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...]
Crime – Serial Killer Myths – Scientific American mag’s truth – Tutorial II
November 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Hope you were able to check out the first in a number of tutorials I'm writing about serial killer myths. Check back for others from time to time. If you're a writer of a true-crime books as I am, you may need to brush up, as I do, on your serial killer IQ. The same may be true for criminology students or anyone interested in what science can tell us about these most-heinous of criminals. Unfortunately, a lot of our general knowledge concerning serial murder is a product of … [Read more...]
Cleft Joaquin Phoenix strikes again – Joker.
October 6, 2019 By Leave a Comment
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 5 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...]
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