By now, most of us have heard of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African-American boy who was shot and killed while walking through a friend’s gated community in Sanford, Florida. The shooter was George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman who is not black, and who thought Martin looked suspicious. Martin had no weapons on him — only a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea.

Ten years ago this week, Wall Street Journal South Asia bureau chief Daniel Pearl was abducted and killed by Pakistani militants. His grisly murder shocked the world, heralding the end of innocence for many foreign correspondents. It also became a rallying cry for those supporting the war on terror as well as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. But for those who actually knew Pearl, it was something else entirely.

On July 23, 2011, Anders Breivik opened fire at a youth camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya, killing 69 people. Breivik’s brutal crime horrified the world. For many Americans, it stirred up memories of Oklahoma City in 1994, Columbine in 1999, and, of course, September 11, 2001. Yet, despite what looks like a proliferation of shooting sprees and terrorist plots in the last few decades, a new book argues that violence has actually declined since ancient times.

The bodies of ten young women have been found in an investigation into a serial killer operating in Long Island. Four of the victims have been identified as prostitutes. Police have not identified the other victims. For more about the case we have Edward Conlon, detective for the NYPD and author of “Red on Red: A Novel.” 

In 1999, the body of 41-year-old, high school dropout Ricky McCormick was discovered in a St. Charles County, Missouri cornfield. There were no weapons, no motives, no suspects in the case. The only clue investigators had were two hand-written documents found in the pockets of the victim's pants, a scrambling of letters that read like an encoded message.

The world has been shocked by three photographs released by German magazine Der Spiegel. The photos depict dead civilians in Afghanistan and U.S. Soldiers who are accused of killing them for sport. Part of a self-designated “Kill Team,” the soldiers appear to be making fun of their victims. In one, a soldier smiles as he holds up the head of a civilian corpse. In another, two dead civilians appear to be tied at the wrists. The U.S. Army has released a statement calling the soldiers’ actions “repugnant,” and assuring the public that prosecution is underway. But will this be enough to stem the tide of what appears to be another Abu Ghraib?

Tensions are on the rise between the U.S. and Pakistan because of a man named Raymond Davis. Davis is an American who has admitted to killing two Pakistani men in Lahore. The Pakistani police say it was cold-blooded murder, while Davis pleads it was in self-defense. Davis says two men on a motorcycle tried to car jack him at gunpoint, in which he responded by killing the two men with his own gun. A third person was killed when they were run over by an American consulate vehicle, as they came to Davis's rescue. 

The American South caught political fire in 1964. Activism by local African-American organizations and college students from the North led to brutal murders at the hands of white Southerners. But many of the victims of the Civil Rights Movement were not members of political organizations or student committees. Louisiana native, Frank Morris, a Black shoe store owner who was burned alive by two white men in 1964, suffered simply because he was independent and served a racially mixed clientele.

Yesterday a jury handed down a death penalty sentence for Steven Hayes, who was convicted in a brutal triple murder case and a violent home invasion at the home of Dr. William Petit and his wife, Jennifer, in 2007. All of the victims were tied up, Dr. Petit was severely beaten and his wife Jennifer, along with their two daughters Hayley and Michaela were murdered. Two of the three were sexually assaulted. The assailants then attempted to burn the Petit house down as they fled. These murders were so violent that even some ardent anti-death penalty advocates have been asking whether there are times when the death penalty is appropriate 

Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock could potentially face a court-martial after becoming the first of 5 soldiers to face an Article 32 hearing – the equivalent of a grand jury – yesterday, on charges of murdering 3 unarmed Afghan civilians. 

Marcus Mabry, associate national editor for The New York Times, has been following this story and shares the developments with us.

Click after the jump to see a video of Morlock confessing to the murders.

Venezuela has become an extremely dangerous place to live. The country is about the same size as Iraq, but was plagued by four times the number of murders in 2009. According to The New York Times:

"In Iraq, a country with about the same population as Venezuela, there were 4,644 civilian deaths from violence in 2009, according to Iraq Body Count; in Venezuela that year, the number of murders climbed above 16,000."

And the crime rate is continuing to rise.

We're following up on a story we did yesterday, from the perspective of Chicago funeral home owner Spencer Leak Sr., about the challenges Chicago is facing in combatting gun and gang violence. On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a Chicago ban on handgun ownership, a move that divided city residents. Some Chicagoans were thrilled, and say the ability to own a handgun makes them feel safer. Others say even more people will lose their lives. Why is gun violence such a problem in Chicago? The Chicago Police Department says that gang activity was involved in 74 percent of murders in the first five months of 2010. 80 people were shot and thirteen killed over the past two weekends in the city.

Puerto Rico has called upon 1,000 National Guard troops to help local police fight a rampant crime wave that has pushed the murder rate to a record high. In 2009 alone, 894 people were killed on the Caribbean island. The high rate of crime is being attributed to feuding between gangs battling for control of the cocaine and heroin trade. And the crime has not been restricted to metropolitan areas. There have also been reports of violence and murder in the mountain regions of Puerto Rico.

After decades of claims by black men in Chicago that they were tortured and coerced into confessions during the '70s and '80s, former police commander Jon Burge now faces trial in federal court on obstruction of justice and perjury charges.