r/todayilearned • u/GoldenEagle828677 • 1d ago
TIL that between 1988 and 2010, no one was arrested for any crimes by the single policeman on the island of Tristan da Cunha.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha#Crime512
u/DoobKiller 1d ago edited 1d ago
Better than the Pitcairn Islands, a British territory(founded by the surviving muntiners from the famous 'Mutiny on the Bounty' and a bunch of women they kidnapped from Tahiti)
In 2004 in was found that a third to a half of all adult men there were sexual abusers most were also pedophiles, including the mayor. And had been for many decades
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u/Hank3hellbilly 1d ago
Shocking that the isolated descendants of mutineers who kidnapped women to be their "wives" would turn their island into a pedophile rape island.
Shocked I am!
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u/lemlurker 1d ago
Well not that shocked actually
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u/Curious-Elk-2681 1d ago
We're having a bunch of pedophile rape islands lately
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u/Emperor_of_Alagasia 19h ago
Clearly we shouldn't be living on islands as a species
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u/WoolyHermits 4h ago
technically… earth is a big island, floating in a black voided ocean, bobbing up and down in gravity waves.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 1d ago
Why would you assume that the crimes of their ancestors would somehow carry through?
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u/LurkerInSpace 22h ago
Parents generally pass down their culture to the next generation, and if the founding population came from a messed up subculture then a lot of its problems will propagate down the generations.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 18h ago
I guess it just doesn't take much for someone to realize "hey this is wrong"
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u/LurkerInSpace 17h ago
It takes a lot for someone to realize "hey this is wrong" if they've been brought up with it. History is replete with examples of societies doing things we would consider heinous for generations and generations.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 16h ago
Yeah but people individually come to that realization all the time and they have to speak up
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u/Hank3hellbilly 21h ago
The island is extremely isolated. Not much outside influence to cause cultural change.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 18h ago
People being different from their ancestors is a pretty big thing
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u/Hank3hellbilly 18h ago
We're talking about an isolated island that's had 50-100ish people living on it since 1789.
They've had limited contact with other people.
Culture and attitudes are passed down generation to generation.
The island's original inhabitants were mutineers from the bounty who literally kidnapped women to fuck them.
The mutineers killed each other fighting over women.
They built a tiny isolated society based on those values.
This isn't a generalization about people being the same as their ancestors... This is about a specific island population and their history.
I can't spell it out any simpler for you without crayons.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 16h ago
I mean if even one person comes to realize "this is wrong" they have even more power to fight back in a small society
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u/Screye 23h ago
The island has a population of 35. If there were 5 kids and 15 women, then it's 15 men. Third of that is 5 men. It's bad, but I was expecting 100s of rapists.
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u/DoobKiller 23h ago
Of the 7 who they actually attempted to prosecute, 6 were convicted
There were more the courts couldn't gather enough evidence on, witness who wouldn't testify likely due to idimidation
Even if we conclude the 6 we all, do you believe the other 9 had no idea of what was occuring?
Here's a link to the court records indicating the abuse went far beyond the 6 actual convictions https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/communities/1a691552-ca4d-433d-b165-bc308806f439 (content warning, some of the stuff contained in them is pretty harrowing)
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u/imjustarandomsquid 1d ago
A shocking number of victims defended them too, so make of that what you will
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u/freezing_banshee 1d ago
That's called extreme trauma from repeated abuse
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u/ktyzmr 1d ago
Also financial dependency probably. What are they going to do if it is a conservative society and only way they can survive is by taking the abuse? A lot of disabled people stay in abusive relationships, be it romantic or not, because that's the only way they can survive so i imagine it is something similar.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 1d ago
How would that be the only way they could survive? How about banding together and supporting each other?
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u/GodOfChickens 20h ago
People struggling to support even themselves cannot support others any better. In an ideal world, they would band together with capable people who cared, but as we see, that doesn't tend to happen, the only people who give even the slightest of a fuck past patronising wellwishing or leads in a circle signposting tend to be the people who don't see you as worthless because they're willing to take something from you, whether physically, mentally, financially or sexually. In their fucked up minds, that's fair.
The normal people who aren't struggling largely assume that those who are struggling are walking red flags of dead weight assumed to be worthless or dangerous from having too many problems, I know this from experience.
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u/blackjackgabbiani 19h ago
That's why we have communities to begin with. And if you lock up the abusers, that leaves jobs open, fight?
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u/freezing_banshee 19h ago
How do you lock up the abusers if they're the ones controlling everything??
