The best Criminology books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

> people get thrown in jail for unpaid fines/fees and other minor violations in 13 states,

So is this a space where we can discuss the excellent book The New Jim Crow because it seems highly relevant.

There are several accounts of North Korean prison camps from defectors who escaped them. Here are some translated drawings from one such escapee.

You could also look up the book Escape From Camp 14 though the subject of the book has admitted that some of the details are not correct.

Basically, most of the personal accounts you'll find get lots of scrutiny for being sensationalized, but if you look at the commonalities of the accounts, life in there does not look "light" in any way, shape, or form.

For a deeper understanding of the War on Drugs as it pertains to the U.S. putting more of its citizens in prison than any other nation: The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander.

https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X

True story, that's how it worked in the Robert Taylor homes. The gang leaders, building managers, and police had an uneasy truce.

If someone did some stupid shit that was out of line, the gang leaders would make sure to quietly rat out the perpetrator via the building crew.

I'm pretty sure that the recent rise in random street violence is directly related to the breakup/gentrification of the project homes. It's no different from the mafia or yakuza - once the central power is broken up, there are lots of low level thugs scrambling for money/power and nobody to keep them in line.

Escape from Camp 14 is a great read; not only does it detail what life is like in the political prison and labor camps, but the struggles that North Koreans face after successfully defecting to the south.

"North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. No one born and raised in these camps is known to have escaped. No one, that is, except Shin Dong-hyuk.

In Escape From Camp 14, Blaine Harden unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state through the story of Shin’s shocking imprisonment and his astounding getaway. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence—he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his mother and brother.

The late “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il was recognized throughout the world, but his country remains sealed as his third son and chosen heir, Kim Jong Eun, consolidates power. Few foreigners are allowed in, and few North Koreans are able to leave. North Korea is hungry, bankrupt, and armed with nuclear weapons. It is also a human rights catastrophe. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people work as slaves in its political prison camps. These camps are clearly visible in satellite photographs, yet North Korea’s government denies they exist.

Harden’s harrowing narrative exposes this hidden dystopia, focusing on an extraordinary young man who came of age inside the highest security prison in the highest security state. Escape from Camp 14 offers an unequalled inside account of one of the world’s darkest nations. It is a tale of endurance and courage, survival and hope."

It can also be extraordinarily depressing. But it is informative.

>Indulge me in the systemic injustices of the black community from the last 40-50 years after the civil rights movement ?

There are entire books you can read about this. Here's one: https://www.amazon.com/New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595586431

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And then the rest of your post is just taking your incorrect premise and running with it.

Great book on this called "On Killing - the Psychological Costs of Learning to Kill in War and Society

On Killing - Amazon UK

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It explores killing in war through history and the effects, largely linked to proximity of the kill, had detrimental effects on the killer.

Some notable facts about the book that I can remember after reading it 10 years ago:

Knife/Bayonett kills, though exceptionally rare in more recent wars, had the most devastating effects. Soldiers cited as feeling a man's last breath had a big hurdle to climb.

American soldiers in WWII were exceptionally bad shots, especially when shooting Germans. Turns out most Americans didn't want to kill people, even during the heroic march to victory. All-time terrible percentage of shooting.

War attracts psychopaths and make up something like 5% of combatants who are out to kill and not the norm.

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If you are interested in this topic I highly recommend the book. Things I read have stayed with me and it never surprises me how much this topic comes up in conversation.

He wrote a follow up book on this subject that basically says you can’t just not talk to police. You have to request a lawyer and only talk to police once your lawyer is present. If I remember correctly in the book he explains there have been some rulings that let them consider complete silence as admission of guilt. Been a while since I read it though so I’m sure I’m missing the nuance.

Edited to add the book https://www.amazon.com/You-Have-Right-Remain-Innocent/dp/1503933393/ref=nodl_

You absolutely can. The Goldman's sued for the rights to the book and won back in 2007. They published it under the title If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer. You can buy it pretty much anywhere. Here's an Amazon link.

More than once on this sub, I've cited the book Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police. It's a bit lengthy, and covers the historical foundation of the Bill of Rights (great read if you're an American history student).

