Rural Women Battering and the Justice System: An Ethnography (SAGE Series on Violence against Women)

Book Description

Addressing a significant void in the extant literature on the topic of domestic violence, Rural Woman Battering and the Justice System presents a thorough and arresting look at the experiences of battered women in rural communities. While living in the rural areas of Kentucky, Neil Websdale conducted his ethnographic research, and he situated the voices of rural battered women at the center of his ethnography. He clearly demonstrates how rural patriarchy and the insidious "good ol’ boy network" of law enforcement and local politics sustain and reproduce the subordinate, vulnerable, isolated position of many rural women. Taking into account that traditional patterns of intervention can often put women in isolated communities at further risk, the author recommends a coordinated multiagency approach to rural battering that is spearheaded by state feminist agencies. The chapter on the difficulties of an educated male researcher working with rural battered women offers a definite methodological plus. Illuminating and accessible, Rural Woman Battering and the Justice System makes a most important and timely contribution to the field.

An excellent training resource for anyone working with battered women, especially in rural areas, Rural Woman Battering and the Justice System is highly recommended for law enforcement and criminal justice professionals, practitioners, advocates, shelter personnel, and advanced students in related courses of study, as well as academics and researchers.

The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong

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Very dry reading
Note the publisher of this book
Who should read this...
The Stephen Glass of econometricsisisis?
Eye-opening from the first page

The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong
John R. Lott
Manufacturer: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0895261146

Book Description

Slicing through the emotional--but factually wrong--arguments of gun control advocates this book busts a number of myths, demonstrating with hard statistical data and riveting anecdotes.

Customer Reviews:

Very dry reading.......2007-09-01

If you can get past the numbers research then you'll benefit from this book. And, you'll never understand the evidence behind the truth about the benefits of gun possession versus the costs until you read it. The Bias Against Guns easily discredits those opposed to gun possession. Anti-gun folks don't tell the truth about the benefits of owning guns - John Lott does and proves it with advanced statistical analysis and research.

The proof that proves the benefits of gun possession is in this book.

Note the publisher of this book.......2007-08-26

Right wing, non-scholarly press. Then look at where Lott's critics publish--in scholarly journals and with academic presses.

Enough said.

Who should read this..........2007-04-01

Most of the news we see every day is favored toward showing the use of guns as bad. Whether this is because of a media plot to condition the public against guns, or because, in general, the people who work for the mainstream media are horrified by guns is not the point. What this book does is give us the other side of the debate, a side that needs to be heard.
Anyone who is caught by the day to day onslaught of the media bias against guns, but has an open mind and thinks they should have both sides of the story, should read this book. Anyone who instinctively knows that guns are the basis of all the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and would like a better understanding of that, should read this book.
Anyone else, it will be a waste of your money.

The Stephen Glass of econometricsisisis?.......2006-12-30

Fans of this 'scholarly work' (if computerized number crunching and anecdotal evidence can be called scholarly) by a 'much-published academician' (if that is meaningful to you) would no doubt be disappointed to learn Lott has based crucial evidence upon a survey he conducted himself and then 'unfortunately lost all trace of' the data; that he & his family have taken it upon themselves in the past to write stellar reviews for his books on Amazon.com; that Lott has found it necessary to defend his work by using pseudonyms and fake personas ('Mary Rosh')--but why, when the numbers speak for themselves??

Certainly not in order to profit from the audacious frenzy a claim like 'unregistered assault weapons reduce crime' would inevitably create...

Please, read 'How to Lie With Statistics' instead. Heck, read Wikipedia's article on John Lott, which cites the New England Journal of Medicine's statement:

[Lott] finds, for example, that both increasing the rate of unemployment and reducing income reduces the rate of violent crimes and that reducing the number of black women 40 years old or older (who are rarely either perpetrators or victims of murder) substantially reduces murder rates. Indeed, according to Lott's results, getting rid of older black women will lead to a more dramatic reduction in homicide rates than increasing arrest rates or enacting shall-issue laws.'

Controversy is indeed delicious, and who can fault some guy for trying to drum up a little press--but clouding such a serious issue in which lives are at stake with fuzzy math is undoubtedly reprehensible.

