For the Russian chess player, see Karjakin.

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Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction, which did not often include kidnapping of the driver, and concentrated on the theft of the load, rather than the vehicle itself. During the later day car theft crime^{[clarification needed]}, typically, the carjacker is armed, and the driver is forced out of the car with the threat of bodily injury. In other rarer cases, the driver is kidnapped under the assault by a weapon and is retained as a passenger under duress, or made to drive his or her abductor. Women are particularly victimized in this latter method.

The word is a portmanteau of car and hijacking. The term was coined by reporter Scott Bowles and EJ Mitchell, an editor with The Detroit News.^[1] The News first used the term in an August 28, 1991 report on the murder of Ruth Wahl, a 22-year-old Detroit drugstore cashier who was killed when she would not surrender her Suzuki Sidekick, and in an investigative report examining the rash of what police called at the time "robbery armed unlawful driving away an automobile", plaguing Detroit.^[2]

Discussion[link]

The crime is extremely hazardous, threatening the physical safety of both the carjacker and the victim. To secure the car, the carjacker may sometimes shoot the victim or physically push/pull the victim out of the driver's seat to force him or her out of the car.

Carjacking is a very violent crime, typically involving the use of a weapon, often leading to the victim being shot and killed. Then the public is put at risk not only by the speeding, reckless and generally unsafe driving of the carjacker, but the carjacker often engages in drive-by shootings, or otherwise discharges his weapons from the vehicle. Even worse, the carjacker typically intends to use the stolen vehicle in another crime. And the public is *again* put at risk by the reckless driving of the carjacker in case of a police pursuit, or a shootout with the police. Not to mention snarling up the roads with traffic jams for hours and hours, etc.

Carjackings in the world[link]

South Africa[link]

A sign in South Africa warning drivers

Carjacking is a significant problem in South Africa, where it is called hijacking; there are some roadsigns warning people that certain areas are hotspots. There were 16,000 carjackings in one year (18 times the American rate per capita), and 60 murders a year resulting from these.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade), several new, unconventional anti-carjacking systems designed to harm the attacker were developed and marketed in South Africa, where carjacking had become such a serious problem that they faced little resistance from local police and judiciary bodies.^[3] Among these was the now defunct Blaster, a small flame thrower that could be mounted to the underside of a vehicle.^[4]

United Kingdom[link]

English law has three levels of offence under the Theft Act 1968, each pertaining to the mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind") and the degree of violence used. The least serious is TWOC, which covers any unauthorized taking of a "conveyance", s1 theft applies when the carjacker intends to permanently deprive the owner of property, and violent carjacking is an aggravated form of theft under §8 robbery.^{[citation needed]} Amid increasing carjacking cases in the UK, there has been some discussion whether specific carjacking laws are necessary. The current view is that all aspects of the offence are covered in the law, whether as road traffic offences, public order offenses, the use of weapons and firearms, etc., and there is no benefit in consolidating all the elements in one offence.^{[citation needed]}

United States[link]

Prior to the 1990s the term "carjacking" did not exist. With the murder of Ruth Wahl in Detroit, a new word was coined, new laws were passed and a new crime became part of the American landscape.

Before 1991 cars were hijacked or simply stolen. But in 1991, Wahl, a 22-year-old Detroit cashier, and some friends went out in her new car and ended up on a deserted street. Some men appeared in a brown station wagon, then began chasing Wahl and her friends. They finally stopped her, shot and killed her, then took her car. Suddenly, a crime that had not even existed a year earlier was causing nationwide anguish. Detroit alone reported 205 carjackings in one 21-day period.

