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December 2004 Calendar of Books on True Crime and Justice
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November
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May
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Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers by H. Thomas Milhorn, M.D., Ph.D. an overview of the United States legal system, with a brief introduction to Islamic and International law. The book is divided into six parts. Part I (The Legal System and Crime) introduces the U.S. legal system and the classification of crime. Part II (White Collar Crime) covers cybercrime, crime the old fashioned way, and healthcare fraud. Part III (Homicide) deals with simple murder, serial murder, mass and spree murder; and assassination. Part IV (Special Groups) covers the mafia; the family; the medical, legal, and teaching professions; the religion profession; celebrities; and stupid criminals. Part V (On the Edge) deals with topics I consider to be a bit strange; that is, quackery, innovative defenses, and dangerous cults. And finally, Part VI (Residue) discusses what is left ... capital punishment and crimes against humanity, including terrorism. Throughout the book, to illustrate points, I have used over 300 cases of actual crimes. The names of the people and the facts of the cases used in the discussions of these crimes are taken directly from referenced news reports. The subtitle, Computer Viruses to Twin Towers , reflects the scope of the book; that is, from computer viruses, which cause only aggravation or loss of money, to the deadly terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 that snuffed out almost 3000 lives.
September Sacrifice "If I'm ever late for work, call the police!” an Albuquerque, New Mexico bank teller Girly Chew, 36, told her boss. The Malaysian-born beauty lived in mortal fear of her pathologically deranged husband had had taken out a restraining order against. She was late for work for the first time on September 10, 1999. Her bloodstained clothes were found near a lonely stretch of desert highway. Chew's estranged spouse was an unrepentant scam artist with a terrifying violent streak. Born Armando Chavez, Jr. in Texas, he changed his name to Diazien Hossencofft and said he was from Switzerland. Claiming to be a surgeon and DNA expert with an anti-aging formula, he bilked a woman dying of cancer out of nearly a half-million dollars. While married, he had affairs—even managing to wrangle sole custody of the infant son he fathered with one of his mistresses. Nursing a sick obsession with his wife while exerting Manson-like control over his girlfriend and accomplice, Linda Henning, 47, an UFO fanatic. Hossencofft set the stage for Girly Chew's murder and followed through on his plan with sadistic enthusiasm, leaving behind little proof. Without a body to provide crucial clues, police were dedicated and resourceful investigative team began to painstakingly weave a net of forensic evidence to snag a twisted killer… 16 Pages Of Photos
Kiss Me, Kill Me : Ann Rule's Crime Files Vol. 9 (Ann Rule's Crime Files) Ann Rule reveals how lovers become predators, how sex and lust can push ordinary people to desperate acts, and how investigators and forensics experts work to unravel the most entangled crimes of passion. Rule re-creates the ill-fated chains of events in such cases as the ex-Marine and martial arts master who seduced vulnerable women and then destroyed their lives...the killer whose calling card was a single bloodred rose...the faithless wife who manipulated and murdered without conscience...the blind date that set the stage for a killer's brutality...and more. In every case, the victim -- young and innocent or older and experienced -- unknowingly trusted a stranger with the sociopathic skill to hide their dark motives, until it was too late to escape a web of deadly lies, fatal promises, and homicidal possession.
Victorian Crime, Madness and Sensation -- Beginning with Victoria's enthronement and an exploration of sensationalist accounts of attacks on the Queen, and ending with the notorious case of a fin-de-siecle killer, Victorian Crime, Madness, and Sensation throws new light on nineteenth-century attitudes toward crime and 'deviance'. The essays, draw on canonical and liminal texts, examines the Victorian fascination with criminal psychology and pathology. Definitions of criminality changed during the nineteenth century, as did social criminalization of sex acts, degeneration, and insanity. The Victorians were concerned with solving crime. Contributors engage the detective while examining the role of science and technology in solving cases.
Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America -- Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till—an innocent fourteen-year-old African-American boy in the wrong place at the wrong time, and paid for it with his life. His outraged mother, Mamie Carthan an African-American woman growing up in 1930s Chicago, married Louis Till, and they had a baby boy, Emmett. In August 1955, Emmett was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped from his bed in the middle of the night and brutally murdered. His crime was allegedly whistling at a white woman in a convenience store. More than a hundred thousand people attended the service. J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, accused of kidnapping and murdering Emmett were eventually acquitted of the crime. Mamie Till-Mobley pulled herself back from the brink of suicide to become a teacher and inspire hundreds of children. She died in 2003 just as she completed this memoir, “I focused on my son while I considered this book. . . . The result is in your hands. . . . I am experienced, but not cynical. . . . I am hopeful that we all can be better than we are. I've been brokenhearted, but I still maintain an oversized capacity for love.” A painful yet beautiful account of a mother's ability to transform tragedy into boundless courage and hope.
The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions -- Sister Helen Prejean was a little-known Roman Catholic nun from Louisiana when in 1993, her first book Dead Man Walking , challenged the way we look at the death penalty in America. It became a #1 New York Times bestseller and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Now in The Death of Innocents, she takes us to the new moral edge of the debate on capital punishment: What if we're killing the wrong man? Dobie Gillis Williams, an indigent black man from rural Louisiana with an IQ of 65, was accused of a brutal rape and murder. Williams's inept defense counsel, later disbarred for unethical practice for unrelated cases, allowed the prosecution's incredibly contrived scenario of the crime to go unchallenged. Less than two years after Williams's execution in January 1999, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to kill a man so mentally disabled. In 1986, Joseph Roger O'Dell was convicted of murder in Virginia despite highly circumstantial evidence from a jailhouse snitch. For twelve years, O'Dell sought DNA testing on the forensic evidence, which he claimed would exonerate him, but the courts refused. After his execution on July 23, 1997, the state destroyed the evidence. As a result, its conviction of O'Dell could never be scrutinized. “The reader of this book will be the first ‘jury' with access to all the evidence the trial juries never saw,” says Prejean, who accompanied both men to their executions. By using the withheld evidence to reconstruct the crimes for which these two men were convicted, Prejean shows how race, prosecutorial ambition, poverty, election cycles, and publicity play far too great a role in determining who dies and who lives. Prejean traces the historical underpinnings of executions in this country, demonstrating that it is no accident that over 80 percent of executions in the past twenty-five years have been carried out in the former slave states. She also raises profound constitutional questions about an appeals system that decides most death cases on procedural grounds without ever examining their merits. To date, 113 wrongfully convicted persons have been freed from death row. If constitutional protections–due process, assistance of counsel, and equal justice under law–are truly being respected, how is it possible that these people were convicted in the first place? And how can we accept a system so rife with error? Sister Helen Prejean takes us with her on her spiritual journey as she accompanies two possibly innocent human beings to their deaths at the hands of the state. Prejean implores us to reflect on what is perhaps the core moral issue of the death penalty debate:
One
Violent Crime by Shapiro, Bruce Shapiro -- A journalist describes
personal experiences as a victim of crime violence,
stabbed in a coffeeshop,and the other victims,
hospital, police, reporters, criminal
justice system experiences and facing his attacker..
The
Crimes Women Commit, The Punishments They Receive -- by Rita James Simon, HEATHER HEITFIELD
Prison Conversations: Prisoners At The Washington State Reformatory Discuss Life, Freedom, Crime And Punishment -- Prison Conversations is a window into contemporary American prison life. Through a series of oral history style interviews, nine prisoners incarcerated at the Washington State Reformatory talk about the path that brought them to prison, their life behind bars, and their hopes and intentions for a future life on the outside. The book also provides an account of the author's experiences as a volunteer in the prison, how he came to know these prisoners, how certain friendships with them developed. In effect the reader is invited along on the author's journey into what was for him--and presumably will be for most readers--an unfamiliar and emotionally powerful world.
With Malice Aforethought: A Study Of The Crime And Punishment For Homicide -- For more than three centuries the law of murder has not conceptually changed, but manslaughter in some homicides receives relatively minor penalties. These categories of killing present problems relating to intention, and the culpability of those characterised by gross recklessness. This book addresses the distinctions between murder, manslaughter and other specific categories of crime. The authors consider expert evidence in cases involving unexplained infant death, corporate killing, and the defenses available to the accused where what is reasonable or justifiable may be at variance with legal precedent.
Partners in Crime: Integrating Language Arts and Forensic Science, Grades 5-8 -- With a creative approach of focusing on the practical application of critical thinking, problem solving, and prose nonfiction expression, Partners in Crime engages students by asking them to solve a crime using the skills of forensic science while simultaneously teaching key concepts in language arts.
Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Issues and Controversies in Crime and Justice by Bruce A. Arrigo, Stacy L. Shipley -- An original approach to understanding how psychologists impact the research, practice, and policy of crime, law, and justice. Divided into four sections on criminal forensics, civil forensics, policing and law enforcement, and corrections and prison practices, the text examines police, court, and correctional aspects of forensic psychology. Each of the twelve chapters are organized around relevant case illustrations, include comprehensive literature reviews, and discuss policy implications and avenues of future research. Each chapter additionally incorporates research on race, gender, and class, as well as including a practice update, highlighting a timely issue or controversy.
Partners
in Crime: Integrating Language Arts and Forensic Science, Grades 5-8 --
Partners in Crime offers middle school teachers an innovative and highly
entertaining resource for integrating language arts and science strategies that
will challenge students while meeting standardized learning goals. With a creative
approach of focusing on the practical application of critical thinking, problem
solving, and prose nonfiction expression, Partners in Crime engages
your students by asking them to solve a crime using the skills of forensic science
while simultaneously teaching them key concepts in language arts. As flexible
as it is creative, Partners in Crime can be used for a variety of classroom
settings whether as a single activity, weekly lesson, full unit, or school and
community project. The activities in Partners in Crime can also help
you build teamwork by tapping into your school community, resources, and technology.
Throughout the book, your students are encouraged to conduct original research
and challenged to draw conclusions based upon their ability to weigh evidence. Partners
in Crime also contains suggestions for helping you and your students make
connections with local law enforcement that will provide support for deeper understanding
of the exercises. The book is filled with ideas for encouraging students to create
written reports, presentations, and producing films and videos. The book also
includes activities and guidelines for benchmarking student performance during
and after the each unit.
Crime, Inequality and the State: Readings in Sociological Theory and Policy --This collection of readings reflects on contemporary U.S. criminal justice policy, competing ideas about crime, and dilemmas of democracy. Through the works of well-known scholars such as James Gilligan, Robert Sampson, and Alfred Blumstein, this compares welfarist and retributive approaches to crime, using the cases of social democratic countries versus the United States. By combining statistical analysis with ethnographic works, this collection enables the reader to recognize the actual people who comprise the statistics.
Crime and Justice, Volume 32: A Review of Research (Crime and Justice: A Review of Research) -- Crime and Justice offers an interdisciplinary approach to core issues in criminology, with perspectives from biology, law, psychology, ethics, history, and sociology. Volume 32 covers criminal justice issues, with a careful balance of research, theory, and practice. Topics in this volume include: environmental crime, the effects of wrongful imprisonment, the assessment of macro-level predictors and theories of crime, ethnic differences in intergenerational crime patterns, sentencing guidelines in Minnesota from 1978 to 2003, and the results of five decades of neutralization research.
Marked for Death: The Cold-Blooded Seduction and Murder of Larry McNabney by Brian Karem December 1, 2004
The Cia, the British Left, and the Cold War: Calling the Tune (Cass Series--Studies in Intelligence) by Hugh Wilford December 3, 2004
Women's Studies Quarterly: (32: 3-4) : Women, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System (Women's Studies Quarterly) -- From an investigation of the motivations of Andrea Yates to analysis of "Prime Suspect 2," this explores why women's issues in criminal justice studies have become increasingly visible in recent years. The articles and essays explore the impact of mandatory sentencing and the war on drugs on women; describe cases where prosecutors use existing drug trafficking and child abuse laws to prosecute women for maternal drug use; and examine the recent HIV epidemic facing incarcerated women. LaVerne McQuiller Williams is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Crime And Punishment In America: Reference Library Plus Index December 3, 2004
The Costs Of Crime And Justice by Mark A. Cohen
City Crime Ranking Rankings: Crime In Metropolitan America
Spies of the Kaiser: German Covert Operations in Great Britain, 1901-1918 (St. Antony's) by Thomas Boghardt, Palgrave Macmillan in Association With st Antonys College Oxford December 3, 2004
Murder for Love: The History of a Woman, Sex, and Moral Values in Modern Japan by William Johnston December 31, 2004
Social Control in Europe (History of Crime and Criminal Justice Series)