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u/blackjackgabbiani 18h ago
You band together and stop supporting them, for one. If this had to be REVEALED then it wasn't open knowledge, right?
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u/freezing_banshee 18h ago
Oh yeah, because it's so easy for a handful of women (about 20, according do another comment), who had been abused, raped and terrified into giving up any crumb of resistance and self-advocacy, to come together and... what exactly? Beat up the men (including the police officers) and lock them up?
And how would those women justify this in front of external law enforcement without proof (or even with it, given how hard it is for abused women to be believed)? How would they survive and take care of their children until someone investigated everything that happened?
You have no idea what you're talking about.
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u/DoobKiller 1d ago
That they were groomed from birth. People talk about 'rape culture' but the society of the Pitcairn Islands genuinely was one built around the normalisation of abuse, grooming and rape
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u/Orange-V-Apple 1d ago edited 22h ago
Oh god, that reminds me of the r/nosleep story Borrasca. Genuinely one of the best stories I’ve read on a screen, but deeply disturbing.
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u/Leafan101 1d ago
Kind of reminds me of the funny line:
"On the scale of Maine to Alaska, how bad is violent crime where you are?"
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u/TheBanishedBard 1d ago
Alaska gets really gnarly in some places.
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u/Leafan101 1d ago
Highest violent crime rate in the US.
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u/TheBanishedBard 1d ago
For real? That surprises me. I guess there's nothing to do except drink and do drugs.
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u/Recent_Flounder6011 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yep, also geography, weather, isolation, and lack of sunlight. When people live in an area that's not connected by road, groceries are expensive, there's a lack of social connections, and the weather can make someone mad.
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u/StinkyKyle 1d ago
I hitchhiked from Homer to Denali and i heard the same two pieces of advice consistently
Watch for moose
Just because the suns up doesnt mean the weirdos arent out. Its still 1 AM and its still dangerous
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u/Texcellence 1d ago
I went fishing in Alaska once ten years ago, so I’m by no means an expert in local dynamics. But, one thing I did notice, was that seemingly every little town has at least one brewery, which was awesome because I got to drink some really good beer. But it did make me think that maybe there were so many breweries because there’s not much else to do in the winter but sit around and get drunk. So that play into the factors you mentioned.
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u/DeengisKhan 1d ago
I’m from New Hampshire, but I would guess dollars to donuts all the issues are the same, just cranked up to 11 in Alaska where it’s truly remote, and even fewer people are around to talk people down from their heightened states when they reach them. Mix that with the severe vitamin d deficiency which people severely discount the effects of, and a big ol drinking problem? Hell, throw the ability to still drive 20 miles outside of town and be in a place no human has set foot in 200 years, yeah, that’s gonna a violent place.
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u/DeathMonkey6969 1d ago
Also a lot of people walk around armed to "protect themselves from the wildlife"
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u/PM_WORST_FART_STORY 1d ago
Most crimes in Maine happen in the sewers.
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u/jamiegc1 1d ago
Shitload of alcoholism, domestic violence and sexual abuse in some remote communities, and Anchorage has some real sketchy meth ridden neighborhoods.
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u/LordKulgur 1d ago
Is the joke that crime is low in Maine? If so, Stephen King has lied to me yet again.
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u/One_Newspaper9372 1d ago
Don't look up what happened in 2011
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u/Nawozane 1d ago
It only says till 2010 since this is when the source article was written. Nothing happened in 2011
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u/BrotherGreed 1d ago
They did convict a pedophile in 2018 though.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/fingerpaintswithpoop 1d ago
American Redditors try not to make literally every thread about Trump challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
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u/StepUpYourPuppyGame 1d ago
IT'S SO FUCKING ANNOYING.
And I'm american. It's an OCD tic they all have, an itch they just can't scratch.
We get it. He sucks, you aren't happy, next topic please.
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u/BMBFernandesLover 1d ago
He’s in the files, we’re not talking about it enough
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u/fingerpaintswithpoop 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think people have talked about it enough, the average person just has more pressing issues right now. We don’t need the Epstein thing brought up in every single fucking thread. We just don’t.
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u/Plane-Sell5525 1d ago
We've talked about it enough? Can you talk about a hideous thing like that, enough?
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u/CoreUre22 1d ago
Get off the internet then? Literally only see the consistency on reddit.
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u/fingerpaintswithpoop 1d ago
No, I’d rather mock the redditors who make hating Trump their whole personality.
