Studying abroad is a great opportunity to learn about other cultures and yourself. However, the Amanda Knox case has prompted students to be more mindful of their actions abroad. In 2010, I had the opportunity to teach in Northern Italy and critically compare the Italian and U.S. court systems. As I prepare to teach in Italy next summer, here's a short list of items that students should know before leaving the States to their study abroad country:
1. Keep a translated statement to police in your pocketbook or wallet. Before my students travel, each of them will carry two copies of this statement, translated into Italian: My lawyer has advised me not to talk to anyone about any criminal matter. I do not wish to answer any questions without my lawyer in the room. I have the phone number for my lawyer with me.
Italian: Il mio avvocato mi ha consigliato di non parlare con nessuno qualcosa questione criminale. Non voglio rispondere ad alcuna domandai senza il mio avvocato nella stanza. Ho il numero di telefono per mio avvocato con me.
Why two copies? If you are detained for questioning and the copy you give the police disappears, you've got a backup copy to give to your lawyer as proof of your intent (as he or she moves to exclude a supposed confession from evidence). Make sure your faculty program director translates the statement above into your country's native language.
2. Keep the telephone number of a criminal lawyer with you. Every attorney in the world is listed in Martindale Hubbell. Identify a criminal attorney in the city you will be living in, and keep that name and number in your wallet or pocketbook.
3. Read non-fiction books which touch on the legal system in your country. Next summer, my students will be reading portions of The Monster of Florence and The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox.
4. Respect the laws of the country you are visiting. Amanda Knox won her appeal, but she was convicted of criminal slander for alleged statements made about bartender Patrick Lumumba. In addition, an overzealous prosecutor charged her parents and her with criminal slander for statements made about the Italian police. In the United States, civil courts are the only remedy for slander, but continually remind yourself that you are not in your own country.
5. Keep the phone number of the closest U.S. Consulate General Office with you. My students will have this number in their wallets or pocketbooks: (+39) 055.266.951
6. Get an international driver's license before traveling. Even if you don't intend to rent a car, this document makes it easier for you to communicate with foreign authorities.
7. Exercise restraint in the face of inequity. Last month, I was at a pizzeria near the Santa Lucia train station in a very touristy area of Venice. The menu was in English and I ordered a pizza for a reasonable 7.50 Euros (about $10.00). When I handed the menu back to the English-speaking waiter, he asked if I wanted a small or large Coke. I went with the large, which turned out to be the size of an oil drum. When the check came, I was charged 11 EU (about $14.75) for the beverage. I calmly asked about the obvious error, but the waiter then pointed to the back of the menu that listed the large Coca Cola at 11 EU. I know that it was careless on my part, but I was ordering Cokes all week for a reasonable 3 EU. I gave the waiter a little ill-advised lip about his tourist trap, which he didn't like. He said I could take it up with the polizia. At that point, I did the smart thing: I bit my lip, paid with Euros instead of a credit card so he wouldn't know my name, and went on my way.
A caveat about lawyers and law professors: They are "worst case scenario" thinkers. Your study abroad experience will be fun, educational, and worry free, but it's always good to be prepared. And it's important to look at beverage prices on the back of menus!
Perry Binder, J.D. is a legal studies professor in Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business, who teaches law classes in Italy.
1. Remember that this country's laws aren't like ours and back out of troublesome situations if you see any. Feel free to call the consulate at any time. (This was before people had cell phone links to Mommy and Daddy, who might not actually know what to do)
2. Some situations that seem normal to you at home are very illegal here and are punished by years of imprisonment. If someone offers you marijuana or other drugs, leave the room. (While I did hear of a student on our program supposedly smoking pot with a local friend, that was one incident among 30 people over 3 months, not a nightly occurrence.)
3. You are here to meet the local people and learn about their culture, and that should be your first priority. (Not going to functions with Marines guarding the American Embassy, not hanging out with party people at some bar, etc. etc.)
For starters.
There is one thing I would like add, which is very important, Never bring any thing back home for a stranger, and that means nothing, always tell them to post it, and be very firm about this but polite.
