CRIME

HELEN ZIA, author, January 22, 2002
CZIKOWSKY: It has been suggested this (the arrest of When Ho Lee) was a striking case of racial profiling. What is your assessment of the degree racial profiling was prevalent in this case?
ZIA: I think it stands out as one of the prime examples of racial profiling in our recent history. Even though FBI agents has concluded agents had concluded that he was not a spy back in 1999 and had written this to their Washington, D.C. headquarters in internal FBI memos, the government and beltway politicians continued to portray When Ho Lee as someone who fit the profile of a spy for the PRC. The initial investigation of When Ho Lee was called Operation Kindred Spirit. The Webster’s Dictionary definition of kindred is someone of similar nature or of the same ancestry. Some of the Los Alamos Counter Intelligence personnel involved in the case have also stated that they only reason he was singled out was due to his Chinese ethnicity. They also said that there were many other individuals in the lab who could have been potential suspects but they weren’t even investigated because they were not of Chinese ancestry.
So, yes, racial profiling played a significant part in the prosecution of Dr. Lee and it stands out as an example of how racial profiling does not work.

BRENT TURVEY, Bond University Criminology Profiling Adjunct Lecturer, October 22, 2002
CZIKOWSKY: Is it true the barrel of every gun has its own distinctive impression that is made on bullets as they pass through the barrel? If so, wouldn’t it make sense to require the recording of every distinct impression with the police before guns are sold?
TURVEY: That is true; however, it is very easy to alter the lands and grooves in any gun and therefore a data base would be useless in a case like this (a serial sniper) where you had someone with a basic knowledge of firearms. If I were the offender, I would make sure that all of my weapons were registered in this data base, if it existed, to avert suspicion.

MURRAY MARKS, Forensic Anthropology Center Associate Director, May 23, 2002
CZIKOWSKY: Forensics is a great field. I believe awareness of your work may be a great detriment to criminals. When there is a body found after a long period of time, are there ways to distinguish between damage caused after death and damage caused prior to death?
MARKS: Antemortem trauma (before death) and postmortem trauma (after death) are readily distinguished from the skeleton. The crime scene will help dictate what the remains have been exposed to. Also, the condition of the remains tell us what has happened in the perimortem (around the time of death) time frame. Postmortem traumatic events leave fresh breaks or fractures. Perimortem leave wounds consistent with familiar manner of death.

JIM TRAINUM, police detective, and BRAD GARRETT, Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, March 3, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: Approximately how many tips and leads did you have to go through before you found the correct tip that set you in the right direction (in solving the murders of three Starbucks employees)? This is a major part of police work, yet it is the long, hard work that never gets the notice.
TRAINUM and GARRETT: Though we don’t have an exact count, there were at least a hundred before “the tip” came in. But remember, we still have to keep working the other leads throughout. We had so little info on Carl (Cooper, the murderer) at first that we had to keep reminding folks that the “Cooper lead” could fall through at any minute. We had to work just as hard to prove that Cooper was not the person as to prove that he was…just to make sure that he was the right one.
CZIKOWSKY: Your styles are different. Is that helpful in working together, or does it pose problems? Also, Agent Garrett, who gave you the nickname Dr. Death?
TRAINUM: Though very different, we are both the same in investigative approach…our differences work well in that folks who are drawn to Brad are not to me and vice versa.
As to Dr. Death, that was not a name that Brad picked out for himself, just as I would not have picked “plumpish”, as (author) Jeff Leen called me in a description of myself. But we have no control of how we appear to others.

LAWRENCE KOBLINSKY, Forensic Science Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, April 15, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: It is disappointing whenever we hear that a DNA test was “inconclusive”. What are the main causes that render such a test inconclusive?
KOBLINSKY: Even DNA can be degraded by fragmentation or by bacterial enzyme action or by environmental factors such as sunlight. There are two alternate conclusions that the analyst can come to besides stating that there is a match or a non match. The test can have negative results or the DNA can be insufficient in quantity. The first can come from extreme degrading of the molecule. The second can arise from small sample size.

OFRA BIKEL, “Frontline” Producer, May 2, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: What types of prejudices are these (imprisoned prison subsequently proven innocent by DNA tests) released people finding? Are people still suspicious of DNA and think it is a technicality that led to their releases? Do people believe one becomes corrupted while in prison? What seems to be the reasons that motivates people to distrust anyone who was in prison, even if it turns out they were innocent?
BIKEL: All of the above. They think that a technicality, or that if they were in prison they think there must be something—that even if they spent 10 years with all those criminals, it certainly must affect you.
And you know, if one was an employer and you interview people for a job and someone asks you what you did those 10 years and you say you were in prison, but exonerated—also, you have no experience for those 10 years , so there’s all that.

