Showing titles in Criminology

Ned "Crash" Aiken thought he had made a clean break. He had turned on his biker brothers in the Sons of Satan and entered the FBI's witness protection program, only to end up in a different kind of prison, one of mediocre work and cheap apartments. He then fell in with the Russian mob, learning their brutal code first-hand and fleeing their organization when the stakes got too high. Between the FBI, the Sons, and the Russians, there are a lot of people who want to get their hands on the innocent-looking ex-drug trafficker.

Locked In is a revelatory investigation into the root causes of mass incarceration by one of the most exciting scholars in the country. Having spent 15 years studying the data on imprisonment, John Pfaff takes apart the reigning consensus created by Michelle Alexander and other reformers, revealing that the most widely accepted explanations - the failed War on Drugs, draconian sentencing laws, an increasing reliance on private prisons - tell us much less than we think.

Understand history's most enigmatic serial killer. In December of 1968, a serial killer began orchestrating a campaign of terror in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not satisfied with the simple act of murder, he taunted law enforcement and the public by writing letters to local newspapers. Through often cryptic and bizarre content - including four ciphers, three of which have never been solved - the psychopath played a twisted game. Reporters dubbed the man the "Cipher Killer", but the murderer chose a different name for himself: The Zodiac. Eventually, he would claim to have murdered 37.

Reuben Miller, a chaplain at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and now a sociologist studying mass incarceration, spent years alongside prisoners, ex-prisoners, their friends, and their families to understand the lifelong burden that even a single arrest can entail. What his work revealed is a simple, if overlooked truth: life after incarceration is its own form of prison. The idea that one can serve their debt and return to life as a full-fledge member of society is one of America's most nefarious myths.

Society is conditioned to think of murderers and predators as men, but in this fascinating book, Peter Vronsky exposes and investigates the phenomenon of women who kill - and the political, economic, social, and sexual implications.

As the country's top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead. When death is sudden or unexplained, it falls to Shepherd to establish the cause. Each post-mortem is a detective story in its own right - and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them. Through his skill, dedication and insight, Dr Shepherd solves the puzzle to answer our most pressing question: how did this person die?

Two journalists with unprecedented direct access speak to Ted Bundy and those closest to him - friends and family. What follows is a candid and chilling full account of the life and crimes of the most notorious serial killer in history. What Bundy had to say in more than 150 hours of face-to-face interviews is as relevant today as it was at the time.

The never-before-published edition of Francis Ford Coppola's notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo reveals the story behind one of the world's most iconic films. In this one-of-a-kind audio production, Coppola provides listeners with unfiltered access to his creative process in his own voice. Featuring notes from eight scenes - handpicked by Coppola himself - The Godfather Notebook is a must-listen for fans of the 1972 film.

In this fascinating, in-depth account of the hunt for serial killers, Colin Wilson, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, examines the ways they can be tracked down and caught, from the tried-and-true methods of the early 20th century to the high-tech processes in use today. Wilson examines such areas as psychological profiling, genetic fingerprinting, and the launch of the Behavioral Science Unit. He delves into the importance of fantasy to serial killers, the urge to keep on killing, the desire to become notorious, and murder as an addictive drug.

In New York City, in April of 1874, a most unusual event took place. A severely abused nine-year-old girl named Mary Ellen Wilson became the first child in America to be rescued from an abusive home. She had been beaten, burned, slashed with scissors, locked in a closet, and had never been outside of her tenement home in over 7 years. Thanks to the concern and dedication of a missionary named Etta Wheeler, the child was finally saved from her cruel captors.

Based off Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala's popular podcast of the same name, RedHanded explores real-life true-crime cases to help answer once and for all if a killer is born or made.

From the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair.

On August 13, 1986, just one day after his 32nd birthday, Michael Morton went to work at his usual time. By the end of the day, his wife Christine had been savagely bludgeoned to death in the couple's bed - and the Williamson County Sherriff's office in Texas wasted no time in pinning her murder on Michael, despite an absolute lack of physical evidence. Michael was swiftly sentenced to life in prison for a crime he had not committed

A book covering the topic of self-defense from a shocking, firsthand perspective. The subjects of criminal violence, self-defense, lethal force, mindset, firearms training, and concealment have never been introduced so comprehensively in one place.

Amy L. Williams has spent three decades doing ministry with youth in gangs and prisons. While most of society sees high-risk youth through lenses of fear or disregard, she has come to see them through God's eyes as having tremendous value and potential. Worth Seeing provides an up-close look at her work—successes, losses, lessons, and embarrassing mistakes. Through personal narrative, Amy reveals the lives of youth who are often pushed to the margins of society.

¿Por qué hablar de la maldad cuando tendríamos que ocuparnos del lado noble y bueno de la vida? Tal vez porque enfrentamos al mal todos los días y debemos ser fuertes y estar preparados para que no nos hagan daño las envidias, los enojos, las frustraciones y, sobre todo, para no padecer sus efectos, pues todos somos propensos a sentir la ira, el rencor: la esencia de la maldad.

Hasta ahora creíamos que se había contado todo sobre el narcotraficante Pablo Escobar, el peor criminal en la historia de América Latina. Sobre él han escrito las mejores plumas, los más reputados periodistas y hasta sus hermanos. El celuloide también ha recreado la vida del delincuente.

Los Angeles is a town of dreamers, and of those who prey on them. The scene of innumerable bizarre crimes, it is also home to a unique police unit called Homicide Special, whose mandate is to take on the toughest, most controversial, and highest-profile cases. Now, acclaimed writer Miles Corwin uses his unprecedented access to this legendary unit to portray six of its cases, and capture its newest generation at work.

In his book To Catch a Predator, Chris Hansen, the on-air correspondent for one of Dateline's most successful series, looks deeper into the world of child predators. The book expands beyond the Dateline series to include more commentary from psychological and criminal experts about the origins and methods of child predators, and includes substantive advice for both parents and children on how to protect kids who use the Internet.

The United States incarcerates more of its residents than any other nation. Though home to five percent of the global population, the United States has nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners - a total of over two million people. This number continues to steadily rise. Over the past 40 years, the number of people behind bars in the United States has increased by 500 percent.