Van der Sloot: the wheels of justice grind slow
Joran van der Sloot, the man who almost certainly killed Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005, has confessed to murdering another young woman in Peru. Thus, justice of a sort will finally come—unfortunately, too late to save his latest victim, twenty-one-year-old Stephany Flores.
The Peruvian authorities had the advantage of having a fairly airtight case against van der Sloot, due to video evidence. No doubt that (and perhaps some other forms of “persuasion?”) helped motivate the psychopathic serial killer to confess in hopes of getting a reduced sentence. Too bad the maximum in Peru for murder is 35 years.
Van der Sloot’s story illustrates not just the fact that certain cases grab the public imagination and become tabloid fodder, but also that sometimes a suspect is pretty much known to be the murderer but falls through the tracks of a justice system anyway, either because there is not enough evidence to charge and convict, or because that system is incompetent and/or compromised, or perhaps both.
Van der Sloot appears to have been an angry time bomb waiting to go off. A statement attributed to him in the present case by a Peruvian newspaper is, if true, a perfect example of the mindset of the psychopathic killer:
According to La Republica newspaper, Van der Sloot told officials he broke Flores’ neck in a rage after he discovered she had used his notebook computer without permission and learned he was involved in the disappearance of Holloway.
“I did not want to do it,” La Republica quoted him as saying. “The girl intruded into my private life.”
It is a terrible thing that van der Sloot was able to kill again. But it is a good thing that he has finally been caught, although belatedly and at great price. But had he not murdered another woman and been trapped by the evidence, he might have remained free forever, as many murderers do.
In the United States, for example, an average of slightly more than a third of all murders remain unsolved. This represents a marked increase in the last few decades, a disturbing trend:
National clearance rates for murder and manslaughter have fallen from about 90 percent in the 1960s to below 65 percent in recent years.
The majority of homicides now go unsolved at dozens of big-city police departments, according to a Scripps Howard News Service study of crime records provided by the FBI…
Experts say that homicides are tougher to solve now because crimes of passion, where assailants are easier to identify, have been replaced by drug- and gang-related killings. Many police chiefs – especially in areas with rising numbers of unsolved crimes – blame a lack of witness cooperation.
But the percentage of unsolved murders is extremely variable:
In 2008, police solved 35 percent of the homicides in Chicago, 22 percent in New Orleans and 21 percent in Detroit. Yet authorities solved 75 percent of the killings in Philadelphia, 92 percent in Denver and 94 percent in San Diego.
“We’ve concluded that the major factor is the amount of resources police departments place on homicide clearances and the priority they give to homicide clearances,” said University of Maryland criminologist Charles Wellford, who led a landmark study into how police can improve their murder investigations.
Apparently we have the ability to change things. We just don’t have the will and won’t appropriate the money. It seems that this might be money well spent, however. It’s not just solving a certain crime. As the case of van der Sloot shows, putting one murderer behind bars in a timely fashion might prevent a repeat act, and save another family the agony of losing a member in such a dreadful fashion.
AND, who knows what has happened to others between 2005 and now! I pray for these families, thank you for posting your blog.
I think they did something in Boston years ago that identified that the huge fraction of serious crimes were committed by a relatively small number of individuals. Getting them off the street was a real incentive for various 3 strikes laws. Similarly getting serious gangbangers and psychopaths behind bars has a huge impact on violent crime.
The missapplication of “social” explanations for crime seriously hindered the ability to fund and crack down on these people. Whatever the cause of the behavior, getting them caught and off the street saves lives.
Rich White Dutch boy murders a Peruvian girl, the daughter of a well liked father. Not a good scenario.
Karma comes back with accrued interest.
God bless Stephanie, and Natalie, and their poor families. And friends.
I would guess that Peruvian prison is not a day at an Aruba Beach. He will beg and scream for a Holland prison.
I doubt he will get out alive.
But I hope he gets to spend a few years in hell first. Before he goes there in the next life, and joins the ranks there.
35 years max for murder and almost no one gets the max? Can anyone on this blog explain why so lenient a number? Do the Peruvian authorities think their is a cure for psychopathic behavior?
Bob.
Is there a cure?
Question is how many other girls he murdered in between.
You know, with that slightly simianface and weird fuzzcut, he’s uniquely recognizable. Which he must know.
Didn’t care or thought it was cool.
In either case, he obviously thought it didn’t handicap him in the pursuit of whatever he was pursuing.
I suspect Gary is right. This guy is a psychopath — one that has essentially laughed his way since he was released by Aruba. If quote in neo’s post is true about why he killed the latest young girl indicates he felt justified!