You can either be persuaded about this author's ethos by a few dazzling blurbs by 'Nobel Prize winners of Economics' (a solid science to be sure), or by his own behavior in response to scepticism. As Jon Weiner's Op-Ed in the LA Times states concerning the Lott v. Levitt lawsuit:

Lott is not suing those who have said some of his pro-gun research was "invented," "faked" or "cooked." The lawsuit turns on the definition of "replicate," from the "Freakonomics" sentence about how other scholars have tried and failed to "replicate his results." Lott maintains "replicate" means "analyze the identical data in the way Lott did." Because nobody tried to do that, he argues, "Freakonomics" is wrong. Most people, however, understand "replicate" to mean something like "confirm." Lott's reputation has indeed been "seriously damaged" by critics, but only because they have described many apparent holes in his dubious research and misleading citations. Blocking the sale of a book based on a literal interpretation of a single word [is] outrageous.'

Eye-opening from the first page.......2006-11-04

John R. Lott is a modern-day genius. His writing should earn him both the Nobel Prize for Peace AND the one for literature.

It's about time someone gave us the real story on gun crimes instead of the liberal slant we get from all the liberal news outlets. Obviously the previous reviewer who was in the military and speaks in favor of background checks has been misguided his own experience and these liberal media outlets.

Waiting periods make no sense at all, and I don't know who this Ronald Reagan guy is, but he sounds like a garden-variety lilly-livered liberal to me. Think about it. If you try to buy a handgun and you are forced to wait a week, there could be, by Mr. Lott's statistics, hundreds of crimes that you could have stopped by brandishing your piece. But those crimes happen, because you're stuck waiting because some liberal panzy named Reagan needed a background check law.

It's obvious, even to the most gun-scared leftist out there, everyone, even those who have not developed their full motor skills, should own a gun. Otherwise, how can you protect yourself!? It's NUMBERS people. If everyone has a gun, no one will get shot. Since gun owners are all expert marksmen, none of them would ever try to shoot a criminal and miss, thereby shooting an innocent bystander. After all, it's really easy to hit a moving target with a handgun. Heck, even you're a bad shot and you run out of bullets, you can easily peg your assailant on the head with the butt of your Magnum. If an innocent person gets shot, the statistics pale in comparison to how many would get shot it all of them didn't have guns.

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West

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If you want to see how they are going to destroy us...
A must read!!
Informative
Essential Primer for Dealing with Global Jihad
Puts It All Together

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West
Walid Phares
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1403975116
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Book Description

This Foreign Affairs bestseller from MSNBC terrorism expert Walid Phares allows a frightening look into the future of jihad. Phares--who has served as an expert with the Justice Department, briefed the Defense and State Departments, and testified to Congress--shows that ther has been a fundamental misunderstanding about al Qaeda's ultimate goal in the West and what victory means to jihadists. Future Jihad shows how our defenses have been infiltrated; identifies the future generation of home-grown terrorists; and points the way for America to win the ideological war at the heart of jihad.

Customer Reviews:

If you want to see how they are going to destroy us..........2007-09-03

Read on... This is a must for anyone who wants to see how they are destroying us, and what they intend. It is an absolute must for every American, Canadian, European, Latino.... this is a war of culture, religion, and people versus people. We are in the last stage of war, where one people rise up against another irrespective of nation, politics, philosophy, resources or technology. It is an all out war to the death of one, or the other. There is no compromise, there is no middle ground, there is no peace. There is only death or surrender.

A must read!!.......2007-09-03

This book is a must read for anyone who is a true student of counterterrorism studies. Well writen, a real eye opener!

Informative.......2007-08-11

The book provides historical prospective and covers current Jihad plans and tactics. It is a read that all Americans should read to understand our current Terrorist situation and challenge. I highly recommend it for all Americans, especially our elected officials who are invovled in protecting American.

Essential Primer for Dealing with Global Jihad.......2007-07-03

Lecturing and writing about world jihad in the 1990s when hardly anyone was listening, Walid Phares, who hails from Lebanon and who fled the violence and found exile in the United States in 1990, has written the essential primer in order for America, and the Western free world, to repel global jihad. He shows with mastery that jihad is not some recent crackpot idea that Osama Bin Laden cooked up in the last decade or so. To the contrary, jihad is part of a master plan that was set into motion when the Islamacists conquered the Medina back in the Eighth Century. Phares goes into the mind of the jihadist and shows how his jihad, currently sponsored by Saudi-funded Wahabism, is a long-term goal, namely, to make the entire world beholden to strict Muslim Law, Sharia. The tenacity and Machiavellian techniques employed are blood-curdling. After analyzing the jihadi master plan, Phares explains America's denial and complacency, characteristics that will result in our demise if we don't wake up soon. This book is that wakeup call. It is the definitive primer to dealing with global jihad and mates perfectly with the narrative of 9/11, Lawrence Wright's masterpiece The Looming Tower.

