Googling the Trail of a Serial Rapist 204
theodp writes "Innovative Interactivity has a behind-the-scenes look at the Washington Post's On the Trail of a Serial Rapist series. Information Designer Kat Downs details her experience designing and building the impressive interface for the series, including the use of Google Maps to track the rapist. Wary, perhaps, that it might encourage vigilantism, the WaPo stopped short of allowing readers to add their own input to the maps and urged anyone with additional information to contact the police."
Some black guy... (Score:5, Interesting)
I understand the DNA links, but the other cases?
Re:Vigilantism (Score:5, Interesting)
The only tracking that they're doing is tracking where the crimes took place. Go look at the site, all that's there is a timeline, with a Google map, street view, and text blurb for each attack. It isn't like they've followed the guy on the subway and found out where he lives, they're simply organizing all the data that was doubtlessly available from other sources into a single, easy to follow graphical representation.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Vigilantism (Score:4, Interesting)
Just because it's not lawful doesn't mean it's unethical. When the law itself (or those enforcing it) is unethical, the only ethical action may be to break the law.
I don't believe the police were acting in an unethical fashion, I simply think they have limited resources.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:3, Interesting)
so that householders aren't required to run from their premises in the case of intrusion
Move to the United States. In virtually all American states (even the left-leaning ones like New York or California) you aren't expected nor required to flee from your home in the face of a violent intrusion into it. I find it absolutely despicable that there exists systems of government that require people to flee from their homes in the face of violence.
Break into an occupied home in the United States and you have a decent chance of being shot. Perhaps this explains why the United States has a lower rate of "hot" burglaries (burglaries where the home is occupied) than many other countries?
Re:Vigilantism (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice cherry-picking. Compare homicide, armed robbery etc. statistics with other countries and you'll find that things aren't so rosy. (No, you can't pick Somalia.)
Re:Vigilantism (Score:1, Interesting)
The problem with those statistics... if you take African Americans out of the mix, the US is virtually no different from any European country. Sad, but true. If you're really curious, look up homicides, and see how many murders are "black on black" as related to the total number of homicides.
I don't know how to fix that problem, as it's a doozy... The welfare state I think is very clearly NOT the answer.
Re:Vigilantism (Score:3, Interesting)
For one thing, this provides a little incentive to leave the rape victim alive. If I'm committing a capital offense already, why not eliminate any witnesses?
You would have to do your own survey on whether rape victims would prefer to have been murdered also. Personally, I would bet on "no".
Re:Witness unreliable (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm 5'7" - a little on the tall side, I guess, for a woman my age.
I have had co-workers - people I have worked alongside for *years* guess my height at anywhere between 5'4" and 6'. As for age, I'm 38 but I have people who're older than me guessing I'm in my early to mid-20's, while people who are in their mid-20's guess I'm in my early to mid 40's.
I've had people tell me they were "shocked" to hear me describe myself as brunette because they thought my hair was black, or blonde, depending on the time of year. And people have also said I look either Italian (read: dusky) or Irish (read: freckles and pale) again depending on the time of year.
Given that people who work with me 20-40 hours/week have such a hard time describing me, I am actually impressed that the height and age-range of the attacker in question is so narrow.