I’m sure that just like me, you all are browsing the latest issue of Sociological Forum, the quarterly publication of the Eastern Sociological Society. Hmmm, here’s an article called “Anomie Among European Adolescents: Conceptual and Empirical Clarification of a Multilevel Sociological Concept.” The “results lend strong support to the theoretical construct of anomie as exteriority…
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There’s a one-day conference on Safe Injection Facilities (a legal place where addicts can shoot up) at John Jay College on May 22, 2009. The conference organizer is looking for somebody to provide a law enforcement perspective. Any police out there interested in talking about what police officers think about such programs? Email Rick Curtis.…
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It surprises a lot of people to find out that fewer and fewer police officers are killed on duty than in the past. I guess it counters the natural inclination to assume that the world is going to hell and violence is out of control and kids these days… have you seen what they’re wearing?…
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The court just ruled that police can no longer search a car incident to arrest… assuming the car isn’t within reach of the arrested person and there is no reason to suspect that the car contains evidence related to the arrest. Since New York v. Belton(1981), police have assumed that they can search a car…
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The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: “New Orleans breeds bold killers: half of murders occur in daytime.” Duh. Three ace reporters have bylines on this story. Didn’t it occur to one of them to compare their stats with other cities? They report: “About half of last year’s 179 murders in New Orleans occurred in daylight,” which…
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I enjoyed attending “New Directions for New York: A Public Health & Safety Approach to Drug Policy” sponsored at the New York Academy of Medicine and the Drug Policy Alliance. I was speaking on the Harm Reduction – Coordinating Strategies panel. Unfortunately, because I broke one of my rules and wrote on the back side…
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[Fair warning: Intended for stuffy academics. If you think you won’t be interested, you’re probably right.] I received the latest issue of Journal of Criminal Justice Educationyesterday. I have to confess, I’m not certain why I get this journal. I don’t remember ever subscribing to it. Of the journals I get, it’s the one I…
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If you’re a published author, maybe you check Amazon.com sales rank (gosh, of course *I* never do). You can read this, this, or this. My book topped out at 500 (that’s pretty good) and is currently hovering around 15,000 [update: 50,000]. That means there are 14,999 books selling better than Cop in the Hoodat Amazon.com.…
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I got my first annual royalty check from the good people at Princeton University Press. Not that you asked, but it was for $983.98. In other words, if you’re thinking of becoming a writer, don’t quit your day job. But it is $983 more than I had yesterday. It also means I’ve paid off my…
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Back in January, the Baltimore City Paper published a good simple analysis of homicide numbers in 2007. I was just looking at it again. As we all know, violence is not equally spread out in society. It may not be politically correct to talk about race and violence, but homicide in America is disproportionately a…
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