Jodi Arias – guilted?

Some notes about the testimony of Alyce LaViolette about entries in Jodi’s journal just before her road trip. 37:00 May 27 journal entry. JA talks about meeting Ryan Burns, trip to Utah. Evidence she is leaving TA, she says “great news”. Talks about making plans to go to Utah. 38:00 May 30 journal entry. JA making […]

via Journal entries just before trip — Jodi Ann Arias – Innocent in Arizona

Donna Elvira

“That ungrateful soul betrayed me, O God, how unhappy he made me! But, though betrayed and abandoned, I still know pity for him. When I feel my suffering, my heart speaks of vengeance; but when I see the danger he’s in, my heart beats for him.”

Pamina’s opera puts it this way:

“So often not only in opera, but in all types of fiction written by men in past centuries, women are either shamed and vilified, or, more often, idealized and put on a pedestal. Fully human, complex female characters can be hard to find. Yet in Elvira, we find one. A female character with both comic and tragic elements; who has genuine dignity yet makes a fool of herself; who’s no shrinking violet, but no pillar of strength either; who has blazing anger, but too much love to maintain it, and great capacity for compassion, but too much anger to maintain it; whose faithful, passionate love has both positive and negative effects; whose humiliations are sometimes played for laughs but never portrayed as justified; and who remains morally gray throughout the opera, with neither the other characters nor the creators ever judging her.”

Donna Elvira is I think a character far ahead of her time, a betrayed woman who forgives the most damning faults in Don Giovanni, who feels the desire for vengeance, but who still has empathy for the danger he is in. This is the great puzzle of men like Don Giovanni, why women keep come back to them and feel for them, even as they are terribly betrayed.

The aria is I think a masterpiece, coming towards the end of the opera where Don Giovanni refuses to repent and is carried down to hell.

Libretto
In quali eccessi, o umi, in quai misfatti orribili, tremendi è avvolto il sciagurato!
Ah no! non puote tardar l’ira del cielo, la giustizia tardar. Sentir già  parmi la fatale saetta, che gli piomba sul capo! Aperto veggio il baratro mortal! Misera Elvira!
Che contrasto d’affetti, in sen ti nasce! Perchè questi sospiri? e queste ambascie?

Mi tradì, quell’alma ingrata, infelice, o Dio, mi fa.
Ma tradita e abbandonata, provo ancor per lui pietà .
Quando sento il mio tormento, di vendetta il cor favella,
Ma se guardo il suo cimento, palpitando il cor mi va.

Recitative in English
In what abysses of error, into what dangers, Thy reckless path pursuing, Have guilt and folly brought thee! The wrath of heaven will surely overwhelm thee, It is swift to destroy.
The lightning flash of retribution impendeth, It will soon be upon thee! Eternal ruin at last will be thy doom. Wretched Elvira! What a tempest within thee, thy heart divideth!
Ah, wherefore is this longing? These pangs of sorrow?

 

Why do women kill?

Interesting article on why women kill.

“Of the 532 offenders identified from those incidents, 453 (85 per cent) were male and 79 (15 per cent) were female, which are figures typical of what we observe both in Australia and internationally. ”

“In particular, homicides driven by concealment and jealousy were all committed by males”

“So why do women kill?

Although homicide is predominantly male perpetrated, of the cases investigated women most often killed for gain or what they perceived as “love”, and for the most part targeted those closest to them.

Gain homicides are those committed for personal benefit, such as money or business and personal advantage. The homicides committed by women for gain in the sample were mostly carried out for insurance payouts, assets, or due to being removed from a will following a divorce, and generally involved the partners of the women.”

Full article here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/female-murderers-more-likely-motivated-by-love-financial-gain/9378404

Reporting crime

The large scale abuse of the women gymnasts by Larry Nasser has exposed a flaw in the way crimes are reported. Nasser was able to exploit a weakness to abuse a large number of young gymnasts without being arrested or prosecuted, even though many of the victims had complained to their parents and to authorities.

The issue is that a single complaint may not be sufficiently credible for law enforcement action to be taken, but if there are multiple reports which corroborate each other, then it is possible to bring a prosecution.

What would an ideal system look like? To encourage truthful reporting, I suggest an automated system where humans are not given access until a defendant is identified by the system, based on multiple independent reports. The reporting system should be programmed to prompt for relevant details, to allow the computer system to automatically see if there are independent reports which corroborate each other. When the computer system holding the reports identifies a probable crime and a defendant, this information should be automatically published (without identifying information) and police should consider the report and obtain a court order for further investigative action to be taken, and ultimately for a prosecution to be brought.

See also
https://www.ted.com/talks/jessica_ladd_the_reporting_system_that_sexual_assault_survivors_want