Crime Scene

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Go here: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/164/crime-scene

Click on play to listen to the Crime Scene episode on This American Life (it is about an hour).

Summarize what you heard and learned. What was the most surprising thing to you? What aspects of psychology relate to any of the segments?

38 Comments

They radio archive began with two men going through slides. They were looking at slides of gruesome murders. They then went on to discuss a girl who was first thought to have committed suicide, but one cop did not believe it to be true. The girl's tongue had scares which was found in the autopsy. If the girl was committing suicide her tongue would not have been damaged. They then talked with the boyfriend and eventually found out that he murdered her. This was a homocide, not a suicide. And all was found from her tongue scares.
A lot can be found with so little. Blood stains help tell how someone died and even the stance of killer. One can track/find someone from bite marks that are left behind. All can be found and processed in order to track and find a killer; or even just figure out what happened.
After a crime scene has been processed it then needs to be cleaned up. The person who owns the property on which the crime happened is then left to clean up afterwards. However there are some people who clean up after crime scenes for a living. They get licences and permits that most people do not have or own.
Next they talked about how criminals usually do not return to the scene of the crime, unless it is to remove something, or arsonists, because they like to see the fires they set. They then talked about a con man who returned to a neighborhood in which he robbed people of their money. He did not return to continue in his ways, no he was no longer a "dope fiend" he returned to teach baseball and help keep kids out of trouble.
Last a story was told about a boy who lost his parents when he was very young. When he got older he found out that he was good at finding things. The story ends with him finding a lost boy and returning him to his mother for no reward. He lays in his bed wishing and hoping he can feel a pull or tug towards his parents. But he feels nothing.

Psychology is applied in the first story, the girl who didn't commit suicide, because the cop talked about how the girl did not have a history of depression. This is what made him believe that she never committed suicide in the first place. Another aspect of psychology would be the con mans change of heart/ways. He did not want to harm people anymore, but to help kids stay out of trouble. Keep kids from falling into the same rut he did. The last one, the story, the kid may not be able to find his parents because he is unclear on why they were not with him. Why the disappeared. Maybe he feels they left him and they do not want to be found. He wants them to come to him because he feels unwanted. He does not want to go to them if they do not want him, so he waits, and that is why he does not feel a tug towards them.


I thought this radio show was very interesting! Radio is underutilized as a mean for getting information about different things disseminated. I would listen to the radio more if I knew how to find radio show like this! It is always interesting to see the way people portray themselves with only the use of sound, which is a fascinating aspect of psychology that would fall under the categories of sensation and perception. I participated in radio broadcast in my high school speech team, and it was very difficult to remember that no one could see how we were presenting ourselves. We had to do get every emotion or context clue across with our voice. We can only hear the voice of the presenters (hosts and guests, is that proper radio jargon?), but yet we are able to put meaning and feeling with everything he or she says. I think that’s really cool. Gosh, I’m a nerd.

The first “act” of the radio show pertained to the things we can learn from different crime scenes. We just discussed in Chapter 4 that many aspects of forensic science are portrayed incorrectly in television. The gentleman in the first segment, commented on the real-life application of some of these very techniques. He talked about using trigonometry and blood splatter to find where the force that produced the splattering originated. He also talked about what the different types of blood splatter (low velocity versus high velocity) could indicate. The most interesting part of the first segment was the story the guest told about using a piece of cheese the perpetrator had taken a bite out of to lead his team to a positive identification.

In the second segment, a broadcaster recounted the time she had spent with a crime scene clean-up crew. The gentleman she spent her time with told her gory stories and took her on a clean-up with him. He told her that, when conducting business, he adopts a Southern accent to build trust with clients. We have all studied the importance of first impressions, so the application of psychology here makes sense to us. The social manipulation helps his business and helps clientele feel more at ease. He also tells the broadcaster that the job has changed his outlook on life and death. He is desensitized to the concept of death because of the exposure. The presence of social psychology in this act was high in abundance.

Act Three took a different turn completely. Instead of discussing the forensic science or the dirty work involved with crime scenes, it talked about criminals returning to the scene of the crime. This was my favorite section. Besides telling a story of former criminal (which I will get to in a second), the segment also shared that, although we think many criminals return to the scene of their crimes at high rates, most do not return at all. The exceptions to this statement are arsonist, who like to see the fires they have started, and those who return to clear or “undo” something. The segment told the story of a man who had often stolen or conned people out of money in a particular neighborhood. He was a drug offender and ended up serving time in prison. After his release, he returned to the neighborhood to coach Little League and prove that he was different now. Through his experience as a cosh he really grew as a person. He stayed clean and out of trouble so he did not disappoint the kids. He mentioned that everyone thought he kept the kids in line, but they were really the ones who kept him in line. I love stories like this. That fear of social ostracization, more social psychology at work here, helped him become a better person in the exact place where he done wrong.

There are different velocities of blood stains. By observing blood spots, you can tell where the person was standing and what caused them to bleed. For instance, if a person was shot, it would be a high velocity stain and would have droplets everywhere. You can also look and see the angle and see the victim’s posture at the time of the scene. You can look at utensils and see what hand the person primarily used. Odors, hairs, and objects, such as cheese can help identify the criminal. It is interesting to me to see just by looking at how the blood spots are laid out and the appearance of them can tell you almost everything that happened at the crime scene.

Neil is a crime scene cleaner. The job is very detailed oriented. They dispose and analyze all sorts of evidence such as blood droppings, hair, scuff marks from shoes, and other DNA evidence. They must pick up all of the little pieces, especially if it is part of the person’s skeleton. There can be blood all over the room, so he has to clean all of the little marks which are a very nasty job. Neil tries to get to the jobs as fast but efficiently as possible. It is very gross but interesting to do, for example a melted person. Neil must keep a calm front around people he works for. He makes sure clients feel comfortable and confident that he does his job well. He tries to talk in a calm and rather soothing voice to try and not stress out the people in which it helps. Murders are the least of Neil’s business; most of his job is getting decomposing bodies and suicides. Meth houses and kitty houses are also places he goes. He has to wear protective clothing to not get any of the blood or body on him. It was depressing for Neil to see not only the dead bodies, but how the people live. Many people lived like “filthy animals”, and it made Neil feel gross. I give him credit for his job, because not many people could do that job and have a good attitude about it. The cleanliness of all of the houses seemed to be poor, which almost makes it seem that people who had a crime scene at their house were dirty and didn’t take care of themselves in the first place, especially if they were a substance abuse user.

Criminals who commit the crime often do not go back to the crime scene. It is more of a myth that they go back to the crime scene to cover up their tracks. Listening to voice recording and messages can help prove if a person is committing a crime or not. For instance drug use, in which the person would not be speaking properly and slurring their words. Paying attention to all of the actions after a crime scene and to people around it can be helpful in detecting the criminal. If a criminal goes back to the crime scene, it helps reveal their identity. Bobby, in this scenario gave his substance abuse away through his actions and the way he talked to people. Drug and alcohol abuse can also be identified easily. It also revealed how Bobby had a troubled childhood and how he continued on the long, bad road for a while, but was able to change after a while, which is rare but respected. Bobby, after getting a badge that says that he’s changed, wears it so people can see how he’s changed. People he’s conned in the past he tried to make things right with in the end. This goes to show how someone can make really bad and stupid decisions and completely turn their life around, and how a person’s actions can really ruin or make their reputation better.

I really enjoyed this story (or stories I guess) about crime scenes; there were a lot of interesting facts in it! The episode is split into a prologue and four acts, but the ones I found most interesting were the prologue, Act One, and Act Two.
The part I liked best about the prologue was the story about the murder made to look like a suicide. I feel like this ties into psychology a lot because of the suspicions the detective had on whether or not this was a self-inflicted injury. He makes a good point by saying that, if you were going to end your life, why would you inflict more pain than necessary? Once again, this is tying back to psychology.
Act One followed a forensic criminologist in Nevada, who talked about what you can learn from crime scenes. I studied the trigonometry of blood splatters, so I’m already familiar with this, but I still think it’s so cool that you can use math to find the angle that blood hits a surface. Whoever discovered that is a genius!
Act Two was the most interesting because it followed a man who cleaned up crime scenes for a living. It’s strange to hear this story, because I’ve never actually thought about what they do when they’re done with a crime scene. Obviously it’s cleaned up, but it never actually occurred to me to wonder about who was the unlucky person who had to do it.
Another way this ties into psychology is through the guy cleaning up these grisly scenes day after day. What effect does this have on him? What effect do these crimes have on the detectives who have to investigate them? It’d be interesting to see if these careers have a long term psychological effect.
One last thing I found surprising: when the crime scene clean-up guy said that there’s no hotel in the country that hasn’t had a murder or suicide in it. An interesting thing to think about the next time you’re staying at a motel or hotel!!

This was a very interesting show. The consisted of three different acts. The first act talked about how different styles of blood stains can help solve a crime. The second act was about a murder/homicide/suicide/decomposition cleanup crew that was created because of the movie Pulp Fiction. The third act is about a baseball coach who used to be a thief in the neighborhood that he is now teaching troubled youth to play baseball in. The final act is a story about a boy who has the ability to find any item that is lost. Overall, the show was very interesting. The thing that I found interesting was the first opening story. It talked about how the police originally thought that was a suicide. However, on a hunch, the examiner looked at the tongue and saw that the women had a bullet hole in her tongue. The examiner thought to himself, why would a person trying to kill themselves point the gun down when normally all the people he examines points the gun up. After some further investigation of the boyfriend, it was found out that he had called and found out they “normally” don’t do an autopsy on suicides. The police eventually got a confession from him. Another thing that I found interesting was how the different splatter types of blood can tell you a lot about what happened at a crime scene. One of the examples that the guy gives is how there was a case were the guy said he killed the guy in self defense. However, because of the angle of blood splatter, they found out that the man was actually beaten to death when he was on the ground. The other cool part about blood splatter is that it can actually tell you the weapon that was used during the killing. For example, a bullet wound usually leaves a mist type splatter on the wall. The second act was a little more…gross. It was talking about how a guy actually got into the profession of cleaning up crime scenes because of the movie Pulp Fiction. He said the scene where the guy’s head blows up in the backseat of the car inspired him to create the company. The thing that really made it gross/interesting was the stories that the guy told. The one story about how he actually found a pool of maggots in the bloody mess on the floor. That is a mental image that I will not forget. The third act was one of the more moving acts that the talked about. It talked about how a guy that used to steal from this neighborhood was now coming back to coach troubled kids to play baseball. The act goes through a couple of practices. At the start of the practices, the kids start off with disrespecting Bobby (the coach), and as they have more practices the kids learn to respect Bobby a lot more. Bobby doesn’t only help the kids, the kids help him. Bobby talks about how the kids give him a reason to keep off of dope and other drugs. The final act was talking about a boy who could find anything. His parents had been killed swimming and he was adopted by the community. He is eventually called to help find a missing person. He is able to find the boy’s blue shirt (that was still on the missing boy Lenard) and return the boy to his mother.

I learned a lot from these four acts. I learned about how different blood splatter can tell you a lot about a crime scene. Another thing that I learned by listening to the four acts is not to take a bite of cheese at a crime scene. I also learned that you can learn a lot about a crime scene by checking the food on the table. Also, the placement of the silverware on the table can tell you whether or not the person was left or right handed. However, I think the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that a person could get caught for doing a crime because he took a bite of cheese; basically in today’s world, you can’t not leave something at a crime scene.

There were a couple aspects of psychology in these acts. The first one that I noticed was in the second act talking about the guy who owned his own murder clean up company. He actually invented a southern accent to use when talking to clients of the phone. According to him, it gives people trust to hear a southern voice. That is something that I found very interesting because it is something that I believe as well. I honestly think that good southern country boys are just overall better guys and I can trust him. How I learned that I don’t really know, but it is something that I have believed for a while. Another aspect of psychology is that case is just the fact that he cleans up after dead people. I find it very hard to believe that anyone would actually like to have that job. I am just thinking to myself I couldn’t deal with the smell of the rotting flesh. You have to have some sort of mental strength to deal with the clean up, because you aren’t just cleaning a stain of pop. You are cleaning what used to be a person. The final thing that I saw in act two was when he was talking about how he hopes that he dies young and he wouldn’t mind if he had cancer. That doesn’t really seem like something someone who was in their right mind would say. The other place that I saw some aspect of psychology in was the act talking about Bobby the baseball coach. He was able to help these kids, and gave them that “Father” figure that they never really had. The person narrating even said that Bobby was the only thing that was constant in their life. I found that interesting, as well as when Bobby talks about how the kids are the reason that he keeps of dope. This was very moving because in a sense, they are helping each other. Even though they all come from a rough background, they are still able to depend on each other.

