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...]
Beauty Queen Killers – Known and Unknown – Crime Tutorial
September 21, 2019 By 6 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...]
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...]
“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 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...]
Murdered while in prayer, while in school: The bullying connection.
October 27, 2018 By 2 Comments
Schools and houses of worship are two of the most revered places in our society. They are also among the most vulnerable since—unlike many places of business, transportation centers and the like—they've generally lacked guards and security. That's changing for schools, and sadly now, for places of worship. Yes, there've been other shootings and bombings at sacred places (to show the range, Charleston, SC in 2015; Birmingham, AL in 1963). But there've rarely been calls for armed protection for … [Read more...]
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