This rule is for you, if you are in the far east for the simple fact that this "gift may contain drugs".
would you let your daughter date Sollecito?
or how about: don't automatically assume that foreign countries are the way they're portrayed in cute romantic comedies? that the world does not always have your best interests at heart, that life isn't Sex and The City, that not everyone is "nice"?
They did this to the author /critic -and he is still making a huge case of libel against the Prosecutor! It is ludicrous. If he is worried, stay away !!! Do not interfere in their National detective system.
I can't imagine the same thing happening here and what woukld happen.
I would have to agree that to the extent that what is written in the Daily Mail is accurate, that AKs behavior in the time immediately preceding her trip abroad was anything but model behavior. However, the kind of shenanigans that are attributed to her in the Daily Mail piece do not make her a murderess. But you probably think that since she and Raffaele had a couple of chaste kisses while the cameras were rolling, that makes her a murderess!
And let me say that you have expressed more dismay over what happened to Knox than Knox ever displayed over what happened to Kercher.
How many young persons get arrested everyday and start talking with the police in the belief they can be trusted and that whatever they say would not be opportunistically communicated to a jury by that seemingly friendly police officer?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/why-won-t-uproar-news-outlets-pay-amanda-221739532.html
Unfortunately for Knox to earn the big bucks that will have to be exclusive, pissing of the other newtworks. So what do you think these other networks will do? Now that she's out it's already old news, but in the chase for ratings maybe there are other tacks they could take. Maybe they might finally start looking at the evidence, maybe they might realise that they are a hell of a lot of outstanding questions that need answering. Bet your bottom dollar the network that stumps up the most for the exclusive won't be asking the tough questions, but let's see if the others get their teeth into it, afterall no-one likes being taken for a mug do they?
What chance a Knox lie detector test???
2. There is nothing in your link to indicate they paid for an interview with Casey Anthony. If they tried to get around their ban on payment for interviews by licensing photos, that would be ethically wrong. It would depend, in part, if they paid more than the market value for the pictures. But it is very shady indeed. However, ABC has not broadcast an "exclusive" interview with Anthony. In any case, ABC has declared it would not be using any dodge to get an interview with Amanda Knox.
3. If I were advising the Knox family, I would be pointing out that the big money isn't with the legitimate news outlets. It's with the entertainment television industry or tabloid TV. It's not just the money. It's the ability to have some say on content. However, I will point out when David Frost interviewed Nixon in a syndicate deal. Frost refused to negotiate content.
4. What's in it for Knox to take a lie detector test? They are notoriously unreliable.
5. Whoever interviews Knox, the video falls into the public domain within minutes of its broadcast, under Fair Use case law.. So, that exclusivity business is perishable. Excerpts will be all over the news broadcasts.
Why don't you address directly my other points?
Did they do good-cop, bad-cop on her? The technique is near a century old. But given the fact they failed to record the interview, all we have are the conflicting accounts of the interrorgation.
I have the impression you think you are arguing with some monolithic opponent. You really have to know what I say before you can declare your opposition to it. I have never commented on Knox's accusation she was hit during the interrorgation. Reason: it was not recorded, a violation of police procedure.
Think about Natalie Holloway. If she was more sophisticated, she too, would have known how to be wary of strangers & stay with her friends at all times.
Parents & learning institutions need to do a better job in teaching our students about the pit falls when leaving our country.
The only evidence that the police "coerced" Amanda into saying anything is Amanda's claim. And given how many other things that she lied about (what she did the night of the murder, what she did the morning after, who she called, when the police were called), why should she be believed on this? Amanda became a suspect because while being interviewed as a witness she mentioned things about the murder that had not been made public.
They are guilty.
I hope, that in time, Ms. Knox speaks out about how she feels she could have been more prepared to handle an emergency abroad. Clearly, her trust in the authorities (as in the US we are told that police are the people we go to for help - from the time that we are children - and that we are to unconditionally trust them) was a contributing factor in her imprisonment. (She wanted to "stay to help them solve the crime.") Thank you for writing this piece Mr. Binder and for raising awareness!
How can we find documentation on the prior arrest? I'm sure ABC will never broadcast anything about it.