Curated playlist
Crimes
- AssaultAssault can be a crime before anyone is touched. In several legal systems, causing fear of violence is enough.
- TortureMost torture victims are poor people suspected of crimes. Public debate focuses on political prisoners instead.
- RobberyRobbery is theft that needs force or fear. A pickpocket or burglar avoids the victim, but a robber does not.
- KidnappingPhoenix, Arizona once claimed to be America's kidnapping capital, but the numbers were false.
- MurderWilliam Barnes was charged with murder nearly 41 years after he shot a Philadelphia police officer.
- Battery (crime)Why is a bump on a crowded bus not a crime in England and Wales? The law presumes consent to ordinary contact.
- Human cannibalismSome Europeans who condemned cannibals abroad ate human body parts as medicine. It peaked in the 17th century.
- Organized crimeAl Capone went to prison for unpaid taxes, not murder. In 1931 he was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
- Driving under the influenceA London taxi driver was the first person convicted of drunk driving, in 1897. George Smith was fined 20 shillings.
- CorruptionKaunas, Lithuania paid roughly 150,000 euros for a 2009 outdoor toilet. A similar one nearby cost 4,500 euros.
- PolygamyHimalayan brothers often married the same woman to keep family land whole. Farmland was too scarce to split.
- War crimeThe first recorded war crimes trial happened in 1474. A Holy Roman Empire court beheaded knight Peter von Hagenbach.
- TerrorismIn 2006, one estimate counted over 109 different definitions of terrorism.
- HomicideHomicide covers far more than murder, including accidents. Any act that causes a death counts, even without intent.
- ViolenceThe World Health Organization says a threat can count as violence, even with no visible wound.