Criminal Minds? Try Criminal Bodies
Cesare Lombroso wanted to use science to understand who criminals were. But his ideas about biological "atavism" easily transferred to eugenics and nativism.
Stockholm Syndrome
What really happened that summer day in 1973? And what does it reveal about our cultural attitudes toward violence?
Why Did “Thieves’ Cant” Carry an Unshakeable Allure?
If thieves’ cant—a language known only to criminals—was the Devil’s cabinet, bourgeois society couldn’t help but peep inside.
How Truman Capote Advanced the New Journalism
In Cold Blood changed the face of journalism. And yet years after its publication, we are still asking: how much of it was factually true?
History’s Most Notorious True Crime Story
How New York City's tabloids sensationalized the murder case that inspired the classic film noir Double Indemnity.
What Is MS-13, Anyway?
The feared gang MS-13 was born out of conditions resulting from U.S. policies in El Salvador in the early 1980s.
The First Moral Panic: London, 1744
The late summer crime wave of 1744 London sparked an intense moral panic about crime that burnt itself out by the new year. But not before heads rolled.
How Forensic DNA Evidence Can Lead to Wrongful Convictions
Forensic DNA evidence has been a game-changer for law enforcement, but research shows it can contribute to miscarriages of justice.
The “Sob Sisters” Who Dared to Cover the Trial of the Century
The term “sob sisters” was used in the early twentieth century to make fun of women journalists who dared cover the first trial of the century.