Act one began with individuals who were looking at slides of crime scene photos. They talked about the types of blood splatter and how one could tell the type of object used, whether it were blunt or sharp, and even where the attacker was located in the room and how tall they were. There were also other interesting things discussed about what a crime scene can tell you. Such as if there is food on the table, feeling the temperature of the food would be able to give you a timeline also which side the silver wear was on would allow the observer to know if the individual were left or right handed. Applying to psychology was the discussion of suicide and how individuals were to shoot themselves. When the medical examiner noticed damage to the tongue of an individual who was presumed to have committed suicide, he knew that there was something more to the story. Someone who was going to kill himself or herself would not want to cause themself more pain. So in the case of suicide by shot to the head and individual has no damage to the tongue.

In act two the job of an individual named Neil is followed, he so happens to be a crime scene cleaner. The majority of Neil’s job deals with cleaning up after decomposing bodies and suicides/attempted suicides. I was thinking of ways to apply psychology to this and one of the main things I kept thinking is what type of person would it take to be able to do this job everyday. It would take a certain type of individual to be able to handle all the aspects that this job would take physically and psychologically. Later on it mentioned that this job was changing Neil and the way he perceived the world.
In act three they follow an ex convict named Bobby as he returns to his old neighborhood to coach a children’s baseball team. Later on in the segment they talked about Bobby’s past and his childhood. Bobby lived a rough life and was constantly kicked out by his mother, where he would resort to stealing food and alcohol, which he said, helped him sleep at night. His addiction to alcohol later led to him getting into harder drugs. I applied this psychologically to the reasons why he cleaned his act up and started coaching youths. Bobby didn’t want these children to resort to crime, like he did, so he wanted to give back to his community and try to help these children do something productive with their lives so they wouldn’t end up in the same situations he found himself in, such as resorting to alcohol and drugs.

The smallest thing can be the most important at a crime scene; you just have to find it. You can get the angle, velocity, and the weapon impact from blood spatter that hits the wall or floor around the area of impact. Routine things to look for are, food on a table, you need to see if the food is still warm and if the person is right handed or left handed. Do you see blood, hair, or fibers? Smells can be very important at a crime scene, like cigar smoke. Something even as small as a piece of cheese in a fridge can reveal the culprit of the crime, in one specific case this did happen, just shows how much you really have to pay attention to when entering the scene. Who cleans up the crime scene? Normally the person who owns the property has the responsibility to get it cleaned up or hires someone to clean it up.

Crime scene clean up crew, Neil Smither talks about crime scenes in great detail to the point where you cringe at the thought of it. “Gore sells,” he says. He talks about how he walked into a crime scene where maggots were literally feeding off a dead body; he could hear it amongst the silence in the dark apartment. He loves his job; he works on decomposition cases, suicides, meth labs, kitty houses, and hotels. The job that he does is not hard; it is just very morbid and difficult to deal with, in reality he is just like any other businessman. It shocked me the way that he talked about crime scene clean up. He got to see how people died and he got to see how people lived as well. He thinks people are dirty and that they are, “dirt bags” they have no common courtesy. Having this job has made him see how dirty people really are. Having this job has made Neil think about his death and how he would like to die, he does not want to be founded by a clean up crew where everyone wonders what happened. He wants to go slowly and maybe even painfully if he has to, not many people would want this to happen. I know that I sure do not want to die painfully or even slowly for that matter, it is just not normal for a human to want to be in great pain when they die.

A criminal returning to the scene of the crime doesn’t normally happen; unless someone has set a fire, they like to watch their work in progress. The story about Bobby, who was a Heroin user trying to get clean, this is a case where a criminal returns to the crime scene. In the neighborhood where he once was a criminal he now teaches a little league baseball team, but the kids were rebelling against him and didn’t want to listen to him. Kids started making fun of him and picking on him about prison, which just made him feel like a more horrible person than before. In this case Bobby returned to the crime scene to make things right, he didn’t want to watch his crime unfold he wanted his presence to benefit the neighborhood. Bobby sees himself in some of the kids, and how they react toward situations. They have a short temper, curse, and blame others for their own actions. The baseball field means more to him then the kids know, that place is where he went when his mom kicked him out or got into a fight. The kids start to respect Bobby with all the time that he spends with them; it makes him feel good that he has that support in this time that he is recovering. Support systems are very important when people are recovering from addictions otherwise without someone they are more likely to relapse. The team is making Bobby grow as a person and be a better human being, he is now proud of himself. There are times where his past haunts him in that neighborhood, the people that he stole from remind him of what he used to be, he sometimes still wants to be a thug, but then thinks what he has to make everyday positive.

There was an orphan who had the knack for finding things. The community adopted and raised the boy after his parents died. He found lost keys, sunglasses, and contacts. It came about on accident when a neighbor misplaced her hairbrush and he found it in the silverware drawer. Skeptic neighbors and supportive neighbors, the skeptic neighbors were using confirmation bias on their reasoning for the boy finding all the lost objects. They believed he stole the items and hid them then found them the next day, which is completely ridiculous. Mrs. Allen’s son goes missing, who is a skeptic and now expects the boy to find her son who has been kidnapped, the kidnapper wants the “green star,” which is the emerald that Mrs. Allen has in her possession. The boy finds her son by locating his blue shirt and finding him close nearby, where the people who took him regret their decision and had ulterior motives for taking the boy.
Where this last story was fiction, it just shows that it is important to go with instincts. Just like in the first case with the doctor thinking it was highly suspicious that the girlfriend who has supposedly committed suicide had holes in her tongue, this clearly proving that it was a homicide and catching the guilty boyfriend in a lie. Forensics is a clearly an intense process that has to take many procedures and evidence into account.

This radio episode was very interesting and I feel like I learned a lot. The show started off with the description of a young woman who had apparently committed suicide by putting a gun in her mouth. What was interesting, however, was that she was murdered. One of the clues that led the detectives down this road was the fact that she had no history of depression. Clinical psychology can therefore be used in this story.


The first act was particularly interesting. The topic was about blood stains and what can be learned from the shape of a drop of blood. Psychologically, I think we can relate this to liars. An example was given of a man who lied and said he hit the other individual in self-defense. It was later found out by blood-spatter-analysis that he was lying and that the other person was down when he was kicked. Psychology may try to answer the questions “why did he lie? What motivated him to lie or to commit the crime in the first place? Is there some type of disorder involved (antisocial personality disorder) that the individual could receive treatment for?”


I especially liked the second act of the show. It was interesting to learn about crime scene clean-ups. It’s something not many people think about. I guess I always just assumed the police or investigators did that as a part of their job. I never knew there was a specific job designated to clean-up. Psychologically, it was interesting how Neal’s job affects his perception of death. Neal has changed his views on how he wants to die as a result of his job. Oddly enough, he admitted he would like to die a slow death, even if it is painful, just so he is allowed to say goodbye to his loved ones. Although it wasn’t mentioned in the episode, we can’t help but wonder if his job has any other psychological influences. I feel like for most people, seeing the types of things he sees on a daily basis would require a large amount of counseling to help cope with the devastating situations. Something that shocked me in this story, though, was the statement that there’s not a hotel in the country that hasn’t had a murder or suicide in it! Scary to think of!


Act three was interesting as well and there’s not too many stories you hear about those who had a life of crime who came back to the “scene of the crime.” This story brought up the issues of criminal rehabilitation and rates of recidivism. It seemed like Bobby was almost like a counselor to the boys on his little league team. He was helping them to grow and teaching them things about life, not just about baseball. Bobby’s situation makes one wonder if he had received the proper support system (such as a counselor) when he was younger and committing crime, would he have turned out for the better? I think we can also apply developmental psychology to this story.


The last story about the boy who could find items because he felt a “tug” towards them can be easily related to cognitive psychology. This boy saw patterns and pay attention to different things that other people didn’t. As a result, he had the skill of finding hidden items/people.

I enjoyed listening to all the different acts throughout this radio show.
They started talking about how you can distinguish between suicide and homicide when a gun is being used just by what is left of the body. They talked about how when someone is committing suicide they point the gun more upwards, the tongue isn’t affected by the bullet at all, this is one of the things that leads them to thinking the boyfriend killed the girlfriend. Another idea more psychology based, was this girl had no background of depression or anything that would lead her to committing suicide. With this evidence they got the boyfriend to confess pretty quickly of killing his girlfriend.
It started out talking about what you can learn at crime scenes just by looked at things like, if the food is still warm, where the utensils were placed, if there were any fibers like hair or skin left behind. I never thought in detail about any of it. He also mentioned how just by viewing how the utensils were set up could tell you whether the person was right or left handed. He also talks about the most ironic piece of evidence used to detect a robbery was bite marks on a piece of cheese. This immediately took be back to thinking about the reading we did earlier in the week on chapter 4. They mentioned how evidence such as bite marks isn’t always reliable and useful so I was surprised they were able to convict someone off of the piece of cheese they found.
The next segment was about Neil, the man who cleans up crime scenes for a living. I thought it was awful when they mentioned that the people who live at where the crime scene happened are the ones who are responsible to clean it up. Although Neil’s job isn’t the most desired, I was happy to find out there is a business out there that can take care of cleaning it up for them. This story to me related to psychology because Neil looks at dead, decomposing, maggot eating bodies all day every day. How does this not affect him mentally in anyway? The interviewer mentions that the “work isn’t hard, just depressing.” I definitely know not any ordinary person could do what he does, which I think is rather incredible, especially since he went from not seeing a dead body to cleaning them up in 4 years.
I think the story of Bobby and the baseball team he decided to coach is a great way to show how children can develop and grow into totally different people (happy) just because they are placed in front of someone who can lead them in some sort of direction. I think this story is also very powerful because Bobby once had a rough life as well, addicted to heroin, so he also had to come a long way and be a “father” figure for these boys we well. I believe psychology relates to this story because it shows how another person in your life can have such a dramatic affect.
The last story, the orphan boy with the amazing power to find lost items was rather sad to me. He could help people find lost hairbrushes, and even a lost boy, but what he wanted most was to be able to find his family.
Key words: depression, suicide, homicide, psychology, evidence

The radio show I thought was truly interesting, and was well presented in terms of categorized sections. Normally radio shows are not presented in a holistic nature. Although this representation of different crimes were presented separately, it was done in such a way that the entire show in its own right came together in a uniform way, connecting each part, rather than becoming mutually exclusive in nature. As for the four sections which included examination of a crime scene (specifically in terms of blood), cleaning up a crime scene, returning to a crime scene, and finally the child who can find lost objects (although I am yet a skeptic) all were interesting, however I found the largest interest in the gentleman who cleans up crime scenes (Neal Smither), and Bobby who relates to the section on returning to a scene.
Firstly, the general representation of Neal Smither, the gentleman who runs the cleaning agency for taking care of biomaterials was fairly interesting. I found it shocking that a living being could go sixty plus days in a home decomposing, without such as a soul or a family member realizing they were missing. Although somewhat disturbing, there is a lot to relate to this section of the radio segment in terms of psychology. Neal himself described that before he began the job that his general perception on the reality of how the world works was relatively positive, however turned for the worst after just a few weeks on the job. Specifically, I analyzed his comments in terms of the “pack-rat” and “hoarders” he came a crossed. This relates very strongly to psychology especially in todays globalized terms. Firstly, hoarders usually develop over time, due to a psychological disorder, generalized anxiety, phobias, or a false sense of preserving material things to fulfill an emotional response which is lacking from immaterial connections. That is to say, put simply we live in a society that is bombarded with materials, often times something that was missing from childhood (such as non-material social connections) is now thought to be attainable in adult years of life by filling the gap with “things.” This leads to a sense of over consumerism in relation to possible general anxiety, phobia, or social anxiety causing a whirlwind of problems. (Hence a psychological explanation to the behavior of hoarders.) Neal also brought up the man wearing the suit throwing garbage to the floor in the restroom. This also can be explained in terms of today’s impact of globalization, and psychology. The perceived (class consciousness) that this individual perceives himself as, that is his perception is that his job and or suit has a higher prestige in terms of class fosters a breakdown in morals, and a larger divide between consequences. This is a classic example of behavioral psychology as that people tend to see immediate actions as more important than future consequences. (Hence a disregard for behavior, actions, cleanliness) all things Neal observed.
I also found it interesting that owners were responsible for cleanup. Although I suppose that would make some sense, just seemed somewhat off.
Lastly the story of Bobby was an interesting one as well. It was not “returning to a crime scene” in the sense we would think of, but is rather an explanation of the struggles of the prison reform system, and the social stigma that prisoners embody. After Bobby tried to turn away from narcotics, alcohol, and a general lack of caring for social standards, the environment (including the people) were against him. He explains his struggles trying to regain a reputation, and prove to people he was trying to do the right thing. However, bobby had a social connection which included his baseball team and a stable background. After all he returned to where he grew up. As a result he avoided boredom, and depression which in turn fostered an easier reintegration process and avoidance of any relapses.
Overall, I really enjoyed the radio broadcast as a whole. However, I’m skeptical about the last part. I’m sure a connection to psychology is possible, however I don’t believe in the “psychic” ideal, and the fourth section was all a bit strange. Besides that I really enjoyed the two middle sections about Bobby, and Neal.

