Stay ConnectedAre killers born or are they made? Does everyone have the capacity to commit murder? Why is true crime so popular today? The Philosophy of Crime tackles the biggest questions about unsolved mysteries by looking to classical philosophy for answers. Hosted by award-winning journalist, James Renner, author of True Crime Addict.
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Copyright: © James Renner
A bonus episode for your listening pleasure. I started a new podcast, True Crime This Week. It's a wrap-up of all the major true crime news you may have missed this last week. Check it out every Friday morning, where ever you get your podcasts!
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The most difficult case to bring to trial is a no-body homicide, which is why it so rarely happens. We dive deep into the history of such cases and the very nature of doubt.
Covered topics: Alissa Turney, Michael Turney, Sarah Turney, Archibald Fisher, No-Body Homicide, Pyrrho, Pyrrhonism
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Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology
https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3917&context=flr
https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/no-body-homicide-cases-a-practical-approach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_murder_convictions_without_a_body#United_States
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Y3utIeTPg
https://thehueandcry.com/alissa-turney
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/567418/time-abraham-lincoln-stopped-murder-trial-its-tracks
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism/#PyrrSkep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsTWlKgXniw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_SAocFtlio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denialism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhonism
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What is money laundering? And why does the government look the other way?
Covered topics: Money laundering; Al Capone; Ozark; Paul Manafort; Hedonism; Marquis de Sade; Sadism
R4w6hEsxS3KWP6uFKH9c
Further reading:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502449/myth-how-al-capone-gave-us-term-money-laundering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone#Tax_evasion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering
https://theintercept.com/2017/10/30/paul-manafort-money-laundering-scheme-was-identified-months-ago/
https://www.artandobject.com/news/how-money-laundering-works-art-world
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/money-finance/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Sade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism
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What is the connection between school shootings in the United States and toxic masculinity? Is there a way to end school shootings?
Covered Topics: School shootings; Toxic masculinity, Sandy Hook, Adam Lanza, Douglas Kellner, Seung-Hui Cho
Further Reading:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/marriage-equals/202008/masculinity-is-there-really-crisis
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/conversation-with-philoso_b_95530
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-year-how-many-and-where/2021/03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhtfQqKh7dE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvnZBVe4950
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/17/the-reckoning
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The Alford Plea provides a way for a defended to plead guilty while maintaining their innocence. Should this be allowed in criminal court? Where did it come from? Who benefits?
Covered Topics: The West Memphis 3, Henry Alford, Act Utilitarianism, Jeremy Benthem
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alford_plea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three#Release
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism#Utility_ignores_justice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVltykvceWw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_utilitarianism
https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/1970/70-14_10-14-1970.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG3zGzY2hsk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_v._Alford
https://www.delgazette.com/opinion/24467/david-hejmanowski-the-lasting-legacy-of-henry-alford
https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/then-now-the-west-memphis-three
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Does reward money help solve cold cases? When did we start offering money for tips? Is there a better way?
Cover topics: Whitey Bulger, F.B.I. Top Ten, Little Crow, Action Theory, Donald Davidson, Maura Murray
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey_Bulger#Capture
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27763842
https://law.jrank.org/pages/9869/Reward.html
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/17/761183202/do-cash-rewards-for-crime-tips-work
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty_(reward)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Ten_Most_Wanted_Fugitives
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-history-of-the-most-wanted-poster_b_5851ba70e4b0865ab9d4e8d7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRaVnn0vxEY
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/action/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Davidson_(philosopher)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_theory_(philosophy)
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/davidson/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27763842
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How can lawyers defend guilty people? Is it ethical to help someone stay out of jail if you know they're guilty?
Covered Topics: Susan Smith, Judy Clarke, Trial by Ordeal, Juan Catalan, J. L. Mackie, Moral Nihilism, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre,
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powell_v._Alabama
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemic-paradoxes/#MenParInqPuzAboGaiKno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_eikWXzBU0
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/the-worst-of-the-worst
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Smith
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This is a special, bonus episode of The Philosophy of Crime. It's a piece of long-form journalism I wrote about a man named Donny Soke, who I met while researching the unsolved murder of Lisa Pruett. Donny is serving a 888-year prison sentence for murders he did not commit. Please listen to his story.
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What happens to the art when an artist becomes a criminal? Can we still enjoy a good song written by a maniac? Or does that make us enablers?
