The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice

The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice by Jennifer Doleac

We are wasting a lot of time and money with criminal justice policies that don't work. Meanwhile, cheap solutions are staring us in the face and not being followed. The author is an equal opportunity critic, with many favorite right wing and left wing policies criticized. Mostly using natural experiments, she studies various measures and finds those that work and those that don't work. Most of the results seem counter-intuitive, such as the fact that children of incarcerated parents tend to be better off than children in similar situations where the parent is not incarcerated.

Left wing policies to help those stuck in the crime cycle often do not help. Baning the job application "checkbox" for crimianl convications makes it harder for ex-cons to find jobs, especially if they are black. Heavy wrap-around programs on release result in higher recidivism rates. Being "soft on crime" doesn't help the criminal or society. Right wing policies like broken-windows policing and strict monitoring and cutting off food stamp eligibility for food stamps hurt.

What helps? Letting first time offenders off easy does not disrupt their lives and results in fewer repeat offenses. Going through the process of getting arrested is often enough of a negative experience. Adding everyone to a DNA database, even after the most minor offenses also reduces the likelihood of future crimes. Electronic monitoring instead of more time in jail helps. Giving criminals more money when released and keeping them eligible for social welfare programs works. Requiring sobriety checks to maintain release encourages treatment programs.

In general, we should have consequences for criminal activity. These should be expected and consistent. They should also only escalate with repeat offenses. Prison is a huge disruption for people's lives and should be used only when needed. Very focussed efforts should be made to reintroduce them to society. On release, it is best to fully integrate in society, separate from other former prisoners. Don't try to solve all problems at once.

The proposed solutions tend to anger those vested in certain schemes. Is this a case of those benefiting from the status quo wanting to keep their funding rather than do what is best society? 

Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City

Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City by Bench Ansfield

Government and industry attempted to end redlining, but instead created a moral hazard that lead to apartment destruction. Special "high risk" insurance pools were available for landlords with few questions asked. If the apartment burned down, they could pocket the money and stop worrying about the headache of maintaining the building. Arsons were rarely investigated, and eve when they were it was assumed that the low-income tenants were behind them. (Though this did not stand up well in comparison to public housing where there were no arsons.) According to the author, the landlord would often hire arsonists to burn down the buildings.

The book ended with communities fighting back against arson and then gentrification. The author did identify the root cause of "unintended consequences" leading to destruction. However, they didn't quite draw it back far enough. Why was it more valuable to burn down buildings? Were there other regulations (such as rent control or tenants rights) that made the buildings less profitable? Did the end of redlining actually make things worse? If gentrification is bad, does that mean people want to live in slums? Should we let neighborhoods get better and worse?

The Inmate

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

This story is told from the present, with a corresponding narrative of the past. A young adult with a 10-year-old son is returning to her childhood home to live in her parent's house and work as a nurse in a nearby prison. She had got pregnant by her boyfriend when she was in high school. Later her boyfriend was convicted of murder for killing her friends and trying to kill her. This boyfriend is staying at the prison. She gets to know him and also reaquants with another childhood friend who is now an assistant principal. There are a number of twists and turns with some false imprisonment, additional murders and then the true murderer coming in place. She learns that it would have paid to actually listen to people instead of thinking she knows what is right. There were also some extreme messed up families in that small town. (Maybe even some incest?)

Love and Madness

Love and Madness by Herbert Croft

I was not feeling it for this book. It was primarily about a murder, but the part that stuck most was talk about a forgery. Somebody was seemingly a great forger. But his forgeries showed significant skill that indicated he may be quite talented as himself. It also provided an identification that he was murdered and did not take his own life. If he had been forging, he could have just made new documents when he ran into financial challenges rather than commit suicide. There are many "letters" that are provided before and after this that tell the story in this book.

The Demon Next Door

The Demon Next Door by Bryan Burrough

A teenage Danny Corwin in Temple, Texas committed a couple rapes, including one in 1975 where he kidnapped the girl and stabbed her. However, his family had important connections in the town through the First Presbyterian Church. There were key figures in the school administration as well as media in the congregation. The family was fairly respected and the teenager seemed upstanding and always worked to please adults. Rather than support the girl, the people accused her of being a whore. (The details of her wounds were not well known to the public.) The girl was reluctant to testify for fear of being disparaged. Corwin entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 40 years.

