Putting a $20,000 Price Tag on the Head of Every Murderer

Murderers would be turned in left and right if the people knew it would lead to a realistic reward. Every murder arrest deserves a real reward.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - As a career news reporter, I've often wondered why Americans place such a low value on life. It seems that way when you think about it. When a person disappears or is murdered, their cases can go unsolved for years, decades, or permanently.

And we spend billions and billions on the War on Drugs which is a statistical failure. A small fraction of that funding could be used to arrest murderers and create safer streets for our kids.

I can not count the times I've seen $1000 and $5000 rewards for information leading to Murder convictions. It seems like a pathetic appraisal of human life and it begs the question, is that all we are worth?

Even those amounts aren't offered in each case, and while Murder cases languish in the back files, the FBI finds $50,000 to offer as a reward for citizens who help locate "animal activists". Fifty grand.

Interestingly, there is a power station near Lebanon, Oregon that is vandalized from time to time. When vandals hit the place, BPA offers a reward of over $20,000 to anyone who can deliver the criminals to justice.

Too bad people aren't so highly regarded.

Sure, families with plenty of money occasionally offer real rewards. I have seen them as high as $20,000, $50,000 or more. But why aren't we taking revenue and doing the same thing on a public level with it?

I guess it is more important these days for police to spend our money on unmarked patrol cars for traffic enforcement, something that California law doesn't even allow, and they blow endless millions of dollars in your taxpayer money prosecuting people who use marijuana, a plant that naturally grows out of the ground.

And all the while, a long list of murderers run the streets free. Some are caught, some are arrested by cops in a "cold case" scenario, as has happened more than once here in Salem, but still far too many are at large.

Questioning Priorities

My point is not that police aren't doing their best at all times to reign in killers, they are doing that, but Murder is the most serious offense that a family can face, and each Murder should be a top priority to solve. It is terrible that real rewards are not offered.

Maybe we need to pressure politicians to realign budgets so law enforcement can change its priorities. Police could solicit non-taxpayer funds for rewards through fundraisers, for that matter.

This is the new world and Internet media in particular, is the single best way for police to get the word out about suspects at large, missing people, and murder suspects.

What would our society be like if turning in every Murderer led to a $20,000 reward?

Would that not be sufficient incentive to turn people around? Would it make the streets safer for citizens and police alike? I think it would.

Or let me put it this way; if each and every Murderer out there walking our streets had a 20k price tag on his or her head, there simply would be far fewer of them.

Before you judge this idea as less than economically sound, consider that five murders could be solved in a community per year at a cost of $100,000. The U.S. government under Bush offered rewards in the millions for "terrorists", how could it not be possible to offer $20,000 to an American who wanted to clean up their own neighborhood?

Twenty thousand is a realistic amount that could really tempt people who know murderers into turning them in. I predict that we would see an immediate response to this idea.

Your local and state governments have the funds for things like this, they need pressure, and they need to agree that priorities could be shifted in a positive way that would reduce the worst crime possible.

Here are stories that involve payments for people resolving crimes:

• Reward Offered for Arrest of Salem Area Arson Suspect - Salem-News.com
• Reward Offered for Salem Robbery Suspects (VIDEO) - Salem-News.com
• FBI Increases Reward for 'Operation Backfire' Fugitives - Salem-News.com
• $10,000 Reward Offered for Suspect Arrest & Conviction in the Murder of Gurdev Sohi - Salem-News.com
• Reward Offered in Florence Boatwright Murder - Salem-News.com
• Reward Offered in Salem/Dallas Pipe Bomb Case - Salem-News.com

This link will take you to all of our stories involving rewards:

Salem-News.com 'reward' articles

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Dave Lewis was brutally burned and his home arsoned to the ground on 9/4/08, Ashland,Oregon. He was last seen at Hyatt Lake Resort. Another cabin was arsoned to the ground that night as well. There is a $ 20,000. REWARD for an arrest and a $5,000. REWARD for any pertinent info. Please GOOGLE Dave Lewis Ashland Oregon and/or Bob McNeely-Jeanne Plante; Hyatt Lake Resort.
www.myspace.com/davelewismurederarsonor

I think you misread my initial post. I said if you feared for your live or other's lives, you could shoot and kill someone for trespassing and causing such fear. For example, they come in with masks on and guns in their hand. Of course you're going to shoot them. Do you think they were looking for some leftover Turkey from Thanksgiving or something? By the way Daniel, if you were caught using your iPod while on the road, and hit and killed someone, you could be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Sorry for any typos , I am on the road using an ipod .

