Showing titles in Criminology

In Criminal (In)Justice, Rafael A. Mangual offers a more balanced understanding of American criminal justice, and cautions against discarding traditional crime control measures. A powerful combination of research, data-driven policy journalism, and the author's lived experiences, this book explains what many reform advocates get wrong, and illustrates how the misguided commitment to leniency places America's most vulnerable communities at risk.

El cártel de Sinaloa explica y detalla el mundo del narco: desde los pioneros del negocio como Pedro Avilés, los sicarios desalmados que matan gobernadores como el Gitano, policías corruptos al estilo Guillermo González Calderoni, hasta hechos sorprendentes como la expulsión masiva de chinos durante la segunda década del siglo XX, las primeras rutas trasnacionales de la cocaína, o la fuga de Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán.

In January 1889, Louisa Collins, a 41-year-old mother of 10 children, became the first woman hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol and the last woman hanged in New South Wales. Both of Louisa's husbands had died suddenly and the Crown, convinced that Louisa poisoned them with arsenic, put her on trial an extraordinary four times in order to get a conviction, to the horror of many in the legal community. Louisa protested her innocence until the end.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who in his perennial best seller On Killing revealed that most of us are not "natural born killers" - and who has spent decades training soldiers, police, and others who keep us secure to overcome the intrinsic human resistance to harming others and to use firearms responsibly when necessary - turns a laser focus on the threat posed to our society by violent video games.

Much has been written about the brutal crimes of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, and - 35 years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 13 women - scarcely a week goes by without some mention of him in the media. In any story featuring Sutcliffe, however, his victims are incidental, often reduced to a tableau of nameless faces. But each woman was much more than the manner of her death, and in Somebody’s Mother, Somebody’s Daughter, Carol Ann Lee tells, for the first time, the stories of those women who came into Sutcliffe’s murderous orbit.

Urban violence is one of the most divisive and allegedly intractable issues of our time. But as Harvard scholar Thomas Abt shows in Bleeding Out, we actually possess all the tools necessary to stem violence in our cities. Coupling the latest social science with firsthand experience as a crime-fighter, Abt proposes a relentless focus on violence itself.

This is a beautiful description of Helen Keller's discoveries as she learns to appreciate, through the sense of touch, the world around her. Loss of sight and hearing only increase her joy of life and its treasures.

Stacy Horn sheds light on the dark world of the NYPD’s real-life Cold Case Squad—a special command of detectives who take on the homicide cases that remain unsolved after their initial period of investigation. Those who comprise its ranks are often characterized as misfits and lone wolves—but brilliant ones, to be sure. Here, their fascinating and deeply troubling stories of cases closed—and others that remain open—are conveyed in chilling detail.

An especially useful book for women living alone, parents who are concerned about their children's safety, and employers worried about employees who might go postal, Dangerous Instincts gives us the tools used by professionals to navigate potentially hazardous waters. Like The Gift of Fear and The Sociopath Next Door, it will appeal to anyone looking to make the right call in an ever threatening world.

Elizabeth Ford went through medical school unsure of where she belonged. It wasn't until she did her psychiatry rotation that she found her calling - to care for one of the most vulnerable populations of mentally ill people, the inmates of New York City's jails, including Rikers Island, who are so sick that they are sent to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward for care.

Finders Keepers is the remarkable true tale of an ordinary man faced with an extraordinary dilemma - what do you do when you find $1.2 million in unmarked bills? - and the fascinating reactions - from complicity to concern to betrayal - of the friends, family, and neighbors to whom he turns. From Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down.

Understand history's most enigmatic serial killer. In December of 1968, a serial killer began orchestrating a campaign of terror in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not satisfied with the simple act of murder, he taunted law enforcement and the public by writing letters to local newspapers. Through often cryptic and bizarre content - including four ciphers, three of which have never been solved - the psychopath played a twisted game. Reporters dubbed the man the "Cipher Killer", but the murderer chose a different name for himself: The Zodiac. Eventually, he would claim to have murdered 37.

Emily Craig has been a witness to history, helping to seek justice for thousands of murder victims, both famous and unknown. It’s a personal story that you won’t soon forget. Emily first became intrigued by forensics work when, as a respected medical illustrator, she was called in by the local police to create a model of a murder victim’s face. Her fascination with that case led to a dramatic midlife career change: She would go back to school to become a forensic anthropologist - and one of the most respected and best-known “bone hunters” in the nation.

Now a classic of true crime, Victim is a compelling and tragic look at how lives can be changed forever by a random act of violence. During an armed robbery, several hostages were brutally tortured, shot in the head, and left for dead. Victim focuses on the members of one family - including a mother who died after the attack and a son who was left barely alive - as they fought for his survival and struggled to rebuild their lives.

ls are being stalked, beaten, raped, abused, and murdered by strangers…and by the men in their lives. No girl is safe from harm, particularly in today's world where social media makes it too easy to connect with people she barely knows. There are many dangerous people out there who aren't behind bars, and parents of teen girls need to be more proactive than ever about keeping their daughters safe.

In the wake of the Paris, Beirut, and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, fears over "homegrown terrorism" have surfaced to a degree not seen since September 11, 2001 - especially following the news that all of the perpetrators in Paris were European citizens. A sought-after commentator in France and a widely respected international scholar of radical Islam, Farhad Khosrokhavar has spent years studying the path towards radicalization, focusing particularly on the key role of prisons.

The United States, alone, locks up a quarter of the world’s incarcerated people. And yet apart from clichés—paying a debt to society; you do the crime, you do the time—there is little sense collectively in America what constitutes retribution or atonement. We don’t actually know why we punish.

Poet, movie star, revolutionary - Tupac Amaru Shakur was the most popular rapper in the world. No one symbolized the violence at the heart of gangsta rap more than Tupac, and he ultimately fell victim to that violence, gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at the age of 25. This raw, no-holds-barred account discloses new information about the unsolved murder of Tupac: the failed investigation, the rap wars, the killing of Biggie Smalls, the Bloods-Crips connection, and the many possible motives leading to the murder that rocked the music world.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, American cities experienced an astonishing drop in violent crime. By 2014, the United States was safer than it had been in 60 years. Sociologist Patrick Sharkey gathered data from across the country to understand why this happened. Sharkey puts forth an entirely new approach to confronting violence and urban poverty. At a time when inequality, complacency, and conflict all threaten a new rise in violent crime, and the old methods of policing are unacceptable, the ideas in this book are indispensable.

Rob McKeon is a member of Britain’s parole board, making tough, life-changing decisions about whether a prisoner is safe to return to society; impacting not only prisoners and their victims, but also the general public. This vital work has been the subject of a BBC television documentary, Parole. For 12 years, Rob has been handling sensitive and high-profile cases, dealing with the social, moral, and emotional pressures that come with this difficult job. This book provides unique insight into his work, with a compelling behind-the-scenes look at parole hearings.