Showing titles in Criminology

Despite its omnipresence and long history, imprisonment is a deeply troubling practice. In the United States and elsewhere, prison conditions are inhumane, prisoners are treated without dignity, and sentences are extremely harsh. Mass incarceration and its devastating impact on black communities have been widely condemned as neoslavery or “the new Jim Crow.” Can the practice of imprisonment be reformed, or does justice require it to be ended altogether?

Perhaps no other television show captures our innate fascination with crime and criminals better than the original Forensic Files. Examining true crime cases from murders to insurance fraud, hit-and-runs to kidnappings, every case featured on the show is solved in large part with the help of forensic science like DNA evidence. In Forensic Files Now, author Rebecca Reisner shares her own gripping retellings of 40 favorite cases profiled on the show along with fascinating updates adapted from her popular blog, ForensicFilesNow.com.

For nearly three decades, Dr Colin Manock was in charge of South Australia's forensic pathology services. In cases of unexpected or unexplained death, it was his job to determine when a person took their final breath, and whether they had died naturally - or not. But Manock did not have the necessary training for such a specialist role, and made serious errors in several major cases. The full extent of his wrongdoing, and the exact number of cases impacted by it, remain a mystery more than twenty-five years after he retired.

Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith bring together current and former prisoners, activists, and academics for a new understanding of how race, gender, ability, and sexuality are lived under the crushing weight of captivity. Through a politic of gender self-determination, this collection argues that trans/queer liberation and prison abolition must be grown together. From rioting against police violence and critiquing hate crimes legislation, to prisoners demanding access to HIV medications, and far beyond, Captive Genders is a challenge for us all to join the struggle.

In 2013, South African businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg set off to the West African country to finalise a legitimate airline contract with a local politician. Within days, Daniel was arrested by the local Rapid Intervention Force and detained without trial in the island’s infamous ‘Guantanamo’ cells, and was later taken to Black Beach. This is his remarkable story of survival over nearly two years, made possible by his unwavering faith and the humanity of a few fellow inmates. In this thrilling first-person narrative, Daniel relives his ordeal.

Legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed argues that our justice system’s stringent procedural rules are largely to blame for the ongoing punishment of the innocent. Even when there is strong evidence of a miscarriage of justice, rigid guidelines, bias, and deference toward lower courts all too often prevent exoneration. Offering clear explanations of legal procedures alongside heart-wrenching stories of their devastating impact, Barred exposes how the system is stacked against the innocent—and makes a powerful call for change.

Wie wird ein Mensch zum Serienmörder? Und kann man diese Entwicklung stoppen? Die Psychologin Florence McLean berichtet von dem jahrelangen Briefwechsel, den sie mit einer Reihe berüchtigter Serienmörder geführt hat – unter anderem mit Jeffery Dahmer, der die Köpfe seiner Opfer als Souvenir in der Kühltruhe aufbewahrte, und dem "Prostituiertenmörder" Arthur John Shawcross. Mit Hilfe von Methoden des berühmten F.B.I.-Profilers John E. Douglas analysiert McLean Denken, Fühlen und Handeln der 34 Täter, die zusammen Hunderte Menschenleben auf dem Gewissen haben.

En France, on tue tous les jours, toutes les heures. Les faits divers envahissent les journaux, les séries télévisées de médecine légale prolifèrent, les histoires criminelles, réelles ou fictives, exercent sur le public une fascination sans borne. Michel Sapanet est médecin légiste. Sa vie, c'est la mort. Sur sa table en inox, avec un immense respect, il pratique son autopsie: exploration des boîtes crâniennes, inspection des chairs meurtries, ouverture des cœurs. Égorgés, poignardés, étranglés, pendus, tués par balle, toutes les victimes finissent par parler.

For over forty years, criminal defence solicitor Henry Milner has been the go-to lawyer for some of Britain's most notorious criminals including Kenneth Noye and the Brink's-Mat robbers, Freddie Foreman, John 'Goldfinger' Palmer and the gang behind the Millennium Dome raid. Here, the lawyer offers a fascinating insight into life at the top of the profession, lifting the lid on the psychology of those who end up on the wrong side of the law and those who defend them. By turns shocking and hilarious, this remarkable memoir takes us deep into the enigmatic criminal underworld.

