Right From Wrong


On June 18th 2003, a famous bounty hunter named Duane “Dog” Chapman apprehended an American fugitive named Andrew Luster the Max Factor cosmetics heir. A Criminal who fled the country right in the middle of his trial-after posting a one million dollar bail-where he was being tried for drugging and rapping three girls, which luster himself videotaped. Near a taco stand in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico ‘Dog,’ his son Leland and his brother Tim captured Luster.Upon crossing the border back into the U.S. ‘Dog’, Leland and Tim were arrested and placed in a Mexico jail. They were facing several charges, but the main charges were; criminal association,
deprivation of liberty, and kidnapping. After each posted a 1,430 dollar bail they returned to their homes in Hawaii. According to their attorney these charges would just fade away as long as they didn’t return to Mexico. According to Hugh Dellios of the Chicago Tribune “ On the Monday ‘Dog’ was supposed to appear in court in Puerto Vallarta, he instead appeared in a courtroom in Ventura County, California. He was there at a hearing to make his case for why he deserved apiece of Luster’s million dollar bail money”(Dellios 4).
Three years later in September 2006, while sleeping in his home he was awaken by twelve federal marshals who violently busted into his homes with guns drawn and placed him, Leland and Tim under arrest with a warrant out of Mexico for failure to appear in court, he was taken to a federal prison. They spent three days in prison before they were released on 300,000 dollars bail and placed on house arrest. They are currently awaiting a ruling on their request to stop the extradition proceedings, which would otherwise require them to face trial in Mexico ( Carr 1).
We humans often find ourselves torn between law and moral reasoning, we ask ourselves is it wrong for a mother to steal a loaf of bread to feed her hungry children. With our installed sense of right from wrong we say yes, but when we use our hearts we can’t help but to say no. This same conflict should be taken in consideration by the Mexico court system. ‘Dog’ and his family not only brought justice to the American women who were hurt and humiliated by Luster, but also to the Mexican women who were next on his list. Bounty hunters are often given a bad name, according Rachel Clarke from BBC News online, this bad name stems from mistakes that have occurred while trying to apprehend such criminals as Luster. She gives an example of a woman who was taken into custody by a bounty hunter and taken a thousand miles from home and after realizing this was not the woman in question she was released and given a twenty-four dollar bus ticket home. She says “ Other innocent victims do not get such a chance, with fatal shootings by people claiming to be bounty hunters in Virginia, Arizona, and Missouri” (Clarke2). This is what separates ‘Dog’ from your average bounty hunter. He doesn’t carry a gun while bounty hunting, in fact, when he captured Luster all he was armed with was pepper spray. He doesn’t kick down doors or arrest innocent people. Anyone who questions his ethics can watch him on his hit T.V. show “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” before he goes after each criminal he gathers his crew and prays, and after apprehending them he offers compassion and understanding. He follows the golden rule; to treat other as you wish to be treated.How many times is our government and media going to subject this Christian family to public humiliation before we say enough is enough. We saw him arrested and subjected to a third worlds countries abuse and imprisonment. Later we watched as our own government placed him in the very prison that he has placed many of our real criminals. While in prison his life was even threatened by these very criminals. Even now he is forced to wear an ankle bracelet that monitors his every movement. I am not alone when I say there is something wrong with this situation. According to David Carr, from the New York Times “ 29 members of the House of
Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking that she deny the request from Mexico that Mr. Chapman, be extradited to face charges of illegal detention”(Carr 1). One of these representatives Tom Tancredo says something I would love to quote “Americans are apparently supposed to happily accept the presence of roughly 100,000 criminal aliens inside our borders-a number that is growing every year-while Marshals use their resources to track down ‘Dog’ Chapman on orders from a foreign master for successfully bringing a convicted rapist to justice”. Tancredo’s administration also tells congress that they can’t secure our borders do to a lack of resources. He continues to say how this current administration is too busy with misplaced priorities to address the failure of the U.S. border policies (Epinossa 1).
With all the concerns the Mexican government faces, I find it hard to understand why they are making such a fuss over one American citizen, who without brut force removed a criminal form their country. The charges ‘Dog’ Chapman are facing are almost a joke, how do you kidnap someone when your taking them home, and how does a country offer liberty to a non-citizen hiding from justice. If anyone has committed a crime here it is the Mexican Government, who allowed a felon to run free amongst their people for over six-months and who fights for the liberty of a serial rapist. The funniest charge the Chapman’s are facing is criminal association,
because wasn’t it the Mexican citizens who have spent six-months associating with Luster.Maybe associating is to stern of a word, perhaps harboring is better terminology. According to Hugh Dellios, Luster was living in a pay-by-the-hour motel right next door to the Mexican version of the FBI. In this same article Dellios calls Chapman a publicity hungry vigilante and claims that National Sovereignty and neighborly relations were some what being ignored(Dellios 1). To me the only thing that was being ignored was the request from the U.S. to Mexico to help us bring our fugitives to justice, this must be the neighborly relations which are being
ignored. How did Luster manage to live next to their FBI agency for six months and not be noticed, perhaps Luster is a Magician and a rapist. Maybe Mexico’s FBI isn’t qualified to apprehend people like Andrew Luster, maybe they just don’t care, either way this calls for someone like ‘Dog’ to take care of the situation. As for National Sovereignty I could give a low-ball estimate of about 10 million Mexicans who impose themselves on our National Sovereignty. Everyday these people enter our country and in doing so, break our laws, and Mexico makes a huge deal about one American who broke one law. Somehow I can’t help but wonder what the real motive behind all this is.
On February 16th ‘Dog and his wife Beth were on T.V. asking for public support. Pleading for American citizens to contact their local politicians. Though Beth and ‘Dog’ admit that they broke Mexican laws to obtained Luster, both say they would do it again. This could be why Mexico is so disturbed by the matter. ‘Dog’ will not apologize for protecting the public, this is the job he was called to do. Further more, this action by Mexico should be denied. Since this case is still pending American citizens should stand up for the Chapman family by pressing our government to protect the people of our country who protect us. Luster is a rapist who because of this family is spending life in prison unable to rap our mothers, daughters and friends. We have a duty to act with reason, and spending four years in prison for serving humanity is just too unreasonable. At the very most they should be asked to pay a fine.
In conclusion, Mexico authorities did nothing to bring Luster to justice. We like Mexico need to make it very clear that people who commit crimes do not get a free pass to freedom in Mexico. There should be laws that protect the sovereignty of a country, but those rules should not protect criminals. ‘Dog’ and his family are genuine hero's, they spend their lives going after criminals that our own government has let slip threw the cracks. Not only does he give our police officers more time to attend to our needs, but he saves us tax dollars by not being employed by our states. Bounty hunters go to Mexico constantly to bring criminals back to America to face justice, its just not everyday one of those bounty hunters does it with a camera crew. Also if Mexico is going to press charges on ‘Dog’ they should get those charges straight. Dog really didn’t do anything, the Mexican authorities stopped him at the border before all the crimes he is charged with were really even committed. I believe in the ‘Dog,’ and I also believe a crime should be judged by the fruit it produces.

“ Bibliography”

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Carr, David. “Legislators Rally Behind Bounty Hunter.(The Arts/Cultural Desk) (Arts,Briefly).”
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Clarke, Rachel. “Above the Law: US Bounty Hunters.”Google.com 22 February 2007.
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Dellios, Hugh. “‘Dog’ got his man, now bounty hunter enrages Mexico.” Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. (July 14,2003): K5615. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Maricopa County Community College. 7 Mar. 2007
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“Dog the Bounty Hunter: Breaking News.”Google.com 22 February 2007.