Act one goes into detail about blood splatters and how they can tell how a person died. The splatters on the wall like the shape of them can tell if the person was beat over the head or was shot. I found this to be pretty interesting. I just want to know why the person in act two said that he wanted to die a slow death, yes just because he wants to say goodbye to everyone, but does that mean he had some psychological problem?

Act two is pretty gross; I mean to find out that if someone dies in your own house, you have to be the one who cleans it up? Really does that sound reasonable, wouldn’t you think that someone could come into the house and clean it up? It also talks about one man’s job that actually he goes into and cleans up their mess. One lady tried to kill herself and he had to go into the jail cell and clean it up. That is so not the job for me.

Act three is about coming back to the scene of the crime and they said that not a whole lot of people actually do that. They sometimes come back to circle back to the crime. Also in this scene the coach had the idea to try and keep clean and stray of trouble so he could be a role model for the team. As a young child the coach had a tough past and did not want the kids to have the same past with troubles. Which is a great idea, every child should have some type of role model and someone to follow.

I think these segments deal with social psychology and some sort of developmental psychology.

“Every crime scene is a story of its own.” The first thing discussed had to do with a girl who apparently committed suicide, but one detective did not agree with this decision. He played into the psychological side of things to determine that the woman did not have a history of depression and that she did not leave a note, he was using studies other than the law and crime in general to come to this conclusion. Along with that, they discovered that the lady’s tongue appeared to have been shoved against the muzzle of the gun, instead of unharmed as most are during suicides using a gun in the mouth. Evidence at a crime scene tells a story that can be interpreted through psychology, science, and law.
Act one of the episode discusses what can be found and interpreted at the crime scene, like blood stains. Different velocity and different objects create different blood shapes and stains, like round droplets or splatters or tear-drop shaped. Blood stains can also tell where a person was standing or how they were positioned. Food can also be important for giving information to detectives, like how the silverware is placed can determine if someone is left or right handed. If the food is still warm or if there are bite marks or fingerprints on it will also be helpful. Act two discusses crime scene cleaners and a specific cleaning service in California and their franchises. This part was blunter, which is probably a good thing because these people deal with some the most gruesome aspects of death. There are many different laws and liability issues that deal with the clean-up of dead bodies, which is why these companies exist. Surprisingly, murders are usually the least of the accounts that these companies have to take on. “It isn’t hard, just depressing,” is what Nancy describes Neal’s business as, and a business is exactly what it is, a way for someone to make their living.
Act three has Katie Davis discussing her neighbor who caused a lot of problems and got into trouble, then returned to the area to coach baseball to kids. Bobby, the coach, discusses how he relates to the young kids and how he sees himself in one of them especially. Katie then discusses how Bobby was when he was young and how he acted out quite a lot and how the abandoned field he coaches on now used to be a place he would go. Which goes on to discuss how he started drinking at a young age and using drugs, which spiraled further out of control as he got older. Katie also talks to the young men and how they view Bobby. Bobby has had relapses, spent time in prison, and has felt shame; working with those children in his old neighborhood made him want to work hard to prove he has changed. Act four is a short story read by Matt Malloy from the book The Girl in the Flammable Skirt. The story is about a boy who has gone missing and a young man, who has great skills at finding things, who helps find him. The young man, the “finding man,” uses feelings he has to help find the boy. He found the young boy and took no reward from the mother. He wanted to feel something from his mother or father, who had died, but he didn’t feel anything. Act three and four are quite different than the first two acts.
The thing that was most surprising and interesting to me was to learn about the crime scene cleaning service. I had never thought about how people have the job of cleaning up dead bodies, body fluids, and other materials in crime scenes. I also thought it was surprising that the majority of the scenes that the cleaners visit are not murders, but are suicides or accidents or natural deaths. It was also really interesting to listen to this segment instead of watch it as a video, it creates different images in your mind and the ability to learn in a different way. Aspects of psychology that relate to this segment include the first act, and the doctor who believed that the woman did not commit suicide. He thought about the usual people who commit suicide, how they do it, and their mental states. He then confirmed this with evidence. Another aspect of psychology that related to this segment is the third act when Bobby returned to the place he used to commit crimes, from what we heard it would appear that he does not suffer from any troubling behavior or mental problems. Some criminals do have behavioral issues and cannot be rehabilitated from their drug use or their urge to commit crimes but Bobby seemed to be a well-adjusted individual after straightening out his life. This may mean he only had coping issues but no clinical behavior or personality disorders.

At first we are presented with the scenario of an Autopsy that was performed on young woman whom everyone thought committed suicide. The Dr. who performed the Autopsy thought it was murder due to the scaring on her tongue. The Doctor, after receiving much ridicule from the police, finally convinced them to talk to the girl’s boyfriend once more and got a confession very quickly. We learn that every crime scene is a novel and there is a lot to be learned if we don’t play into social pressures and dig deeper into various forms of trace evidence.
The radio show then talks about what we observe at crime scenes and how the things that we see can be translated back its original occurrence. By analyzing blood spatter, crime scene investigators are able to pin point where the blood came from in the room based on the size, shape, and high velocity vs. low velocity of spatters. Other objects seen as ordinary have also helped identify perpetrators. For example a bite mark left in a piece of cheese was distinct enough elicit a positive identification.
Within the second part, a woman talks about a man named Neil who cleans and sanitizes crime scenes. He has throughout the course of developing his company has adopted a very blunt affect about death along with a southern accent. The accent is fake which makes sense for Neil to do because people often rely on first impressions to make a judgment call on who they would like to hire. He has a lot of accounts with hotels which I thought was surprising. Seeing all of the ways people die has changed Neil a little due to all of the cognitive responses he has endured. His thinking has changed about death from being some gruesome, horrific thing to a very straight forward everyday occurrence.
The third section of the radio sequence talks about a man who, after he gets clean, returns back to the town where he committed the crimes he was sentenced for to coach little league baseball. It demonstrates how Bobby, who went through the justice system, was able to change due to the social influence inmates and therapists had on him. Perception is another psychological process that can be seen in this section. The woman who worked with and helped Bobby get clean perceived he was clean in the voice message he left due to the fact that he sounded awake and alert. Even the little boy who wouldn’t cooperate during practice used his social cues to perceive his coach as from the penitentiary and cognitively labels him as someone that was “below” him. This clip also demonstrates addiction to drugs which is a clinical diagnosis.
To end the sequence the show introduces a man who had a “sixth sense” about objects that were lost ever since his parents disappeared when he was young. He was able to sense where different lost things were in other people houses along with his own. The real story starts when a boy goes missing in his neighborhood. He had only found objects before and never a person. He could feel the tug of objects so he instead of focusing on the boy, he focused on his blue shirt that he was wearing that day. He ends up finding the boy only 14 blocks away and returns him to his mother. The boy demonstrates a special cognitive awareness that I’ve never heard of before. It also shows a part of his personality; what makes him unique. People that saw how this young man could find things were divided amongst skeptics and believers. The skeptics cognitively labeled him as a liar and a thief; the believers would positively reinforce him with muffins or baked goods every time he would come over and find something for them.
Terms: Cognitive awareness, positively reinforce, social cues, labeling, perception, first impressions, drug addiction, trace evidence, elicit, affect, personality.

The prologue of the crime scene radio segment was an interview with a man named Dr. Diagovic who investigated the suspected suicide of a woman. He believed that the woman didn’t commit suicide but was rather killed by her husband. When he found holes in her tongue, suggesting that the muzzle of the gun was pointed at her tongue, he realized that this was a sign of force, not a sign that the woman had done this herself. After letting officials know, they questioned the boyfriend who eventually admitted to killing his girlfriend. An aspect of psychology involved in this would be the doctor’s belief and his idea to act on the belief that woman didn’t actually kill herself, but was killed by her boyfriend. Another aspect of psychology would be the fact that the investigators were able to get a confession out of the boyfriend.

Act I talked about all the different kinds of evidence that could be found at a crime scene. For example, blood stains that are found can be measured by high velocity or low velocity splatter. I learned that you can measure the length and width of the blood stain to figure out where the point of impact originated. An aspect of psychology would be that when one goes to investigate a crime scene, they need to pay attention to even the smallest clues (smell and sight). In one example, the detective stated they found a bite mark on a piece of cheese which led them to arrest the criminal of a burglary.

Act II was the story of Neil Smither, who cleans up crime scenes for his living. Neil is very blunt about his job and I feel like he is bet suited for the job because of this reason, he doesn’t let the gross and depressing parts of the crime scene set in too deep. Neil states that he cleans up murders the least, and decamps and suicides are what he deals with the most. He also states that he cleans up a lot of meth labs and kitty houses.

Act III was the story of an ex heroine addict named Bobby who returns to the neighborhood he lived in before he went to prison and begins to coach a boys baseball team. An aspect of psychology in this segment is the fact that Bobby says he sees himself in many of the kids, therefore to me it seems like he is trying to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes he did, and he wants to be a good role model for them. I feel like coaching those boys was an escape from his heroine addiction and basically his whole life.

The part I found the most interesting was the final act about the orphan boy who seemed to be able to find any lost object. The story of him finding his girlfriend’s mom’s hairbrush was really surprising, but I’m not really sure if I completely believe that he really had a sort of ‘sixth sense’ or not.

“Every crime scene is a story.” This was a statement made early on in the broadcast and I never looked at a crime scene this way bit it’s true. When you read a story you have to fit all the pieces together for it to make sense in the end. Also no two stories are alike, much like crime scenes. This programs opens up with an account of a women who was thought to have committed suicide by putting a gun in her mouth, but because an examiner compared her destroyed tongue to other suicides like this, where the tongue remained in tack, it was determined that this was in fact a homicide. This goes to show that one little detail in a case can make all the difference.

In act one the question how do we know is discussed. In order to properly assess a crime scene. Something that is viewed as simple, such as a blood stain can tell where the person was hit, and what velocity that person was hit with, such as a bat or shot by a gun. The placing of silverware on a table can tell you if the person was right handed of left handed. However, it was also said that a suspect was found because of a bit mark left in a sandwich, but in chapter four it stated that this was not a fool proof way of identifying people.

In act two it talked about how a crime scene was cleaned up and what was sometimes found at those scenes, such as a decomposing body that had basically melted into the couch it had been there for so long. A guy named Neil, who owned his own crime scene cleaning company, was interviewed during the segment. He had seen so many deaths and crime scenes that he had become desensitizes to them, he was so use to being around them that they no longer bothered him. When he was in a person house cleaning up a body he tended to focus on how that person lived, and he was mostly appalled by the dirtiness of people. I wonder if this might have been a defense mechanism he used. Was he concentrating so hard to the sloppiness of the person so he didn’t have to pay attention and realize what exactly he was doing?

Act three was about returning to the crime. Most criminals do not return to the scene of the crime, except of arsonist. Something, however, they do, usually because they are hoping to find/achieve something by going back. Bobby returned to home town after he had been in prison for a few years. He went back to prove to people that he was different and also to achieve insight and figure out exactly who he was and that he wasn’t the same person he was when he left. When he returned he coached a little league team. These kids were from a low income neighborhood and tended to not get a lot of attention from their families of communities. This contributed to their “bad” behavior because people tend to live up or down to peoples’ expectations. While Bobby was in his home town he encountered people that he had done wrong in the past. These people had not, and will not, change their opinion of him. This is due to confirmation bias. Since these people had formed an opinion, and a strong one at that, they looked for things to confirm and support this opinion and did not acknowledge actions that Bobby did that would refute it.

Act 4 was an account of an orphan that could sense where lost things were. It concluded with him finding a kidnapped boy. I think this story was included to show us that sometimes police can’t do everything.

The first act of this segment discussed the different kinds of things that can be learned from evidence at a crime scene. The part about blood stains stood out the most to me. An expert talked about how you can determine what kind of weapon was used by looking at blood spatter and the different velocities that cause the spatter to look the way it does. For example, it can tell you if the weapon was a gun of some sort or if it was a baseball bat. The blood spatter will look different depending on the type of weapon used to commit the crime. You can also determine where the perpetrator was standing when they committed the crime by examining the angle at which the blood hits the surface. This requires the use of string and aligning it accurately with the angle of the blood spatter. I also thought it was interesting how they talked about a crime being solved just because the perpetrator took a bite of some cheese at the crime scene and left it there. Apparently this person had a unique bite mark because they were able to match the dental impression left by this person on the cheese with someone. This shows that evidence left behind at a crime scene can be very important for solving a crime.