Puts It All Together.......2007-06-26

Not a difficult read...yet puts together in historical context the development of the different lines of Islam, their internecine conflicts, leading to the state of Jihad today and for the future.

If you ever wondered how the Grand Mufti could have become an SS General in Berlin, or how "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" has led to chaos in the modern world, this book will make sense to you. It will help you understand what world Jihad is all about, and why a united Muslim front is difficult to obtain.

Most highly recommended for serious student of modern geopolitics!

Women, Law, and Social Control (2nd Edition)

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Women, Law, and Social Control (2nd Edition)
Alida V. Merlo , and Joycelyn M. Pollock
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0205442072

Book Description

*HH06, Women, Law, and Social Control, Alida V. Merlo(Westfield State College), Joycelyn M. Pollock(Southwest Texas State University), U4784-7, 416 pp., 6 x 9, 0-, paperbound, 1995, $18.75nk, October*/This edited text examines women in the criminal justice system Ñ as practitioner, as offenders, and as victims. The current and relevant articles share a central theme: certain aspects of the legal system and society have affected all women in similar ways. Both historical and current issues are examined.

Neither Angels nor Demons: Women, Crime, and Victimization (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law)

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Neither Angels nor Demons: Women, Crime, and Victimization (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law)
Kathleen Ferraro
Manufacturer: Northeastern
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555536638

Book Description

She is a victim of intimate partner violence, a woman who has been harmed. She is a criminal offender, a woman who has harmed others. Superficially, it seems she is two separate women.

"Victim" and "offender" are binary categories used within law, social science, and public discourse to describe social experiences with a moral dimension. Such terms draw upon cultural narratives of good and bad people and have influenced scholarship, public policy, and activism. The duality of "good" and "bad" women, separated into mutually exclusive extremes of angels and demons, has helped segregate thinking about, and responses to, each group.

In this groundbreaking study, Kathleen J. Ferraro exposes the limits of such thinking by exploring the link between victimization and offending from the perspective of the women charged with the crimes. Interviewing forty-five women charged with criminal offenses (more than half of whom killed their abusers; the others participated in a range of violent crimes related to domestic violence), Ferraro uses their stories to illuminate complex interactions with violent partners, their children, and the legal system. She shows that these women are neither stereotypical angels nor demons, but rather human beings whose complicated lives belie the abstract categorizations of researchers, legal advocates, and the criminal justice system.

Ferraro begins with a general discussion of blurred boundaries and the complexity of experience, and moves from there to discuss women's interactions with the criminal processing system. In the course of her study, she reexamines, and finds wanting, many standard ways of evaluating women's violent behavior, including "mutual combat," "battered woman syndrome," and "cycle of violence." She argues that a more complex, nuanced understanding of intimate partner violence and how it contributes to women's offending will contribute to public policy less focused on control and accountability of individuals than on developing social conditions that promote everyone's safety and well-being and foster a sense of hope.

A Wreath for Emmett Till (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors (Awards))

Average customer rating:

Form Over Content
Beautiful Poem
Ambitious but highly disapointing
From Sisters Nineties Literary Group Book Review Editor
Richie's Picks: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL

A Wreath for Emmett Till (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors (Awards))
Marilyn Nelson
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0618397523

Book Description

In 1955, people all over the United States knew that Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. The brutality of his murder, the open-casket funeral, and the acquittal of the men tried for the crime drew wide media attention. Award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson reminds us of the boy whose fate helped spark the civil rights movement. This martyr's wreath, woven from a little-known but sophisticated form of poetry, challenges us to speak out against modern-day injustices, to "speak what we see."