Both the Holloway and Flores families have/had the means to draw worldwide attention to their situations. I get the creeps thinking about Joran’s world travels, and wonder if there are indeed other corpses left in his trail — never missed, or whose families had not means or opportunity to draw the kind of attention drawn to the Holloway & Flores murders.
As for the 35-yr. max penalty – it’s surprising, but then our penalties for murder are so disparate that I’m often shocked. How many times do we here in the news that a just-released convict has killed soon after they are freed? Certainly there are situations in which intent to kill was not a factor and death was a result of out of control circumstances. However, there are those, like Joran, who have absolutely no regard for human life and often the brutality, the violence, the gruesomeness are unimaginable for rational people.
Re: Peruvian jails, they are said to be hell holes and it is anticipated that Joran will be a prime target. He is a foreigner who killed a native Peruvian. He is widely regarded to have now killed at least 2 very young defenseless girls. And he is known to have led a relatively very cushy life. That will not go over well with Peru’s worst of the worst. Prognosticators are betting he will never make it out of the Peruvian jails, no matter how long he must stay there.
My only fear is that Holland might once again get involved or try to strike some deal to let him serve his time in his homeland. IMO this last murder alone is enough to give him the max, and I hope Stefanie’s father has the connections to make it so. (Perhaps that will offset his own father’s connections in Aruba which were at least part of the reason he was able to remain free).
Until the 60’s murders were overwhelmingly between aquaintances, family members, and relatives. Since then there has been a great increase in stranger murders. This is especially the case among youths who are basically amoral. Raising boys in female headed households in minority neighborhoods where few men are gainfully employed at legitimate occupations often turns out badly. Staying far away from such areas is prudent.
Richard Aubrey: I saw an interview on some cable news network with a guy who says he saw van der Sloot the night before in a casino bragging about how he was going to pick up some girls. The guy said he recognized van der Sloot from the Holloway case and reported it to the authorities in the casino, thinking something bad was going to happen. Not sure whether this guy is telling the truth, but if he is it’s a very chilling story.
“Apparently we have the ability to change things. We just don’t have the will and won’t appropriate the money. It seems that this might be money well spent, however. It’s not just solving a certain crime…..”
Agreed. Being caught and being sent away are not deterrents only if would-be murderers believe there are relatively poor chances of being caught. If bad people are allowed to kill with impunity, they will.
As neo says “putting one murderer behind bars in a timely fashion might prevent a repeat act, and save another family the agony of losing a member in such a dreadful fashion.”
The criminal codes of most South American countries are based on the Napoleonic Code. In most countries that follow the Napoleonic Code or some version therof, imprisonment is PUNISHMENT! You are not fed unless you have the means to buy food or some relative or friend supplies it. Other niceties must also be purchased by the inmate. Healthcare is minimal. In those types of prisons most inmates do not last 30 years. If Peru follows this penal code, Joran will not last long. Thus, I can see the 34 year maximum sentence for murder as a near death sentence.
but society MADE him do it!!! he is a victim!! he deserves mercy and rehabilitation you heartless people!!
just kidding. I think it was CS Lewis who wrote against prisoner rehabilitation, asking the question of when is the prisoner considered effectively “rehabilitated”? where does it end, in other words. He was saying that if someone commits a crime, then punishment is the correct course, not rehab. Rehab would come after the punishment.
The Napoleonic code sounds great actually… we should adopt it. Although I do wonder what kind of bizarre protests would result from that…
Speaking of breaking necks…
As I’ve said before, if we ever have to hit Ctrl-Alt-Del on this republic, we need to guarantee the liberal (no pun intended) and speedy application of capital punishment, by hanging – a truly horrible death. No more than a few months should elapse between conviction and execution.
Having said that, I strongly oppose Napoleonic Code, not least because judges, not juries, decide guilt or innocence (starting with a presumption of guilt). Imagine having our liberal judges in that position. The fact is, I wouldn’t want conservative judges in that position either. Too much power, too unaccountable, too easy to game through choice of judge. No thanks.
OB,
My sentiments exactly about most of the Napoleonic Code. The presumption of guilt alone is enough to curdle your blood.
While prison should not be a death sentence, it should provide real punishment – not Club Med. Some of the ideas in the Napoleonic Code as to prison as punishment might be worth considering. Sherriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Arizona incorporates the principles that jail time should not be a walk in the park. For more about Sherrif Joe see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio
The PC brigade hates his guts, but he keeps getting re-elected.
Dostoevsky’s novel is titled “Crime and Punishment”, not “Crime and Rehabilitation”. In the end the author also indicate that rehabilitation in this case, indeed, took place, but not istead of punishment, but after it, and is the theme of another story.
In Chicago, at least, lack of money translates into police ranks being understaffed by over 800 officers. Any way you slice it, when you’re that understaffed you simply can’t be effective.