Am close to finishing my latest book, Privileged Killers, where I take plea bargains and parole board decisions to task. These are two phenomena that've dictated court and corrections culture for years. Hopefully this tutorial will help writers, criminology students, true-crime fans, and others understand these topics. Plea bargains are a win-win often. Suspects get to plead guilty to doing something less serious than what they've done in all likelihood. The joke is it's like copping to … [Read more...]
Beauty Queen Killers – Known and Unknown – Crime Tutorial
September 21, 2019 By 7 Comments
Maybe you're an author writing about JonBenet Ramsey, a little "beauty queen" whose murder is still unsolved. Or you're writing about grown-up queens who've been murdered, like the ones featured in podcasts and 24/7 crime shows. Well, here's a tutorial that might help you flesh out some details in an article or book you're writing. It's about a few of the deets about both a known killer and an unknown one. Known and Unknown Beauty Queen Killers There are a few books about the known "Beauty … [Read more...]
Crime – Serial Killer – Tutorial – Intro, Definitions, Myths.
September 1, 2019 By 2 Comments
Writers, esp those writing true-crime books, are often drawn to serial killer stories. And so are everyday people since these stories both horrify and fascinate us frequently. As a service to my fellow writers, I'm providing another tutorial. This one deals with the facts and the myths of serial killers. Hopefully, writers will find them useful for their writing. And other readers may just find them interesting. Some facts. Serial killings account for very few of all murders committed in … [Read more...]
CRIME FRAUD Tutorial—Imposters Anna & Maddie —“Skilled” Criminals
June 9, 2019 By 2 Comments
Today's blog is one among my series on "skilled" criminals —fences, imposters, forgers, and art thieves. There's also a related series on "unskilled"criminals. The hope in this blog is to fire up writers, provide info to criminology students and true-crime fans, and to, well, have some fun. Recent Russian immigrant to the U.S. Anna Sorokin created the fictitious identity of Anna Delvey, pretending to be a wealthy German heiress. On May 10, 2019, a court sentenced her to 4 to 12 years in … [Read more...]
CRIME BURGLARY & HOME INVASION Tutorial — Info & Prevention Tips from Bad Guys
February 15, 2019 By 3 Comments
Welcome to this burglary and home invasion tutorial …with information and prevention tips from bad guys. It's another tutorial designed for Crime writers Crime researchers, and Curious worrywarts (includes almost all of us). Please scroll down and find something right down your alley, esp if you're in one of the above three camps. Crime writers: Most of us cringe at the idea of someone coming into our homes while we’re away. And downright terrified if this happens while we’re … [Read more...]
CRIME MASS MURDER Tutorial—The 5 W’s of Multicide—Definitions, Stats, Events
January 13, 2019 By 4 Comments
Homicide is the criminal killing of a human being, and this tutorial deals with the multiple killing situation known as multicide, or sometimes mass murder. By the end of this tutorial, you should have a handle on four of the five Ws—the who, what, where, when. The whys are for another blog. Also, since it's a different kind of multicide, serial killing is treated as a special category. MASS MURDER There are a wide variety of ways that homicides with more than several victims might … [Read more...]
Overindulgence and Bullying (e.g., Post Xmas Bargains & Boxing Day).
December 21, 2018 By Leave a Comment
This Overindulgence & Bullying post is the third in a multipart series adapted from Hart and Caven's The Bullying Antidote, The book's chapter titled, “And How Are the Children?’ looks at the ways bullying connects with our worst societal ills. They asserts there's an overindulgence and bullying connection. See the important questions and comments below this guest post. How our material culture is connected to bullying. "Materialism is an equal-opportunity crisis. … [Read more...]
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