Covered Topics: Michael Jackson, John Landis, Thriller, David Foster Wallace, Roland Barthes, Death of the Author, Hitler, John Wayne Gacy
Further Reading:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/21/michael-jackson-thriller-changed-music-videos
https://www.grunge.com/115638/respected-writers-actually-terrible-people/
https://www.grunge.com/115638/respected-writers-actually-terrible-people/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeF6O6E9RQ8
https://observer.com/2018/10/serial-killer-art-lucrative-charles-manson-richard-ramirez/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/apr/29/hitler-painting-art
https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/art-hitler/
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For every tragedy, there exists an equal an opposite moment of grace. What is going on here? And what does it say about humanity?
Covered Topics: Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen, Ronan Farrow, Karma, Ka Like a Wheel, Amber Hagerman, Rae-Leigh Bradbury, Amber Alert, Karen Perez, Tim Miller, Texas EquuSearch, Adam Walsh, America’s Most Wanted, Otis Toole, Werhner von Braun, Martin Bryant, DJ Grandmaster Caz, Mr. Rogers
Further Reading:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/my-father-woody-allen-danger-892572
https://amber-ic.org/news/amber-alerts-1000th-successful-recovery/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_alert#Namesake
https://texasequusearch.org/category/cases/located/found-by-txeq/
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/seeking-information-in-unsolved-killing-fields-murders-091819
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What do we mean when we say we want to defund the police? Also, who came up with the idea of police originally, and how are they supposed to act?
Covered topics: George Floyd, Derek Chauvin, Robert Peel, Peelian Principles, Rover’s Morning Glory, Steven Kinas, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract, Mariame Kaba
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnxlq5XQMkg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/police-abolitionist-lessons-for-america.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/defund-the-police-1007254/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html
http://aworldwithoutpolice.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/opinion/defund-police-floyd-protests.html
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The United States is one of only a few countries that has executed children in modern times. In some states, teens are still regularly tried as adults for serious crimes. But should we actually be raising the age of culpability?
Covered Topics: Sean Sellers, Age of Culpability, Lionel Tate, Christopher Pittman, Juvenile Court, Aristotle, Gideon Yaffe, Raise the Age, Mark Wahlberg
Further Reading:
http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/sellers512.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Sellers#cite_note-Devil-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_for_juveniles_in_the_United_States
https://eji.org/news/13-states-lack-minimum-age-for-trying-kids-as-adults/
http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Ar-Bo/Aristotle-384-322-B-C-E.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5kBQb-QftQ
https://newrepublic.com/article/138133/25-year-olds-tried-juveniles
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It's 2021 and we still have secret courts in the United States. What are Grand Juries anyway? How do they work? What are they for? And why are they the worst?
Covered Topics: Breonna Taylor, Grand Juries, Sol Wachtler, Karl Popper, Plato, George Schwartz, Social Contract, George Soros, Tamir Rice
Further Reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/us/breonna-taylor-grand-jury.html
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/us/breonna-taylor-grand-jurors/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDaNU7yDnsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7thxae0AFM
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/breonna-taylor-police-killing.html
http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/open-source-open-government-critique-open-politics-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDrTkvFB6Zk
https://www.businessinsider.com/ohio-prosecutor-tamir-rice-said-to-be-trying-to-lose-2015-12
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-30220700
https://abcnews.go.com/US/tamir-rice-case-prosecutor-abused-manipulated-grand-jury/story?id=35979452
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/breonna-taylor-grand-juror-homicide-charges-police-mistakes/
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We see it in thrillers like SPLIT, but does it ever happen in real life? Are there people in this world with multiple personalities? And if so, what does it take to fracture a mind?
Covered Topics: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Multiple Personalities, Alters, Billy Milligan, Zoo Man of Knoxville, David Chalmers, Hard Problem of Consciousness, Douglas Hofstadter, Panpsychism, Thales of Miletus, Joseph DeAngelo
Further Reading:
https://www.thecut.com/2015/11/blind-woman-had-10-personalities-some-could-see.html
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/91244/5-criminals-who-claimed-have-multiple-personalities.
https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/crazy-not-insane-did-ted-bundy-have-multiple-personality
https://www.dispatch.com/article/20071028/NEWS/310289729
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPPzmRb4r0
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shadow-boxing/202005/the-zoo-man-murders
https://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/huskey-thomas.htm
https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/philosophy-of-personal-identity-and-multiple-personality/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-07/david-chalmers-and-the-puzzle-of-consciousness/8679884
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50 years ago this week, 4 students were killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State. But nobody can agree on who fired first. And the only man who knows the truth is a car salesmen who lives on a mountain.