In 1992, Congress passed a law making it a federal crime to use a weapon to steal a motor vehicle that had been shipped through interstate commerce "through force or violence or intimidation." Throughout 1993, articles about carjackings appeared at the rate of more than one a week in newspapers throughout the country.^[5]

In the United States, a law was passed in 1992 making carjacking a federal crime. This occurred amidst great media attention into the apparent spate of carjacking thefts, several of which resulted in homicides. The November 29, 1992, killing of two Osceola County^{[clarification needed]} men by carjackers using a stolen 9mm pistol resulted in the first Federal prosecution of a fatal carjacking.^[6]

The United States Department of Justice estimates that in about half of all carjacking attempts, the attacker succeeds in stealing the victim's car. It's estimated that, between 1987 and 1992, about 35,000 carjacking attempts took place per year; and, between 1992 and 1996, about 49,000 attempts took place per year.^[7] Many U.S. states, such as Louisiana and Arizona, include defending oneself against forcible entry of an occupied motor vehicle as part of their definition of justifiable homicide.^[8][9][10]

History[link]

The first known carjacking took place on the open road in March 1912. The Bonnot Gang targeted a luxury Dion Bouton in the Forest of Sénart, between Paris and Lyon, France. The armed chauffeur and young secretary in the vehicle were killed.^{[citation needed]}

Carjacking in popular culture[link]

• Video games such as Grand Theft Auto, The Godfather: The Game, Driver, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction and Scarface: The World Is Yours feature carjacking as part of the gameplay which has attracted criticism from public figures.
• The South African movie Tsotsi features a carjacking as the main plot element.
• In the Family Guy episode "Road to Rupert", Stewie and Brian carjack a man so they can get back to Rhode Island.
• Larry Niven's short story "The Deadlier Weapon" features a carjacking.
• Crash is based on a real carjacking.
• Hijack Stories (2000 film) is a film about South African township crime, of which the main theme is carjacking. One of the main characters robs 10 cars and parks them in front of a police station.
• Hawaii Five-0 in Episode 16 Detective Dany's ex-Wife's gets carjacked.
• In the 2002 film Spider-Man, a petty criminal named Dennis Carradine shoots Uncle Ben and steals the car. The theft and death of Uncle Ben is the impetus for Peter Parker to become Spider-Man.
• A 2011 American movie called Carjacked in which a single mom and her child are carjacked by a bank robber.^[11]

See also[link]

• Aircraft hijacking
• Anti-hijack system
• Auto theft
• Castle doctrine
• Chop shop
• FBI
• Federal crime
• Hijacking (disambiguation)
• Hostage taking
• Kidnapping
• Lorry hijacking
• Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom
• Piracy
• Truck hijacking

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics report on carjackings in the U.S., 1992–1996
• Do carjackers place fliers on the rear windows of automobiles? No. (from snopes.com)

Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin at Northeastern University on April 11, 2007
Born	(1973-05-25) May 25, 1973 (age 39) New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	Since 2002
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, musical comedy, wit/wordplay, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday Life, American Culture, Random Subjects
Influences	Steven Wright, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Socrates
Notable works and roles	· Demetri Martin. Person.  · Correspondent on The Daily Show  · Himself/Various on Important Things with Demetri Martin  · Elliot Tiber in Taking Woodstock (2009)
Website	www.demetrimartin.com

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life[link]

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family^[1] in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest.^[2] Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.^[3]

Career[link]

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show If I....^[4] The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[5] In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace.^[6] On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show, talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.^[7]

He also had a part in the movie The Rocker (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season.^[8] The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that Important Things will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film Taking Woodstock (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled This Is a Book by Demetri Martin.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans[link]

Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role.^[9] He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.^[10]

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.^[11]

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] If I

If I is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[12] It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.^[13]

Comedic style[link]

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once.^[14] He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.^[15]

Personal life[link]

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.^[3]

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.^[16]

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.^[17]

Filmography[link]

• Invite Them Up (2005)
• These Are Jokes (2006)
• Demetri Martin. Person. (2007)
• Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009–2010)

Filmography and television work[link]

Written works[link]

• This Is a Book, April 2011, ISBN 978-0446539708.

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

• Official website
• Demetri Martin on Myspace
• Demetri Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club
• Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia
• Article, in The Scotsman
• Article, in Gelf Magazine
• Interview by Brian M. Palmer
• MP3 Audio Interview on The Sound of Young America public radio show and podcast
• Interview Believer Mag
• New Jersey Monthly Magazine
• Fresh Air, NPR.org