The second act follows a man named Neal who cleans up crime scenes for a living. I thought it was a little surprising at first how blunt Neal was towards his clients, but I then started realizing after listening to this part of the segment that there is no other way to be when dealing with death. As he puts it, you can’t sugar coat death. I also really believe what the narrator says about his job: it is gross, but it is very interesting at the same time. They gave us the example of when Neal had to take a couch from a crime scene that had a “melted” corpse on it. Just thinking about this situation and how this is even possible interests me, not matter how gross it really is. They go on to explain that Neal had never even seen a dead body just 4 years ago. It took something as small as seeing a scene from Pulp Fiction for Neal to realize he wanted to clean crime scenes for a living. Someone has to do it. He said that most of the scenes he has to clean deal with decomps (bodies that have sat and decomposed), suicides, meth labs and kitty houses. They compared his cleaning duties to that of a normal house mess, but with much heavier duty cleaning supplies. Neal refers to his job as not being hard, but depressing. I really thought it interesting that he ended the clip by saying he wants to die slowly so he has enough time to say goodbye to everyone he cares about. He doesn’t care if it’s a painful death, as long as it’s slow. He chose cancer as being a good candidate for his requirements. It seems as if Neal leads a pretty morbid life.

The third act was about how some criminals return to the scene of their crimes. Many do this with the mindset of trying to erase or undo their crime. It was focused around a man named Bobby. It pretty much took us through the first several months after his release from prison and the emotional progress he made throughout this time. He started coaching an inner city little league baseball team, and little by little it seemed as if this team was saving him from himself. He was fresh out of a 2 year prison sentence when he started, and wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to maintain his sobriety. The farther they got into the season, the more he started to realize what was all at risk if he were to fall back into his old ways. The kids had started to look up to him as an adult figure in their life, and he knew that going back to drugs and alcohol would not only let himself down but it would let all of the kids down as well. He wouldn’t be able to show his face in that area again if he failed. It seemed as if he was saving the kids from making bad choices, but they were actually saving him. He gave a lot of credit to them and that little league season for helping him succeed and head down the path that he was hoping for. He wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

The last act was a reading of a short story by Aimee Bender, and was centered around the idea that there are some things that the police just can’t do. The story is about a young man who has this keen ability to find all objects that are lost. Many people are either very appreciative of his ability, or very skeptical. Even the young man is confused as to why he has this ability. He ends up being able to find a little boy that went missing when the police are not able to do so. He points out towards the end of the story that he would not have been able to find the little boy if he had been naked without any kind of clothing or object with him, simply because he is not able to find humans alone. The story ends with him pondering this idea and what it means.

The act that surprised me the most was definitely the one about crime scene clean up. It was so interesting to hear this man talk about his job and the different thoughts that arise on a daily basis because of it. You don’t really think about those dirty jobs that people have, but it really is true that someone has to do it. I guess it just never really crossed my mind the complexity of a job like that. I definitely think that this is the kind of job that will go home with you at night.

For the second act, I think that social psychology comes into play for the character Bobby. He is surrounded by positive influences in the kids that he is coaching and I think that things would have been much different if he were to have been in a different social situation other than this one. I think that perception relates to the first act because when you are observing a crime scene and the evidence that comes with it, you are forced to make note of how you are perceiving what you are seeing and hearing around you. You need to take the next step after detecting the stimulus around you and determine what these stimuli mean.

This radio show was interesting to me. I thought the all of the acts were interesting. Act one was about the evidence of crime scenes. It was interesting how anything could be important when investigating a crime scene. I was surprised at how the investigators could tell what type of object caused the blood stains. Another thing that I liked about Act one was how they can go off of smells, and placed objects, such as silverware. The part about the guy that got kicked to death caught my attention because the case could have been self defense if not for the detectives that figured out the man was laying on the ground while being kicked. I liked the first part of this act where they found out the person did not commit suicide with the muzzleloader, but rather it was a homicide.
The second act of the radio show was probably my favorite. It talked about the guy that made a career from cleaning up crime scenes. Before hearing this act I had never thought about the people that have to clean up murders. It was interesting how he talked about how many things he has to clean up. I thought it was really gross how he had to clean up where the old guy had been decomposing with maggots in the dark. It seems hard to understand how anyone could handle doing that, but I guess that is why he made a business for it. I found it interesting how he said one of the major clean-ups he has to do is cleaning up meth labs. I never realized that most meth labs are done in hotel rooms. I would hate to have his job but he must be making a lot of money because there probably isn't a lot of competition in his line of work.
I liked act three because it was about a man trying to make up for the things he had done in his old neighborhood. I liked how even though he had done something to a large number of people he was proud to be back in the neighborhood helping children. I thought it was awesome that he could do that while he was recovering from his substance abuse.
Act four was also one of my favorites. It was about a child that lost both of his parents at the beach. It was interesting because he could find lost things and he even found a lost child.

Prologue- was about a couple of guys that were going through slides of gruesome murders. It talks about how every crimescene is like a story to be read.
First story was about how you can learn different conclusions from a crime scene such as what kind of weapon was used based on the blood patterns. I actually remember something similar to this in Dexter, who in the show is a blood analyst.
Act 2 is about a guy, neal smither, who cleans up crime scenes. Neal smithers is actually kind of mean and cold hearted. However I suppose after that many years of cleaning stuff like that you become distant emotionally from your job. I didn’t like the part that he says that you cant be soft about death. From a psychological standpoint yes you can, you can be passionate and make It not sound so blunt. When he spoke to the one girl about how he cleaned up her mom essentially I found that to be pretty cruel in the way he did it. Again from a psychological standpoint you would have to be distant not to become depressed in a job like that however there are some people skills that I think everyone should have and this guy apparently did not have them.
Act 3 I thought this was an interesting story as someone who used to be addicted to all sorts of drugs came back and helped out a minor league baseball team full of kids who were more than likely going to be trouble as they grew up. He explained how they went from disrespecting him and treating him like crap to eventually respecting him and calling him coach as they progressed through the season. He spoke many times about how he was similar to a lot of those kids in the way they behaved and spoke. He also admitted that he at times wants to go back to committing crime. They also speak about the pressure of knowing people around the area that he had committed crimes against, which to me I would think that would be hard to be around constantly, and could lead to depression if you let it.
Act 4 is about a kid who can “detect” things. He uses some sort of extra senses to find missing objects. I remember studying esp in psychology in highschool, and I have never believed it. I cant acknowledge something that is from a physics standpoint impossible. It was an interesting story, however, I believe it is not true. Either everything was coincidental, or the kid was an amazing con artist, or finally it was just a made up story. To my understanding it was from a book, however, im not sure if it was fictional or not.
The most surprising thing about everything honestly was the story of the guy who came back to coach. It would be immensely hard to be around that kind of situation with the stigma people would give you and just knowing you robbed and conned so many people in that area. And to what coach a bunch of kids that disrespect you. It would take a lot of effort to go through what that guy did

Act 1 is talks about the multiple things you can learn from crime scenes because there is always evidence behind. In particular, a forensic criminologist talkes about how the shape of a blood stain can help determine if certain deaths are homicides. Togneri says by finding the length and width of the blood spatter can tell where the victim was standing. The blood spatter can also help tell what kind of weapon was used. The blood spatter from a baseball bat would be much different than that of a gun. The most interesting part was how they caught a man solely off of a bit mark he had made in a piece of cheese the the victim's fridge. This clearly shows that there is usually always some sort of evidence left at the scene of the crime.

The second act is about a woman who spent some time with a man names Neal Smither, who is a crime scene cleaner. Smither gives a very nasty story of a man who died on his kitchen floor. When they arrived, there was a huge ball of maggots within the body. Neal wanted this job after watching Pulp Fiction, which is quite insane even though its an awesome movie. Murders are what he deals with the least, mostly he faces decompositions and suicides. He also deals with meth labs and "kitty houses". Neal found out quickly after starting his job that there a lot of dirtbags. Lots of dirtbaggery.

The third act is about how criminals like to return to the scene of the crime. Katie Davis has a neighbor named Bobby who starts to coach little league baseball. Bobby used to be a doper but became clean. He starts off the first practice with trouble as him and his players curse each other out. The second practice went better, and Bobby tells us that his players are terrible but he's not going to give up on them. Bobby sees himself a lot in Benjamin, and it seems that's why he's so hard on him. Bobby used to get kicked out by his mom when he was young and turned to alcohol, then to harder things pot and PCP. The title "coach" gives Bobby something to confide in, something that helps him get by in the recovery process. He also states that he is still capable of being a thug, but hopes he doesn't have to be. Bobby is now one of the people the kids can count on. He would tell you that they keep him inline because he always has to be at practice and it helps keep hime straight.

The fourth act is about what police can't do. The story is about a kid who has a knack for finding lost stuff. He would get calls from people who needed to find things. Some thought he was for real and some were skeptics, but he would find all of their stuff anyways. Mrs. Allen's son went missing, and he was called upon to help find her son. He had never had to find someone before, it had always just been things. He found Leonard (the son) at some random house crying. To be honest, this kid just sounds ridiculously weird. I figured this act would be about the restrictions police have against them when conducting police business but it was far from it.

The most surprising thing to me after hearing all of the stories was that Neal Smither, the crime scene cleaner, actually wanted to do that job. After being let go from his previous job, he found his want for this job by watching Pulp Fiction. I find this really weird because I would never suspect that cleaning up a melted, decomposed body would be on anybody's list of what they would love to do for their career. I think the story of Bobby dealt with developmental psych because he had a troubled childhood. Research tends to show that children form their characteristics when they are young and growing up. Since Bobby was introduced to delinquency early, not to mention getting kicked out of his home by his mom to live in a spray painted car, he was more likely to transform his delinquency into a worse form that included hard drugs and alcohol. This is why growing up in a positive home is so important for children.

Listening to this radio show was a very interesting and new experience for me. I have known that talk radio has been around for a while, it is just something that I have never taken the time to discover. While I am an enthusiast of crime scene shows, it was an especially different experience to strictly listen to this subject matter. This episode of This American Life was themed in crime scenes, and it had a prologue and four acts concerning different aspects of a crime.
The prologue of the episode features a medical examiner who shares his opinion that every crime scene is like a novel; that they each tell their own unique stories. He ellaborates by describing a situation where he performed an autopsy on a young woman who had seemingly committed suicide by placing a gun in her mouth. The examiner noticed that her tongue had some damage done to it. Of all the cases he has had, he explains, this is the only one where the tongue was damaged from someone placing a gun in their mouth. He concluded that if a person is planning to committ suicide, they will only inflict has much pain as is necessary. As such, the woman likely did not commit suicide, but was the victim of a homicide instead. Shortly after, the police questioned the woman's boyfriend, eventually getting a confession from him that he had killed her. Psychology relates to this story in that a person who has no history of depression or other disorders is not likely to commit suicide. I also learned just how much information can be gleened from a seemingly insignificant result of a crime.
The first act features a forensic criminologist who explains how the shape of a blood spatter can tell police how the crime happened. Using trigonometry, he can find the angle a blood spatter came from by measuring it, then trace its path with a string. By doing this with numerous blood spatters, the strings eventually all meet at one central point, that being where the crime took place. He tells a story of when he did this technique at a crime scene where two roomates had gotten into a fight, and one had accidentally killed the other from self defense. After the strings where traced back, it was found that the blood originated just a few inches off the floor. This proves that the one roomate had kicked and killed the other while he was lying on the floor, removing validity of a self defense plea for the surviving roomate. This is one of the more interesting facts I learned about from this show. I just find it amazing the evidence that can be found by using strings and math!
The second act was definitely the most surprising information to me, primarily because it is an aspect of crime scenes that I have never thought about before. Cleaning up after a crime scene is common sense - I mean, you can't just leave all that blood and whatnot there right? But never before had I thought about who actually does the cleaning. I was nearly shocked to learn that the owner of the property is responsible for any clean up, as if a crime taking place on one's property isnt enough of a slap to the face. This act primarily highlights the life of a man who owns and operates a crime scene cleaning business. Pyschology also relates to this act much more than any of the others in my opinion. The crime scene clean up business man describes a few calls he has gone on, as well as the day to day aspects of running his business. He explains how he gives himself a southern accent (despite having grown up not in the south) to help his clients when he first talks to them. He ellaborates that there is nothing like a southern accent when it comes to instilling trust and goodheartedness in people. Social pyschology plays a huge role here, as he is positively manipulating his clientele when making his first impression. He goes on to explain how having such a job has desensitized him to death. He shares that he hopes he will die slowly, so as to have time to say goodbye to his loved ones; he does not want to be a call for a business like his own. He even says, "I love my girl and I love death," inferring how death is his employer. Aspects of psychology were abundant in this act.
The third act steers away from the immediate crime scene and the gore that comes with it. This act discusses criminals returning to the scene of their crime, and how such an event rarely happens, contrary to popular belief. Majority of the act recalls the story of a man who grew up living a life of theft and substance abuse. After spending time in jail and rehab, he searched for a path to move on with his life. He actually returns to the very neighborhood where he committed his crimes, saying he wants to make it up to the community in some way. As a result, he begins coaching little league baseball for a local boys recreation shelter. He explains how coaching the boys was frustrating at first, that they would curse him and he them. He sticks to it, however, driven by a desire to keep the boys out of the troubles that he was in as a boy. He finds himself grow immensely as a person, describing a time when he burst into tears after a practice, just from how happy he was with his life now. He reflects on the experience, saying how it wasn't just him keeping the boys out of trouble, but them doing the same for him.
Finally, the fourth act of the episode is a fictional short story about a young man who has a unique talent. He is orphaned at a young age, his parents were dragged out to sea and drowned while at the beach. The boy grows up, beginning to learn that he has a special talent for finding lost items. He is able to feel the "tug" of an object - its confusion at being misplaced from its usual location. His talent is first realized by the community when he locates his date's mother's lost brush in the silverware drawer, having only told her to look there and not looking himself. As his talent develops, the community is split between believers and non-believers; the non-believers thinking he is conning them by stealing their things, and then "finding them" for them. He faces a true challenge when he is called by a local mother whose boy has been kidnapped, and is asked to locate the boy. He arrives at the mother's house while she is being questioned by police. The young man focuses in on the boy, looking at pictures of him to help, but cannot feel the boy's tug. After overhearing the mother describe the boy's blue shirt to the police, the young man is able to focus on the shirt, and he feels it's tug. He walks fourteen blocks to a house, walks in and picks the boy up, stupifying the kidnappers from surprise. He brings the boy home and refuses any offer of reward. Later the young man is at home, and he is desperately trying to focus on his parents and feel their tug. He can feel the tug of trees that were uprooted from somewhere else and planted here, and he can almost hear the waves of the beach, but he cannot feel the tug of his parents.

