after being told that they are being
paid for their testimony. Strangely, these jurors stated that they thought the
informants were unreliable and had an incentive to lie, but still believed their
testimony. Thankfully, Natapoff said, awareness of the problems with the
informant system has begun to grow and states are beginning to regulate the
practice, such as Rachel's Law in Florida. "I think that the law will look very
different in a decade," she said, as this scrutiny of the system grows.

Remote Curing Burns

During the first hour, Alison McDermott talked about the Fireburn Team, a group
which claims to remotely cure injury from burns. She alleged that the
organization can heal a person's burns as long as they find out about the victim
and the injury within an hour of it happening. McDermott said that the group
uses an ancient method of remote healing to bypass the brain's reaction to the
burn. McDermott explained that they are appealing to mothers, since they are
"very likely to be the first to know about their burned child within minutes,"
thus making them ideal candidates for the Fireburn Team.

Website(s):

snitching.org

lls.edu/academics/faculty/natapoff.html

fireburndoctor.com

Book(s):

Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American
Justice

Related Articles

Creepy Collectibles

Missing for over a century, two fingers and a tooth extracted from the body
of Galileo Galilei have been rediscovered. The relics were part of a larger haul
of "souvenirs" taken by fans of the legendary scientist when his body was moved
in 1737. The recently discovered digits and dentile were passed down by one
family for generations until being lost in 1905. More on the story here,
including a look at one of the other pilfered fingers on display at a museum in
Firenze, Italy.

Ian Punnett's Blog

Check out Ian's latest musings and insights at his blog site.

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