Customer Reviews:

Form Over Content.......2006-09-27

A fellow teacher is doing a unit on African-American lit and the Civil Rights Movement as a lead-in to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". "A Wreath for Emmett Till" was one of the books she shared with the class. I have perused it myself, still unsure whether I should actually purchase it or not. Two things other reviewers have mentioned that I too find appealing about the book are: 1)The sheer complexity of constructing a heroic crown of sonnets and 2)the historical backdrop of the events described. Unfortunately, these aspects have very little to do with the content of the poems themselves. Most of the information about Till is contained in the preface and afterword, not in the poems themselves. Likewise, others reviewers, like I, praise Nelson for giving a tour-de-force in making a heroic crown of sonnets (and her commentaries about the sonnets were enlightening), but to be honest, the poems themselves were not particularly outstanding. I would buy the book more as an example of the structure and form of poetry rather than as an example of good poetry (If that makes sense).

Beautiful Poem.......2006-05-31

This book is in the form of a Heroic Sonnet is a brilliantly written book. It is about giving a wreath to Emmett Till, a young child who was lynched after whistling at a white woman. Till, who normally lived in Chicago, was spending the time at his uncle for the summer. After whistling at a white woman, Briant, Milan and a third person kidnapped Emmett Till. Soon after the kidapping, they lynched him. Later in the Trial, Briant and Milan were found not guilty, though later, it was proven they were guilty. This book was brilliantly written into a heroic sonnet, each of the first lines stating: R.I.P. EMMETT L. TILL. It got me emotionally connected, displeased by the racism people had back then (i.e. allowing Briant and Millan the right to be not guilty just because Till was Black). This book was brilliantly written through the use of similies. It allowed you to invision the racism back then. The only comment I have against it is the World Trade Center reference, mentioning 9/11 hadn't happened yet. Other than that, A Wreath for Emmet Till by Marilyn Nelsen was an excellent work of poetry.

Ambitious but highly disapointing.......2006-04-27

This ambitious poetry book is based on a little known poetic style known as a crown of sonnets, used historically to honor great kings. In this unique book, author Marilyn Nelson tries to apply it to an ordinary kid named Emmett Till whose name became household when he was brutally lynched, and outrage over his murder fueled the early flames of the black civil rights movement.

Nelson is admirable to tackle such a brutal and tough subject matter, however admiration is not enough to cover the fact that her poems are often hard to follow due to the ridged style, in addition to being tangential and lacking in any strong dramatic or emotional punch. She writes about Till's murder as she would weave it into a floral wreath, and sometimes that leaves the reader bored and wondering why we should even care about Nelson's pretty flowers. Her stated goal is to write about Till but he rarely makes an actual appearance in these poems, and her attempt to tie his murder into a larger history of lynching is poorly executed. At one point she ties Till's murder to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, which comes out extremely contrived and tacked on, since the events, issues, emotions, and circumstances are completely different. She expands considerable ink wishing he had never been killed, which although very admirable, doesn't give her much space to explore the national impact of his death or the good that grew out of his tragedy. In addition, her lengthy and complex notes at the end of the book are absolutely necessary to understand her many intellectual allusions and symbols. I could not imagine giving this book to anyone under 16 and having them get it at all - I'm finishing my undergrad in two weeks and I was overwhelmed. While the poems pick up pathos towards the end, it really is not enough to save the whole set.

The illustrations by Philippe Lardy are nice but unremarkable, and given the poignant and brutal subject matter they are severely disappointing. Many of them are simplistic and pretty paintings of flowers and birds that fit the wreath theme but entirely loose the tragedy and power of Till's death. Like Nelson's poems, you need the complex notes at the back of the book to understand the many symbols in the oft-abstract illustrations. Emmett Till himself is only shown once, and the artist attempts to make him look like an EveryChild (even to the point of giving him no real facial expressions) which makes him look generic and dull. The art shines best when it is the most simple, such as when it is a textured background for the text itself, with simple shapes instead of complex allegories. When the best thing you can say about the illustrations is that they make nice and non-imposing backgrounds, you know the art is in trouble.

A Wreath for Emmett Till asks the reader to "bear witness to the atrocity" and take responsibility for this murder in our collective memory, but otherwise is not a call to any action or awareness. Unfortunately what sticks in the memory is a book that falls short of its lofty goals.