Also never ever pull or point a weapon at a police officer on your land or in your house , you may be shot and will charged with a crime. Some people do not get this simple fact !

Phil also if you understand castel laws , named after dirty Harry , you will understand how they remove some of the gray areas .

Phil I am not telling people not to not protect themselves but to know the law in Oregon . The question was on use of lethal force for simple trespass , your answer gave the impression its ok to shoot for trespass only . Please read Oregon Law , I have and I find many gray areas ,even in the area of self defense .Please do not take my word for it Phil read it yourself then your knowledge will be first hand .

Daniel obviously we are discussing different area's of Oregon's criminal statutes when it comes to self-defense. I have had a CHL since they were first authorized by law and my county sheriff issued me one immediately. I am not an attorney but when we help people develop self-defense programs for themselves (no fees involved, just for referred individuals) and family members we make sure that they receive the appropriate info in layman terminology. Earlier I was talking about self-defense when one feared for their life (or someone else's), and there is ample legal precedent that the use of deadly force in this situation is a legal defense. My hope is that everyone who has a weapon keeps themselves updated on all laws so as not to do something stupid. There have been very few people who have had their CHL revoked for cause not just in Oregon, but nationally. In fact statistically it is a very safe population when it comes to both not becoming a crime victim or having a gun related accident. There is some data that shows CHL holders stop a considerable amount of crime, but I'm not very familiar how they developed that database via a Harvard tenured professor so I will not source it. Again I encourage all who own any type of weapon to get updated info and training. We all get rusty as time slips by. Even combat veterans.

Also Phil if you do not know what castle laws are please look them up on google or anyone else who has interest.

Phil if you read mikes post it states shooting someone for simple trespass , it does no say trespass and fearing for your life only trespass . Phil you stand corrected please read oregonlaw . Somone last month was sent to prison for shooting a person sleeping on his couch who was trespassing but not puting the homeowner in danger . Anyone else who wants the correct answer please check oregon law.

Daniel it has nothing to do with a "castle law." I'm sure many of the readers out there recall stories where burglers have been killed when they entered homes (even detached garages) and the homeowner feared for their lives and killed them in Oregon. It boils down to self-defense and one fearing for their or someone elses life, no matter the location. Mike H was correct as per his below post.

Mike H Oregon does not have a castle law , you cannot shoot someone for simple trespass . There was a case last month giving a southern oregon man 19 months for doing such .Mike you have been corrected .

If you shoot someone that is in your home whether they are armed or not and you feared for you life or others lives you won't be charged with a felony. There is no such thing as excessive force when someone enters your home without permission. If I lived in Canada I would shit myself if someone came into my home in the middle of the night and I knew all I had was a knife and they could have a gun, because weapons are easily obtainable on the black market. If you ban guns, criminals are still going to have them. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about the legal issues of killing someone that has entered your home without permission.

Gregus of course you think the public should take measures , its your business , it what you profit from . California in the 60s spent six times on education than on prisons , nows its about the same . They enacted all the strict incarceration measures you propose and look where it got them . Legalization of small amounts of ALL drugs was just enacted in Mexico , we should do the same along with total legalization of marijuana . The media fans any problems and makes it worse by scaring the crap out of people . I grew up I a tough eastern city , when we had riots in the mid 60s it was bad but the media made it 100x worse . The people from the suburbs were scared to cross into the city limit and it help kill the city . The media , mostly the television news takes a bad situation and makes it worse . I was In Mexico city during the supposed killer flu , the measures they took were weeks late and often totally ineffective . The media overreaction took a very heavy tole on the local vender and businessperson , they are still feeling the effect . The television makes people fearful to walk out of their homes at night . The more we live in a climate of fear the easer it is for the criminals ! The kids are becoming a mess in this country from junk food , lack of exercise , too much computer surfing and television . Greg the largest group on welfare is single white mothers , where are the deadbeat dads , these are the real slackers . When you teach people to protect themselves point out the legal dangers of using excessive or lethal force , your clients may find themselves charged with a felony if they shoot an unarmed bugler .

