Crime
Nov. 3, 2011
The road to ruin
If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking; and from that to incivility and procrastination. Thomas de Quincey
Tags: quotes
Jul. 18, 2011
The Whitey Bulger book I’d like to read
Wishing for a book that tells the real story of the Bulger brothers.
Tags: crime novels · Whitey Bulger
Jul. 6, 2011
The lost Vermeer
Jun. 24, 2011
Southie reacts to the capture of Whitey Bulger
Southie reacts to the capture of Whitey Bulger
Tags: video · Whitey Bulger
Jun. 2, 2011
Our golden age
The U.S. murder rate (homicides per 1,000 people) over time (chart).
Tags: homicide
May. 9, 2011
Why are we attracted to crime stories?
What does our attraction to crime stories tell us about ourselves?
Tags: crime novels · featured posts
Jan. 8, 2011
Face of the Day
A collection of vintage mug shots from Australian criminals
Tags: mug shots
Sep. 6, 2010
Auden: Murder is unique
Jun. 2, 2010
A Hangman’s Metaphysics
Nietzsche on free will and guilt.
Tags: Defending Jacob · free will · Nietzsche · philosophy
May. 11, 2010
The Murder Gene
The Murder Gene may indeed be junk science, for now at least, but it is a haunting idea.
Tags: behavioral genetics · Bryan Christie · Defending Jacob · law · science
Mar. 14, 2010
The issue is inequality, not total wealth
“On almost every index of quality of life, or wellness, or deprivation, there is a gradient showing a strong correlation between a country’s level of economic inequality and its social outcomes. … This has nothing to do with total wealth or even the average per-capita income. America is one of the world’s richest nations, with [...]
Mar. 8, 2010
Life Magazine Photos of Boston’s Strangler Days
A trove of remarkable photographs of Boston during the Strangler siege. The photos, which are eerie and beautiful, were taken by Arthur Rickerby for Life Magazine.
Tags: The Strangler
Sep. 18, 2009
Biocriminology
A burgeoning science suggests that crime is caused in part by biological factors, that is, by traits inherited through DNA or by the brain malfunctioning in very specific ways.
Tags: behavioral genetics · Defending Jacob · featured posts · law · science · video
Jul. 10, 2009
Why the Strangler?
A reader suggests that I use this blog to share a little about how my books develop from initial concept to final draft. I’ll try, but readers should understand that a strange sort of apathy descends as soon as a project is finished. When I am writing, I am obsessed with the book being drafted, [...]
Tags: The Strangler
Jun. 12, 2009
The economics of dealing crack
At TED in 2004, Steven Levitt, the University of Chicago economist and co-author of Freakonomics, analyzes the economics of the street-corner crack trade. Contrary to popular belief, the “corner boys” make less than minimum wage — for a job with a higher mortality rate than death row.
Tags: crack · drugs · Steven Levitt · TED talks · video