GERRY WETHINGTON, Chairman, National Consortium for Justice Research and
Statistics, May 7, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: There is, to me, a surprisingly lack of data about criminal court cases where the defendant is found innocent. This is not your fault: it seems very few people track or are interested in these cases once they are over. Yet, it would be useful to learn some post-judicial research involving these cases, such as how many involved difficulties with evidence, prosecution, police investigations, etc. Is there any movement to better study these cases?
WETHINGTON: I’m not aware of any specific study in this area. One limiting factor may be closed record laws. In some states once a subject is found innocent the case is closed and not available for dissemination. Therefore, the cases are not available to distribution and/or disclosure.

DWIGHT E. ADAMS, F.B.I. Laboratory Director, May 15, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: DNA analysis is a wonderful tool. I am worried about the proliferation of private laboratories that do not come close to the skill and abilities of the FBI laboratory. Would it make sense to have an independent certification of laboratories or some system to review which laboratories use proper procedures and which do not? Much of this analysis is becoming evidence in court cases, and we should move to see that such evidence is trustworthy.
ADAMS: Your question is a good one and speaks directly to standards. Today, all DNA testing laboratories (public and private) that submit DNA results for inclusion into the National DNA Index System must adhere to national standards. These laboratories must also undergo periodic inspections and audits.

ROBERT O’HARROW, Washington Post Staff Writer, August 11, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: You mention there is disagreement on what should be done legislatively to address this issue (of identity theft). On the state level, the penalty can be increased, and perhaps that will deter some people, although that obviously will not deter all. Do you have any recommendations on what could be done legislatively?
O’HARROW: There’s a struggle underway now in Congress over provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Some lawmakers want to give states the right to enact more restrictions that trump the FCRA. The credit bureaus and information industry companies argue that a patchwork of restrictions would dramatically increase the cost and complexity of the credit reporting business. In other words, we have a classic case of competing values. Why don’t you all tune in and voice your thoughts about whatever side you come down on. I will say this: Whatever happens, we must do a better job of verifying that someone is who they claim to be. That includes retailers, credit issuers, and information sellers. Otherwise, the problem will continue to worsen.

FRANK BOWMAN, Indiana University Law Professor, August 15, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: It was once the philosophy that criminals were to be sent away for two years to penitent for two years where they were expected to be penitent and reflect on their sins. Over time, this line of thinking was considered outdated, especially considering that some crimes are more aggrieves and a flat two year sentence was unfair to those who had committed lesser crimes. Sentences were extended for those who committed worse crimes.
While this line of thinking is old fashioned, I wonder if there were some aspects of it worth reexamining. Has anyone conducted a serious study on the following question: Is there diminishing returns on longer sentences? Prisons are training grounds where criminals learn from other criminals how to become better criminals. Prisoners released after long sentences are well schooled criminals who are bitter at society for their lengthy incarceration. Has anyone studied what is the most effective incarceration period?
BOWMAN: The Federal sentencing guidelines were, in significant part, an outgrowth of a movement that largely abandoned faith in rehabilitation in favor of a system on “just deserts”—trying to set punishments no higher than morally commensurate with the seriousness of the offense committed, and trying to set the precise punishment below that moral limit with a view to maximizing crime control. Those who espoused just deserts sentencing thought in terms of relatively short, but certain, punishments.
In the course of the political process that produced the guidelines, the just deserts philosophy was married up with the impulse of socially conservative legislators to increase penalties, particularly for drugs. Hence, the federal sentencing legislation of the 1980s not only created guidelines, but set very high statutory minimum sentences around which the Guidelines had to be built. To my knowledge, there was no empirical research done then or since to correlate particular sentence levels with maximal crime prevention. And to be fair, I’m not sure that such research is possible, at least in any very refined way.