When I first saw the assignment was to listen to a broadcast I was a little skeptical, but when as I kept listening I found myself unable to do anything else, I was so interested. The first act was a man telling stories of crime scenes and how to tell when something is wrong. I never knew you would be able to identify a person by something as small as a bite from a piece of cheese. On top of that, what criminal would be stupid enough to eat something when they’re robbing a house? Regardless, I learned that no matter where you go, you leave a trace behind; whether you think it, or not.
What stood out to me most in the second act was the obvious gore, the description of the maggots made me nauseous. But what made me think more was when he said, “its not hard, just sad”. When you think about it that’s true, when you clean up crime a scene, that’s all you’re really doing: cleaning. However, you have to take into account the mental strain that can cause you. You are cleaning the blood of someone who is dead. I feel like that would be the hardest part, and why there aren’t a lot of people rushing into this field.
The third act was my favorite. It told the story of a former drug addict turned little league coach. At the beginning I was worried of what I was about to hear, considering they had the voices of actual people and children recorded, but the more and more I listened, the more it warmed my heart. Bobby was the name of the coach, and at first the players didn’t respect him, they had obvious power struggles. But as the story progressed and the kids had more structure, they really grew. They were able to be kind and act like kids, instead of being tough because they ‘had to’.
The final act still leaves me wondering ‘how’? It is about a young man who has the amazing ability to sense inanimate objects. At first it was the story of finding a hairbrush in a drawer of utensils. But after, it was a touching story of how he found a missing boy. He was able to sense the color of the boys shirt, led the police and the kidnapped boy’s mother to the home that he was being held and walked right out with the boy in his arms. I struggle to wrap my mind around this concept, and wish that I had the gift that this young man does. I could see it being a burden, always feeling and knowing the energy objects omit. It is a very cool concept. The most painful thing is that although he CAN feel inanimate objects, he is unable to connect with humans on such a personal level. Its ironic, he has this gift but in order to have it, he can't have real relationships.

It was so interesting to listen to each act because they were so disturbing yet interesting. During the beginning they were looking through a slide show of crime scenes and victims. I can’t even imagine looking through something like this or even being surrounded by death that much. The investigator made it sound like every crime scene was its own story and it was his responsibility to put everything together. For example he explained a story where it appeared that a women committed suicide by putting a gun in her mouth, however once the medical examiner noticed that here tongue was gone he knew something else happened. Most cases where the gun is put in the mouth their tongue remains because they point the barrel toward their brain. Thus proving that it was not a suicide, and after talking with her boyfriend he proved that he had killed her.

The next segment discussed the way blood drops land and how you can figure out where the person was and if they were standing. It is amazing that crime scene investigators are able to pinpoint basically what happened at a scene based on blood. The investigator explained that most individuals who receive the impact are on the ground, however once they ask the person who was there what happened they will say the individual was standing and they were defending themselves. By looking at blood drops investigators are able to prove it the person is lying about what really happened. Whoever is the first person on the scene of a crime they have a huge duty because they have to notice things that may not be noticeable later on. For example smell, the smell of a crime scene may help express who was there or what was going on at the time of the crime. A really interesting story about how they caught a perpetrator of a burglary was explained next. Apparent the burglar was hungry because he took a bite of cheese and left it in the fridge. Eventually scientists were able to match the bite mark with the burglar.

The next act was probably the most disgusting yet interesting. I have always wondered what happens to a house after someone dies or is murdered. I always hoped or wished that the houses would be knocked down or something because it is disturbing to think about living where someone else died. The act discusses the job that nobody probably thinks about, a crime scene cleaner. Neil is responsible for cleaning up crime scenes as well as homes that people have passed away in. He mainly cleans up meth labs, kitty houses, hotels, suicides and decompositions. When his discusses his job he sounds professional when talking to clients but not during other times. After listening to him for a while it was obvious that his job has changed the way he views life and death.

The next scene talks about Bobby who was a very troubled individual that cleaned up his act and coached a baseball team. He never planned on telling his team what happened before he started coaching, but once his did he began to connect to some of the players. For a while the players did not respect Bobby as much as you may think based on the typical idea of the coach is the boss, basically. Eventually the team began to call him coach; this was a large step as it showed the team was beginning to work together. It was apparent that the team needed Bobby as much as Bobby needed the team. They helped each other overcome different struggles in their lives.

The last act discussed an orphan boy who can find missing objects. When I first began to listen to the act I thought it was a joke because it is very odd that he is able to find missing items. Eventually the boy receives a frantic phone call from Ms. Allen, whose boy has gone missing. The boy was skeptical on if he would be able to find her son because he has only found objects not people. It was kind of funny to hear the police questioning Ms. Allen and basically ignoring the boy’s presence. Especially after the boy finds Ms. Allen’s son, the police didn’t really even say anything to him when he walked through the door.

There are several aspects of psychology that relate to the acts, in the first act we hear that the woman who was murdered had depression. This is partly why the investigators believed that it was a suicide and not a murder. It was interesting to hear that Neil uses a southern accent when talking to client because he feels it makes them feel more comfortable with what has occurred as well as with what his job is. Bobby’s story is motivational because there are several individuals who go through rough times and try to get clean and not take part in illegal acts. He becomes a role model for his teammates, because some of them have the same characteristic he had when he was their age. Overall the acts were extremely interesting to listen to yet disturbing at the same time.

Part 1 discusses blood stains and splatters. It discusses basic ways to tell what weapon caused the stain based on the shape of the stain. It also explains how you can tell the distance from the stain and where the injury actually occurred. The expert explains that this process is “simple trigonometry”. Part 1 also explains other ways to use things such as bite marks in food to identify offenders. Something that surprised me is that when the person being interviewed was asked who usually cleans up the crime scenes once everything is over, the man responded saying that usually, unless it’s considered a biohazard, the owner of the home or scene is the one to clean it up.

Part 2 starts with an interview of a man who cleans up crime scenes such as homicides, suicides and accidental deaths. The man tells a few stories of past scenes that he has cleaned up, to give a perspective on what his job is like. He also tells of how he got involved with the job in the first place, apparently by watching Pulp Fiction and being inspired by a scene in which the characters have to clean up an “accident” much like what now has to do in his daily job. Later in the interview, the man and the interviewer go to a prison to clean up an incident where a woman tried to commit suicide. During this, the interviewer describes how a female inmate said that the man cleaned up the scene where her mother and sister were murdered. During this part, I could see how the man has a level of emotional disconnect while on the job. The interviewer comments that the man’s process isn’t all that difficult but is instead very depressing. I feel that a person in this man’s field of work may benefit from or even need occasional therapy in order to deal with the stress that the job could cause. As such, I feel that part 2 could be related to clinical/counseling psychology. Part 2 helps to show how people’s perspectives on things such as grisly crime scenes and death can differ, in part due to how much exposure they have had to such things.

Part 3 discusses incidents of criminals returning to the scenes of their crimes and their reasons for doing so. The interviewer tells a story of man, Bobby who is a drug user that she tried to help for a year and who she has known since he was young boy. Bobby is coaching a little league team as a way to give back to the community. The children on his team seem to have behavioral issues and act out against him during practice. The interviewer talks to Bobby about his difficulty in dealing with the children throughout their practices. Bobby explains that one of the kids, Benjamin, reminds him of himself as a child. He explains that he wants to help the kids to become better people and not end up that way that he did. Part 3 could be related social psychology and personality. The way that Bobby deals with the children and their behavioral issues shows certain methods in both. I enjoyed part 3 because it shows the growth of both Bobby and the children that he coaches. Many societal issues are dealt with, especially with the Bobby-specific sections of the interview, where he discusses his past misdeeds and how he feels bad about them and wants to become a better person. I feel that clinical/counseling psychology could be related to part 3 as well. If Bobby had received the proper help when he was a child or later when he was misusing drugs, he may have been able to avoid the downturns in his life. Part 3 may also be related to developmental psychology, showing how children who have certain behavioral issues may develop differently and end up the way that Bobby did. It also shows how a person can change mentally and behaviorally and improve their life.

Part 4, the last story, tells of a young orphan was able to find hidden/missing items. The orphan apparently felt a “tug” or other sensation toward the missing items. Many people were skeptical of his ability to find these items, but he demonstrated time and time again that he was competent. He even helped find a woman’s son at one point, when the son was kidnapped and held for ransom in exchange for the woman’s “green star”, a large emerald that she had inherited. The orphan had never been tasked with finding a person before but managed to find him and retrieve him, without any resistance from his kidnappers. I feel that this best relates to cognitive psychology or sensation/perception. The orphan had a certain way of perceiving things and used it to his advantage in the story.

Overall, I found all of these interviews and stories to be very interesting and relatable to psychology. While the first half was more grisly than the second, both were entertaining and informative and I feel like I learned a lot.

I found this assignment fascinating! I would call myself a casual listener of talk radio and have listened to This American life from time to time. I also love hearing stories from the people in the thick of crime scenes so I definitely enjoyed my time listening to them.
Act 1 of the broadcast detailed how you can discern what type of weapon was used in a murder just by studying the blood spatters. It was discussed how the width and height of the spatter will tell if the victim was standing, whether it was a blunt object, a gun etc. What I really found interesting was the story where they found a culprit just based on the fact he bit into some food and they matched up his bite marks. This just proves that there's always some sort of evidence at a crime scene.
Act 2 was my favorite act of the broadcast. It's about Neal Smither, a crime scene cleaner. This is the job I feel that no one really thinks about. Everyone watches the Crime Scene investigation part, but no one ever watches the clean up crew. It's a very gruesome tale, and rather gory. He talks about mostly dealing with decomposing bodies or suicides and an occasional meth lab, very rarely dealing with murders. He mentions one time finding a body with maggots infesting it.. I decided to not finish my dinner. What really interested me was how nonchalant he was about the ordeal, and this is how I connect this to psychology. With how straining the job is Smither had to develop a detachement from his job. By forming this detachement he could go about doing his job and deal with the stress that comes from it. I believe he said it as "Its just cleaning". Which in a sense it really is.. only with blood and gore some time.
The third act was about the stereotypical criminal returning to the scene of the crime with a twist. It was about a former addict, who would go around the neighborhood stealing and scamming for drug money. Now though he's cleaned up and is a little league coach for the kids that could end up following the path he did. Even though the kids would call him names and be all around brats to him he earned their respect. I found this to be the "feel good" story of the broadcast.
The final act was about a boy who has an interesting skill of finding things. When people in his neighbor hood lose things, they go to him and he eventually finds the item without fail. He says he "feels" the tug of the items confusion and thats how he finds it. He even uses the skill to find a lost boy.. and that leads the town to be believers and non-believers. I myself am hard pressed to believe that to be true.. maybe he's lucky. Still he has a talent that would be peferct for CSI!

