Ask any crime writer who’s their favorite crime writer and they’ll probably tell you George Pelecanos. Stephen King said Pelecanos is “perhaps America’s greatest living crime writer.” Esquire called him “the poet laureate of D.C. crime fiction.” I love his stories because they are startlingly real and they take on the toughest issues without flinching. (My favorite is “Drama City,” because I like the complicated female probation officer protagonist.)

With SVU on hiatus, we’ve all been jonesing for some good crime fiction. Luckily, Pelecanos’ latest book – The Cut – is coming out today, amidst a flurry of rave reviews. It’s about an Iraqi war vet who finds stolen property, no questions asked.  His cut of the profits is 40%. I can’t wait to get my copy. If you haven’t tried Pelecanos yet, get to it. You’ll be glad you did.

Check out my analysis on the PBS NewsHour.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

After centuries of older men dumping their older wives in favor of newer, sleeker models, I cheered the “cougar” phenomenon when it hit the national consciousness a few years ago. Thanks, Demi. But now it seems there’s a dark underside. Lately, the news has been abuzz with stories of accomplished older women being killed by their dashing younger husbands or boyfriends.  [Read more…]

An Israeli company claims to have invented a device that can detect date-rape drugs in drinks. The device looks like a regular cocktail stirrer, but it is supposed to light up when placed in a drink that contains GHB, rohypnol (aka “roofies”) or ketamine.

If this is true, it would be a benefit to clubbers – but it also raises some red flags. The stirrers might give women a false sense of security. If she plops the stick it in her drink and it doesn’t light up, everything must be fine, right? Nope.

To begin, the device only tests for three substances. While GHB, rohypnol and ketamine are the major pharmaceuticals used in substance-facilitated date rapes, there are hundreds of other drugs that can be used for the same purpose – and new drugs are being invented by would-be rapists every day. Just because the stick doesn’t light up doesn’t mean someone hasn’t slipped something into your drink.

Second, we’ll have to wait and see how effective these sticks really are. [Read more…]

The scandal occasioned by Congressman Anthony Weiner tweeting nude pictures of himself has caused terrible heartbreak for the politician’s pretty wife, the Representative himself, and the Democratic party in general.  At least local gyms are benefiting from it.  I had to giggle at this poster in the Washington Sports Club:

I’ll be back with a full blog next week.  Right now, I’m on vacation in Bethany Beach.  I wish I could tell you I’m enjoying a week of sand and sun, but I’m actually in a coffee shop every day, trying to knock out the last pages of my next novel (the sequel to Law of Attraction) ahead of a tight deadline.  Wish me luck!

As a former sex-crimes prosecutor who is also the mother of two small children, I struggle to be a laid-back parent. I want my kids to grow up thinking the world is generally a good place. I don’t want to frighten them with dire warnings. On the other hand, I’ve seen the terrible things that people do to each other. I worry.

I can usually strike a reasonable balance between caution and chilling out. But July was a hard month.

First, there was the death of little Leiby Kletzky. On July 11th, the parents of the eight-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy allowed him to walk home alone from day camp for the first time. It was only seven blocks, and they’d practiced with a dry run. But Leiby got lost in his close-knit Brooklyn neighborhood and asked a stranger for directions. That stranger took the child home, killed him, and dismembered him, police say. Most of Leiby’s body was found in a dumpster. His feet were found in the man’s freezer.

Then there was the attempted kidnapping, on July 15th, of the two-year-old boy from a Best Buy – while his father watched. The child was playing by the shopping carts when a 23-year-old stranger, high on PCP, grabbed him and ran. The father chased frantically, and the would-be kidnapper threw the toddler into a glass door with such force that it caused a web of cracks, say police.

Finally, Jaycee Dugard released her book, “A Stolen Life,” in mid-July. It is an amazing book, written simply and compellingly by Jaycee herself. You know the story: when she was eleven years old, Jaycee walked to her school bus stop. A convicted sex offender, Joseph Garrido, drove up, tazed her with a stun-gun, snatched her and drove away. His wife helped. Garrido handcuffed the girl in a backyard shed and repeatedly raped her. She eventually bore two baby daughters by him. After 18 years in captivity, she was found, along with her now-adolescent daughters.

The most stunning part of the story to me is that Garrido was on probation for his earlier rape, and was being supervised by the feds the whole time. Dozens of probation officers visited his house – and no one found the girl or the two babies living in the shed in the backyard. Jaycee’s story is one of survival and courage, a shy, intelligent girl who deserved so much better, and a man who was as evil as evil gets. I could not put the book down, although it chilled me to the bone.

How, as parents, do we balance these stories with rearing kids who have a sunny outlook on life – but are also safe? In mulling this, I looked at the statistics. Despite alarming stories that dominate the news, the crime rate is actually going down.  For example, there were 479 murders in D.C. in 1991, but only 132 last year.  All around the country, violent crime rates are plummeting.  And stories like the ones above are very rare.  Just over 1% of child abductions are perpetrated by strangers.  Most danger to our children comes from people they know: caregivers, relatives, friends of the family. I saw this in my work: most of my cases with child victims involved someone who was close to the child. If we’re diligent about knowing the people our kids hang out with, we can reduce their risk.

I’ve also put on my reading list the book “Free Range Kids,” the bestseller by Lenore Skenazy, who argues that childreen need freedom in order to grow, and that the world is actually safer than we fear. Maybe that will counterbalance some of the darkness.

Meanwhile, if you’ve got thoughts on how to strike the right balance, I’d love to hear them!

In 12 years as a prosecutor, you get used to hearing stories of crime and horror. But every once in a while, you see a case that really gives you shivers. I watched a trial like that last week: United States v. Jason Scott.

Jason Scott was a student at the University of Maryland’s University College and an employee at UPS. He was smart – and evil. He used UPS databases to research homes. Then he dressed like a ninja, armed himself, and went out with his buddies to invade those homes, while the owners were home. His MO was to use a cinder block to break a window, then go inside, beat up the home owners and demand their valuables. He said this was “the new way” of doing things. Why wait for your target to go on vacation? It was so much easier to find their valuables if you broke in when they were home and you could threaten them with a gun.

In one home, he stole the cell phone of a 17-year-old girl. He looked at the pictures on her phone, and saw her friend, another 17-year-old girl who he thought was cute. He then tracked down the girl in the picture. One night, he dressed himself in his ninja outfit and broke into the girl’s home. She was home with her mother. He locked Mom up in a different room. Then he put a pillowcase on the girl’s head, tied her up, and sexually assaulted her. He videotaped the whole thing.

Luckily, he let this girl live. Others were allegedly not so lucky. He’s also being charged by the State of Maryland for killing several people during his other home invasions. (The feds generally don’t prosecute homicide.) He’s admitted to over 60 crimes.

In the case I watched, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland charged Scott with carjacking, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and the production of child pornography, among other things. The lawyering was terrific, including the U.S. Attorney, Rod Rosenstein, himself doing much of the heavy lifting. A jury came back with the verdict this afternoon: Guilty on all charges.

Sigh of relief.