'I have spent almost 33 of the last 53 years in and out of prison, but mainly in. I was a juvenile offender back in the mid 1970s and went on to become an adult prisoner in the 1980s and beyond. My shortest prison sentence was 7 days (for criminal damage) and my longest sentence was life (for bank robbery and possession of firearms). I have 58 criminal convictions for everything from attempted theft to armed robbery and prison escape, and I was a career criminal for most of my life. What I do not know about criminal and prison slang could be written on the back of a postage stamp and still leave room for The Lord's Prayer ...' From ex-professional bank robber and bestselling author Noel Smith, this is the most authoritative dictionary of criminal slang out there - and an unmissable journey, through words, into the heart of the criminal world.
'I have spent almost 33 of the last 53 years in and out of prison, but mainly in. I was a juvenile offender back in the mid 1970s and went on to become an adult prisoner in the 1980s and beyond. My shortest prison sentence was 7 days (for criminal damage) and my longest sentence was life (for bank robbery and possession of firearms). I have 58 criminal convictions for everything from attempted theft to armed robbery and prison escape, and I was a career criminal for most of my life. What I do not know about criminal and prison slang could be written on the back of a postage stamp and still leave room for The Lord's Prayer . . .' From ex-professional bank robber and bestselling author Noel Smith, this is the most authoritative dictionary of criminal slang out there - and an absorbing journey, through words, into the heart of the criminal world.
'A smart, dark, breakneck-speed, just-one-more-chapter serial-killer thriller.' Will Carver FOR THIS KILLER, IT'S A GAME OF A B C When the body of a man is found brutally murdered in a wildlife park and tattooed with a letter A, criminal profilers Jan Grall and Rabea Wyler are thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Later, two more mutilated bodies are found, again with tattoos on their skin - B and C - and it becomes clear that Grall and Wyler are dealing with a brutal serial killer. One who won't stop until his set is complete. When Grall's hotel room is marked with a Z and his girlfriend kidnapped, the race is on to find out who the killer is. Before it's too late . . . A tense and chilling serial killer thriller for readers of Helen H Durrant and Angela Marsons.
Crime is never unpredictable. Before a lie is spoken, a pocket is picked, or an assault is inflicted, each and every criminal gives off silent cues. They can be as subtle as a shrug of the shoulder, a pointed finger, or an averted gaze. But together, they make up a nonverbal language that speaks loud and clear—if you're trained to see it. CRIME SIGNALS is the first book to offer a comprehensive guide to the body language of criminals. Filled with amazing real-life stories of crime and survival, it's designed to help you stay alert to the warning signs of a wide array of offenses. From the tell-tale signals of a swindler to the warning signs that experts use to help thwart terrorism and violent crime, this book breaks down a criminal's body language into clear recognizable symbols. What is the look of a lie? How do child predators unknowingly give themselves away? What were the clues that exposed white-collar offenders like Martha Stewart and Andrew Fastow? Answering these questions and more, Dr. David Givens, a renowned anthropologist and one of the nation's foremost experts in nonverbal communication, offers a fascinating, instructive, and essential tool for warding off crime and protecting the safety or yourself and your family.
The way we see and understand crime falls into two types of story that, in essence, have been told and retold many times throughout human history - in fiction, as in fact. Criminality is either a selfish choice, an aberration; or a forced choice, the product of social factors. These two stories continue to dominate both our views of and responses to crime. And, says Tom Gash, they are completely wrong. In seeking to dispel the myths that surround and inform our views of crime, Criminal argues that our obsession with 'big arguments' about crime's causes can lead us to mistake individual cases as proof of universal rules. How, he asks, can we suspend our knee-jerk reactions, and begin to understand crime for what it is: as a risk that can be managed and reduced.