CHARLES MOOSE, Former Montgomery County, Md. Police Chief, September 15, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: Do you believe any portion of your book (“The Hunt for the Serial Sniper”) has any potential of disrupting the trail process? If so, do you believe the possibility is small? If you believe your book has no potential to disrupt the trial, what is your response to critics who claim it might?
MOOSE: I hope that I don’t have any influence of the trial. Trials are about evidence being put in front of 12 people.
CZIKOWSKY: In life, it is always easier to know what to do after everything has been done. In retrospect, what would you most wish you would have done differently in this investigation?
MOOSE: The short answer is caught them sooner—perhaps in Alabama before they even came to Maryland. Honestly, the men and women on the task force did the best they could. Second guessing their efforts is inappropriate.

PETER PERL, Washington Post Staff Writer, December 2, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: There have been some researchers who suggest that homicide rates and suicide rates in societies have inverse relationships: i.e., cultures such as in Japan and China have high suicide rates and low homicide rates while cultures as in the United States have relatively higher homicide rates and lower suicide rates. In our culture, sometimes homicide is the reaction depressed people take when they are in fact suicidal. Might this theory be of help to your discussion?
PERL: That is a very interesting question and I do not know the actual statistics on homicide/suicide. In Joshua’s (Joshua Cooke, who murdered his parents) case, it seems obvious that his suicidal thoughts were ultimately diverted to homicide; as the psychologist who examined him said, Joshua’s parents became sort of a “mirrorwhich reflected his failings. Instead of killing himself, he destroyed the primary mirrors that illustrated his shortcomings. The psychologist called the crime “a deflected suicide”.

SUZANNE O’MALLEY, author, February 9, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: You are a first hand witness of the mental state of Andrea Yates. What were her given reasons for the murders (of her five children), and do you believe she is being truthful in her accounts to you?
O’MALLEY: First of all, yes, I believe she’s truthful. The reason I believe it is during her trial she was examined by leading experts on what in forensic society is called, “faking bad” and “faking good”. Andrea Yates has been determined to fake good; in other words, she doesn’t shrink from the truth and she has an inclination to carry on and pretend to be in better health than she actually is.
At the time, she was suffering from a psychotic delusion that her children were going to hell and the only hope of getting them into heaven was if she killed them while they were young.
CZIKOWSKY: When Samantha Smith drowned her children, the first reaction friends and neighbors gave of her was her non-violence, and how they were surprised that a seemingly non-violent person could commit such a crime. Was Andrea Yates ever violent towards her children and does prior violence demonstrate any pre-disposition towards killing one ‘s own children?
O’MALLEY: My research suggests that she was never violent to her children and to my knowledge prior violence is usually not a factor in post-partum-related killings of children.
CZIKOWSKY: What type psychiatric care do you believe Mrs. Yates should be receiving? Keeping in mind that state governments are in budget crises, do you believe her condition justifies the costly psychiatric care that would likely have to be afforded her? I ask this with an open mind.
O’MALLEY: The taxpayer cost for prosecuting Andrea Yates are estimated at $1 million. The legal expenses to the taxpayers for challenging her appeal will add more to that total. Settling the case without a trial and putting her in a mental health facility long-term might have been less expensive than the trial, prison, and ongoing litigation.

MOHAMED NIMER, Council on American-Islamic Relations, May 3, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: Is the Muslim community open about admitting instances of discrimination and abuse, or is it difficult discovering when these events occur?
NIMER: Muslims are becoming increasingly willing to go public with such experiences.

LAWRENCE A. FARWELL, neuroscientist, MICHAEL EPSTEIN, filmmaker, and JARED LIPWORTH, producer, May 5, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: Polygraph tests primarily register stress, and the way it works is that a person tends to show more stress when lying. Yet, if a person can lie without stress, or has a psychological difficulty differentiating between truth and falsehoods, the polygraph will not work. What exactly do these (Brain Fingerprinting) tests register, and what, if any, are the pitfalls of using these tests if there is a person with a psychological ability to register variant brainwaves that provide false negative readings when lying (or does such a person not exist?)
FARWELL, EPSTEIN, and LIPWORTH: The polygraph measures an emotional stress response in an attempt to determine if the individual is lying. Brain Fingerprinting does not depend on emotions or stress. It scientifically measures whether or not specific information is stored in a person’s brain. Since the test is objective and it picks up the brain response at the moment of recognition, Brain Fingerprinting is equally applicable to a sociopath, pathological liar, etc. It simply determines whether the person has the details of the crime stored in his brain or not. Brain Fingerprinting, unlike polygraph, does not depend upon the subjective interpretation of the person administering the test.