Covered Topics: Kent State, Terry Norman, National Guard, Kent State Shootings, My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, Pontius Pilate, Objective Truth, Friedrich Nietzsche, Eugene Wigner, Massimiliano Proietti, Perspectivism, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, William Schroeder
Further Reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y5cftds7-8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7PUy8ZrQE
https://www.sciencealert.com/watch-how-repetition-creates-an-illusion-of-truth
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/
https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40129
https://web.archive.org/web/20080516080032/http://www.tbo.com/life/kentstate.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Norman
https://dks.library.kent.edu/cgi-bin/kentstate?a=d&d=dks20101116-01.2.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R9QROhm1Sk
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When I was a reporter, I got the chance to talk to a man after he died. If you're close enough to someone, perhaps you're carrying a little piece of them inside you. Jump in and let's get weird.
Covered Topics: Joe Kupchik, Optography, Wilhelm Kuhne, Erhard Reif, Elva Heaster, Douglas Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach, Recursion, Edgar Allan Poe, Maura Murray
Further Reading:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/oh-joseph-kupchik-19-cleveland-12-feb-2006.113513/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/30608/elva-zona-heaster-ghost-who-helped-solve-her-own-murder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jReX7qKU2yc
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-consciousness/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWZ2Bz0tS-s
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What is reasonable doubt? Can it be defined? Who does it really help?
Covered topics: Caylee Anthony, Reasonable Doubt, Standard of Proof, William Blackstone, Victor V. Nebraska, Rene Descartes, Cartesian Doubt
Further Reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvIdgW74LCk
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2011/07/nancy_grace_explains_what_the.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD3rqRwPPck
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/supreme-court-nonunanimous-juries-oral-argument.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/15/magazine/split-jurors.html
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Not all those who wander are lost. Most of us fantasize about started a new life somewhere. Few of us succeed.
Covered Topics: Maura Murray, John List, Patrick McDermott, John J. Nazarian, Evan Ratliff, Alan Watts, Ken Lay, Plato, David Hume
Further Reading:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trqDnLNRuSc&t=312s
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-06-18-mn-3671-story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_List
https://murderpedia.org/male.L/l/list-john-emil.htm
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2009445_2009447_2009502,00.html
https://www.wired.com/2009/11/ff-vanish2/
https://www.wired.com/2009/08/gone-forever-what-does-it-take-to-really-disappear/
https://www.alanwatts.org/life-of-alan-watts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Watts
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/08/24/alan-watts-this-is-it/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7ufX3VaTJc
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Learn about the "Mean World Syndrome" and how the world is actually safer than you think.
Topics: Mean World Syndrome, George Gerbner, Logical Fallacies, Aristotle, Serial Killer's Apprentice
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gerbner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-0E4qHqZ5o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/gun_bullets_knives_pulled_from.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/05/the-man-who-counts-the-killings/376850/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-citys-murder-rate-hit-new-low-in-2018-11546559793
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/
https://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/Equivocation.html
https://www2.palomar.edu/users/bthompson/Secundum%20Quid.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb-h0sXkH4
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When a crime is committed, a clock begins to tick. If you're not charged before time runs out, you can never be prosecuted. But why?
Topics Covered: Ted Conrad, Demosthenes, Statute of Limitations, Phormion, Bill Cosby, Andrea Constand, John Demjanjuk, Amnesty, Thirty Tyrants, Critias, Emmanuel Levinas, Hannah Arendt, Charles Griswold, Amy Mihaljevic
Further Reading:
https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1107&context=facpubs
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2008/01/theodore_john_conrad_the_fbi_h.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlT5Ez_Hfao
https://people.com/crime/who-is-andrea-constand-bill-cosby-accuser/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/forgiveness/
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The world has changed. A new tool has been created to solve the coldest cases. And if we're not careful, it'll be taken away from us in a heartbeat.
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On the record, police rarely admit to using psychics to solve crimes. But a surprising number of detectives often consult with soothsayers to discover new leads.
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In the United States, we still execute prisoners for a variety of crimes. We are one of the last civilized societies to do so. Why is capital punishment so popular, here?
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FBI profilers are the mystical heroes of law enforcement, with the ability to look at a crime and imagine the suspect. But is it science or just wishful thinking?
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Charles Manson never killed anybody. He tricked his friends into doing it for him. But how? And could any one of us be tricked into doing evil deeds?
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We've all heard the saying, "Lie detectors can't be used in a court of law." But is that really true? And can a machine ever really know the mind of a man?
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We want so desperately to go back in time and stop a crime from happening. But we can't change the past. Or can we?
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You're not a murderer, right? You wouldn't even hurt a fly, would you? Don't be so sure.
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A brief history of crime reporting and how we screwed it up in America.
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One of the most important tools to detectives is a heuristic known as Occam's Razor. But you must wield it carefully or you end up hurting the wrong people.
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Nature or nurture? What makes a man evil? Is it genetics or is it their environment? And is there even such a thing as free will?
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Where does our fascination with true crime come from? When did this obsession begin? Renner traces it all back to the "true crime singularity."
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