This radio segment was very interesting and goes along great with our chapter 4 reading on Tuesday. The things people have to do when dealing with crime scenes, there are so many small details involved with handling evidence. When it comes to dealing with bodies there are so many rules including state and federal laws.
Talking to a forensic criminologist was very interesting because of the detail he talked about when it comes to solving a case. It’s very interesting to hear about how blood stains are so different depending on the weapon. I never knew that you could trace the angle of the blood stain to determine where the blood stain came from. An investigator must be able to look at a crime scene and know what’s out of place. It’s the littlest things that can lead to who committed the crime for example the cheese story. It takes special person to understand how each thing in the room connect and be able to play out what happened at the scene.
In act 2 the man that has the job with cleaning up dead bodies after a homicide, suicide, or decomposing body. I have respect for this man because he is very upfront with what he’s doing. He’s very truthful, but also very respectful to death. Listen to what he has to deal with is very disgusting, with bugs and other body fluids around the scene. He must follow the rules involving the removal of bodies and bodily fluids. I don’t understand how a many cannot feel depressed when he has to deal with death every day. He must always stay upbeat and death is a depressing job to deal with and this guy has figured out ways to overcome it. He really got to see the bad side of peoples’ lives and it’s unbelievable what he sees every day.
Act three talks about a man are working to get clean from drugs and are working with trouble youth in a baseball team. He very little control over these kids and he works hard to keep these kids playing ball and staying out of trouble. Bobby has a rough life even when he was young and started to get hooked on all sorts of drugs. Bobby really got his life together and realizes that he has to give back to the community that he took money from. Bobby’s story is a very rare one, most drug addicts never get the chance to recover and aren’t willing to try. These kids give Bobby a reason to stay off drugs; he gets a great feeling from the respect he get from the kids. Psychology behind this story is that Bobby is doing these to help these kids, but really these kids are helping him stay off drugs and give his life meaning.

I found it very interesting to listen to this radio broadcast. I rarely listen to the radio and when I do it is mostly to listen to music during car rides. This gave a nice change of pace compared to a lot of reading I usually need to do for assignments. This starts out with medical examiner L. J. Dragovic looking through slides on a projector of gruesome photographs of murder victims. He gets into the details of trace evidence found at crime scenes like high and low velocity blood stains. HIgh velocity being a blood splattered after a gunshot and low velocity being blood shed if someone was hit with an object. What you can also learn from evidence it the placement of utensils to determine if the criminal is left handed or right handed.
The broadcast moves into the story of a man by the name of Neil Smither who has his own business of going around cleaning up decomposing bodies. He rarely works with homicides. One of his clean ups was the decomposing body of a old man who dropped dead. The body had been decomposing for awhile and was infested with maggots and on top of that the smell was wretched. Smither was an out of work mortgage broker who got inspired to clean up death after watching the movie 'Pulp Fiction'. This job gives him the chance to see how people really lived; they lived like disgusting animals. To be able to do clean up work like this on a day to day basis you must really have to be desensitized to what you're doing and not be able to personalize or fully connect with the victim. I think it also helps with the fact that Smither is a neat freak and he can clean up a scene in ten minutes tops.
The next act is of a heroine addict fresh out of rehabilitation who wants to right his wrongs and decides to coach a little league team in Washington D.C. It is stated that criminals don't return to the scene of their crimes even though it is led to believe they do. Thats not the case for this man. He arrives to practice and the eleven and twelve year old boys he is to coach tease him for his time in prison. He develops a personal bond with a few of the boys. He says he has a connection to one boy by the name of Benjamin, who reminds him exactly of the way he himself was as a child. He was looking for salvation within coaching these boys. When he was young the coach was kicked out of his home by his own mother for sneaking change from her purse, he had nowhere to go but the old field where he would later coach the little league team. He felt he had a chance to be a winner, to change his ways, and to make a difference for the better in the lives of others.
The final act intrigues me the most. The story of a young man who can locate any missing item just by smelling the area where it could be. People all around the neighborhood claimed it was all a setup just to gain attention considering the fact he was orphaned at the age of eight. In my personal opinion he is like a human bloodhound. The more I listened to this story it reminded me of police investigators who would call in a psychic to help locate a murderer or kidnap victim and I believe anything is possible. So I don't believe this story to be a phony. This gets more intriguing when Mrs. Allen, a neighborhood woman, her son is kidnapped by men who want her rare Emerald she calls her 'Green Star'. Someone suggests that she call this young man in to help find her missing son. She is skepctical but agrees to it. The young man is called in and he smells the air in the house and is somehow able to walk fourteen house away, into the living room where he finds the boy captive with the kidnappers. The kidnappers are so stunned they don't even say or do anything when the man picks up the boy and leaves. So this story makes it sound like the woman's Emerald had some sort of power which was able to help with the return of her son. But I just believe that there are people out in the world that have a unique perception. Psychology is played into this broadcast in the first act. When officials claim that the woman murdered by her boyfriend committed suicide and said she had a history with depression even though she really didn't. It just goes to show you that even professional investigators can make errors in the work they do. Overall this was very interesting to listen to depsite the disturbing detail in some acts. I ddefinitley want to go back to the link and listen to more.

I’m shocked that police aren’t responsible to clean up the crime scene, but that the owners of the property have to either clean it themselves and or hire someone else to take care of it. It also surprises me that there are private companies that clean crime scenes each and every day, all day. The ability of someone to detach themselves from the death and gore that they see each day and not allow it to affect their lives, the type of mind set a person would have to assume so that they don’t suffer from any type of post traumatic stress disorder is almost unimaginable. Neal, the man interviewed, seems to be very focused on his business and that business strategy saves him and his mental state from the real mental stress of his job. “Death or my girl, I love them both…” That is the strangest view of death I’ve ever heard, however in his line of work I suppose you almost have to love it.
I’m trying to understand why Bobby decides that the best way for him to get over his drug addiction and put back together his life around coaching a little league baseball team. What exactly is going through his mind that he believes that interacting with these children will help him overcome his demons? It seems to me like an interesting social psychology question, the affect that children have on people, especially those who have had troubled lives. Because I know that anytime I see an adorable little kid I can’t help but smile, and I don’t know why, so perhaps these troubled children that Bobby is coaching help him to see the wrongs in his own life and childhood and he feels that he can help them because he can relate. Towards the end of the interview Bobby reflects on his old life, and he really has to be introspective and understand what his feelings were while he was a con, and then compare that to his current mental condition.
I didn’t really understand why the fiction story at the end was included. To me it just didn’t fit because the boy’s power was mere fantasy and not anything rooted in psychology.

This radio show discusses the lives of three different people: the inside view of a crime scene officer, the work life of a crime scene cleaner, and an ex drug abuser who is now clean and trying to make a new living. In the first act, Enrico Togneri, a forensic criminologist, discusses the importance of the job of the first responder. He states several things that investigators look for: smells, trace evidence, and the way things in the house may be set up. A table is the example given. He said the way the plating and utensils is set up may give them clues as to who may have been there. For example, if the utensils were on the left, then a left handed person may have been sitting there. He also discusses the differences in the types of blood spatters. Investigators can look at different blood samples/angles to see exactly where a person was standing when they were hit or killed. He goes onto further explain this in his example about a man who was kicked by his roommate while lying on the floor. The roommate claimed that when he hit the man, he just dropped dead.
The next scene is about Neal Smither, who cleans up crime scenes for his career. He says when a murder, suicide, meth lab, or “kitty houses” are discovered, he is the one to go in and clean up the mess after the examiners and investigators are gone. The property owner is the one responsible for the cleanup, however, few people can clean up after the loss of a loved one, and few people know the state and federal laws about proper disposal of such products.
In the third scene, the radio announcer states that it is very unlikely for people to come back to the scene of their crimes. Arsonists, however, are frequently found watching the fire they have set. This act goes on to talk about how Bobby, an ex drug abuser comes back to his old neighborhood to coach a little league team. When Bobby was 13, his mother kicked him out of the house. He had to steal to get food and would live out of an abandoned car. Slowly he started using Marijuana and then got into harder drugs. During the first few little league practices the kids would act up and would not show him any respect. It seemed to get to Bobby. He finally realized how screwed up his life was. After a few practices went by, the kids started to actually look forward to practices and would start to listen to Bobby and he started to enjoy being around the kids. When the boys won their 1st actual game, Bobby just walked to the subway station and had a happy cry. He felt for the 1st time like he had actually made a change. Toward the end of the season, Bobby was given a recreation services ID. Bobby was very proud of this ID. He felt it gave him a sense of purpose. He felt like he wasn’t letting the kids down, like he had let so many others down years ago. He told the boys to stick around because he was going to coach a basketball team.
The fourth act is a story written by Aimee Bender. It is about a boy who can just perceive where things are and find them. This story shows that as much as the public would like for police officers to just be able to figure cases out, it is not that easy.
I think the most surprising thing to me was finding out that a Crime Scene Cleaner is an actual job for someone outside law enforcement. I knew scenes were always to be cleaned up, but I never knew it was up to the property owner to figure out.
An aspect of Psychology that is related to this story in a social way is the effect crime scenes have on both officers and cleaners. As a future law enforcement officer’s wife, I know different crimes will affect people differently. This effect can either be temporary or permanent. Another social aspect is when Bobby is kicked out of his house. At a younger age, he was made to fend for himself. His mother’s actions affected how Bobby reacted to several things through the rest of his life. Bobby’s actions when he was coaching also had an effect on the kids. You can see that based on the way the kids treated him further and further into the season.

The radio broadcast on crime scenes was very interesting and informative. There were four acts. The first act pertained to what you can learn at crime scenes. They say that crime scenes are like a story and you have to look at the details to get the full story. Looking at how the silverware is placed can tell you the handedness. They also tell how and what different blood splatter mean. It was interesting that a criminal got caught because he ate some cheese in the fridge of the house he was robbing. They matched his bite mark to the cheese. Thats just crazy to me. This reminds me some of cognitive psychology and makes me wonder what goes through and investigators head when assessing a crime scene.

The second act was about a guy who owned his own crime scene cleaners. This was interesting to me because I always wondered who cleaned up the crime scene. The show informed me that it is the property owners responsibility to have the scene cleaned when the investigators were done with it. That is a smart company to start, but I think it would be a very hard thing to do to have to be around death all day every day. This segments makes me think of social psychology because this guy sees how everyone lives and thinks that most people are dirty.

The third act was about a criminal that returned to the scene of the crime. The criminals name was Bobby, who was a drugged addict and returned to coach little league baseball in the same neighborhood that he conned and stole from. I liked this segment because I believe that people can change and everyone should be given a second chance. This reminded me of the movie Hardball, where someone who committed a crime had to do community service by coaching a little league team. I was sorry to hear that Bobby's team only played one real game in four months. But after they won this was a very heart warming segment. This reminds me of bio psychology how Bobby was addicted to substances and how he has to find other things to replace his addiction.

The last act was a reading about an orphan who had a knack for finding lost things. When a woman's boy was kidnapped for her gem, she called this person and he was able to find him. I was a little confused about this segment because I really didn't know what it had to do with crime scenes specifically. Maybe it was to just show that this person didn't need crime scenes to find stuff, or that he was just very observant. I don't really know.

I found this radio show to be very interesting, it'a a form of psychology that I never really thought of before that is sensation and perception. We are so tuned into other aspects of psychology that radio talk shows seems to go almost unheard of now a days. I wish that I could find a raido channel in my car for long car rides like this, because that would be a joy to listen to.
First, this radio conversation was between two men going through a slide show, which by their defination was grusome. Evidently a female had used her boyfriends gun to kill her self, but the medical examiner had a hunch that it was not a suicude. With futher investigation he concluded that this was a homicide. He stated that every crime has its own story, and because of his hunch and good skills police were able to find the perpertrator.
In act one, Enrico Togneri talked about the different kinds of blood splatter. I found this really interesting because I knew little about blood splatter previously. He talks about high velocity stains and low velocity stains and because of the shapes of blood droplets he can tell where a person was standing.
He stated that their was a specific routine that they go in in order to do the best job they can do. That way they can gather evidence and DNA then later compare that to suspects and hopefully have made a source attribution.
I never realized how many different people and different professions went into solving a homicide, and even after the fact when people had to clean it up. Cleaning up a crime scene isn't something I would want to do, especially after hearing about the maggots. From how he tells it, his job sounds very gross, he reffered to one incident as a "melted person"
The last act was about a boy who grew up without any parents and he was able to find things that were missing, sorta like ESP. I would relate this with cognitive psychology. A lot of thinking went into find objects, he had to use his senses in order to help find things. So I would also relate it with sensory psychology.

