How Many Crime Fiction Writers Have Actually Committed a Crime?

[Benjamin Sobieck]

You don't necessarily have to say "yes" or "no." But what does a "yes" or "no" mean? Better or worse for the writing?

[Donna Carrick]

John M. wrote: Oh, don't worry about it, I'm Canadian, we feel picked on all the time ;)

I think we kinda like it! ha ha

[Eric Christopherson]

Why five years? They were teens, in a place where that means something in the criminal justice system. Or has New Zealand gone the way of America since then? Nowadays, it's not unheard of to try an American kid as young as thirteen as an adult. (I think the politicians who rewrote our juvenile justice laws ought to be charged with some felony.)

Of course murderers of any age spend less time behind bars than people usually guess. I haven't seen the stats in a decade or more but as I recall the average time spent in the gray bar hotel for murderers in the US then was just about 11 years. It's usually only a lot longer if there is notoriety involved, e.g., Sirhan Sirhan, Mark David Chapman, etc.

[Donna Carrick]

Here in Canada we had a pair of particularly vile criminals awhile back -- so vile that you will seldom if ever find any Canadian who will write their names. Their names make me feel -- ew, icky -- so I won't say them, but all Canadians and many Americans will know the initials KH and PB.

Well, when KH cut her Sweetheart deal, you should have heard the public outcry!!! It was galling -- flew in the face of any public human decency. I'm not one to "gather the townsfolk and grab the torches", but even I was sickened at the short amount of time (12 years) that KH spent in prison.

On the other hand, if she was able to save even one child by cutting a deal and effectively putting PB away for his entire natural life (think Charles Manson, only more vile) then it was worth it.

We can never know all of the ins and outs that go on behind the scenes. I remember being a young woman and riding the bus in Scarborough just weeks before the "scarborough rapist" killed a cheerleader in a residential neighbourhood in someone's backyard. It was late at night, and a young blond man on the bus was staring at me -- he and I were alone on the bus. I was very uncomfortable -- those were disco days and I was dressed -- well -- like the young disco queen I was. Thank God the busdriver saw my discomfort. He stopped the bus and walked to the back where I was sitting. He whispered to me to stay on the bus, not to get off.

When we reached the end of the line, my creepy fellow passenger had still not gotten off. The bus driver put the boot to him, made him get off. Then he turned around and drove me safely home.

2 weeks later the cheerleader was killed not more than a few streets from where I was going. Some reports say the "scarborough rapist" may have actually been PB when he was working alone. No one knows for sure.

But I remain grateful to that busdriver to this day...

[Ciscley]

Are you kidding me?? I love the Monk series. Have a couple copies waiting to be read on my shelf right now. Wow. It's going to be very interesting to see if knowing this about the author changes the way I react to the books.

[Larry Schliessmann]

Talk about a loaded question. . . but really, who wants to reveal what? Yeah, statute of limitations, I'll start there. I wonder if T. Harris was a census taker. hmm

[I. J. Parker]

I probably missed something somewhere along the line here. I'm an American citizen and aware of the massive numbers of people in jail. We have a lot of crime. Some of it is connected to the fact that we have a lot of guns. I'm with Benjamin on the crime and punishment issue: let the non-violent offenders work off their sentence and let the money go to the victims. Violent offenders need to be kept away from society to protect people. Rehabilitation doesn't work, though very young offenders may benefit.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

The UK has a gun ban and plenty of crime. An all-out knife ban is now in the works. The reason the U.S. has lots of people in jail has more to do with the number and kind of laws on the books. We're putting non-violent people behind bars, many due to possession of something illegal.

[I. J. Parker]

Unless you mean the marijuana laws in the U.S., I'm not aware of anything that isn't clearly criminal. For that matter, our newspapers are full of reports of new murders every single day. Most of the serious crime here is gun-related. And so are a lot of non-criminal fatalities. Guns are traded on the streets by teens and sub-teens for money or drugs.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Yes, most serious crime in the U.S. is gun-related. But take away the guns and you still haven't gotten rid of the criminal. As for the drugs, marijuana possession is one part of a prohibition that isn't working.

We're coming from two different points of view on these issues. I don't want to take it any further than this, lest I hijack my own thread. I always enjoy your posts, I.J.

[John Dishon]

If you make guns illegal, only criminals will have them.

Prohibition never works, it just drives it underground and creates more crime. Besides, especially in America where individual liberty is supposed to be highly prized, what business does the government have telling me what I can put in my own body?

[Eric Christopherson]

If you make guns illegal, only criminals will have them.

In China guns are outlawed and so hard to get that the cab drivers sit inside metal cages because their only real fear in an attempted robbery is a stabbing.

If I'm not mistaken there are European countries where guns are outlawed and where the crime rates are much lower than they are here.

I'm on the fence, personally, when it comes to outlawing guns in America. I only raise these points because the best policy answer is more complicated than a bumper sticker.

I'm also open to legalizing some drugs, but before actually signing off would want to be presented with the experiences of the countries who've experimented with such laws. I know there have been some.

[John Dishon]

In China guns are outlawed and so hard to get that the cab drivers sit inside metal cages because their only real fear in an attempted robbery is a stabbing.

So? Crime obviously hasn't been reduced then, has it? Also, just because something is hard to get legally, doesn't mean it's hard to get, especially in Chinese society where connections are everything. Higher level criminals, such as gangs, are not going to have any problem getting guns if needed. They also aren't taking taxis.

Finally, correlation does not equal causation. Just because a country has outlawed guns and also has low crime does not necessarily mean that the low crime is the result of banning guns.