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In NC, an Old Fashioned Crime Rag, The Slammer, Hits the Big Time

Just about everyone here in North Carolina has heard of the small newspaper sold at convenience stores for a buck. The Slammer prints mug shots and arrest details of people in Raleigh, Durham, and Charlotte areas for all to see. It’s a throwback to Crime Rags of yesteryear and gives people a glimpse into the criminal escapades of their fellow citizens.

From DUI‘s to thefts, the Slammer has it all and puts it all on front street. You can often hear people talk about this paper and who was in it recently. Many people have run-ins with the law and this paper is there to document it. It appeals to the gossip in all of us, the part of us that wants the dirt on others.

The creator of The Slammer was featured in a recent Christian Science Monitor article. He stated his fascination came from watching crime stories while young and later experiencing an encounter with the criminal justice system himself.

Feelings about the paper seem to be mixed. It flies off shelves while other papers are struggling but some think it crosses an ethical line and is an indication that society is not well. Others, however, think it could act as a crime deterrent and see nothing wrong with the entertaining nature of the paper.

Ask someone who’s been featured in The Slammer and you will also get varying responses. I imagine, however that there are fewer people proud of their brush with fame than there are those embarrassed by it. This would be particularly true for those people who were exonerated of the charges but faced public embarrassment in the meantime.

Being charged with a criminal offense is embarrassing as it is. Whether for DUI, domestic violence, or theft, if you are facing a charge in the NC courts the last thing you want is to be recognized for it. If you are being charged with a crime you need an experienced defense attorney to look out for your interests and you need to focus on what really matters.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 6:09 pm and is filed under criminal law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
  • Lisa Simpson

    My daughter Morgan is on the front cover of this weeks “Slammer.” She is a good kid that has never gave us a minutes trouble. She’s in pre-Med school with straight A’s. She works two jobs and one of those jobs is taking care of dying people at Hospice. Her attorney thinks she made the front cover because she is so pretty and it would sale the newspapers. She got a DWI (her first anything) and no one seems to care that its a real person with feelings. Morgan does all these wonderful things on a weekly basis. The paper dont care to list all these other things she does in her life. She made a terrible mistake and because of The Slammer and the public embarrassment, she does not want to live. So, thats what this sorry paper does!!!

  • dave

    That is a common experience. Many young people make dumb mistakes, and get arrested for a DWI, or a shoplifting charge.
    They feel embarrassed and ashamed about their bad judgement, and never get in trouble again for the rest of their lives.
    These magazines are hurtful to the majority of people who are not “criminals”.
    Thanks for sharing your view!

  • Lisa

    Sorry this may sound heartless but anyone that gets behind the wheel of a car while impaired deserves the embarrassment. And a person going into the medical profession should know better than to drink and drive.

  • Linda Williams

    My daughter was in college out of town away from home for the first time at age 18. She attended a very prestiges university in The North Carolina area. The school asked the students not to travel alone, especially if they were not familiar to the area. Well my daughter went to a department store with her “So called room-mate who lived 3 hours from the University” and her room mate,we later learned sat our fun loving trusting daughter up. The back stabbing room-mate stole some items totalling up $150.00. She had a few bags came out of the department store after she and our daughter was shopping seperate to meet up as they were leaving the store, when they met back up, the back stabbing room mate had 3 bags. She asked ask our daughter to hold one for her. My daughter did just what any kind hearted person would do she held the bag on to find out her room mate had stolen a few items, wrapped them in a shoe box as they walked out of the department store a Security Guard came to them and asked them to stand on the side. He lied and told them they were not in any trouble, after going through the bags my daughter who was scared straight and her room-mate were arrested, handcuffed and sent to jail via North Carolina Police. My daughter’s picture was taken and placed in a real ” from what I see” degrading people of color SLAMMER News paper that we also later learned her room mate was friends of a person who was part of the paper and out of ignorance and possibly jealousy she aimed to destroy my daughter’s life, but I strongly believe she will get hers. As a mother who loves her child and hate ignorance, I will not stop until justice is served. Slammer news paper says they are entertaining and sucessful. God forbid if one of their employee’s family members are placed in a mugshot like a killer for a measley $150.00 just for fun, how will they feel. Please know when you hurt an inicent child, it’s not entertaining, it’s disgraceful. By the way that back stabbing room-mate who was also arrested, ” Guess What? No mugshot of her was taken. Tell me about the law being fair?. I think Not!

  • Chris

    Hate to tell you this Dave but in order to be in the paper you have to be charged with a crime. If you recieve a DWI or a DUI, I hate to tell you this but you are a criminal because those are both illegal acts. Lisa, what if your daughter had gone out and instead of getting pulled over got into an accident and took someones life. Would you be saying the same thing? She may of gotten her first DWI then but who knows how many times she drove like that before but just never got caught. Maybe she should of thought of all those wonderful things she does and thought twice about getting behind the wheel of a car while under the influence of alcohol. I dont drink and was in the military and was constantly sitting in class after class about drinking and driving because of people not listening to anything and just keep doing it. Maybe you should be talking to your daughter rather then taking it out on a paper just saying this person got a DWI. I personally thing the Slammer is a good thing cause maybe when people get embarrassed for getting into the paper they will think twice about doing something stupid and illegal.

  • dave

    If everyone was always in a place to seriously consider the implications of being charged with a crime, the crime rate would plummet.
    Of course people convicted of a crime get punished, and that’s how the system works. But the Slammer is just piling on and exploitative.

    And, Chris, there is little reason to think that it has any additional deterrent value, as if potential additional embarrassment might change someone’s presumably already troubled thought process that leads them to a criminal charge.

  • Disgusted

    If it makes you happy to destroy a life for your gratification, thats on you. Hopefully when the shoe is on the other foot you can take it and please remeber its all about fun. The Devil is a liar