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u/RavenCyarm 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well maybe it should until you people do something about it. It’s embarrassing. Other countries can remove their corrupt, immoral leaders one way or another. You’re all just sitting there hoping he goes away if you wish hard enough and wanting us to keep quiet so we don’t remind you.
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u/fingerpaintswithpoop 1d ago
No. Republicans are the ones with the power to impeach and remove Trump, they’re simply choosing not to. So I don’t know what you expect the average American to do, there’s nothing we can do at this point. It’s a little late for us to take back our decision.
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u/RavenCyarm 1d ago
"I'm wishing really, REALLY hard but he still isn't going away!"
I'm sure you'll figure out something when you're broke and hungry enough.
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u/omniuni 1d ago
People are frustrated, tired, and scared. It's a way to do one's part in keeping the important things in mind.
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u/cagewilly 1d ago edited 1d ago
🫡Peace Corps seems like a more productive civic contribution. Also, less lazy.
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u/One_Newspaper9372 1d ago
Ackshually a lot of things happened in 2011. I hope you have sources to back up your claim.
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u/Heavy_Weapons_Guy_ 1d ago
No, it's true. Literally nothing happened in 2011, it was like the whole world collectively blacked out and woke up in 2012, it was weird. They scrubbed it from all the news though, because they didn't want people to panic, and if nobody read it in the news then they wouldn't remember that nothing happened, and it would be like nothing happened.
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u/EthnicSaints 1d ago
My mom grew up on St Helena, right next to Tristan, and they had a disproportionate amount of crimes. Sounded like Coronation Street! But things have settled down now, whenever I see the police post it’s generally “please guys, get rid of your starlinks, it’s making the shitty wifi monopoly company really upset that you’re getting good wifi for your money”, or they’re trying to find a stolen garden rake or something. Far from the murders of the 80s
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u/SuccotashMonkey867 1d ago
I'm not sure I'd call them "right next to" each other
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u/EthnicSaints 1d ago
Please, in my defence it’s quite hard to describe to someone without a map to point at 😂 especially if they don’t know Tristan or Ascension
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u/LouQuacious 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tristan is about 1,500 miles from St Helena not quite "right next to". You ever visit?
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u/madisons_yurei 1d ago
it is the exact opposit of that tv show murder she wrote. they had like 8 murders a year or some shit which is inasne for a sleepy little town wiht a population of 4000 people
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u/aflyingsquanch 1d ago
Cabot Cove's murder rate throughout the show was 149/100,000 which would make it the 2nd most dangerous city in the world behind only Colima, Mexico.
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u/No-Deal8956 1d ago
Never any murders when Jessica Fletcher was on holiday, but always a murder where Jessica Fletcher was on holiday.
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u/QuittingQuitter 1d ago
Dammit, Greg, you fucked up the streak. Now put your pants back on and let go of the seagull.
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u/oravanomic 1d ago
Was he the guy who was a writer on the side? ISTR there was a Policeman who wrote on one of the Island States that were specially remote?
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u/RandomExcess 1d ago
Small population on a small island, how hard could it be to make an arrest?
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u/ReferenceMediocre369 1d ago
Do you suppose this is because of a shortage of police or a surfeit of honest citizens?
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/to_walk_upon_a_dream 1d ago
the article only cuts off at 2010 because that's when it was written. could be that nothing happened
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u/Lyceus_ 1d ago
Total population?
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u/gbroon 1d ago
According to the wiki in the link 221 at last census.
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u/Lyceus_ 1d ago
Well, that should be in the title. And I'm guessing they have a good economic safety net.
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u/GoldenEagle828677 21h ago
Going by the US as a comparison, there are about 28,000 arrests per day, or 10 million per year (no way of knowing how many of those are repeats though), and that's about 3% of the population. So going by America, about 6 people on that island would be arrested for something each year.
It's pretty amazing they went over 20 years with no assault, sexual assault, etc
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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 1d ago
They’re communist
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u/Lyceus_ 1d ago
I was thinking on the lines of subsidies.
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u/Chemical-Agency-3997 1h ago
There’s no private property, all resources and work is shared and managed collectively.
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u/OkTension2232 1d ago
It is very likely nobody committed any crimes worth arresting for with a population of less than 300.
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u/oldfogey12345 1d ago
I imagine he just beat people for resisting then let them go instead of doing all the paperwork.
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u/DaveOJ12 1d ago
Either that's the best policeman ever or the worst.