There’s a quota system in place for attorneys working in the office of U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien in Los Angeles. As reported in an articlein the L.A. Times, O’Brien says: “This office does not and never will have quotas for its criminal prosecutors…. To suggest that any attorney in this office must charge a certain number of defendants each…
First Amazon reader review
A round of applause for Generic Guy. I’m glad you liked my book. Thank you.
Read my book?
Then write a review for Amazon. There are still no reader reviews. Especially if you’ve already told mehow much you liked my book… tell the world… in that 5-star-review kind of way. No Amazon reader reviews makes me think of that B.B. King line: “Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin’ too.”
In the Economist
I’m quoted prominently in an excellent article about Baltimore in the current Economist. But it’s a real shame he didn’t plug my book (Cop in the Hood). Or my school (John Jay College of Criminal Justice). But it is still a very good article. A big problem for the police (and more so for respectable ghetto residents) is the unfortunate…
Lies, damned lies, and DEA statistics
The DEA and other prohibitionists have a long history of lying about drug facts. In the past, they’ve claimed that the Netherlands drug policy was a “disaster,” despite all statistics to the contrary (especially compared to the United States). Here’s the latest. The DEA claims that a ballet measure softening enforcement of low-level marijuana crimes in Colorado is leading to…
Officer shot in daylight gunbattle
Wild gun battles in Baltimore are unfortunately nothing new. But this time an officer almost died.
Bright light! Bright light!
Bright lights don’t reduce crime. Goodlighting might. Too often people reflexively think that the brighter the street light, the safer the streets. I don’t buy it. Lighting sets the tone. Street lighting is no different. If you light the streets well at night (not just bright, but well), people will go out and, without even knowing it, help keep things…
Drug prohibition kills 220 in Juárez…
…and that’s in the first 3 months of this year. And about a dozen of those are police officers. Enough! Here’s the New York Timesstory.
The raw excitment of criminal-justice
I was interviewed tonight by a good writer from a prominent local magazine. I ate and drank very well, thank you very much. It was a nice chat. Toward the end, I was asked a softball question and couldn’t really make contact. “What’s the most exciting thing happening right now in the criminal justice field right?” I couldn’t really think…
Tar and feathers?
One of my fears is that my book won’t be well received by my cop friends in Baltimore. I’m proud of the book. And I think it’s pro-police because it shows the shit we had to deal with. Good workers in a bad system. But I’m always been afraid that cops wouldn’t like it because it’s not 100% pro-police. I…