You Are Accused is an urgent piece of investigative journalism by Raphael Rowe—himself falsely convicted for a murder he did not commit—exploring the frightening world of accusations in the modern world. Join Raphael as he meets the people who have been through the transformative experience of accusation. Hear their stories first-hand and discover the impact that an accusation can have; on those accused, on their families, friends, and communities.

With her characteristic brilliance, grace, and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration," and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.

In this book, Katherine Beckett explains how and why mass incarceration persists despite growing recognition of its many failures, plummeting crime rates, and widespread efforts by state legislators and others to reduce prison populations. Beckett identifies three primary forces sustaining incarceration rates in this country: political dynamics around violence, resistance to criminal legal system reform in suburban and rural counties, and the failure of popular drug policy reforms to reduce the reach of the criminal legal system.

Tidsmässigt är inte avståndet särskilt långt från idyllen Sverige, som tillät företrädare från vårt land att röra sig fritt på offentliga platser utan livvakter, till den ödesdigra natt då statsminister Olof Palme brutalt sköts ned på öppen gata i Sveriges huvudstad. Det som dittillls hänt i form av mord på prominenta personer hade den svenska allmänheten ingen nära erfarenhet av. Flertalet människor kände sig därför trygga ända fram till mordet på Olof Palme.

Written by the world's leading expert on false confessions, this landmark book reveals the psychology behind why innocent men, women, and children, intensely stressed and befuddled by the promises, threats, trickery, and deception of a police interrogation, are duped into confession, no matter how horrific the crime.

In Gang Politics, Kristian Williams examines our society's understanding of social and political violence, what gets romanticized, misunderstood, or muddled. He explores the complex intersections between "gangs" of all sorts—cops and criminals, Proud Boys and Antifa, Panthers and skinheads—arguing that government and criminality are intimately related, often sharing critical features.

Bogen "Seriemordere og kannibaler" beskriver seks forskellige historier om nogle af historiens værste seriemordere. Der er detaljerede beskrivelser af blandt andet Zodiac-morderen, der legede gemmeleg med politiet, pressen og opskræmte beboere i Californien. Den sadistiske og blodtørstige drabsmand Ted Bundy er også portrætteret i bogen, såvel som "morderklovnen", der voldtog, torturerede og myrdede drenge og undslap politiet i flere år.

Det organiserede kriminelle miljø i Danmark består primært af rockere og bandemedlemmer, og i løbet af de sidste ti år er konflikten mellem de forskellige grupperinger blusset op igen. Men hvem er de unge mænd, der bliver fanget ind af rocker- eller bandemiljøet? Og hvordan slipper de ud igen, når de først er blevet en del af det miljø? Denne bog giver et psykologisk og socialfagligt blik på rocker- og bandemiljøerne og på de mennesker, der er en del af dem.

Denne bog handler om noget, som mange piger frygter, nemlig at blive bedøvet og voldtaget i forbindelse med en fest, en festival eller på et diskotek. Bogen belyser forskellige aspekter af voldtægt og fænomenet drug rape, huller i lovgivningen, forløbet på hospitalet efter voldtægten, og de konsekvenser voldtægten har for ofret, selvom hun ikke kan huske noget fra selve overgrebet.

Fængselsbetjentene i det lille provinsielle arresthus har fin tid til at hygge sig med et par øl i pauserne. Der er normalt rimeligt roligt i arresten, for fangerne omgås hinanden nogenlunde civiliseret og forsøger at undgå problemer, mens deres sager bliver behandlet. Det hele ændrer sig imidlertid, da en pædofilisigtet mand bliver sat i arresten. Det bringer sindene i kog blandt de andre fanger, og det begynder hurtigt at trække op til oprør. Jørn Jønke Nielsen (f. 1960) er en dansk forfatter og rocker.

Tre teenagedrenge fra Gentofte har fundet en god fidus. Når det er koldt og mørkt kører de rundt i en sort BMW på de stille sideveje og begår indbrud i de villaer, hvor der ikke er nogen hjemme. Og der er da heller ikke noget, der tyder på, at der er nogen hjemme i det hus, de bryder ind i den kolde februaraften. Men inde i huset finder de liget af en kvinde, og da politiet pludselig dukker op, ser de forfærdeligt skyldige ud - ikke bare i indbrud, men også i mord. Jørn Jønke Nielsen (f. 1960) er en dansk forfatter og rocker.