In prison he was a model inmate and was released after 9 years. He got a job, enrolled in Texas A&M and was in a relationship with a girl that had visited him in prison. However, things began to unravel. The girl broke up with him. He flunked out of school (but still pretended to attend classes.) Then he got the rape and murder bug. He killed three women, including a mom who was at the car wash with her young daughter. Despite many tips, he was not traced to any of those murders. Then he carjacked a girl at the Texas A&M parking lot and took her to under-construction Lick Creek park to rape her and slit her throat. She played dead until he left. Then he wandered up to the street where she was found and received medical help. She could not talk, but a police artist was able to create a drawing of Danny by communicating with her. He was then found and linked to the crime via fingerprints and later confessed to the other crimes. He was eventually sentenced to death.

The book is a short audiobook only release that has sufficient details to place things well in the locations. The perpetrator did appear to have mental illness that was well hidden. What would have been the best way to prevent future problems?

News For Dogs

News For Dogs by Lois Duncan

This sequel to Hotel for Dogs was written a few decades after the original. It has the kids and dogs progressing just a few months after the previous book, but is now set in more modern times with technology such as cell phones. The kids decide to create a newspaper about dogs. They find that the gossip attracts the most attention and sales. However, they do take things to far. They also "doctor" some items (such as making a meat loaf recipe more 'dog appropriate') They get in trouble for some of these actions. Their parents make them shut down the paper. Then they discover that dogs are being kidnapped and the owners are asked to leave ransom in library books. With their aunt they trace the perpetrators of the crime. The bully's cousin, who appears so nice on the surface,  is in town doing community service at the library to atone for previous fraud crimes. They use detective work to find the dogs and capture the bullies. The author of the book is known for crime books and has combined that interest with this late-career Hotel For Dogs sequel. It is engaging, though I cringed at some of the stupid things the kids did with their paper.

Let's Not Do That Again: A Novel

Let's Not Do That Again: A Novel by Grant Ginder

The son of a liberal politician is glad to be a university professor that no longer has to work on his mother's campaign. However, his mother still asks him to fix things. In this case, his sister is off in France participating in far-right protests. He ends up in France to bring her home. She finally agrees. However, this ends up being part of a plot from her far-right boyfriend. They want to record her mother saying something offensive to ruin her campaign. The daughter finally gets mom to do it. Then later, she comes to respect her mother and decides to ditch the boyfriend. The boyfriend had dreams of Fox News fame, so he doesn't take no for an answer, and tries to take her phone. With no other options, she impales him with a sword instantly killing him. They then go through the process of hiding the body, and the mom goes on to win the election. Five years later they have still not been caught. The politician in this novel has a real skeleton in her closet (or in this case, the trash chute.) How much else are our politicians hiding today?

Stars and Smoke

Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

This is one of the better books by Marie Lu. Winter Young is a huge Chinese-American pop star. He gets recruited by the Panacea group to help bring down a crime boss, Eli Morrison. The Panacea group takes the jobs that the CIA can't take, and has been after Morrison for years. Now they think they can infiltrate by having Young play a concert at Morrison's daughter's birthday party. Young is reluctant at first. However, he later learns that his deceased brother, who he thought was doing peace corps missions was actually working for the Panacea group. He is teamed with agent Sydney Cossette who poses as his bodyguard. Of course there is some chemistry between them. There is also some with Young and the crime boss's daughter. Young notices there is some "fake" behavior going on with her and her relationships. He then gets shot and discovers that the daughter is behind a scheme involving the death of her father and taking over the money from the empire. In the end he goes back to his pop star world and Sydney gets a promotion. In an epilogue they meet up again - and it seems a new mission is in the works. The book moves quickly and does not get bogged down with two much world building or romance.

Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House

Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House by Rachel Maddow

Spiro Agnew had to resign the Vice Presidency due to a bribery scandal. However, his story has become nothing more than the answer to a trivia question due to Nixon's Watergate downfall a few months later. The irony was that Agnew was the more serious crook. He was receiving envelopes of money in return for Maryland government contracts. These bribes continued even when he was in the white house. He used this to help sustain a lifestyle beyond his means. Nixon downfall, on the other hand, was caused primarily by actions to cover up the bad activities of those around him.

In this book, Agnew is portrayed as somebody that would make Trump look like an upstanding citizen. He was tapped as Nixon's VP to help get the vote of racist southerners. He did not have a huge amount of political experience and was willing to speak his mind in any uncouth manner. He was not in Nixon's inner circle, and not much involved in the administration. He was caught up in a Maryland bribery investigation. Initially the administration tried to call off the investigation. Agnew's camp went on the offensive and tried to attack the press and Department of Justice leakers. He also tried to use the constitution to prevent an investigation while he was a sitting VP. Eventually, it became too much. He pleaded no contest, though continued to maintain his innocence.

Was Agnew the prototype for Trump? I wonder if a lot could be traced back to Nixon's TV debate with Kennedy. Had Nixon become too paranoid after losing the election due to bad TV performance? He surrounded himself with many people for the purpose of getting elected rather than actually governing. Agnew was one of those "bad decisions."

What Is a Hate Crime?

What Is a Hate Crime? by Roman Espejo

This book has a series of essays on hate crimes, mostly structured in pairs of opposing views. A lot has changed in the two decades since this was written. The concept of hate crimes has become much more widely accepted. However, the underlying concerns still exist. It is almost as if we have got the worst of both of worlds. "Hate" has become an arbitrary option to apply to crimes that continues to be il-defined. After all, just about every major crime has involved some hate. The concept of "hate speech" has become even more convoluted and arbitrary. Can we regulate speech, yet still have free speech?

Mona Lisa Vanishes

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day

A century ago, a man walked out of the Louvre with the Mona Lisa. He had previously done contract work at the museum, and had simply hid in the museum after it closed and walked out with the painting. However, people didn't know that. They theorized all sorts of elaborate criminal operations (influenced by popular culture.) Many suspected an art thief (who was alas dead.) American collectors seemed to be likely purchaser. Alas it was much more mundane. The worker held onto it for a while. Then he tried to repatriate to Italy. It eventually made it back to Paris. The Mona Lisa ended up benefiting as the heist made the painting much more famous. The book concisely explores the history of the painting and the crime and the culture that lead to the societal response.

Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency

Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency rose as a means of making financial transactions in anonymity. Criminals have used bitcoin as the currency of choice for illicit transactions. However, the record is on the blockchain. People have been able to analyze the blockchain to help identify the transactions. This has lead to further attempts to anonymize transactions, which has lead to further attempt to trace.

This book follows a few major "busts" of dark web marketplaces and the people that have helped identify activity on the blockchain. Some of the identification was based on concepts from the initial blockchain whitepaper. Others remain "proprietary". There are a number of mathematical and problem solving skills needed to identify transactions. Leads and lucky breaks can also be helpful. Researchers will also set up accounts and transfer money within various exchanges to see how they record transactions. They have even attempted to create their own blockchain recorders to get details. (Though this has also backfired when it has gone wrong.) Often they can identify a mistaken leak of information in the online profile (such as the one time they accidentally sign with a true name, or forget to pass their IP through an anonymizer.)

The bulk of the  novel covers the "busts" of various criminals. There were some government figures that had stolen from the bitcoin markets they had infiltrated. Then there were attempts to crack down on the dark web marketplaces like Silk Road. The government used various mechanisms to tie the players to the marketplace. They also tried to track down missing bitcoin from other exchanges. This proved valuable in taking down other parts of the dark web. Even the most careful hackers had an occasional slip up. There were busts in the Netherlands and Thailand, with the Europeans operating a dark web marketplace for a few weeks and thus busting a number of individuals (and scaring many others.) Russians are among the most difficult to trace due to their government not cooperating. 

In addition to tracking the hackers, the blocktrain tracing has been used to trace users of blockchain. A child-abuse ring based on a South Korean's computer was brought down via transaction tracing. 