From Sisters Nineties Literary Group Book Review Editor.......2005-08-18

A Wreath for Emmett Till is my first encounter with Marilyn Nelson; a bittersweet introduction. As a member of the Sisters~Nineties Literary Group, this book fascinates me as it is a beautiful example of poetic mastery. When our editor gives us a writing assignment for our publication, I grumble and protest, then I revel in the experience; delighting in the success of learning about the world of poetry and all its various forms. The "sankofet," created by Debra Morrowloving Sisters~Nineties founder, comes to mind as I read this book.*

Ms. Nelson's rhyme scheme is a fourteen-line sonnet on each page linking the previous poem with the next as the last line of the previous poem is the first line of the next poem on the following page. In the world of poetry, this is known as a "crown of sonnets."

Although written for children, I had to read the book twice to "feel" the horrible images that this book so beautifully captures. References to flower, plants, and trees are symbolic and make up the "wreath" for Emmett.
Please read this book and share the experience with your children. The incident is described as the motivating force of the Civil Rights Movement. It is also a wake-up call to all those who continue to live a life of apathy and denial when it comes to standing up for the legacy of the African American struggle.

*Sankofet is a poetic form of three stanzas, each with seven lines. The fourth line of each stanza is the same. The last word of each stanza is the first word of the subsequent verse, and the last line of a Sankofet is the first line in the poem. The format of the Sankofet emulates the call-and-response motif of Afrikan musical tradition with the repetition of the fourth lines. The connecting words at the beginning and end of the stanzas represent the Afrikan cycle of life concept.

Richie's Picks: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL.......2005-05-22

I cannot recall if back in 1968 my eighth-grade American history teacher Mrs. Auryansen taught us about the death of Emmett Till. But one of the things I loved most about that year of studying with an enthusiastic teacher who often made American history come alive for me was the series of quarterly independent projects we had to plan and complete. Each marking period we would have to do an American history-related visual piece as well as a written piece and an oral piece.

"BY the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray."
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray."

That's the first of the seven verses of "The Blue and The Gray" by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907). I memorized and proudly recited those seven verses to my American history class, and that memory has stuck with me.

Having just celebrated my personal half-century mark, I'm all for turning around and returning to eighth-grade. And if I could do so, this is what I would memorize this time around for one of my oral pieces:

"Pierced by the screams of a shortened childhood,
my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years
by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears.
That jackal laughter. Two hundred years I stood
listening to small struggles to find food,
to the songs of creature life, which disappears
and comes again, to the music of the spheres.
Two hundred years of deaths I understood.
Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night,
shivering the deep silence of the stars.
A running boy, five men in close pursuit.
One dark, five pale faces in the moonlight.
Noise, silence, back-slaps. One match, five cigars.
Emmett Till's name still catches in the throat."

That is one of the fifteen sonnets that comprises A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL by Marilyn Nelson. After reading the book to myself and then reading it aloud to Shari, my thoughts kept wandering off yesterday to brainstorming how I might somehow set up an event down in the City on Sunday, August 28th--fifty years to the day since Emmett was kidnapped--in which someone who would both have known the Civil Rights movement and whose presence could attract a major audience (a Danny Glover or a Bill Russell or someone else of that stature) would read this powerful series of poems aloud to a crowd to commemorate the anniversary of the brutal death of Emmett Till, a death which horrified the world and made clear what had gone on for so long.

I can imagine having a choir and soloist perform at such an event, but definitely not a bunch of droning speakers whose verbosity might take away from the carefully chosen words of Marilyn Nelson's heroic crown of sonnets about Emmett Till. As Marilyn explains in her preface (HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS POEM):

"A crown of sonnets is a sequence of interlinked sonnets in which the last line of one becomes the first line, sometimes slightly altered, of the next. A heroic crown of sonnets is a sequence of fifteen interlocking sonnets, in which the last one is made up of the first lines of the preceeding fourteen."

Thus, it's like a literary crossword puzzle. Get one word wrong and it simply doesn't fit together. Get all the words exactly right and you've got something worthy of public performances by famous personalities and recitations by today's and tomorrow's American history students.

Marilyn Nelson got it right.

Architect and Engineer Liability: Claims Against the Design Professional, Third Edition (Supplemented Twice Annually)

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Architect and Engineer Liability: Claims Against the Design Professional, Third Edition (Supplemented Twice Annually)

Manufacturer: Aspen Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0735561036

Product Description

Now you can keep construction design exposure to a minimum! Prepared for design and construction professionals and their attorneys, this comprehensive, up-to-date resource is written by eminent authorities in the field. It details all relevant topics: risk management, alternative dispute resolution, trial conduct, handling shop drawings, insurance and surety, and more. You'll get straightforward answers to all your legal questions, as well as examples of the valuable lessons learned by leading design and construction experts.

