that's why researchers say this vaccine is an important development. >> plenty more stories on our website including the latest going on in turkey and targeting pkk targets. www.aljazeera.com. >> i'm david schuster in for ali velshi. "on target" knit, naturing debt. it's bad enough when a stranger steal your energy, what happens when parents use your identity to rack up bills, one apology at a time. this week we've been shining a bright light on something called the dark web. it is a cyber world where illegal transactions range from drug dealing to illegal

transaction, and associates and social security numbers after they've been stolen. 12.7 million americans had $16 billion stolen from them because of identity fraud. identity fraud is defined as any unauthorized use of another person's personal information for illegal financial gain. like someone using your stolen credit card to buy something. the term identity theft is used to describe the crime of obtaining your information illegally. like someone you don't know, hacking into a computer database. but not all identity theft or fraud involves strangers. there's something that experts call familiar fraud, committed by people the victims know. and last year 550,000 americans reported they had their information stolen by people including roommates, employees, acquaintances and family members. yes family members.

but not just relatives who steal from adult family members, in some cases, parents end up using their oifts thei identities of r children. a family fails to pay the electric bill so the mother or father decides to wipe the slate clean by opening another account flame. in other words they take a step the authorities consider fraud to keep the lights on or the utilities working. if the bills are not paid in full the child is essentially inheriting debt had a will follow him or her into adulthood. scores. duarte geraldino has our story. >> joe miranda was 12 the time

the lights went out the first time. >> i remember the time the electricity went off and i called my mom and she said i was supposed to take bill today. >> he grew up in massachusetts.depending what happened what happened to miranda was the victim of a crime or the desperate act of his parents to keep the lights on, maybe both. >> i believe my parents didn't know that anything was wrong with this. my mother would find some way to pay. we then put it in someone else's name. >> put the bill in swufn else's name. his parents abandoned their account and actually opened a new account in joel miranda's name. >> did you have debt? >> i knew i was inheriting debt, i was a teenage are and we needed the lights on.

>> joel was one of 400,000 americans who as children had their identity used by their parents. quarter of a case involving identity theft in miles an hour are linked to utility bills in family members. >> at times there were a utility bill in my name. >> his system's bills kept piling up. >> i know in some cases the numbers were in the thousands. i can't stress that enough, it's done, and it's done to help the family. >> miranda's problem started about the same time as states began regulating energy markets. it was an attempt to keep retail energy prices low but it didn't work out that way. in fact government records show that regulated prices rose much

faster than regulated ones. denise fairchild runs an organization to make sure people can afford their utilities. >> when bills aren't paid they services. i don't know if they understand what families have to do to survive. >> utility companies they have the ability to screen new applicants to see if their children or adults, but many just don't. >> that's how kesha bush's mother did it. at the time kesha was only 16. >> we got to start over. like the previous bill kind of got out of hand. and it kind of you know it escaped her. but maybe if we started over fresh she would be able to keep up. you know? like sometimes you think maybe the person just needs a reset. sometimes people think they just need a reset.

like if i could just get rid of the debt that i have now and start over, without the burden of it, everything will be fine and things will be better. but that's not the truth. it's not. and then you know, there was a bit of disappointment because it wasn't just in her name, it was in my name. >> reporter: the practice is so common that five states are taking a really strong stance against child i.d. theft. indiana goes a step further. if in that state you use the identities of your children or dependents to commit fraud, all these laws only address one side of the problem. cyber security expert robert sicilyano says, most monthly bills are rarely more than a few hundred dollars. >> there's a cost-risk analysis

as to whether or not they want to dig deeper to identify and authenticate. >> the child is always at risk. >> making matters worst, social security numbers are sort of an accidental national i.d. they were designed to track wages for retirement benefits not biographical information. al jazeera contacted all three major credit rating agencies. equifax was the most direct. age is not necessarily part of the credit file. a more in depth credit report does not exist. that means a child born right now could have a light or gas bill put in his name within a few weeks. legally, victims by default, those who inherit utility debt don't see it that way. >> i was too young clearly this

wasn't me. >> because the name on the bill was me and it was done to help my family. >> kesha ha agrees. to shake free from accident while in her name didn't really belong to her. >> nobody's going to forgive you for that, not in this world. >> i want to say it took me five to ten years. five to ten years because i was fixing my own debt. i was fixing this debt that was following me. it's a common practice and we don't often talk bit because it's often something we are not proud of but it is how we survived. >> survive the pressure of soaring utility bills, shrinking income and the desire for a second chance. >> and duarte geraldino joins us in studio. duarte, the people you spoke to agreed to pay the debt but could they fight the bills? >> yes, actually, some people do fight the bills.

