Category crime and punishment
Arrest of the Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist Brings Sacramento Serial Killers Back in Focus
The morning of April 25, 2018 marked the end of a decades long search for one of California’s most prolific and violent serial criminals. Joseph James DeAngelo, Jr. was arrested at his home in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. DeAngelo’s alleged crimes earned the title of the The East Area Rapist, The Original Night […]
Prison Facts: A Lethal First
Recently, at the Left Coast Crime convention in Reno, I held a round of Nevada-centered prison trivia. Prison lore and operation play a role in my books, particularly in the most recent, Bury The Past. Folks seem to enjoy finding out if they have what it takes to survive behind the walls. One of the […]
Spiraling Prison Costs
It’s no great state secret that maintaining a prison system is expensive. Since California has the largest prison system in the nation, it should also be no surprise that it is the most costly. The official state budget for the operation of the California prison system is teetering on $12 Billion annually–nearly $2 Billion more […]
When FBI Serial Killer Profiles Don’t Work
Serial killers are in the news again because of the long-awaited demise of Charles Manson and the November 29th arrest of Howell Emmanuel Donaldson III, the 24-year-old man accused of four murders in the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. The Donaldson arrest came after a 51-day manhunt for the South Florida killer. The McDonald’s […]
Pot Crimes
My home state of California recently adopted a new state herb–Marijuana. Reactions to the new pot legalization laws were mixed, from joyous, bud-loving hippies to fearful, the end-of-days are upon us, evangelicals. Me–for the most part, I don’t care. The medicinal marijuana crowd touts the benefits of the stuff as a cure all for whatever […]
Bedrock – The Violence Control Unit
From the outside, the goings on in prison are invisible. If you live close enough to one, you might catch a glimpse of concrete walls and high mast yard lighting. If the wind is just right, you could hear the shrill buzz of an alarm in the distance. For most people, that’s the only thought–a […]
Travel Roulette
With a few open days on the calendar before the upcoming book launch, I took my son up on an offer for a quick trip to Las Vegas. You can’t beat the people watching in this town. The spectacle begins when you step off the airplane into 115 degree heat. That ant under the magnifying […]
Getting Your Hands Dirty–Prison Reform
You hear the expression all the time–“Getting your hands dirty.” A yuppie call to get in the trenches and act like you’re doing the work, just like the common folk. It’s a trite little phrase used frequently by the likes of Martha Stewart, political figures, and CEO’s who haven’t looked at an assembly line since […]
James L'Etoile 