A few months ago, the French government complained that eBay was auctioning Nazi memorabilia, which is illegal in France. Now New York wants to ban the sale of murder memorabilia, such as strands of a murder’s hair or artifacts recovered from a crime scene. The legislation was prompted by people trying to sell debris from the World Trade Center towers, as well as the bullet-riddled front door of shooting victim Amadou Diallo. Debris from the crashed Columbia shuttle has also been for sale. “It’s disturbing, to say the least, that some individuals would seek to profit from crime scene souvenirs,” says New York Assemblyman Patrick Manning, who is sponsoring the bill.

The measure would broaden New York’s current “Son of Sam” law that prevents convicts from profiting from their crimes by writing books about them. The law is named after “Son of Sam” serial killer David Berkowitz, who was offered huge sums of money for the publishing rights to his story. He was arrested in 1977.

Under the new bill, people caught buying or selling memorabilia from a crime scene would have to give their profits to the state Crime Victims Board. The money would then be distributed to the victims.

Several states, including California and Texas, already have similar laws. Susan Howley, of the National Center for Victims of Crime, says, “It’s an affront to the dignity of victims when crime scene memorabilia is traded. It’s repugnant to allow profiting off of crime.”

The Mayans were into blood rituals?what would they have to say about something like this?

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