But the real takeaway is that SWAT teams bring their own exigency with them. "Exigency" is just a fancy word for urgent and unexpected circumstances that allow SWAT teams to improvise and shoot dogs and kick in doors and operate without a judge's oversight. But the book makes a compelling argument that SWAT teams create exigency, they create violence where none existed before, they create dangerous situations where none existed before.

What if there are hostages inside a bank during a botched robbery? Sure, send in SWAT. But a house where no one is in any danger? Or a house where no one is threatening anyone? Hey, what if someone is suspected of cock fighting? Just have a celebrity drive a SWAT tank into their house. WCGW?

> Colton said he didn't view it racially

Using racially charged terms and then saying, "No, I didn't mean it in a racist way," is the hallmark of racists (SEE: Donald Trump). No one self-identifies as a racist. They see their views as justified because they aren't against a particular race; they're against crime, poverty, drugs, etc. The main problem is, they overlook that behavior in the majority groups they belong to. White frat boys doing coke at a college party are just kids having fun, but black people doing crack in a poor neighborhood are violent criminals. Colton wouldn't have labeled a struggling white stand-up comedian as ghetto, so let's stop pretending like him calling Bill ghetto isn't racist.

tl;dr Colton is a racist.

EDIT: If anyone's interested in looking into this topic more, The New Jim Crow is a great book about how racism has evolved since the days of "Whites Only" water fountains and segregated schools.

Not exactly. It wasn't leaked it was legally published. The Goldman's sued for rights to the book and won the rights to publish and 90% of the profits. They retitled it If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer and published it. You can buy it pretty much anywhere. Here's an Amazon link.

Nope... Dehumanizing people and feeding tribalism with fear have been scientifically proven to incite violent behaviour

Here is one of the many books on the subject (the one I happened to have read)

Also, I am not trying to "score partisan points"... I am not registered or affiliated with any political party and have very often explained how, in my personal view, all politicians are to be distrusted... It does happen I have a particularly high level of dislike of the type of rhetoric the far-right is absolutely pushing

https://www.amazon.com/You-Have-Right-Remain-Innocent/dp/1503933393/ref=sr_1_1?crid=G82I6PWOOJ79&keywords=right+to+remain+innocent&qid=1572472514&sprefix=right+to+remain+in%2Caps%2C-1&sr=8-1

There is a seedy underbelly within the federal prison system and this is one of the major issues. For starters I highly encourage people to read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (Amazon)

States and private state contractors rake in loads of money on prison labor, often at the expense of normal citizens who would both work these jobs, and contribute financially from their income.

[edit: careful, if you don't pay attention and type posts they'll come out retarded, like mine was - fixed]

Robert Sapolsky's new book Behave shits on Peterson's new book. Robert's book is probably the best book I've bought in my entire life. Seriously, I open it and learn something new everyday. If Robert and Jordan ever "debated" I guarantee that Robert would make Jordan look like Kathy Newman.

Escape from Camp 14

> and I'd be shocked if there's a US Attorney out there who's willingly going to go "yeah, you know what? I'm going to push for a weed conviction rather than going after heroin / coke / opiods / meth."

You're confusing the symptoms with the problem. The driving force behind the drug war isn't attorneys or even really politicians specifically, it's law enforcement agencies going after that sweet, sweet grant money. And MJ busts are quick, easy ways to make a buck. It has virtually zero impact on the actual crime rate but it looks good on paper. Radly Balko's book "The Rise of the Warrior Cop" is a really good breakdown on this subject.

Attorney's, politicians, and even the president himself can talk all the talk they want, the reality is until someone cuts the purse strings, this problem doesn't go away. And I have yet to hear even hint at limiting these grant programs.

This guy has a book that expands on it more.

You Have the Right to Remain Innocent

You can't say "I think I need a lawyer," or "I don't talk to cops without a lawyer." Tell them to get you an attorney, in no uncertain terms. Do not deny the charges, or claim ignorance of any crime. Research your rights thoroughly.

You were formally charged, and then got to go home? That doesn't seem right. Usually once they formally charge you, they jail you.

It might not be as bad as you think.

I suggest reading the book You Have the Right to Remain Innocent.

Yeah but he's black. The US criminal justice system was literally made for black men.

fyi....just passing along something I've read: https://www.amazon.com/You-Have-Right-Remain-Innocent/dp/1503933393

You should NEVER talk to the police, especially federal agents.

