I love that they give them their gun back for the picture - and they hold it!
Just when I think I have a small grip on the differences between the culture of the US and that of MX, I notice something else that I just don’t understand. Believe me, this happens a lot. I don’t have a huge understanding of the country I live in, I’m working on it though. Sometimes, I get a little clue and then all of a sudden a whole bunch of things that I wondered about make sense. I am trying to learn the art of not wondering. It’s a new exercise for me, just looking at something, not understanding at all what is going on, shrugging your shoulders and walking on without questions. It’s the zen of cultural change. Accept, observe, sit in the shade with a cold beer and forget what you were wondering about.
Except… I can’t really do that. I ponder things. Usually at night when I would rather fall asleep, I ponder odd things that don’t fit into my knowledge of the world. Like, criminals that confess almost immediately when caught. What’s up with that? For a retired cop this is a very, very strange thing. Yeah, I know, you all think that there are extra curricular activities going on that “convince” the crooks to confess. Except, that doesn’t work very well and no, you can not ask me how I know that. It doesn’t usually work for anyone for longer than the memory of pain and humans have a very short memory for pain.
Plus, these crooks have no marks on them. Visible marks are a big no-no in law enforcement but it’s not easy to keep that sort of thing under control. Look at those guys in the picture above, even without a shirt on there are no marks. There is one guy holding a bandage or an ice pack or something on his knuckles, which doesn’t really help his case does it? (Can you believe they get their picture taken with the gun? In the US they would be saying “what gun? I never saw that gun before in my life. That ain’t my gun!”) Anyway, I just don’t believe they are being beat into confession. Not all of them all of the time. Maybe a little convincing at times but not across the board everyone confesses immediately type of beating. They confess to petty crimes, major crimes, the thought of committing a crime… it’s as though all the cops have to do is throw them in the back of the wagon and by the time they get to the station they are ready to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness.
Those big tough cartel guys, they confess. The petty drunks who rob taxis, they confess. The old men who molest their step-daughters, they confess. Those attractive guys above confessed to robbing a gas station with that very gun AND they admitted they had done it before and had plans to do it again later. If they don’t confess they have a good story about how it ‘looks’ like they did it but really it was the butler or the dog. All of this gets put in the newspaper the next day along with their picture and any evidence. I guess that is an example of ‘guilty until you prove you’re innocent’ – you get your picture and story in the paper before you see the judge.
I know this because I do my best to read the local paper every day online. I’m thinking of subscribing to the paper version because it has more of these little tidbits. Also, every night after we watch our telenovela – which is getting really good by the way, can you believe that Leonor is acting like she likes Valentina when you know she is going to do something really, really shitty very soon. Where was I? Oh, after Soy Tu Dueña the national news comes on and I watch that too. The best though are the short, local crime stories in the Diario. They don’t pull many punches, they give the full dirt on who did who and what they had to say about why they did it.
That’s the unusual part. In the US, everyone knows that you should not talk to the cops and even though most crooks do talk they sure wouldn’t admit it on the local news. Here, they not only say what they did they explain how they did it and they usually say they are sorry and give some lame excuse about why they did it… and all of it gets printed in the paper!
So, I wonder why this is. There has to be a pay off for confessing. Is it part of the Napoleonic Code that you get off easier if you confess? Can you only get bail if you confess? Is it because they are mostly Catholic and confession is good for the soul? I cannot believe that a bunch of dirt bags, and these guys are admitting to some crummy behavior, would confess if it didn’t get them some benefit.
Yes! I did it because I'm a dumb f*ck!
Look at this poor schmuck. He ripped off a taxi driver and here he is at the jail explaining everything to the lady reading him his charges. He says “Por baboso, por borracho y baboso me pasó, la verdad, sí lo hice” which means basically ‘because I’m stupid, because I was drunk and stupid and the truth is yes I did it.’ He then goes on to absolve the waitress that was with him, she didn’t do anything, and he apologizes. OK? Do you just get to go home if you apologize and confess? It doesn’t seem that it works that way so why are they doing this?
It is questions like this that make me very happy to live here, I am never at a loss for something to ponder as I fall asleep and that is the true secret to a happy old age.
Good post! It’s interesting to read about the cultural differences.
Pondering is god. It keeps you from biong bored. The photo with gun, now that is a bit bizarre. We have this really strange missing child case here in Portland that everyone wishes the stepmom would confess that she took the kid but five weeks later she hasn’t.
That should have been “pondering is good” not god. I hate when I notice a typo just when I hit submit.
They don’t necessarily confess. They are presumed guilty and the photos are of them and the loot or the weapon. It’s the official mug shot! Look on the website for the Procuraduría de Justicia, you can see all the bulletines etc.
According to our attorney, it is not a crime to lie in your defense. It is a crime to falsely accuse someone but it’s assumed that you will do whatever you can to defend yourself!
I think people like the cab driver are probably more naive, and are confessing their shortcomings.
regards,
Theresa
They talk to keep from getting POUNDED on more – simple I think. Human rights you say – nah!
The photo sessions are curious.
Is it just me or do most of those criminals look alike? Maybe they could be profiled, arrested before they did anything and reduce crime a lot? In a perfect world I suppose.
For really good crime and human disaster stories, you’ve just got to pick up Alarma! Mexican photojournalism at its best.
You didn’t read the post John, do those guys up there look like they are pounded? They do look related though, no doubt they are all from the shallow end of the gene pool.
I guess they don’t all confess Theresa but most of the time they use direct quotes from the arrested, unless the journalist is putting words in their mouths? That could be. At the very least there can’t be the same down sides to admitting the crime that there are in the US, perhaps since you are allowed to lie then nothing you say makes much difference? Might as well throw out a few homilies about how poor you are and how sorry you are and how drunk you were, maybe it will help? I just am not convinced. Also, isn’t it odd that being drunk seems to be a good defense here where not so much up north anymore.
