Crime & Criminal Nonfiction

Against the Death Penalty: Christian and Secular Arguments Against Capital Punishment

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Drawing on Old and New Testament resources as well as secular arguments, Gardner C. Hanks shows that the death penalty harms rather than helps any quest for a just, humane society. He demonstrates through research data that the death penalty is an ineffective crime-fighting tool.

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Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims

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? Are victims of crime destined to have the rest of their lives shaped by the crimes they?ve experienced? (?What happened to the road map for living the rest of my life?? asks a woman whose mother was murdered.)

? Will victims of crime always be bystanders in the justice system? (?We?re having a problem forgiving the judge and the system,? says the father of a young man killed in prison.)

? Is it possible for anyone to transcend such a comprehensively destructive, identity-altering occurrence? (?I thought, I?m going to run until I?m not angry anymore,? expresses a woman who was assaulted.) Howard Zehr presents the portraits and the courageous stories of 39 victims of violent crime in Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims. Many of these people were twice-wounded: once at the hands of an assailant; the second time by the courts, where there is no legal provision for a victim?s participation. ?My hope,? says Zehr, ?is that this book might hand down a rope to others who have experienced such tragedies and traumas, and that it might allow all who read it to live on the healing edge.?

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Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims

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? Are victims of crime destined to have the rest of their lives shaped by the crimes they?ve experienced? (?What happened to the road map for living the rest of my life?? asks a woman whose mother was murdered.)

? Will victims of crime always be bystanders in the justice system? (?We?re having a problem forgiving the judge and the system,? says the father of a young man killed in prison.)

? Is it possible for anyone to transcend such a comprehensively destructive, identity-altering occurrence? (?I thought, I?m going to run until I?m not angry anymore,? expresses a woman who was assaulted.) Howard Zehr presents the portraits and the courageous stories of 39 victims of violent crime in Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims. Many of these people were twice-wounded: once at the hands of an assailant; the second time by the courts, where there is no legal provision for a victim?s participation. ?My hope,? says Zehr, ?is that this book might hand down a rope to others who have experienced such tragedies and traumas, and that it might allow all who read it to live on the healing edge.?

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Coming Out of the Ice: Library Edition

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Edition: MP3, MP3 CD, Blackstone Audiobooks

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Making Good: How Ex-convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives

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Can hardened criminals really reform? "Making Good" provides resounding proof that the answer is yes. This book provides a fascinating narrative analysis of the lives of repeat offenders who, by all statistical measures, should have continued on the criminal path but instead have created lives of productivity and purpose. This examination of the phenomenology of "making good" includes an encyclopedic review of the literature on personal reform as well as a practical guide to the use of narratives in offender counseling and rehabilitation.The author's research shows that criminals who desist from crime have constructed powerful narratives that aided them in making sense of their pasts, finding fulfillment in productive behaviors, and feeling in control of their future. Borrowing from the field of narrative psychology, Maruna argues that to truly understand offenders, we must understand the stories that they tell - and that in turn this story-making process has the capacity to transform lives. "Making Good" challenges some of the cherished assumptions of various therapy models for offenders and supports new paradigms for offender rehabilitation. This groundbreaking book is a must read for criminologists, forensic psychologists, lawyers, rehabilitation counselors, or anyone interested in the generative process of change.

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Games Criminals Play: How You Can Profit by Knowing Them

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Pages: 228, Edition: 1, Hardcover, Rae John Publishers

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Hope Rising: Stories from the Ranch of Rescued Dreams

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Kim Meeder has seen horses go where no one else can tread - stepping through the minefield of a broken child's soul in a dance of trust that only God can understand. From a mistreated horse to an emotionally starved child and back again, a torrent of love washes away their barren places. Kim's ranch is a place where this miracle happens over and over again. It is a place where the impossible flourishes, where dreams survive the inferno of reality - a place where hope rises.

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The Spirit Set Me Free: True Stories of Faith by Prisoners

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Readers of this unique and profoundly moving book will come face to face with the astonishing stories of 55 people who discovered what they most wanted in a place where they least expected to find it--prison. Frederick Hermann has collected the real stories of people convicted of serious (and, in many cases, heinous) crimes. These convicted murderers, thieves, rapists, prostitutes, and drug dealers each discovered--in the darkest pit of despair--a deep and abiding relationship with God so profound that their accounts can serve as a model for transforming our own lives.

In The Spirit Set Me Free, these prisoners, many of whom had been slaves to drugs and alcohol, openly acknowledge the serious crimes they committed and tell of their new, uplifting relationship with Christ. These tormented souls have actually found, in God's grace, a serenity and a purpose that few would have thought possible. One heartbreaking letter was written by a convict just moments before he was executed, crucifix clutched in his hand. Several tell of people who had it all (wealth, fame, and popularity) and were driven to crime through arrogance and a feeling of invulnerability. More tell of people who had lived lives of quiet desperation, falling almost inevitably into a life of crime. Every story is followed by a relevant quote from the Bible and some include inspiring artwork done by the contributors themselves. In all cases, the contributors had fallen into total despair before finding enlightenment and inspiration in God's gift of love.

Taken together, these moving accounts paint a vivid picture of restored pride and self-esteem, renunciation of evil, and a dedication to doing the Lord's work that one would never expect from those on the very bottom rung of our society. These stories will serve as an inspiration to those in similar straits, to their families and loved ones, and to all of us who struggle to find a path toward hope and redemption.

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Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside The Criminal Mind

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The popularity of television shows like NBC's PROFILER and movies such as SILENCE OF THE LAMBS has made the concept of criminal profiling familiar to most Americans. Though such dramas follow the general approach of real-life criminal investigative analysis, Hollywood's artistic license too often simplifies and even sensationalizes the work of those who attempt to unravel the complex workings of the criminal mind. In this compilation of expert articles written by internationally recognized homicide investigators - most of them pioneers in developing the science and the art of profiling - readers gain fascinating insights that could have emerged only after years of experience tracking and analyzing the behavior of some of America's most notorious serial criminals.

In PROFILERS, editors John H. Campbell and Don DeNevi bring together for the first time a collection of articles on important facets of criminal profiling - which, for the most part, have remained a mystery to the general public. The contributors cover many gripping topics - including an interview with cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, details of autoerotic fatalities, the challenges of creating psychological profiles, and the use of forensic linguistics to track the Unabomber 0 and they try to understand why some killers go to such extremes as removing the eyes of their victims or setting their helpless victims ablaze. These contemporary pieces follow and expand upon some original articles on criminal profiling - reports on dealing with hostage situations and on sexual killers who disfigure their bodies.

A must for readers of true crime, forensic investigations, and murder mysteries, this unique collection of revealing articles offers a chilling and unparalleled glimpse into the inner workings of the criminal mind.

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The FBI Killer

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Dirt poor, divorced, the mother of two young children, Susan Daniels Smith, 27, prayed for a hand-some Prince Charming who would take her away from the squalor of her rural Kentucky community to live in romance and luxury. When a good-looking, big city FBI agent named Mark Putnam entered her life, Susan thought her prayers had been answered. She was dead wrong. Their relationship began when Susan agreed to be Putnam's paid informant in an investigation of her ex-husband's criminal friends, then quickly grew into an illicit affair that consumed their lives for nearly two years - until she became pregnant and threatened to expose Putnam, ruining his career and his marriage. On June 8, 1989, Putnam took her for a drive into the hills to discuss her demands of marriage. She was never heard from again.

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