You should not claim your right to remain silent, but instead exercise your right to a lawyer.

Demand gov't to provide written questions and only answer gov't in written statements

I highly suggest reading On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Dave Grossman. It gives excellent insight into how the military desensitizes people to killing and the effects it has had on soldiers, past and present.

"on killing" by Dave Grossman provides a lot of insight to this. Exceptional read On Killing

>The whole "ask for a lawyer" business is kind of overstated. The only thing a lawyer will advise you is to not say another word to the police. That's the entirety of the benefit of calling a lawyer. (Also, in circumstances where it's not clear that you've been detained/arrested, the lawyer will instruct you to ask the police if you can leave, and if offered the chance, to do so).
>
>Edit: you should still call a lawyer, because you're always better off with advice tailored to your situation than without it. I'm just pointing out it won't stop the police from asking the questions.

James Duane of the famous Don't Talk to the Police video recommends in his book You Have the Right to Remain Innocent that you should explicitly ask for a lawyer instead of pleading the fifth. He cites a supreme court decision that makes it so the fifth amendment no longer has the protections it used to have. Explicitly stating you want a lawyer and then remaining silent is your best option.

Pumping millions of dollars into police departments across the nation and encouraging them to use military tactics on drug busts against blacks and hippies is tame compared to a guy with a Twitter fetish?

Nixon was the quintessential "tough on crime" Republican. He loved putting guns and money into cops' hands so they could fight a non-existent crime wave that wasn't sweeping the nation all so he could pander to his bases for reelection.

Nixon was truly paranoid and did so much to wreck our country all to please some demons in his head.

Trump is like that weird uncle at family gatherings that spouts off nonsense, and who gets drunk and posts on social media all the time. You know the guy is unhinged, but that is the key - everyone knows he is weird and unpredictable. You know you take everything he says with a grain of salt. Nixon at least sounded rational and sane. Plus, Trump is not responsible for ending nearly as many human lives as Nixon. The Vietnam was was a damn shame, killing so many people all for nothing. All Nixon had to do was pull out when he took office, but he didn't.

I highly recommend this book to learn about how law enforcement in the US has changed over the years. The author devotes quite a bit of space discussing how both Nixon and Reagan set the stage for how things are today: SWAT teams knocking down doors going after marijuana; record numbers of people in prison; billions of dollars in tax money spent on police at local, state, and federal levels; creating generations of felons who struggle being productive members of society due to "tough on crime" drug convictions over what should be minor or nonexistent offenses. Who started all of this? Nixon. As bad as he is, Trump has barely scratched the surface compared to Nixon.

In Sapolsky's new book Behave, Robert talks about hormones and how much of what we think of serotonin and testosterone is misleading. It is contradictory to what Jordan thinks or argues.

For example, many people think increasing testosterone leads to increasing aggression. This is false. Increasing testosterone leads to behavior that is needed to maintain your place in the social-hierarchy, regardless of if it's violence, empathy, etc. This means that if your society rewards pacifism, you rise up the social hierarchy because of your generosity. Increasing testosterone will increase your altruism, not aggression. Give a community of pacifist monks a shot of testosterone and you will have them running around trying to out-do each other by being the nicest monk in the community.

This is antithetical to Jordan's view that social hierarchy is inevitable and a product of human nature. Since humans have historically fought nature, having the strength to overcome and master nature was the historical modus operandi. However, since we have now evolved as a species with urbanization, the industrial revolution, and the division of labor, our battle is no longer against nature, but against ourselves. Therefore, we are no longer in a battle for dominance against nature, but against ourselves, which does not need to happen anymore if we as a species decided we would no longer reward dominant, aggressive, social-hierarchy-enhancing behavior.

Prisons are needed but yeah all our current prison system does is provide slave labor, maintain segregation and class divides, and make better/more fucked up criminals

But that's like... a whole discussion worthy of a book

..."The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights advocate and legal scholar, is an amazing resource if you want to see how much of the American law system is based around maintaining class divides and segregation.

Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces by Radley Balko may be interesting reading for you.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594205078/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_KF84ZA0W1MCP8D7AGQ7E

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679763996/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_P9W9MW7NRHAJ0ZBVZH7W

Some light reading for you. You can feel however you wish.