Home Invasion

Every time I see “Home Invasion” in a headline I get irritated. Countries are something you invade, not homes. Except that a home can be your castle, and you certainly can invade castles.  I can see why there’s this tendency to use the term, it seems to tell the story in a sensationalized way. Yet does it really?

The act of entering, forced or otherwise, a building is defined by what your typical alleged criminal does within the buulding. Snag a television set and it’s a burglary. Heist some jewelry and night in a tux and you’re a cat burglar. Attack a person, and it’s an assault leading up to murder if the victim dies.

In the history of crime reporting, the term home invasion, rarely makes an appearance. The Boston Strangler, the Manson murders, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Shephard murder the Clutter family murder,  all managed their fair share of lurid crime stories without the mention of any home invasion. The 1959 NY Times crime report of the Clutter murders in fact, prompting Truman Capote to go to Kansas and write In Cold Blood, was quite succinct:

Holcomb, Kan., Nov. 15 [1959] (UPI) — A wealthy wheat farmer, his wife and their two young children were found shot to death today in their home. They had been killed by shotgun blasts at close range after being bound and gagged … There were no signs of a struggle, and nothing had been stolen. The telephone lines had been cut.

According to the wiki, most states don’t recognize home invasion as a crime. Yet after the Cheshire Petit family rape and assault, Congressman Chris Murphy sought to make home invasion a federal crime.

I’m not so sure that we need a home invasion crime defintion. There shouldn’t be a distinction between breaking into a home, or a business. A murder committed in either is horrific enough in it’s own right to stand alone as a criminal prosecuted act.

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  • Charles the Hammer

    “Home Invasion” should be an aggravating factor to the primary offenses committed; assault, murder, burglary, robbery, etc. The aggravation ought to be the basis for a penalty upgrade at sentencing. The result would be to discourage criminals from “push in” tactics and increase the tendency to avoid seeking out targets where “folks are at home”.

    As far as a home being one’s “castle”, in many ways it is. Connecticut law protects a resident using reasonable force in the defense of one’s home, although we do not have a “castle doctrine” statute per se. Such legislation states that a resident is NOT required to retreat rather than respond to an intruder with force. See:

    http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0052.htm

    The greatest deterent to those who would brutalize and murder, as in the Petit abomination, are residents who are ready and able to defend their homes. If that Cheshire family had only kept a 12 gauge shotgun loaded and handy, the outcome may have been very different. It’s hard to envision it being worse.

  • SEAL OUR BORDERS

    In reference to the Norwalk home invasion and stabbing by lawless people who were from New York State and do not give a damn about our laws, local, state or federal. NOTICE THE NAMES OF THE 6 people involved? Has anyone checked if they are here LEGALLY OR ILLEGALLY???????????????????

  • re post #2 AM I PSYCHIC OR WHAT ?

    The female ring leader of this felony was already deported and had the balls to re enter the United States ILLIGALLY AGAIN, and commit a felony. She should go to jail until she is so old that she can’t remember her name. WTF is it with our borders? If Osama Bin Laden changed his name to Joaquin Morales Bin Laden, he could walk right in and run for Congress.

  • Anonymous

    I guess what would bother me more than the term is the fact that its not the only one we have had in Norwalk in recent months.How many invasions is this now for Norwalk?

    We also can be thankful there are enough officers on in surrounding areas to be able to catch the perps it was yet another law enforcement dept who actually caught them.So thanks to them are in order as well without the stop on 95 we may not have anyone to blame.

    Maybe it was nice to see ICE around the city for the last couple of days maybe they will get a few more illegals and guns off the street of Norwalk from the sounds of it there are thousands of illegals and probably as many guns and knives to be removed from our streets.

    Oh did anyone suggest more police? It would mean more arrests and drive our crime rate through the roof.But we have our bond rating for now so who cares how the numbers look.

    Please Mr mayor embrace Curtis in your city hall and make him feel at home he is going to be hear for a couple of years possibly longer than yourself.

  • Lindsay

    *scratching head*

  • Anonymous

    Another woodward ave strong arm robbery at the guys front door last night he was almost home .This one was at 78 woodward ave and at 3 in the morning not bad knowing now there are no good times to go into that area to go home.The Advocate had the story.

  • Anonymous

    scratching head? Must be from all that fallout from the power station and Meadow st junkyard its a tough area to keep clean you can cut the air with a knife today.

  • Diane Cece-not what crime, but where?

    (copy of my letter to Norwalk Advocate)
    I surely don’t have all the facts and am open to explanations, but here is a curious comparison between two crime scenes, investigations and results on the same night in Norwalk as reported by John Nickerson and Brian Lockhartin the 7-15-08 Advocate:

    Charles St- East Norwalk: (front page) Home invasion with multiple stab victims with cops spending 4-5 hours at the crime scene and Greenwich police apprehending suspects.

    Roodner Ct – South Norwalk: (page 4) Teenage fight with multiple stab victims with cops spending 30 minutes establishing crime scene and 10-15 minutes collecting evidence. No suspects, no arrests.

    I understand the nature of this “no snitch” code of honor and the lack of victims who will identify assailants in SONO, and that in the case of the home invasion at least one victim id’d the alleged perp and their car. But suffice it to say I am still dismayed at the police investigation time spent at these two crimes. “Four to five hours taking fingerprints, going thru garbage and processing the crime scene” vs. “About a half hour police established a crime scene…. detectives spent several more minutes…..taking photographs and collecting evident”.
    So, I am left to wonder: what determines the amount of effort – the nature of the crime or the location?

  • Anonymous

    Diane most times when a high profile crime takes place Norwalk is running around trying to get detectives and dogs to a scene.According to a police officer who is on the front line said its poorly run,not poorly trained cops just poorly run.There is also poor attitudes right now Rillings has create this among his ranks.

    So much to hear from the police,so little response is what Norwalk has had for years.You get more news from out of town enforcement agencies than our own,why is that?

  • Anonymous

    oh ya be nice if the police spoke the language on the streets,most times cops are to guess what is what,victims go without translations for over an hour so when looking for a perp the window of opt has gone.But then again its been like this for years,how long has Rillings been there?

    maybe its time for a change a real big one.

  • http://n Anonymous

    Yes Diane, the corrupt racist cops must be at it again. There couldn’t be any difference in the two crime scenes. Same amount of blood to examine, victims cooperating with the police and describing the areas where the bad guys went and where their fingerprints might be vs. Didn’t see nothing, don’t know nothing, it didn’t happen here, etc.

  • Anonymous

    the cops spent yesterday watching the fire dept wash blood down the street on west ave,whos blood was it? What type of crime scene existed there?