CHARLES H. RAMSEY, District of Columbia Police Chief, February 10, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: Some communities are involving cab drivers in their crime prevention efforts. Cab drivers can serve as additional eyes observing if something appears amiss, and then they can call the police to investigate. Does D.C. have a cab driver awareness program to encourage them to work in cooperation with the police?
RAMSEY: I am not aware of any formal crime prevention program we have that incorporate cab drivers, but it’s a good idea and we will look into it. We have worked in recent years with the taxicab industry to try and improve the safety of cab drivers and passengers. For example, many cabs in D.C. now have lights on their roofs that flash “Call 911” if the driver has experienced a problem needing immediate police response.

LAWRENCE KOBLINSKY, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Associate Provost, February 24, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: Isn’t one major question about the use of DNA evidence is the misuse of its analysis? DNA analysis, when done correctly, yields much accurate information. Yet, there have been several examples of even high level experts who have done shoddy work, and one case where the work wasn’t even bothered to be done. How do you better monitor human behavior to see that DNA analysis is done properly?
KOBLINSKY: This is an extraordinary question and one that is very important. Forensic Science has some wonderful technology and you refer to DNA. This is a very important and significant area in terms of exonerating innocent suspects and in focusing in on criminals and in general in helping to solve crime. However, there is always the human aspect to the analysis. A person must perform the work. A person must follow the protocols and not take short cuts. A person must interpret the results of the experimentation. That some person must write a report and testify in a court of law. This is a sacred duty since often, peoples’ lives and liberty are at stake. Legal experts who do shoddy work should be exposed and not permitted to work on casework. There are instances where forensic workers have indicated that they performed work and they have not. People are also capable of human error and this needs to be minimized, although it will always exist.

RYAN KING, The Sentencing Project Research Associate, May 4, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: I will always remember hearing that young people in prison spend much of their time in prison being taught by other prisoners on subjects such as how to become criminals. I fear it is not good to sentence non-violent, drug related offenders to prison only to create more future criminal troubles. I believe people with drug addiction troubles would better be sentenced into rehabilitation programs. I realize these are more of comments than questions, yet I would appreciate your discussing whether these points are valid, in your opinion.
KING: Our position is to try and keep people in the community if at all possible. The problem is that prison has become the first and only response to crime. It needs to be the last resort—when we have exhausted all other options.
Particularly when it comes to drug offenses, we have a wealth of empirical data that suggests that treatment is more effective at addressing drug use, is less costly, and reduces re-offending. So, why not continue to dedicate resources to treatment so that more people can fill those slots?
Furthermore, keeping people in the community is key to positive future job prospects and reduced recidivism. Treatment offers much more long term, viable options than warehousing in prison for many people. However, this requires a shit to viewing drug use as a public health problem and not a criminal justice problem.

ASHLEY SMITH, hostage to alleged killer Brian Nichols, November 8, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: How long were you held hostage? What various emotions did you go through? It must have been startling to be taken hostage, but over time, you were able to develop a conversation with this captor. How safe did you feel over time, or were you always on edge that this was a killer who could snap at any time? SMITH: I was held hostage for seven hours. I went through fear, anger, sadness, relief, happiness. It was very startling to be taken hostage but I believe that God was with me the entire time. I called on Him and He came and guided me through every step I needed to feel peace and to make it out of the house alive. I did have a sick feeling the entire time that he could turn those guns on me at anytime. Even walking out the house to go see my daughter. But God was with me and protected me for that.
CZIKOWSKY: Where was your daughter during the time you were captive? How aware was she of what was happening to you? Have you found you reevaluate our life in any way afterwards and has this affected your relationship with your daughter?
SMITH: My daughter was fortunately with my aunt at the time. She shelters a lot from the things were going on, mostly. She knew that I had been held hostage and then set free but my family and I tried to be as general as possible when talking about the ordeal. Yes, I have done a lot of reevaluation of my life and now my relationship with my daughter is now pure and whole…unlike before. I look for new ways to be a better mom everyday and ask for God’s help through it all.

JERRY CAPECI, author, November 17, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: Is there any trust to some mob disappearances having resulted in the disappeared being ground into processed food? Is that just a Hollywood myth shown on “The Sopranos”, or are there indications that may actually have happened? CAPECI: I’ve never come across any indications that the mob minced its victims into processed food. There was a particularly murderous gang of Gambino mobsters under Roy DeMeo that dismembered its victims and deposited them in a Brooklyn dump so as to make prosecution for those murders much more difficult. Frequently gangsters bury their victims for the same reason.

