A law that would prevent killers from selling "murderabilia" is wasting away in Congress as murderers are cashing in on their heinous crimes.
Republicans introduced the Anti-Murderabilia Crime Victim Dignity Act a few years ago, but the bill has never gotten off the ground because no Democrat has stepped up to co-sponsor it.
Meanwhile, killers like the infamous Arohn Kee of Harlem profit off their crimes by selling mementos of their murders. Kee hawks "rape cards" – detailed descriptions of his violent sex offenses that he signs himself – on the Internet, but he leaves off the names of his victims according to The New York Daily News.
Family members of Kee's victims are furious that he and a slimy Web site are collaborating to desecrate the memory of the women he tortured and killed. How is it possible?
Criminals aren't allowed to sell their stories for profit in New York under the state's Son of Sam law, but killers like Kee can still make money as long as they don't talk about offenses against specific people, according to the Daily News.
What's the worst that could happen to Kee? Maybe his mail privileges would be revoked or he'd be tossed into solitary confinement for awhile, prison officials told the paper – hardly punishments that would scare him away from making big bucks off his crimes.
The sale of "murderabilia" is hardly limited to Kee. Andy Kahan, a defender of victims' rights, has been watching perverse artwork by serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer sell on the Internet for more than a decade, reports the Daily News.
"There's a small group of people who really idolize these criminals," Kahan told the paper. "These people are bottom feeders."
Kee is serving a life sentence for rape and murder. He was found guilty of three murders and four rapes in 2001 and sentenced to 400 years in prison.