The first case that was described was about a woman who was thought to have commit suicide. Although the Dr. noticed that the tongue was injured. It goes on to explain that when a person shoots themselves they tend to aim the gun upward toward the brain and that the tongue does not get injured. He looked at the case as a homicide; no one pushed a gun to their tongue to cause themselves even more pain. The boyfriend did confess that he shot her, it did not take long. It’s incredible that something so small as tongue scars can change a suicide from a homicide.
There are different blood stains, high and low blood splatter. From the shape of blood droplets can determine where the person was standing. From the angle and velocity you can determine where the impact originated. There are certain things that you look for. For example coming into a crime scene, they look at if the food is warm, where the utensils are placed giving away a left or right handed person was involved.
It is incredible the evidence that some perpetrators leave behind. I had never thought about being able to find one due to tongue scars, or a piece of cheese. They had found a piece of cheese in a burglary case and all they had to do was find a suspect and match his teeth imprints to the one on the piece of cheese.
I had absolutely no idea that the individual who owned the property had to clean up the mess themselves. I thought they had someone in law enforcement that did that. There are people who do that for a living but they require a permit in order to do so.
The next act was about a woman who spent time with a crime scene clean-up crew. He described a man who decomposed in his home. He went in and heard a noise, thinking no one’s here I shouldn't be hearing anything. It turns out that there were a large number of maggots who were eating away at the man’s body that he could actually hear it. There was another body that melted onto the couch over 60 days. He decomposed and actually melted. I’d have to agree with the woman narrating this act and say that it is more interesting than it is gross (unless I’d have to see it in person, then it’s more gross). Niel got into this career because of the movie pulp fiction. Mr. Wolf was the best at cleaning up crime scenes. Niel saw this and decided this is what he wanted to do. I respect people who do this job, it takes a lot of character to have to see and do the things that he does daily. This job has opened his eyes to the “dirt bags” he didn't know existed.
In the next act it told a story about a man who conned and stole money from people in a particular neighborhood. After being released he returns to that same neighborhood to try and prove that he is a changed man. It appears that he is he becomes a coach in order to help shape the kids and keep them in line. Although he tries to do this it’s as if the kids are helping him become a better person.
Psychology relates to looking for the evidence, it tells you about the people who are involved in the crime. It’s kind of contains aspects to a profiler, you have to look for little clues as to who did this, why they did this, how did they do this, what about that tells them about the criminal. Being able to pay attention to detail doesn't seem as though it’s that big of a deal but little things like this radio broadcast explained correlates with psychology and law. A big psychological aspect of this coincides with the story about Bobby who returns to the community to redeem himself. This is Bobby needing to prove to himself and other that he is a better person, trying to shape those kids lives in a different way than his ended up. Having to go back to the place where he conned people and stole their money must have been a trying issue for him to overcome. Most criminals, like arsonists, go back to get satisfaction for the trouble and pain they have cause. Bobby went for him. To face what he’s done head on.

At the crime scene attention to detail is extremely important. As we heard in the radio episode the smallest detail can lead to knew information or shed light on otherwise unknown data. I always knew the details and contents of a crime scene were obviously important, but I never would have guessed something as obvious as the silver wear position next to a dinner plate could give investigators an idea of who was at that residence. I also found the logic and knowledge of blood velocity very interesting. It may seem simple to hang strings from blood splatter back to its origins but something as easy as that could display the initial position of the perpetrator.
Psychology relates directly to a crime scene. In investigative purposes, the investigator must have a strict mind-set. One must be able to stay focused on the task at hand and keep in mind they are in pursuit of justice. It would be easy to become depressed and hate the world and society that could create such horrific crime. At the end of the day that depression and hate doesn’t change anything. The psychology of the investigator must be sound in order to produce the best data and the best possible investigation. It goes without saying that the criminal psychology at the crime scene is always in mind. For to establish a strong case in the court of law, especially a homicide, the investigators/prosecution must be able to prove the offender had the mental and physical intent to kill; along with the mental process of premeditation. This is psychology at work.
Act 2 of the the radio episode I found most interesting. Neil, and L.A. Businessman man makes a living cleaning up death. Honestly, someone has to do it. I would personally love to take an internship with this company for a summer. I find Neil and his mind-set/personality more interesting than his daily job. How does one person go day by day cleaning up rotted corpses and pales of blood? My only explanation is that he values the financial gain more than his mental, social, and physical health. A large part of Neil's success is his psychology and the psychology of others. Obviously he has a very strong mental shield that helps him block out all the death and depression from the murders and suicides he cleans up on a weekly bases. It is also apparent that the individuals that call on him for his services are not as psychologically “strong” as Neil. This may have to do with the customers own grieving process. I know I wouldn't want to clean up a loved ones remains; as for a rotting stranger, I would be more willing to attempt the clean up. It's psychological apples and oranges really. I can almost bet Neil wouldn't be willing to clean up his own loved ones. No matter how much prior experience he has with this line of work. This all has to do with his personalty and psychology. Like the majority of the criminal justice system, and it's remains; psychology plays a huge part in the individuals lives that endure it.

When listening to the radio archive, it began with a couple of men review slides of murders. They talk about how horrible looking at the photos is. After discussing the photos, a scene was discussed about a woman who was sought at first as committing suicide. When examining the body during autopsy, it was seen that the woman had a scare on her tongue. An injury on her tongue would not have occurred if she indeed committed suicide. This suicide death instantly turned to a homicide crime. The main suspect in the crime was her boyfriend. Because someone decided to investigate and look around at detail helped figure out that someone died not due to what was originally declared. When listening to this section I would have to say that the psychology applied here would be developmental psychology, because the officer investigating this crime was told that the young woman had no signs of depression, which does not fit a suicidal person. After the evidence has been collected by the officers or examined, a question was asked “who cleans up the crime?” It was said that there are some people who are licensed to clean up the crime scenes. These people are called and they clean up the mess using certain cleaners to disinfect and get rid of any viruses or diseases. This section of radio was the most surprising to me because I guess I always wondered who cleaned up the crime. In my thought would have been the family cleans it up and that would be really hard for them to be there cleaning up a crime scene they knew a loved one was involved in. After the story about the woman another person is followed, this man was involved with drugs and stole from people. They follow him as he returns to the neighborhood where he committed these crimes. In order to stay out of trouble the man goes to the park and decided to put together a baseball team to help the young boys in the area stay out of trouble. In the beginning it is a challenge for him because he has to manage the boys and learn that he cannot talk to them the way he would talk to his peers in prison. As there baseball season goes on everything seems to work out for him. He says that the boys are helping him stay out of trouble as much as he’s helping them. Social psychology would be applied with this situation because it relates to, how people influence that stimulus and each other. The last story was about a boy who became an orphan at a young age. He was taking by a orphanage and raised there until he was 20. When he got older he seemed to have a gift for finding things that were lost. He could not explain how he could do such a thing. He said it was like the lost items were pulling him towards them. Hoping that he would be able to manipulate his pull towards his deceased parents and trying to find them, like he found other objects even the lost boy. I would say that this would do with cognitive psychology, manipulating that stimulus mentally.

I thought this would be kind of boring, but it was actually very interesting. It started off by two men talking about bodies they are seeing on slides and then it talked about a suicide, or maybe a homicide. The agent thought it was a homicide instead of a suicide because usually when people commit suicide with a gun in their mouth, they try and not conflict more pain to themselves. The tongue had two holes through like someone else had done it, so that is why the agent thought it to be a homicide. Listening to this made me very interested to listen to the rest of the segment. I never thought about what happens inside of the mouth of someone who were to commit suicide and when they were explaining what happened, I was just very intrigue. Another segment I thought was very interesting was of the agent with the southern accent, that cleans the crime scenes of murder or suicide victims. I thought it was crazy the kind of things they have to see to do their jobs. It was disgusting when he talked about when he went to a site and a dead body had been there for a while and he could heard all the maggots, because there were so many. I did not want to think about that at all because maggots are disgusting. I also thought that this guy was very interesting because he had got into this kind of job after watching Pulp Fiction. Those were my favorite stories, but there was also a story about an ex heroin addict him trying to be back in the real world after being in prison. He was a baseball coach in an urban community and got no respect...I could hear his pain and how badly he wanted to change and have respect. The last story on the show was about a kid who's parents had died when he was very young and how he began he started his career in investigations. Just a young kid going out and helping people find the things they needed.

The most surprising thing to me was the fact that people enjoy cleaning up dead corpse and crime scenes. They probably have the most disturbing job and they like to do it. Either that or they really like money. I would never be able to do that, don't have the stomach for it and to hear that they do this everyday is amazing to me. I also thought about how hard it is for people getting out of prison and them to try and get back in the real world.

Their is something related to psychology with these crime scene stories because the investigators are always trying to get inside the murderers head so they can close the crime and arrest someone. I think these crime scene investigators are very smart and are always thinking ahead and getting inside other peoples head.

This first segment of the radio show talked about what we can learn from evidence at a crime scene. One professional discussing this topic said that, “every crime scene is a story of it’s own.” He described a case of suicide that he had suspicions about. By looking at where the gun had been pointed (downward), he could tell that it had been another person pulling the trigger, making it a homicide. Another professional discussed how much information you can pull from a simple bloodstain. By looking at the shape of the stain, you can get a good idea of how forceful the impact was, the direction of the impact, and where the victim was standing. This reminded me a lot of the show Dexter, where he would run strings from the blood spots up to a wall, and be able to tell where the person had been standing. I found it very interesting that by looking at where utensils are placed on a table, you can find out if a person is right or left handed. There was also the cool story about the burglar who took a bite out of a piece of cheese – little did he know that would be the piece of evidence that caught him.

Act two was called Grime Scences – and talked about who cleans up the crime scenes once they have been investigated. I had never thought about this before – many crime scenes happen in someone’s home, and someone has got to clean it up eventually! This part talked about a guy named Neil who specializes in cleaning up nasty crime scenes, and he shared some gruesome stories about his job. Since Neil’s occupation revolves around death, it’s not surprising that he thinks about it often. He has his own take on it – and says he wants to die slowly, so that he has time to say goodbye to everyone in his life.

Act three talked about criminals returning to the scene of the crime. I learned that criminals typically do not return, with the exception of arsonists. A woman describes a man that she has known since childhood, who has had a history of heroin addiction. This man has come back to coach a little league team of low income kids from the neighborhood he used to live in. This man has been a drug addict, committed several crimes, and served time in prison, but now is trying to be part of a community again. He takes pride when his players call him “coach.”

Act four wraps up with a segment called “what police can’t do.” This was a fiction story about an orphan boy who had a knack for finding things. He paid attention to little things and instinctively felt a “tug” toward them. He was a hero when he found a lost boy, although what he wanted to find most were his parents.

The first place I heard psychology related aspects was the story about the assumed suicide. The detective found certain clues that related to psychology to solve this case. He found that she had no history of depression – relating to clinical psych which tells us depression is often a cause of suicide. When he found out that the gun had been pointed downward in her mouth, he reasoned that she must not have held the gun herself, because no one would want to inflict additional pain on themselves – which could relate to sensation in psychology. He also recognized that she had no left a suicide note. Typically when people commit suicide, it is well thought out. This can relate to cognitive psychology and our thinking, decision making, and planning processes that our minds go through – especially in an event like suicide. The man with the history of drug addiction can relate to the biological aspect of psychology. The woman who described him said that she knew he was not under the influence of heroin when she saw him because of how he acted. She says, “If he were still using heroin, nothing could puncture his detached haze.” Biopsychology explains to us how exactly drugs influence our cognitions and behaviors. Personality psychology relates to this man as well. The woman describes his as a child, and it sounds like he had a conduct disorder. Obviously, I don’t know if he would have any clinical diagnosis as an adult, but drug addiction, robbery, and other criminal offenses seem to reflect the same personality characteristics he showed as a child. This is consistent with what personality psychology tells us – our personalities tend to be stable over time.

Terms: evidence, crime scene, forensic, suicide, homicide, depression, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, biopsychology, personality psychology

I like how the recording starts out by having two individuals flipping through a slide-show of murders. One of the examiners discusses that each crime scene, each murder, each victim and suspect has its own story. Some are similar, some are completely new and unseen. In my opinion, criminal analysts and detectives have the most challenging and interesting jobs out there. This is further explored when one of the speakers gives an anecdote about him being paranoid and further examining a potential suicide only to find out that it was instead a homicide committed by the boyfriend. This and other cases goes to show how in depth these analysts must think. They cannot rule out anything until conclusive evidence can be found. Every thing around a crime scene is a piece of evidence for these examiners. For example, a piece of cheese a perpetrator left at a scene with his bite marks on it.

I'm still scratching my head as to why a criminal would return to a crime scene after they had committed a murder. At least to me it makes sense to get as far away as possible from the scene. However, related to psychology, do these criminals feel some remorse for their victims and try to make things right by eliminating any trace of their crimes, or is it just for their own good to not get locked up. The mind of a murderer is something that interests me because I wonder what makes their mindset that much different from the people around them. Sure enough, past experiences have a great deal to do with their psyche. If they know others with aggressive tendencies to they take to their personality and become aggressive themselves?

