Starvation. Execution. Imprisonment. Rape. Torture.

The grim investigation begins after the siege at a Sydney cafe left two hostages and the gunman dead in an incident the Australian PM describes as "tragic beyond words."

Major crimes usually shake us into action. A London fire that killed five women ultimately led to the creation of 999, a precursor to our own 911 emergency system. The rape and murder of Kitty Genovese in broad daylight, meanwhile, inspired the creation of the neighborhood crime watch system. Yet wh...