Evil teaches us to livE - This ananym comes to mind when I think of cleft Joaquin Phoenix the fictional miserable life of Batman's Joker generates evil the real "miserable life" of Phoenix generates great art about good and evil. What comes to mind re the movie Joker is less relevant - another star vehicle for Phoenix the biggest-grossing October launch ever, $90 million in first 2 days a "scary movie" with tons of violence that's forced many theaters to hire cops to … [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...]
True Crime — do these reasons explain why you love it?
August 10, 2019 By 3 Comments
Some have called my book-in-progress a true crime memoir. Its working title is Privileged Killers...and a criminologist mugged by reality. It's tagline — When friends kill and loved ones betray him, a progressive criminologist must ditch his idealism or lose his wife and even his life. True Crime rules...these days. Whether seen as a pure true crime story, or a hybrid true crime memoir, my book's alerted me to the huge appetite we have these days for true … [Read more...]
Rape, Coverups, Bullying—Araoz, Acosta, Epstein
July 13, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Another amazing week. US Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned amid the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal. Pressure mounted against Acosta as news trickled out that he'd allowed an incredibly lenient plea deal to go forward under his watch in Epstein's Florida trial years ago. And then an accusation of rape! Rape. The allegation of rape by a then, 14-15 year old girl, trumped Acosta's fall from grace. In a TODAY interview with Savannah Guthrie, included here, Jennifer Araoz shared … [Read more...]
“Injustice with Nancy Grace.” “Inside Evil” with Cuomo.
July 6, 2019 By 2 Comments
I don't usually promote new TV shows, esp the many forensic-related ones. However, Injustice with Nancy Grace premieres with a case I lived through in a neighboring town. She covers the initial injustice in a "murder during a murder trial" in Lafayette, Ca. Each episode of “Injustice with Nancy Grace” exposes a riveting case involving wrongful accusations, botched investigations, suppressed evidence, unclear motives, unjust sentences, and a path forward in seeking justice. At … [Read more...]
CRIME FRAUD Tutorial—Imposters Anna & Maddie —“Skilled” Criminals
June 9, 2019 By Leave a Comment
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 Leave a Comment
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...]
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