2010 Honorable Mention, Silver Gavel Award, American Bar Association Uncovers the powerful and problematic practice of snitching to reveal disturbing truths about how American justice works Albert Burrell spent thirteen years on death row for a murder he did not commit. Atlanta police killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during a misguided raid on her home. After being released by Chicago prosecutors, Darryl Moore—drug dealer, hit man, and rapist—returned home to rape an eleven-year-old girl. Such tragedies are consequences of snitching—police and prosecutors offering deals to criminal offenders in exchange for information. Although it is nearly invisible to the public, criminal snitching has invaded the American legal system in risky and sometimes shocking ways. Snitching is the first comprehensive analysis of this powerful and problematic practice, in which informant deals generate unreliable evidence, allow criminals to escape punishment, endanger the innocent, compromise the integrity of police work, and exacerbate tension between police and poor urban residents. Driven by dozens of real-life stories and debacles, the book exposes the social destruction that snitching can cause in high-crime African American neighborhoods, and how using criminal informants renders our entire penal process more secretive and less fair. Natapoff also uncovers the far-reaching legal, political, and cultural significance of snitching: from the war on drugs to hip hop music, from the FBI’s mishandling of its murderous mafia informants to the new surge in white collar and terrorism informing. She explains how existing law functions and proposes new reforms. By delving into the secretive world of criminal informants, Snitching reveals deep and often disturbing truths about the way American justice really works.
Discover some of the world's most infamous killers in perfectly-illustrated detail. People have an obsession with serial killers, giving them a cult-like following from those with a morbid fascination. With their crimes going down in history, so many people have tried to get into their minds and discover what made them tick. Inside this spine-chilling coloring book, you'll discover 23 of the world's most notorious serial killers, depicted with stunning and detailed illustrations for you to color. You'll find: Ted Bundy Ed Gein Pablo Escobar Charles Manson Genene Jones Terry Nichols Ricard Ramirez Graham Young The Zodiac Killer And More... With single-sided pages to prevent bleed and make tearing out your favorites easy, as well as high-resolution images, this book is perfect for those with a morbid curiosity of the monsters who walk among us. Ideal as a gift - or just for yourself - this book puts on show the world's worst killers in stunning detail, with symbolism to link them to their crimes and weapons of choice.
The next in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet mystery series from bestselling author Sue Grafton. "J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. "In truth, the facts about Wendell Jaffe had nothing to do with my family history, but murder is seldom tidy and no one ever said revelations operate in a straight line. It was my investigation into the dead man's past that triggered the inquiry into my own, and in the end the two stories became difficult to separate." Five years ago, when Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. The note he left behind admitted he was flat broke, his business bankrupt, his real estate gambit nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme about to collapse, with criminal indictment certain to follow. When the authorities soon after descended on his banks and his books, there was nothing left: Jaffe had stripped the lot. "Given my insatiable curiosity and my natural inclination to poke my nose in where it doesn't belong, it was odd to realize how little attention I'd paid to my own past. I'd simply accepted what I was told, constructing my personal mythology on the flimsiest of facts." But Jaffe wasn't quite without assets. There was the $500,000 life insurance policy made out to his wife and underwritten by California Fidelity. With no corpse to prove death, however, the insurance company was in no hurry to pay the claim. Dana Jaffe had to wait out the statutory five years until her missing husband could be declared legally dead. Just two months before Wendell Jaffe was sighted in that dusty resort bar, California Fidelity finally paid in full. Now they wanted the truth. And they were willing to hire Kinsey Millhone to dig it up. As Kinsey pushes deeper into the mystery surrounding Wendell Jaffe's pseudocide, she explores her own past, discovering that in family matters as in crime, sometimes it's better to reserve judgment. "J" is for judgment: the kind we're quick to make and often quicker to regret. "J" Is for Judgment: Kinsey Millhone's tenth excursion into the dark places of the heart where duplicity is the governing rule and murder the too-frequent result. "A" Is for Alibi "B" Is for Burglar "C" Is for Corpse "D" Is for Deadbeat "E" Is for Evidence "F" Is for Fugitive "G" Is for Gumshoe "H" Is for Homicide "I" Is for Innocent "J" Is for Judgment "K" Is for Killer "L" is for Lawless "M" Is for Malice "N" Is for Noose "O" Is for Outlaw "P" Is for Peril "Q" Is for Quarry "R" Is for Ricochet "S" Is for Silence "T" Is for Trespass "U" Is for Undertow "V" Is for Vengeance "W" Is for Wasted "X"
Through thirty compelling essays written in the prisoners’ own words, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row offers stories of brutal beatings inside juvenile hall, botched suicide attempts, the terror of the first night on Death Row, the pain of goodbye as a friend is led to execution, and the small acts of humanity that keep hope alive for men living in the shadow of death. Each carefully crafted personal essay illuminates the complex stew of choice and circumstance that brought four men to Death Row and the cycle of dehumanization and brutality that continues inside prison. At times the men write with humor, at times with despair, at times with deep sensitivity, but always with keen insight and understanding of the common human experience that binds us.