they say they didn't want to get their parents in trouble that if they did it would eventually lead back to their families and remember they say their parents weren't abusive, they were trying to help the children. it's important to note that in most cases where a parent fraudulently uses a child's i.d. for utility bills, the parents are actually making payments. their goal is not ohave the be utilities shut off a second or third time but in these cases it did happen. none of the utility companies would speak to us on the record. they said you know we are operating the way we operate. there's been a lot of expansion in our industry. right now the utilities are in a very difficult situation because the energy landscape has changed so much and it's so competitive so they want to do everything possible to keep customers. and this is one way. >> but why aren't the utility companies held accountable for some of this? >> in massachusetts we contacted the attorney general's office

and the ag's office says there's actually no law on the books requiring authorities to verify the applicants. in massachusetts they are deregulated so they want to make sure that companies have every advantage to actually survive. so the company's point they say well it costs us a little bit more to run a deeper credit check and most people most bills are actually paid on time. >> and never mind the states. are federal lawmakers getting involved in this? >> they are. emerald cities held some briefings with congressional aides to let them know how big the problem is and how many people are pushed to the edge. right now we live if a world where the energy landscape is changing so quickly it is actually deepening the divide between the have and have nots for joel's family, his family was poor.

you do what you need to do to survive and that means the children of the poor grow up with added weight added debt that most people don't. >> duarte geraldino, duarte, thank you for the report. hard to keep the families keep the lights on but wasn't deregulation supposed to make >> i'll have two or three puffs and i'll already have a nicotine buzz. >> a popular smoking alternative. >> we have to learn have to learn more about electronic cigarettes. >> but could vaping be just as dangerous? >> what are you really taking in? >> we don't know what chemicals are in these things. >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> i'm standing in a tropical windstorm. >> can affect and surprise us. >> wow, some of these are amazing. >> techknow - where technology meets humanity.

>> there's a line of police advancing toward the crowd here. >> ferguson: city under siege.

>> it isn't easy to talk openly on this base. >> and america's war workers. >> it's human trafficking. >> watch these and other episodes online now at aljazeera.com/faultlines. >> being a musician, there's no demand... >> world renowned artist lang lang the moment you're on stage, it's timeless >> american schools falling flat... >> there are no music class in public schools... >> and his plan to bring music back... >> music makes people happier... >> every tuesday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping. inspiring. entertaining. talk to al jazeera. only on al jazeera america. >> as we saw in duarte's story last segment, utility costs are

rising in many parts of the country much faster than average incomes. that's making it difficult for people to keep their lights on or their air conditioning running. joe nipper , spokesperson for the energy industry, energy markets are poorly run. >> mostly they're flawed in the regions of new england and parts of new york and the mid atlantic states due to the mandatory capacity markets. these markets designed to ensure there is adequate amount of electricity in the future years for margin of reserve in order to protect the system. but those markets are fundamentally broken and raising costs for consumers. >> the idea of deregulation is to increase competition and lower consumer prices right?

>> yes, that's correct. and unfortunately it's had the opposite effect for many millions of consumers. >> so you want to allow your members public energy companies to enter into long term agreements, build their own power plants. what is their incentive though to keep prices low if they are operating outside of the market? >> their incentive is that they are owned by the consumers that they serve and they operate in the public interest. so our whole focus in our business model is on the consumer interest. and by allowing us to enter into long term contracts or the suppliers of electricity, and/or build our own power plants just to supply our own commerce' needs -- customers' needs we can do so with much lower cost and greater certainty than these capacity markets currently provide for. >> if you allow these companies to operate within these

mandatory capacity markets that capacity. >> i don't think that will be the case. i understand that there will be folks who say that but you have to understand that these markets are broken. they're not working now. in new england when this capacity market started in 2006, there was a surplus of capacity. now there's a shortfall. in the meantime, consumers have paid literal billions of dollars into this capacity and not gotten much new electric generation out of it. so the system that we're recommending or the relief that we're recommending for our community-owned utilities, we think, would provide capacity at a lower cost and with more certainty. >> and how do you deal with the criticism that it could also lead to companies engaging in conclusion? >> i think that there are sufficient regulator y controls

by the independent system operator. and moreover by the federal energy regulatory commission. this is the agency that oversees these markets. they have a very vigorous enforcement division and there are rules and laws that must be followed to prevent that conclusion and gaming and that agency has a good job of seeing that that doesn't occur. >> the whole idea was by creating more markets that would essentially put pressure on markets to go down. is it fair in your view that the market system that we have established just isn't working right now? >> that's correct. it just isn't working at all. it's not competitive. again, consumers just over the last three or four years have paid upwards of $7 billion just in new england, for these capacity -- to ensure capacity and that's supposed to mean the construction of new power plants

or new power supply agreements. and that simply hasn't occurred to any great degree. most of that money that's been paid in by consumers, instead, has gone to just a handful of companies who already own electric generation assets in the region. there needs to be a break from this system. there needs to be reform to these markets in order for consumers to continue to have electricity prices that are affordable. >> joe nipper is from the american power association. those who are owning up to misconduct. >> you have people living in a community that our history suggests that there's been times in which law enforcement has paid a pretty negative role in enforcing discriminatory laws. many of those residents are still alive and well and live in in these

communities. >> correspondent paul beban talks to the guy at the department of justice >> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy... >> this is another significant development...

>> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... >> al jazeera america, weekday mornings. start your day with a view of the world. catch up on what happened

>> death by could be.

it happen death by cop. it happens more often than you think. 542 were killed this year according to washington post and only halfway through year. to be fair, many of those killings involved armed suspects exhibiting aggressive behavior. but it's the unarmed people in ferguson, new york and baltimore, and only sweeping reforms can fix the problem. ronald davis at the u.s. justice department at the center of those reforms. in the last section of paul beban's extensive study. >> we're sorry what happened. i asked our community i ask our officers it is time to begin the healing process. >> we spoke to frank straub out in spokane. he's very data driven, results oriented.

but one thing that struck me, cops will have to get used to doing something they haven't done before, saying we're sorry we were wrong. is that a message to send to other progressive chiefs else elsewhere? >> i'm going to expand it. i don't want to make the officer in this situation a villain. i think government leaders are going to have to start acknowledging. there is a couple of acknowledgments. the first acknowledgment that law enforcement has to make community to community, the generational distrust. you have people in the community that we're talking our history suggests there are times in which law enforcement has played a pretty negative role in enforcing discriminatory laws. many of those residents are still alive and well and live in these communities so i think the law enforcement has first to acknowledge a role we played and how we contributed to the destruction of many in our communities.

that's acknowledgment. the next one when things don't go right, the candor and honesty to say, this is not what we expected.it goes to legitimacy. the average american citizen can accept responsibility, so i think chief straub has it right in a sense that we as a government, whether it's the police officer, the police chief, the cops director has to be candid in acknowledging what we have done thus far what we need to do and when things don't go right, to say you know what there's a better outcome and i do apologize when appropriate. >> do you think that change in tone can be, not every police chief is a progressive new leader, you've got old guard out there right? this is a watershed moment, there has to be a change in tone institutionally, as you point out not just have officers on the street.

>> i don't nonif i agree, i'm part of the old guard, my years are adding up. the same principle the way i would sell it to an officer and to the system is the same principles you want applied inside the system as an employee are the same principles that people want outside the system. so if you're working for me as a police chief and i'm wrong you want me to acknowledge that i'm wrong so i do think we have an opportunity to make the change. i'm also sees from my seat as director of the cops offices quite frankly a level of progressive leadership in the field that's probably unparalleled in the last 20 years. chiefs that are making the acknowledgment, chiefs that are walking side by side with demonstrators, saying all lives matter, black lives matter, they know will have a disparate outcome, i'm watching police that are basically pushing back

against pressure to respond to violence with mass incarceration, i think we're at a point where we have a pretty good progressive level in the field, i'm not going to be naive but i think we can push this agenda. >> you're helping to retrain police forces but retrain communities how to interact with their police force. how do you teach really patience, these things are going to stay time, they're not going to happen overnight. you have people angry now, they want to see change now. >> one is, i don't think you can teach patience and i think people's frustration, i'll use frustration, sometimes it turns to anger, is based on not only do they feel the system is not fair in many cases but they don't see it changes. way to not teach the community the way to engage the community to where they can sincerely feel that the department is legitimately trying to change and work with them, i think

you'll see enormous patience. but if it's just the same old thing, the same old red rhetoric, i promise i'm going -- the same old rhetoric. >> paul davis talks about progressive police chiefs who are marching arm in armed with progressiv progress demonstrators. does the department of justice have any impact on that? >> that comes down to mayors and city councils and so forth, they don't play a role in that. but if communities are really bad we're bringing in new leadership and trying something influence here. what davis is doing when the cops program is working with police departments that's voluntary reform. but the point is they follow up. they have six months 12 months 18 months reports. if they don't see the kind of compliance and progress they're

hoping for they can call their friends over at the civil rights division and say hey we need to bring something in with a little more teeth because what we're doing isn't working. >> paul you've covered a lot of police stories in your career. is there anything in particular that jumped out as surprising about this particular program? >> i think way ron davis is approaching this, it struck me that the tone is very reform-oriented. there is not a lot of backup sort of old guard thinking about the way police need to assert their authority. this is really again the nature of the program is collaborative. it's about police working with their communities to as he said, the spirit of policing, they want to improve the lives of people around them. it's a tonal shift. it certainly has all the signs, they're making all the right sounds. >> paul beban reporting, paul we appreciate it.

on sunday be sure to watch a special "on target," invisible threat dangers of the dark web. we'll explore more of the secrets bought and sold and part of the internet you never see. >> the thing about the dark web is it's largely invisible to law enforcement right? that means all of the illegal activities you see in the physical world have sort of moved to the dark web. human trafficking narcotics counterfeiting illicit arms trade. >> teens young naked girls real rape, you find a lot of those? >> when it comes to sex sites you can find just about anything. >> dangers of the dark web "on eastern. that is our show today on behalf of ali velshi and the entire >> brittany menard's decision to take her own life last year. sparked a national debate. >> brittany didn't wan't to die,

the brain tumor was killing her, she simply took control over how that process would go. >> now see what her husband is doing to keep his promise to change "right to die" laws nationwide. america tonight only on al jazeera america. >> you wouldn't be alone if you hadn't given much thought to grand jury proceedings. most people don't unless they're one. if you are facing serious charges appearing before a grand jury is a right embedded in the constitution. once a shield for the individual has morphed