DIANE DIMOND, former Court TV Executive Investigative Editor, November 22, 2005
CZIKOWSKY: Lisa Marie Presley stated she and her husband Michael had sex. While I don’t know if her definition of sex is the same as what is in the dictionary, this still does not prove anything. Whether or nor Michael Jackson was innocent or guilty, couldn’t even a devoted husband have a hidden secret desire to molest young children? Doesn’t that defense really mean very little?
DIMOND: I agree with you.
Married people (men and women) have been found guilty of, and even confessed to, molesting children.
I think this is such an important topic that we just don’t discuss enough in this country.
I write a chapter about an FBI profiler named Ken Lanning I wish EVERYONE would read. It’s about WHO is a molester and how they behave. A true pedophile is NOT the man in the dirty trench coat who hangs around the playground. He (or she) is an upstanding member of the community, most often. They have god jobs, contribute to charity, seem willing to help with even the most troubled children. In other words, they could be your next door neighbor and you’d never know.

RIC BIENSTOCK, Frontline Producer, February 8, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: I was saddened to read that a captured woman escaped (from sex slavery) only to be abused by the police. I was wondering why more women just don’t try to escape. Is that the reason why: the police won’t really help?
BIENSTOCK: There are many reasons why these women often don’t try to escape. They have a mistrust of law enforcement because they have an experience of police corruption in their own countries. Also, they are illegal immigrants in the countries that they have been trafficked to, so they are scared to go to the authorities. But most importantly, their captors often tell them that they know where the victim’s families lives and they know that they have children, and warn them that if they don’t submit, their children are at risk. All of these factors contribute to the fear they have of attempting to escape.
CZIKOWSKY: What happens to the women when they become too old to be financially productive to their captors?
BIENSTOCK: Once a woman has outlived her usefulness to her pimp, she is often just discarded. Either left to make her way back home, or sent back home. We spoke to an organization in Kiev, Ukraine who ran a small program that was based in a hospital because they were finding that so many women were returning traumatized and with serious medical issues. Sexually transmitted diseases were common. So is AIDS. The most horrific story we heard was about a woman who got pregnant while in captivity and was forced to work until very late in her pregnancy. She returned to Ukraine to have her baby. This was an unwanted pregnancy and an unwanted baby. She will need medical counseling and medical care for a long time to be able to put the pieces of her life back together.

JON B. GOULD, George Mason University Public and International Affairs Associate Professor, February 13, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: Are local police alert to investigating the potential of human trafficking and in cooperating with Federal agents or Interpol on alerting when massage parlors with foreign women may potentially be engaged in more sinister crimes such as abduction and abuse?
GOULD: Good question. Prostitution is an international problem, although it’s difficult to say what percentage of any locality’s prostitutes are trafficked. A short answer is that local law enforcement cooperates with national and international authorities when asked or when they think they’re on to a larger problem.
CZIKOWSKY: Can taxpayers recover their money (paid by undercover officers at a massage parlor) from the massage parlor upon conviction? GOULD: A fine certainly would be appropriate. In some cases, the law provided for the forfeiture of assets gained from the criminal enterprise.

MOISES NAIM, Foreign Policy Magazine Editor, May 30, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: Smuggling has existed for a long time. Is it any more a significant impact on our economy today than in the past?
NAIM: As so many other aspects of international trade, illicit commerce has also been transformed by the revolutionary changes in technology and politics that occurred in the 1990s. It is now more varied, more global, and has more severe political consequences. In the past, governments did not have to worry about the smuggling of human organs, for example, or illegally copied music or software. These are new industries that have grown immensely in recent years. Smuggling also tended to be regional, and it normally took place among nations that shared borders.
Today’s new technologies allow smuggling to be far more global in scope. Moreover, international smuggling networks have acquired an unprecedented political potency and a defining political influence in the politics and economies of many countries. This is the central thesis of my book, “Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy. CZIKOWSKY: How easy is it to smuggle something in by ship? My understanding is that inspections are so few that a major smuggler can well risk having a small portion of shipments caught just by playing the odds that most will get through. Is this correct? Shouldn’t we be doing more to check shipments of goods into America?
NAIM: Yes, smuggling by ships continues to be a relatively low risk undertaking. While after 9/11, especially in the United States, stricter controls and safeguards were implemented, the reality is that the explosive growth in international trade makes it very hard for authorities to provide a failsafe system of monitoring and inspecting all cargo containers coming into the U.S. ports. While more needs to be done and new methods and technologies will soon be available to make smuggling weapons of weapons of mass destruction, for example, more difficult, no system will be perfect. There will always be a tension between ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of the international trading system that brings so many benefits to the United States and the need for this country to safeguard its citizens’ security.

