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Forensic science––the preparation of scientific evidence to be presented in court––is an increasingly valuable aspect of the investigation of crime. Although rare commentaries on the subject date back many centuries, it is only over the last 200 years that a systematic approach has been made––an approach that has accelerated rapidly in the past half-century. The detection and analysis of poisons was the first forensic technique to be developed...
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Across the globe, government intelligence agencies play a vital role in protecting nations from external and internal threats, such as terrorism, espionage, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Intelligence agencies can warn governments of impending crises, offer advance knowledge of long-term dangers, and safeguard public security against the threats from terrorists, drug traffickers, and international arms dealers. As necessary during...
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Contemporary crime is a complex topic covering everything from hate crime, industrial espionage, and murder to drug trafficking, international terrorism, and domestic violence. A crime is any action that has been deemed illegal and is punishable by law. Specific laws have been put in place by towns and cities, states, and countries to dissuade people from committing criminal acts. Although crime is easily recognizable, the finer points of law can...
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No nation in history has valued individual freedom more highly than the United States of America. Its people's right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is enshrined in the Constitution. But even the most free, democratic society cannot allow its members to do entirely as they want. Every civilization has had its code of values, its system of laws––and each has defended that system by punishing wrongdoers. America has led the world...
5) Cyber crime
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A new and terrifying dimension of the electronic age, cyber crime is flourishing with no regard for national boundaries. This constantly evolving global phenomenon leaves law enforcement struggling to catch up. The culture of the Internet has led young people to idolize computer hackers and sometimes commit criminal acts. The motive of virus writers varies and organized crime has even gotten in on the action. The largely unchecked spread of cyber...
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The U.S. prison system is the largest and most innovative in the world. It boasts some of the most technologically advanced prisons in existence, meeting the highest standards in security. Inside these vast, specialized structures, containing thousands of inmates, highly trained corrections officers use technology to anticipate outbreaks of violence and to prevent riots and escape attempts. The tightly regulated prison system relies on many professionals....
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Criminal trials become famous for a variety of reasons. In the 1920s the Sacco and Vanzetti trial and execution prompted demonstrations and violent riots around the globe and divided opinion in the U.S. The kidnapping of the son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh in the 1930s similarly caused outrage and horror and led to the passing of the Federal Kidnapping Act. As for the trials of Dr. Sam Sheppard in the 1950s, it was the weakness of his alibi...
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Domestic crime affects more people than any other type of crime––whether it be violence in the home (both physical and psychological) or damage to property. The criminal behaviors that police and criminologists classify as domestic crime include men turning on their families and lovers; women taking revenge on former partners; a neighbor who becomes a deadly, threatening menace; a child abused to death. The high incidence of crime committed in...
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The systematic killing of a succession of victims, often over a period of many years, is not a modern phenomenon, but it has increased alarmingly over the past 50 years, particularly in the United States. These psychopathic individuals derive pleasure-most frequently sexual-by abducting and murdering innocent victims. The publicity these cases often stir up has law enforcement concerned that a growing number of incidents are "copy cat" crimes. This...
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Violence in the news makes us all more security conscious, but criminal activity is nothing new. The threat may seem greater, but being alert and prepared remains the best defense. Burglars tend to go for easy targets. You can make your property, if not impregnable, at least very hard to get into. Dangerous new threats, such as home invasion and carjacking, call for new rules for the whole family. Confidence tricks have always come in an amazing variety...
11) Global Terrorism
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The spread of terrorism is perhaps the greatest threat facing the world today. Attacks have occurred in growing numbers during the past fifty years. The destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, and the simultaneous attack on the Pentagon, on September 11, 2001, awakened the attention of the United States to the threat posed to civilian populations throughout the world. Terrorism first assumed an international dimension in 1964 with the establishment...
12) Hate Crimes
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"Hate crime" is a modern name for a criminal act committed purely out of hostility towards certain people, groups, or organizations. Such crimes are motivated by racial, sexual, political, or other prejudice and typically involve violence. We tend to categorize crime as something for money or possessions, but hate crimes involve emotions. This makes the perpetrators especially dangerous, because any member of a targeted group can become a victim....
13) Unsolved Crimes
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Despite the tireless work of crime investigators, and the wealth of modern forensic techniques available to them, a disturbing number of crimes remain unsolved. This book explores some of the most famous open cases. Jimmy Hoffa, president of the Teamster's Union, disappeared in 1975. Although a number of suspects have been named and the influence of the Mob alleged, no one has ever been charged with his murder, and his body has never been found. The...
14) Race and Crime
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America has long prided itself as a country where people of different races and cultures came together to form a new nationality. "Races didn't bother the Americans," U.S. poet Archibald MacLeish wrote. "They were the first self-constituted, self-created people in the history of the world." Unfortunately, the idea of the harmonious "melting pot" has not always matched the reality in this country. Race crimes, like other forms of criminal behavior,...
15) The War on Drugs
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No greater threat faces America today than that posed by illicit drugs––and this despite the well-publicized menace of international terrorism. Rather than destroy us from the outside, the war on drugs corrodes society from within. In many of our cities, drugs have transformed whole neighborhoods into lost places of criminality and despair. In order to assure a final victory, we must understand the complexity of the challenge. Each drug has a...
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The United States justice system was created when the Constitution was adopted in 1787. The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation, which gave most of the power to individual states. The Constitution created a strong federal government to bring the states together to work for the good of the nation while balancing their rights to independence and autonomy. Our government's three branches-executive, legislative, and judicial-were designed...
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Capital punishment––the ultimate penalty––is one of the most controversial aspects of America's criminal justice system. Its inclusion in the U.S. constitution sparks heated debate with opponents claiming that it is incompatible with the principles on which the world's greatest democracy stands. Although the death penalty has been around for thousands of years, modern America has changed it in fundamental ways. These days no criminal is put...
18) Organized Crime
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Organized crime is a global phenomenon. From Sicily came the Mafia; Japan spawned and then exported the Yakuza, as China did its Triads, and post-Soviet Russia saw the birth and rapid escalation of its very own Mafiya. These criminal fraternities differ from common criminal gangs in that they operate much like legitimate business corporations, highly efficient and massively profitable, with a definite hierarchical structure. There was a time when...
19) Infamous Prisons
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All famous prisons have special features, stories of dramatic riots, exciting escapes, and heartrending stories lurking behind their dark walls. Alcatraz, perched dramatically on a rock in San Francisco Bay was supposedly "escape-proof" and yet several deadly prisoners broke free. New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility became notorious for the 614 men and women executed in the electric chair. The English prison, Dartmoor, had menacing mists and...
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However repugnant, torture has been practiced, either publicly approved or clandestinely, for thousands of years. From the rack to electrodes, from witch- hunts to the Inquisition to a post-colonial world, torture is something we have always lived with.
The History of Torture tells the complete story, from the ancient world to the present day, from physical cruelty to mental torment. The rack may be thought of as something medieval, but was first...
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