I saw this excerpt came out at the beginning of the millennium. I'm wondering how much if any of these tactics have changed. Of course the way examiners go about crime scenes hasn't changed for decades. On the other hand, in terms of Neil, the clean-up man, does he still have his job or have other officials taken it into their own hands. As a former real estate agent he doesn't seem qualified to go about and clean up the mess corpses leave at crime scenes.

First sounds I heard were unknown to me but then they were quickly revealed by the narrator “slides of different bodies, crimes, and crime scenes.” It was then I realized that this wasn’t a normal link with a video or clip of some sort but something I did not know even existed, a radio talk show involving crime and psychological influences. This was truly the most fascinating thing about the assignment ~ just the mere fact that I now know a show like this even exists is a bonus for me. On a very personal note, because I don’t always have time to read newspapers, magazines or watch television unless it’s for school now I can listen to subjects that interest me or learn things I did not know while I’m driving so that in itself was already very interesting to me. I even stopped/paused the link so that I could find out if the show still plays or even exists because it the episode was dated back in July 2000. I was over joyed to find out that it does still exist and its play for Cedar Falls through KUNI 90.9 FM Studio One at 11:00 A.M. That was definitely something that was very surprising to me and something I learned. And I had barely even listened to the first few minutes of the show. First of all, the first several minutes were a brief introduction into crimes, crime scenes and a quick story about how psychology and law really are companions in some criminal cases. One line from the medical examiner who was being interviewed or who the slides belonged to, still sticks or rings in my head and how or the way he described each slide. He said while the slides were being clicked, “Every crime scene is a story of its own, it’s a novel and it opens up in every direction” and that just really surprised me. How very true that statement is and how I had not realized it before. The introduction story was a pretty amazing crime about a suicide/homicide and what was so fascinating was that it truly catches your attention and you’re hooked right in the first few minutes. The show was structured in a great way separating itself into four segments or acts as they call them. I really enjoyed the cool music throughout the show and during the transmissions between acts and as it went from act to act. The show’s conclusion song was by the famous Ray Charles, one I had not heard before. To say that I really enjoyed this assignment wouldn’t give it the credit that it was due, I LOVED this assignment and truly did learn something different from each act; lawfully, psychologically, and even personally.

Act 1: This was an introduction interview with a Forensic Criminologist into how important crime scenes are and even the simplest things if not overlooked could be left to error. This segment was about blood stains; how they string to string the crime scenes through the blood drops and using the velocity of the splatter of the blood is all taken into consideration. It was interesting to know that it is all through basic trigonometry and angles that this can be done. Although, it did leave me with questions because after the story about the cheese and bite mark discovery, I wondered why the detectives went that far to find the murderer? Was it a famous case? It was a fairly short segment but what I really took or learned from this segment is that I am very interested in the career of a Forensic Criminologist and am even wondering if that is what I want to be when I grow up 

Act 2: Second best segment in my opinion of the whole show which is about a guy named Neal and he is called “the cleaner” inspired by a character in the film “Pulp Fiction”, (my favorite movie ~ if you haven’t seen it, IT’S A MUST SEE!!!). This guy named Neal was about 29 when he started and has been doing it for 4 years and he plans on retiring in 7 years at the age of 40. He was semi-professional before he started and because of watching a movie called “Pulp Fiction” and because of the character called “the cleaner” he wondered if that type of job existed. Neal was so intrigued that he searched and in fact it did exist. There is also a book now called “The Gig”, which is about professions of this sort. The most valuable pieces of information that I learned from this segment was that it takes a lot to own a company and do this kind of job. There are state and Federal laws concerning the disposing of dead bodies, the fluids and all the other bio-chemical hazards that come from crime scenes. I had not realized that it was a separate company that did this kind of stuff and not the police or affiliates of the police force. Neal also explained now after this type of job he realized how dirty and filthy people really are and at that moment I felt really good about being a clean freak. I agree with Neal’s disgust of how some people are just plain filthy and dirty. And I am also just as blunt about it, too. Neal is now so use his job that it is very common and the site of the most disgusting scenes now takes about 10 minutes to clean. He even described is like “spilled milk”. His emotions are shut off and to him it’s like just cleaning up a bathroom with industrial cleansers. The segment ended with thoughts of how Neal now thinks about his death and therefore it got to me. I never thought of what or how I would be found dead once I did die. We all ask ourselves how we want to die but never really think about who is going to find us or what we will look like. Now, after this segment what I learned or the only thing that comes to mind is, well, I guess I would want to die in a hospital; where it’s already clean…

Act 3: This was my favorite segment. The title fooled me at first sight, I thought it was about a criminal returning to a crime to try to cover up or change things. Maybe a story of how dumb criminals are if they do come back. It did clarify that most criminals do not return to the scene of their crime with the exception of arsonists and a few ; I guess that’s because It’s was about an addict who changed his life and who was still working on living a normal life, for whatever that means. The segment was called “A criminal returns to the scene of a crime”, which I can understand but Bobby wasn’t just a criminal, he is a recovering addict on the path of recovery. This story is about healing for both parties involved. Bobby, a previous drug user who was incarcerated for burglary and release has now returned to his home town to try to make amends. He starts to coach a little league team and tries to help young boys or guide them away from the things that got him into trouble. He admits that he does this so that he can himself be something other than a drug addict or so that he doesn’t go out and use again. The process of recovery is a continuing process and its miracle if an addict gets clean and stays clean. The true way to appreciate a story of this nature is to know what addiction is really about and what it does and can do to a person. Drugs either led Bobby to be a criminal or played a major role in this life which either way harmed him. Sometimes people who get caught up in the life of addiction never get a second chance and the story about Bobby is a great story of a recovering addict who now lives a life with some type normalcy.

Act 4: The last act was in my opinion the most mysterious and really got me wondering from start to finish. It started with how a boy was found on a beach because both his parents had been killed by the ocean’s wild waves. The community then took him in and raised him. He started realizing that he could find all sorts of things and objects with a sort of sense, maybe sometimes a smell or a small tug that would come over him. He would just have to turn to the tug or open a drawer and there was the object. Well, one day the community found out about this “gift”; some people believed him and some did not. The young man didn’t know what was happening to him or even how he got it. It was just a sense, he didn’t need to see it but it was more of like a tugging. One day a woman named Mrs. Allen calls upon the young man because her son was missing, Leonard. Although, she was a non-believer she still called upon him. She was famous for having a “green star” diamond like stone and the young man was also famous because when the police got there they also had a nickname for the man with the gift, they called him “the finding guy”. And while the police interviewed the mother the young man tried to feel or sense where the boy was. Although, he had never found a person, he only found things. This was going to be a challenge. While the police interviewed the mother, she described the shirt that he was wearing that day, “a blue shirt”. Well, the guy started imagining it and focusing in on a blue shirt; well, it worked. He started feeling a tugging sensation in the NW direction and started walking down the street. Around 14 houses down he experiences the blue shirt almost illuminating his insides. He walks towards the back, backyard, and there they were three boys and Leonard eating a candy bar. He scoops him up and walks back to the house holding the boy all the way back. Leonard, the little boy didn’t say anything to him and the young man wanted to call him “son”, that was sort of confusing for a minute. But then the psychology of it all came rolling into my brain. The guy with the gift, what was he experiencing at that moment? It was a very strange story and it ended even more mysteriously. When the guy gets home he really begins to think that if it wasn’t for the blue shirt, he wouldn’t have found Leonard. Naked body he believes he wouldn’t have found it. Later he is thinking or feeling something even stranger that what I had just heard. He wasn’t feeling a tug but was hearing something in his head or feeling something. I think it was about his parents, they were calling on him.
And from this segment I guess I would have to admit that I learned that some things can't always be explained and yet when it comes to crimes it is necessary to try all venues to solve a case.

The whole show ended with a cool Ray Charles song and once again, I loved it! 

Act 1, How do we know

“Every Crime scene is a Novel.” I thought that particular statement was quite catching to the ear. But then man who said it was right. After listening to Act 1 I was astonished by how any little detail can give away the biggest amount of evidence. When one of the law officers was being interviewed and was talking about the suicide case of this woman, they figured out that it wasn’t a suicide at all. This was discovered after an autopsy was done on the woman’s body showing that her tongue had to two holes. Generally is someone is going to shoot themselves in the mouth, the tongue usually goes unharmed. This showed to the investigators that due to the holes in the tongue, someone else would have had to angle the gun into the woman’s mouth. The investigator then talked about other ways of identifying what happened at a crime scene. He pointed out how investigators look for a variety in blood stains. Investigators can tell the difference between high velocity stains, and low velocity. High velocity stains usually are caused by the shooting of a gun, and low velocity usually consists with the use of knife or other object. He also talked about how due to the angle of blood you can tell where the victim, or criminal was standing. He mentioned how the use the method of “blood stringing” in order to determine the movement, location, and type of weapon. The investigator also talked about how it great when a witness, or someone involved can remember distinct smells, or odors. Such as, the smell of gas, cooking food, the body sprays of the criminal, etc. Anything that can give investigators a start in finding out what happened at the scene is better than nothing. What I found most interesting and unfortunate for property owners is that it is up to those who own the property to be in charge in cleaning the place up after a crime scene has been analyzed and looked at. I guess this makes scene, but I can see how unfortunate it could be as well.

Act 2, Grime scene
Out of all the Acts that I had to listen to, this by far was my favorite. At first I pictured Neil the clean-up guy as some weird, nut-job. I learned that he was not necessarily a nut-job, but weird yes. Neil is the one who gets called in to “clean up” the aftermath of the crime scenes. Most the work that Neil has to deal with is majority “decomp”, suicides, meth labs, and kitty houses (abandon buildings/homes filled with cats). Murders are the least of his business. Neil stated that he is just like any other person trying to make money. Neil mentioned while working in this type of field he has come to really grow disgusted with the ways that people live; he’s a clean freak. Neil mentioned how at one of sites he went to go clean he heard this weird sound. Sound was coming from underneath the dead body. It was a whole swarm of maggots. As we learned previously in class the findings of bugs or other insects in or on a dead body can show how long the body has been there, and even determine the time of death. It was gross when he talked about it, but for me it was interesting as well. Neil ended this segment talking about how he would like to die. He said he wanted to die a slow death, that way he could say goodbye to everyone. He even said how he would “take cancer”. I thought while listening to Act 2 if Neil tried to make cover up what he dealt with at work with humor. Maybe that was just the type of guy Neil was, but I kind of find it hard to think that you could almost get use to something like this.

Act 3, A criminal returns to the scene of the crime
I really didn’t enjoy listening to Act 3 as much as I did the rest. But I thought that it is good for people to know how hard it is for redeemed convicts or criminals to be placed back into society. Bobby was a recovering druggy how in his past use to steal money, and people for money to try and get his fix. When he returned back to the place where it had all started, the place where he grew up, he found that taking one step at a time would be the only way for him to get back on his feet, and try to start over. Bobby began to coach little league. He found it very hard to do at first because none of the kids showed him any sort of respect. Eventually, after they gained his trust he found himself and the team growing together. Bobby even connected with one of his players because he felt that he saw a lot of his younger self in that boy. After Bobby was released he was even given a lanyard to wear, basically to let people in his community know that he has changed and is a better person. Most people would put it in their pocket, but Bobby wear is around his neck. He is proud of what he has become, and has no desire to go back. It was good to hear that someone such as Bobby was able to find his place back into the community. I wonder though, if there was a need for Bobby to have a criminal background check in order for him to be able to work with children? Either way, it was a nice, interesting story.

Act 4, What police cannot do
After first I have to admit I was shocked because I thought that this was an actual true story. But in the end I learned it was not, but I still thoroughly enjoyed listening to this Act, and wonder if there are actually people who can do things like this. Act 4 talks about this boy who ended up as an orphan. This orphan always had a talent to find lost things. When the boy grew up his skill of finding things was well known around his neighborhood. He would find peoples keys, hair brushes, and any other everyday things. There were skeptics and there were believers. But one day Misses Alan’s son had been kidnapped, and even though she was a skeptic about the talent of the orphan boy she thought that it was worth the try, The orphan had never been asked to look for people before, but once Misses Alan told him that he was wearing a blue shirt that day, he slowly picked up on a “tug” that lead him fourteen houses down from where Misses Alan lived. The orphan found the boy. He wondered what if Misses Alan would not have known what her son was wearing that day; would he have ever found him. I also thought of this story as sort of metaphor. Such as, investigators, and detectives, need evidence and some sort of lead in order to be able to find a missing person, or to solve a mystery to a crime. I think this story teaches us all that even the smallest detail can be the one thing that solves the mystery

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