Violence, Law and Women's Rights in South Asia

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Violence, Law and Women's Rights in South Asia

Manufacturer: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0761997962

Book Description

This book, a collection of three essays, looks at the legal system's response to violence against women in South Asia. It is an overview of law and legal control in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The studies show the commonalities and the differences in the three legal systems. All three countries have experienced British colonial rule and their criminal laws are derived from the British legal tradition. All three countries grappled with similar issues and problems in using law as a strategy to combat violence against women. All three faced the problem of reconciling ethnic and religious or customary legal values with international and constitutionally guaranteed rights to equality and protection from violence. In Pakistan, the official Islamisation process added new and complex dimensions to the issues of administration of criminal justice and enforcement of family law.

Each study adopts a different approach in its analysis of legal control--focussed on what is considered relevant for their country. Thus, the study on Sri Lanka is a critical review of a range of legal norms and procedures, the one on India is a critique of the implementation of the justice system and the one on Pakistan focuses on the failure to protect women from violence and uses non-legal materials too in discussing legal controls.

The studies in this volume clearly demonstrate that the legal system has failed to protect women against violence. There is, nevertheless, recognition of the fact that the law and effective law enforcement machineries can serve as serious deterrents to violence. The studies explore the possibility of reforming the legal systems and suggest that multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies of South Asia must accept the concept of drafting general codes that conform with international human rights norms and recognize the people's right to opt for them in the governance of family relations.

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spine tingling

A bit Vain

Tough, Intense

Modern Day Joan of Arc

Tackles the overall struggle against violence

Bronx D.A.: True Stories from the Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence Unit
Sarena Straus
Manufacturer: Barricade Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice

Defending the Damned: Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office

Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse

Ready for the People: My Most Chilling Cases as a Prosecutor

An Invisible Man: The Hunt for a Serial Killer Who Got Away With a Decade of Murder

ASIN: 1569803056

Book Description

Sarena Straus was a prosecutor in the Office of the Bronx District Attorney's office, one of approximately 400 Assistant District Attorneys working in the midst of an area of America with the highest crime and poverty rates. This book is about her experie

Customer Reviews:

spine tingling.......2007-05-05

This book took me thru every emotion possible, I was exhauseted after each chapter. I have given this to my daughter to read and have recommended it to everyone I know. I feel it is important to know what is out there and the good people who fight against this everyday. It is truly an important book. Thank you Sarena, I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

A bit Vain.......2007-03-04

As a prosecutor, I was very interested in reading this book. I had seen an interview with the author and read several customer reviews. I am disappointed. I understand that the author apparently lived a fairly priveleged life prior to working as an Assistant D.A., and says as much early in the book. I would assume, however, that her $100,000 education would have helped develop a more grammatically correct writing style. The errors in grammar and spelling were distracting at times and made for a less than smooth read. Additionally, though I do not prosecute in the Bronx, and am sure there is a steep learning curve, five years as an Assistant D.A. hardly creates an expertise in any area. The "cop speak" throughout the book, and the drama with which the stories are told suggest a motive more in line with personal promotion than delivery of insight. This may explain the numerous T.V. appearances, etc. The author may be a good lawyer and may have been a good Assistant D.A., but the book does not convey that. Finally, the stories told are important ones to tell, and all should have some exposure to what man is willing to do to one another, especially the most vulnerable. I just wish the book's focus was more on them and less on the author's gallant fight for those unable to fight for themselves, at least for five years.

Tough, Intense.......2007-01-18

If you're a CSI die-hard or a fan of other pulled-from-the-headlines shows, you still will not be prepared for the real-life drama that occurs in the Bronx. Sarena Straus has captured the life of a prosecutor and tells vivid stories that capture and haunt. I couldn't put the book down. My only question is: when's the next book?

Modern Day Joan of Arc.......2006-10-26

Don't laugh. That's exactly what Sarena Straus embodies in her unvarneshed war against the "mean streets" of the Bronx, one of the most crime-laden urban battlegrounds in this increasingly violent country of ours. We're "flys on the wall" witnessing the lives of battered women and children as Ms. Straus weaves through her complicated world as an assistant D.A. From gruesome homicides to child molesters and serial rapists. The stories are first-hand accounts, always real, never exagerated. And what does one come away with? The light at the end of the tunnel, reminding us there is always hope when people care. This graphic yet compassionate account is a must read for anyone who wants an insiders view of how violent crimes affect victims and, ultimately, how dealing with the victims transformed prosecutor, Sarena Straus, forever.