DJ I began my long journey in academia in the 1960's and am still on that journey. I find that many people I knew who did post graduate work did not realize that it had no real end for the critical thinkers. My below comment about Thomas Kuhn was meant to deal with the "scientific method" in terms of the need to see that one's hypothesis(es)/ theories could be replicated by others. The argument is that this method allowed mankind to begin advancement outside of prevailing orthodoxies (doctrines) that stifled research/exploration, which was in fact a significant paradigm shift that Thomas Kuhn layed out so well. Somehow you got into political ideology, which reminds me of some students I ran into many years ago who also conversed in a tangential manner on this topic.

Daniel my read is that people who are security conscious and take measures to protect themselves are doing the correct thing. There is very violent crime going on out there and most is being committed by our own citizens, but each illegal committing a crime is one too many. Approximately half the illegals are from those who overstayed their visas. As far as money being correlated to educational performance, then look at Washington DC: Only one school district (in Conn.) spends a few dollars more than in DC, and the latter has the poorest performance in the nation. Then in Utah (just one example) spends just a fraction of D.C.'s amount and has one of nations highest performing districts. There are countless variables for sure on why the above is the way it is, but when you distill it down, money plays a minor role in most cases. There are a number of sources that compare the above data in all school districts across the country to see for yourself. Back to preparing for crime, well just like insurance, we want to be prepared just in case. There was a time when someone stole a car they went to JDH or reform school. There are very few sanctions with bite to keep our kids in line and those who end up in prison generally have quite a rap sheet before they get there. The voter wants longer sentences and to build more prisons if needed. Many voice that legalizing drugs is the answer to reduce crime rates and incarceration. This may be true, but society is a long ways from getting to that point, so in the meantime we have to protect ourselves, a very prudent course of action. Have you ever gone and looked up government data on crime? It's not bs.

DJ for Prez.

DJ have you read Thomas Kuhn's Scientific Revolutions? Essentially the "scientific methodolology" (many other terms are also applicable here) rests on the conceptual acceptance of constant paradigm shifts. Works for me, then I have a masters in software engineering from M.I.T., and over 35 years in private business. To be competetive one must live in the future, but the scientific method does provide a framework and that's how we plan and coordinate, plus documenting so others can peer review our work by replicating it. Have you never replicated others work to verify this? That is how we left the dark ages. Experience trumps google everytime.

Yes, I read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in the 1970s when I was at university. The concept of paradigms, I think, is valid for more than just science. A paradigm is the equivalent of a filter through which we interpret our sensory world. I apply it to our social construction of political realities. Abraham Maslow opined, even before Kuhn, that “It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” These "hammers" are the paradigms through which we interpret the world. Republicans have a particular hammer and Democrats have another hammer. The mistake both make without ever being aware of it (or if they are, they pretend they aren't), is to assume that all hammers are the same, when they clearly are not. If people of different ideologies could actually understand and accept this, it could be a route back to political civility and even civilization itself.

Daniel September 22, 2009 4:08 pm (Pacific time)

Mike G the good paying industrial and manufacturing jobs are not going to illegals they are going to China . The same is true in Mexico the industrial and manufacturing base is moving to China plus the domestic mexican corn farmer is under cut by USA price supported corn . The unemployed unskilled more north to survive . Mexico is full of wal marts and sams clubs packed with goods from the 3rd world , mostly China . Here in the USA corporations have moved whole factories and the good paying jobs overseas . The problem is not illegals its corrupt bankers and industrialist who have sold out the country ! Education is going down because the money was redirected to incarceration largely for the failed war on drugs . People are becoming more security conscience because the media is scaring the crap out of them . People would do themselves a world of good by turning off there televisions and getting away from all the brainwashing, hype , fear mongering and pure bs .