The hackers continue to fight back. There are more secure means of making block chain transactions. However, these have added expense (in time and money.) What will be the result of the blockchain arms race?

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

Loo grew up with her father. She always seemed to be moving around. She was not sure exactly what her father did, but they did not seem to get along well with other people. Later, through a series of flashbacks and forward activities, we learn more about Loo and her father. He is involved in criminal activity. He is often on the run from his other partners in crime. They try to settle down in the town where Loo's grandma lives, but that becomes challenging. Loo's mom had died before trying to rescue her (after being shot.) Loo discovers the criminal behavior of her dad, and they bond through different actions (both "violent" and "white collar") There is an interesting family dynamic in the book. They love each other. Crime is not something they love, but they are stuck continuing to be involved.

Dark One: Forgotten

Forgotten is told in the podcast format. It works great as an audiobook. (It is currently an audiobook only release - I only added some of the narrators to the tags) An NYU student tries to trace the case of a forgotten virtuoso musician that everybody forgot about. Even her own mother can't remember her. As they dig into the case, the discover other artists that have died in LA and been totally forgotten. Eventually they discover the killer and music box of forgetting. Alas, they become forgotten also, yet not dead. This actually gives them special abilities. (What could you do if people would not recall your existence as soon as you left their sight?) 

Last Winter, We Parted

A man is in prison for murder. A writer talks to him to try to uncover the story. In the process, he learns that there is much more to the story. The man is a photographer who set fire to his model and took pictures of her in flames. This may be to get a great picture, but the pictures were not that impressive. There is also plenty of conversation about photography and interesting relationships with people. The conclusion is even more unexpected.

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks

The author of Rogues uses a fairly exhaustive definition of the the word to lump together a dozen vignettes of (in)famous characters. There is the story of the Mexican druglord "El Chapo" as well as celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. A section covering the Boston Marathon bomber focusses more on his defense attorney. She has worked tirelessly to get life sentence instead of the death penalty. 

The book leads off with a story of wine fraud. The fight to uncover the fraud is more interesting than the fraud itself. Many collectors accumulate wine without intention of drinking it. They may never realize they have been duped. Transactions often take place in private limiting the detailed oversight. There is also the matter of taste. People may prefer the cheap wine to the expensive stuff. Identifying fraud requires digging into the history of engraving, nuclear particles and more.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition

The war on drugs has led to the mass incarceration of poor blacks (especially men). This has happened in spite of drug use being fairly similar across races. The author presents this as a new means of segregation. Rather than being explicit, racism is often hidden in behind other seemingly well-meaning activities. Being tough on drug use sounds good. However, police and prosecutors have discretion, and would often use it to go after poor minorities, rather than well-to-do whites. Tough on crime laws, such as forfeiture and minimum sentences would critically harm those least able to defend themselves. Even a plea bargain could lead to a criminal record which hurts job prospects and possibility of government assistance.

The book paints a very bleak picture. The country has gone through multiple attempts at racial equality. Each one seems to have resulted in different means of underhanded ways to keep races separate. The author ends by saying that we still need to acknowledge race and not try to be colorblind. However, we also need to avoid an us vs. them to have everybody together. Blacks were put down to help the poorest whites. Improved race relations requires everyone to come up together.

The book had some good points, but is very repetitive. Things have changed since it was written. (Though perhaps that is me. I tend to think of a drug addict as a white guy, while author cited that most people pictured them as black.) Defund the police movements have come, but have not really addressed the problem. Ironically, there is great pushback in regulations that would be very colorblind. (For example, red light cameras.) Piecing back together communities that have been ripped apart by past actions is not a simple process. It requires hard work on all sides. Merely throwing money at problems will not provide solutions. We also need to be careful that the next "fix" doesn't result in a worse negative outcome. The end of redlining resulted in restrictive zoning. School integration caused a mass exodus to the suburbs. While forcing racial harmony has not worked, nudging can continue to help.

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

Kevin Mitnick's story is a riveting, can't put down read. You just know he will manage to work himself out of a difficult situation (until he doesn't.) The book moves quickly, yet provides plenty of details. I could easily relate to some locations (such as those in Seattle) as well as different times and events.