Tackles the overall struggle against violence.......2006-09-07

This true crime memoir of author Sarena Straus, a young assistant D.A. working in the Bronx, isn't just another collection of vignettes but tackles the overall struggle against violence, considering the experiences of those living with violence on the streets and those who work against it fellow attorneys, physicians, social workers and others. From homicides to police actions and her own disturbing caseload of rapists, murderers, and batterers, Straus manages to find the human element and hope in each case, ultimately surveying the camaraderie and connections which arise from struggle and adversity.

No Pity : People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement

Average customer rating:

Essential Reading for ALL "Tinytimisms"
Response to Cindy Heilman
The most influential book you could ever read.
A really good introduction to disability politics
Poorly Crafted But Worth Your Time

No Pity : People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement
Joseph P. Shapiro
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812924126
Release Date: 1994-10-25

Book Description

People with disabilities forging the newest and last human rights movement of the century.

Customer Reviews:

Essential Reading for ALL "Tinytimisms".......2006-11-15

The Essential Primer from a non-disabled person's view. The 1994 book covers history, policies, and the interdependence we have together.
Judy Heumann and Evan Kemp recommended this to me in 1990's, and my eyes were opened wide after I read it. Ch. 1 and Tinytimism (as I call it)applies to many groups. Some call it 'Uncle Tom','assimilationist', or other. 'No Pity' describes why the charity model is fatalistic and damaging. You can see this played out in the Congress about 'welfare', 'healthcare', Clint Eastwood's attack on the ADA, and 'special needs'.
Sorry folks - we just want what you think we have, but we don't really have it: civil, legal, accessible, culturally affirming human rights.
Even if you have a disability, it is vital to read the sections that you think you know- and definately read the ones you don't know. Anyone working in health care, Addiction, Mental Health, VA, CILS, advocacy for any disability related group should read this first.

My only regret was I didn't read it sooner.

Access is a civil right and an attitude, not just a ramp (TM)!

Response to Cindy Heilman.......2003-12-28

In regards to the review by Cindy Heilman below, it is apparent that you missed a major point of this book. When you state that "Neither the disabled, homosexuals, nor adoptees are the target of lynching, Jim Crow laws, fire engine hosing, or vicious police dogs."

You must have missed the disability history about Nazi death camps, false imprisonments in institutions, forced sterilization, abuse by caregivers, death by neglect, murder of those with mental disabilities thought to be under demonic controls, murder of disabled children in underdeveloped countries, the list goes on and on. I'm not an expert on the experiences of gays and adoptees, but as far as gays...it seems they face some of the most violent crimes that helped institute hate crime statutes. The history of African-Americans has been tragic and an embarrassment for our country, but they are certainly not alone in facing hatred and violent discrimination.

As for your statement regarding the difference in abilities justifies unequal treatment, you are missing the point that we all have differing abilities and must find ways to use our assets to contribute to society and accommodate our weaknesses. This holds true for any college student who has picked a major that accommodates their strengths while downplaying their weaknesses or any member of any sports team who picks the position that will give the team the best advantage. Disabled people are not asking for unfair advantages, they are asking for equal access. A level playing field. The same opportunities to build on their strengths and contribute to the society that has blocked them out. Even under horrendous Jim Crow Laws, African-Americans were sometimes allowed to go into the back of a restuarant and be served. People with disabilities aren't even allowed to the resturant door sometimes. Although their is a uniqueness to some of the issues surrounding disability, the civil rights aspect of amicus and access are exactly the same.

Read "Make them go away" by Mary Johnson for a more straightforward, updated essay on this situation if you still don't understand.

The most influential book you could ever read........2003-11-25

My perception has changed in ways immeasurable in regards to people with disabilities. Now, every single day I am aware of the small and large ways in which those with disabilities are discrimated against by temporarily able-bodied individuals. I am buying several copies to lend and give out, I hope others do the same.

A really good introduction to disability politics.......2002-08-11

This book is written in an easy-to-read style by a journalist who has covered disability issues for many years. It explains how he came to see that disability is a civil rights issue, just like racial or sexual discrimination. And it provides a very interesting history of the American disability movement in particular.