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Mike Gregus September 22, 2009 2:01 pm (Pacific time)

Very few people in this country want some big Global Community togetherness because it would boil down to the hard working Americans (most of us still are) providing a larger chunk of our assets to those who prefer to live off handouts, aka slackers. We also know as more illegals come into the country coupled with the growing domestic public school drop-out rate, crime will continue to go up. We always have had those periods when they report crime going down, just like test scores are improving in the public school system, but we know what will eventually happen to that good news. People are becoming more security conscious and I train numerous individuals and households in security measures. Suprisingly many of them are veterans because the majority of them never really learned very much about defense/offense security. The below brief let's you know what's going on from a macro perspective, and as more terrorists get active expect more of the same: "Firearms, Ammunition See Explosive Sales Growth WSJ ^ | 9/21/09 | Bill Spain While a remarkable surge that began late last year is starting to ease, Americans' demand for firearms and ammunition - driven largely by economic concerns and the fear of new regulations - remains brisk as double-digit sales increases continue to fill the financial coffers of gun and ammo makers alike. In August, the number of background checks performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Instant Criminal Background Check System was up 12.3% from the same month in 2008 to about 1.1 million."

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Copernicus September 22, 2009 1:40 pm (Pacific time)

Anne Throp ask Tim to tell you about his course work..

Tim King: Of course I deleted your comment you little racist jerk.  I noted to Daniel that the very next thing you wrote was a directly inflammatory racist statement about Jewish people.  You are nothing, and your ugly whining rants will never been seen on Salem-News.com.  Indeed, they will be flushed like a big piece of (expletive deleted)

Daniel Johnson: Okay Copernicus, I'll explain the scientific method for you: Biologist Lewis Wolpert: “No one method, no paradigm, will capture the process of science. There is no such thing as the scientific method.” Nobel winning physicist: Percy Bridgeman: “The scientific method, as far as it is a method, is nothing more than doing one’s damnedest with one’s mind, no holds barred.” I think that describes Tim King pretty well. The insults you aim at Tim, describe yourself more closely than they do anyone else. You probably believe there is a "scientific method" as well as a tooth fairy!

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Ms. Anne Thrope September 22, 2009 4:54 am (Pacific time)

As a professional journalist, you really ought to know better than to use the term "begs the question" to actually pose a question. I would be happy to offer my copy editing services, as I was the copy editor for my college newspaper for two years.

From the Wikipedia article on Begging the Question (logical fallacy):
"...To beg the question has been used as a synonym for raising the question, or to indicate that the question really ought to be addressed. This usage is commonly followed by a colon and the statement of the question. For example, "This year's budget deficit is half a trillion dollars. This begs the question: how are we ever going to balance the budget?"

Using the term in this way, although common, is considered incorrect. This usage is the result of confusion over the translation of petitio principii, which literally translates as "assuming the starting point"."

Tim King: Got it Anne and I will write that one down and take note for the future.  I appreciate the input.

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Mike H. September 22, 2009 1:12 am (Pacific time)

Did my comments regarding murder and what they deserve sort of inspire this article? If so, I really like it! $20,000 to the person who turns them in or provides information leading to the conviction then spending 18 cents to put a .22 round where it belongs. It's sad really, you have a very valid point, that we don't value human life as much as we should. Fortunately, we live in a very calm state. If I remember right it said there were 3 murders in Marion country in 08'...Passing this as a bill though...hard to say if it would work...people would be afraid to turn in someone for $20,000 for fear of their own life.

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Daniel September 22, 2009 12:51 am (Pacific time)

Tim the main thing I would worry about with high rewards are vigilantes who are unqualified getting into shoot outs with murders , with the innocent caught in the crossfire . The high rewards also presumes the person wanted is guilty , that may not be the case . If you are talking about an escaped killer thats a different story . If a murder is committed extra money should be dedicated to solving and capturing the victimizer by the people who are getting paid by the taxpayer already , instead of wasting money on minor drug crimes or pot users and growers . You saw what happened in Iraq when people were offered money to turn the enemy in , the finger pointing went in many directions , guilty or not ! If its a gang related killing the finger pointer also has to worry about retribution 20k may not get you out of dodge . The police can not afford to give protection beyond the time they need you , after that you are on your own . Unless the murder is committed by an organized group it is usually solved , its mostly someone close to the victim who kills them . Most of the serial killers go years before getting caught because they blend into the society , mostly middle aged white men , sometimes married with kids . Tim I am troubled you have a person of color on the wanted poster in a mostly white state . I agree we do need to get the priorities of law enforcement in order , lets concentrate on the violent and victimizers of the old and young , not on nonviolent drug users and anything to do with pot .

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