Mitnick started out learning more and more about phone technology. He got a HAM radio license at a young age. He learned various special "codes" for getting free calls and doing other things within the phone lines. His primary method of gaining knowledge was through social engineering. He would often exude confidence and get somebody to give him information or access he was looking for. He had used this to learn more about the phone company and later computer systems.

Eventually his snooping caught up with him. He was imprisoned as s juvenile. There was a great deal of exaggeration and  trumped up charges. (Cybercrime was something new and the authorities just didn't know how to proceed.) After being free, he led a relatively normal life until things caught up with him again. He had suspicion of a hacking friend he met. He used his skills to learn more information and learned that he was going to be busted. He fled, used social engineering to obtain fake identities and tried working regular jobs. On the side, he led a sport of obtaining source code for major operating systems. He had a mobile phone that he could change at will as well as many other tricks of the trade. Eventually he was caught jailed and then set free.

It is interesting what has changed as well as remained the same. A lot of the information that he had gone through great trouble to obtain is now available online. Phone companies are pretty much "old news". There are probably still plenty of the hacks that can be done, but it is also easy to just grab a bunch of burner phones. Phone and internet usage is also so cheap that a lot of the free calling features are not worth the effort. (I do remember having a friend get "busted" after using some codes to get free long distance dial-up back in the days when a 9600 bps modem was blazing fast.)

Social Engineering and hacking is become even more powerful today. People are trusting. At one company, I called the helpdesk from home and had no problem getting a password reset. Social engineering is often the lead entry point for many attacks today. We continue to be just as vulnerable as we were in the past - despite more knowledge of attacks. Unfortunately there are also a large number of malicious players out there, making the scope of damage worse. How can we manage a society that relies on trust without letting the bad players ruin it?

A Clockwork Orange

While reading A Clockwork Orange, some terms like "ultraviolence" sounded familiar. After reading it, I discovered I had read it a decade ago. I didn't remember many of the plot details from then. And even when reading it now, much of the details escaped me. A quick summary: a teenager and his friends dress fashionably, love music and commit heinous crimes. The government tries to reform him through some treatment. He is repulsed by crime. However, he is still subjected to it. People don't believe he is reformed. He tries to commit suicide. He fails. However, he does significantly injure himself. He is "cured" and now has the ability to commit acts of violence. He tries to go hang out with the old gang. However, he realizes that he just doesn't like it as much anymore. He has "grown up" and longs for a more peaceful life.

In the intro, Burgess complains that he is upset with the novel. It is by far his most famous, yet it was written quickly and does not represent his writing. The final chapter was removed from the US edition, violating the symmetry and changing the outcome. (Without the last chapter, the narrator is just an unchanged criminal.) However, Burgess appeared resigned to this. The audiobook concluded with him reading the first chapters.

Burgess was a linguist and the book shows it. Much of the novel consists of a made-up slang. Many of the words are repeated enough to enable understanding the meaning without a glossary. This helps the depravity seem a little more distant while giving the novel some otherworldliness. The narrator also has a strong attachment to classical music. (Burgess was an accomplished musician.) The classical music is strongly linked to violence in the book. The narrator suffers when he hears music while "controlled". He is relieved afterwards to finally be able to appreciate the classics. It is an interesting combination of art and violence. The result of the mind control remains ambiguous. The narrator really did change on his own afterward. Did he need to have change forced upon him first? Or would he have changed on his own?

The Big Sleep: Philip Marlowe, Book 1

The Big Sleep is a "mystery" book that is more concerned with the process than the conclusion. The detective is brought in to do some work for the "General".  In the process of investigating some blackmail, he uncovers multiple murders and many other crime operations. He is the principled, loyal detective who is going to get the job done for his small fee. He has little faith in the police solving crimes. He also freely navigates the underbelly of society without actively being part of it. While he does uncover various crimes, those were not the subject of his investigation, so he feels he has not earned his commission. It is a true "smarter than life detective" and an interesting portrayal of old Los Angeles.