Poorly Crafted But Worth Your Time.......2001-05-21

Having done my undergraduate work in English, criticism of printed material has become similar to breathing. I've written countless papers condemning authors for their various shortcomings, all the while never having myself written anything approaching art. The hypocrisy of my position as a self righteous reader, condemning the efforts of those I'd be hard pressed to emulate, has often occupied my curiosity.

This same quandary reasserts itself after reading Joseph P Shapiro's No Pity, a compelling account of society's misperceptions and remedial efforts regarding the thirty-five to forty three million Americans with disabilities. Shapiro's work uncovers a sometimes forgotten struggle by providing a compelling journalistic account of both legal history and the personal struggles of individuals who must confront disabilities. The result is a more enlightened reader. Yet, however successful Shapiro may be at removing the blinders from the eyes of his readers, one can, like a sanctimonious student of literature, find several flaws within the text. One is compelled to reach the conclusion that No Pity is both insightful, but terribly short-sighted.

First, Shapiro uncritically parallels the struggle for disability rights with the legislative and judicial victories associated with African-American civil rights. For instance, Chapter 2 begins, "In the fall of 1962, James Meredith, escorted to class by U.S. marshals, integrated the University of Mississippi. The same school season, a postpolio quadriplegic named Ed Roberts entered the University of California at Berkeley. Just as surely as Meredith ushered in an era of access to higher education for blacks and a new chapter in the civil rights movement, Roberts was more quietly opening a civil rights movement that would remake the world for disabled people." By associating the disabled rights movement with the efforts of African-Americans to obtain civil rights, Shapiro casts greater legitimacy upon the former by its association with a movement for which most Americans, through the value of hindsight, have a great deal of sympathy. However, such exploitation of an altogether different subject is neither original nor fair. For instance, other civil rights movements have also attempted to co-op the racial struggle for civil rights into their own movements. Locally, Hands Off Washington, a political group fighting a proposed ban on any minority set-asides for homosexuals, and nationally, Bastard Nation, an extreme adoptee rights advocate group, have both attempted to cast their own particular struggles as being the logical and inevitable conclusions of broader classifications of civil rights begun by African-Americans. Yet by doing so, both Shapiro and these other movements minimize the particularized oppression that gave rise to the earlier movement. Neither the disabled, homosexuals, nor adoptees are the target of lynching, Jim Crow laws, fire engine hosing, or vicious police dogs. Nor has the color of ones skin any relation to ones abilities to function in a majoritarian community; thus, segregation and unequal legal status in relation to race has no justifiable characteristic. On the other hand, people with disabilities cannot always function in ways similar to the majority; thus, inequality in law can, to some extent, be justified in relation to the disabled. Unfortunately, Shapiro refuses to explore the implications and complications of correlating the plight of the disabled with that of African-Americans.

Next, Shapiro's editorial approach seems confused. On one hand, Shapiro adopts the didactic nature of an advocate. For instance, in Chapter Ten, when telling the personal story of Jim, an institutionalized developmentally disabled adult, Shapiro's scorn at those who would keep Jim confined from the community is unmistakable. In addition, Shapiro briefly discusses his own attempts to emancipate Jim from his surroundings. On the other hand, Shapiro often changes his tone and persona; becoming the detached, objective journalist he credits himself being. Specifically, Shapiro recounts the deaf separatist movement at Gallaudet University in a positive but objective tone, yet later describes the offense many people with disabilities have for the Special Olympics due to the separatist nature of the events. The reader is left confused, wondering what exactly should their response be to these to contradictory sentiments. Meanwhile, Shapiro has no suggestions, and any attempt to suggest that his silence is due to journalistic objectivity has been illegitimated by his earlier didacticism. Shapiro seems to provide normative prescriptions only when they are easy and convenient, while the reader is left searching for an appropriate response to the conflicts Shapiro describes.

Yet, reading provides a number of benefits. Just as people venture to a movie for different reasons, such as escapism, drama, artistic appreciation, or terror, readers need not be moved to read by any particular motivation. A poorly crafted read may be entirely worthy of one's time for considerations beyond the ascetic quality of the work. Such is the case with No Pity, a poorly crafted, by eye opening account of the struggles of the disabled which has made me question my own tacit understandings of society in general.

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