Jackie, I think ‘pondering is God’ makes as much sense as any other statement about God.
Jonna, I love your sense of humor! I also love the way the press gets right in there and prints large, gory photos of all the bodies and body parts on the front page. Traffic accidents just do not make it past the editor’s desk if there is no severed arm laying on the pavement.
Hearsay: In Spain (where I lived for two years while in the US Navy) I heard that a husband who shot his wife’s lover — caught while in the act — would get off on the basis of it being a “crime of passion.” This seems like open season on philanderers, to me.
NOB you would go to jail for manslaughter, and then live under a bridge everafter you got out, because the “victim” (or his spouse or kids. no, his attorney) sued you for everything you own.
But I’m not sure if the same permissive attitude applies to a Spanish wife shooting her husband when caught in similar circumstances.
Hi Jonna — in the specific case of the guys lined up with their booty & gun, they were actually apprehended following a chase, right after the robbery, when they ran a reten — I expect they confessed because they had the $400 they took from the gas station they’d just held up, plus the gun.
the same day that picture appeared in the paper, though, there was another story where some guys accused of stealing safes are now arguing that they were tortured and held incommunicado to force them to sign confessions. This type of accusation isn’t uncommon, though it’s not clear to me that it every goes anywhere…or is true — I think most legit accusations of torture/coercion get investigated by the state Commission on Human Rights, if a complaint is filed. For sure, pretty rough treatment seems to be SOP for many folks who are apprehended.
Eric, I doubt you would get much jail time in any latin country if you caught someone with your wife, in the saddle so to speak. Probably would be a tougher case if it were a woman shooting the husband though.
mcm, I saw that accusation from the safe stealers. I didn’t get it all though because I thought they were also saying that some of the loot in the safes also disappeared. If I hit too many words I don’t know I usually go on to the next article. That safe article had a lot of words I’d not seen before and I got mixed up and toodled away.
I’ve no doubt that crooks aren’t treated carefully down here, perhaps they should get a new line of work. Oh well about sums up how sorry I am when some dirt bag gets his head knocked. However, there is rough treatment and then there is real injury and actual torture, I don’t think the latter is a normal occurrence. Did you see the pic last week of the bicycle thief that was pictured laying face down on the floor of the wagon with the stolen bike thrown on top of him? The news was complaining that he was treated too roughly. It was probably a case of contempt of cop, not a healthy charge to get here.
This has nothing to do with this article but I could not find a way to email you. I was wondering if the company who supplied you with your bamboo fence also did the framework. I would appreciate if you could email me that info.
Thanks…………..
Jonna, once again you write a really great post that keeps me coming back for more. It really is a different culture, isn’t it?
Thanks! Well written. I was laughing so hard my husband had to come in and check on me. After I explained he just gave me this pathetic look and asked me to explain again why we are moving to Mexico next February. By the way, I watch Soy Tu Duena here in Fort Worth and just love it! Who knew Valentina could be such a bi—! But who could stay mad at Jose Miguel for very long, anyway? Not her and not me. Oooooooooo!
John, email sent.
Joanne, yes there are things that you don’t really notice right away, the motivation behind a lot of things is just different. Often the results look very similar but it comes from a different set of values or beliefs.
Mary Lou, glad you were laughing. Soy Tu Dueña is riveting for me. I miss some of the details, but I’ve found a recap site in English that I go and look at. The show is about a month behind in the US so I find out things there that I missed a while back. It keeps me from taking the easy out and reading a translation, I have to really pay attention and try to get the dialogue. Jose Miguel is quite the handsome fellow and if his shirts were any tighter they would be sprayed on. I think Ivana has cornered the market on high waisted belts, she must have worn a hundred and most are wider than her skirts.
Well-written post. However, my experience as a criminal defense atorney in Oregon must have been different than yours as a cop in California. The vast majority of my appointed clients confessed as soon as they encountered a policeman. Even after receiving the Miranda warnings. It always baffled me. I finally concluded that most of them believed if they were honest with the police, somehoew everything would be all right — in some messed-up metaphysical sense. I recently talked with a group of young people in their 20s. They all believed they were required to answer any question a policeman asked during a stop.
hmmm, perhaps we had more sophisticated crooks in San Francisco. They all talked, sometimes you couldn’t get them to shut up. But, once they were mirandized most of them asked for an attorney and that was the end of the conversation until the DA started the deal making process. I guess that is a big difference, miranda. If you could use the statements made right away in the US, if you didn’t have to tell them repeatedly not to talk to you, and if whatever they said right away went in the newspaper and they were stuck with it… some would say it would be better of course others think it wouldn’t.
If you’re caught with your pants down it’s pretty hard not to tell the truth. I think the U.S. system is a bit too soft on criminals because of all the rights they are allowed. I’ve seen a few who refused to confess upfront and they ended up a bit golpeado.
Not only do they confess at the drop of a hat, but the guilty guys all LOOK guilty. It’s like a city of caricatures of good guys and bad guys – if you look hard, you can often tell. Shady people look shady. Bad guys look bad. Narcos look like narcos. Like they all came from central casting.
A few years ago, the police caught a purse snatcher near my house. It was a few days before Xmas, and he’d ripped a bag from the shoulder of a gringa who was coming to my house. They dragged the young man up to where the woman was standing and the guy cried and apologized.
Probably this cultural difference and good guy-bad guy transparency exists because of the Napoleonic legal code. They know now they are presumed guilty.
And a lot of these young kids here still have strong family values, even when caught in a crime, and they just feel awful about it. Guilt is good.