48. School's Out, Crime's In: Sorority Hazing & Brenda Spencer

This episode was recorded before the senseless shooting murders of 8 people in Atlanta, Georgia and before the shooting murders of 10 people in Boulder, Colorado. We are hurting for all the victims, their loved ones, members of the AAPI community and Colorado community, and for our country.  Hope you’re ready, we’re bringing you a variety of cases this week all having to do with SCHOOL. Nathalie takes a deeper look at some of the darker sides of sorority hazing, highlighting cases involving Sigma Kappa Omega, Delta Sigma Theta, and Sigma Gamma Rho. Rachel tells the story of Brenda Spencer, the inspiration behind the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats. Brenda was responsible for a school shooting that took place at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in California. She killed 2 adults, shot a police officer, and injured children who were outside waiting for school to start. There is no excuse for the horrible killings committed by Brenda, but we can’t talk about this crime without recognizing what may have contributed to it. Brenda herself was a victim of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her father. She was abusing substances and was given the gun as a gift from her father, even thought she expressed having suicidal thoughts. We discuss how early intervention may have helped prevent this crime.  Rachel's sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hC6iYnjtl8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsj0zRj9Jp4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lMzatv6Weg https://genius.com/The-boomtown-rats-i-dont-like-mondays-lyrics https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2068960/ https://www.drugs.com/food-interactions/carbamazepine,tegretol.html#:~:text=You%20should%20avoid%20or%20limit,impairment%20in%20thinking%20and%20judgment. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6395556/#:~:text=PCP%2Dinduced%20psychosis%20is%20characterized,been%20diagnosed%20initially%20as%20schizophrenic  Nathalie's sources: http://archive.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2003/10/26/students_death_sharpens_focus_on_hazing/ https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20031024/news/310249958 https://www.ranker.com/list/sorority-girl-crimes/chase-christy https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/us/06hazing.html https://fraternallaw.com/newsletter2/six-sorority-members-at-rutgers-arrested-for-hazing https://www.nj.com/news/2010/01/rutgers_sorority_members_hazin.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternities_and_sororities