ERIK LARSON, author, October 24, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: How did you come to learn of this 1910 murder (in his book “Thunderstruck”)? It is fascinating. How did you first come across it?
LARSON: One afternoon, having put aside many other ideas, I happened to be musing about wireless and its history. One thing led to another and I came to a very nice website called MarconiCalling. As I read through a directory of entries in the website I came across the name Cripppen, and was quite startled. I knew that name because of something my mother had told me when I was a kid. I don’t think I ever knew details. All I kept over the years was a recollection that there was something romantic about the Crippen saga. Seeing it mentioned there in the context of a history of wireless and Marconi was very strange. The rest, of course, was history.

LIONEL SHRIVER, author, April 23, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: I can understand this unique situation where a mass killer strikes and the public wishes to know about the killer, his motivations, background, etc. Yet don’t we focus too much attention on the perpetrators of a crime and not enough on the victims? I often have suggested that the media should even consider refocusing their headlines and the focus of their articles from the accused to the victim. I say this for this reason: there are some criminal who are attracted to this attention. If we took away this attraction, we not only shine the light to where it belongs—the results of crime—but we take away the attention that some criminals crave.
SHRIVER: The problem is essentially narrative. The STORY of the victim, as sad as it may be, is not narratively compelling” person who doesn’t deserve it gets shot. Wrong place, wrong time. As a story, it doesn’t excite your curiosity. Whereas: really quiet guy suddenly murders 32 people and himself—does.

WILLIAM BOOTH, Washington Post Staff Writer, June 26, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: There is a rumored reputation that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department protects celebrities, knowing their importance to the Los Angeles culture and economy. Is there truth to this or is this a myth?
BOOTH: I think they do protect celebrities and that Hollywood actors are given special treatment. In jail, they are kept in special units, for their own protection and to keep the inmate population from going nuts.
CZIKOWSKY: It was reported that in 80 percent of similar cases defendants received a lesser sentence than Paris Hilton ultimately received. Isn’t this a case where her celebrity might have worked against her?
BOOTH: Yes. If I were to go down on the same charges, I’d be out in 24 hours.

TERESSA TURNER-SCHAEFER, charged with first degree murder, August 22, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: I know, as you told your children, you lover your husband (that in a plea bargain she has admitted killing.) I also know what while he may be been cruel and brutal, there must have also been good sides to him. In the article, his character is harmed. Perhaps he deserved it. Yet, and what I believe might also be helpful, what were his good points? What would you want your children to know about their father? TURNER-SCHAEFER: Well, there are many good things about my husband. He always made sure we were provided for and his laughter was what made the days seems not so bad. My children know we both love them and always well…His memory is with us always in all that we do.

MIKE GEORGE, Loudon County Va. Sheriff candidate, October 22, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: Have you considered a program used successfully in several places where one partially deputizes taxi drivers and delivery drivers and others who drive around the community with radio or telephone capabilities? They are trained to observe when something might e asker and to phone in a report of suspicious activity, such as someone breaking into a window. This gives law enforcement extra eyes on the community.
GEORGE: I have not considered this program but I have to say I like it. Anything that enhances the communications between law enforcement and the community is beneficial.
CZIKOWSKY: Aren’t there complications in dealing with immigration issues on the local police level? Don’t local police lack the capabilities to check immigration status and to act accordingly?
GEORGE: The whole immigration issue is a series of complications. The police do lack certain capabilities and ICE, although they have the capabilities, do not always act because they are overworked and they to have to prioritize. My stance has been target criminal, if they are here illegally they get deported. If I were to have a deputy check status of a person who was filing a complaint and the person was here illegally he would not be deported by ICE for a status violation. I would not have the deputies doing this because it accomplishes nothing and it turns off the community from reporting crimes, which is a quality of life issue for all of us. The system is broke and it needs to be fixed. We have voiced our displeasure to the Federal government and hopefully they will assist us so we are not shooting from the hip, which any police officer or deputy will tell you when you shoot from the hit you usually miss.

STEVE SIMPSON, Loudoun County Va. Sheriff, October 23, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: Have you considered a program used successfully in several places where one partially deputizes taxi drivers and delivery drivers and others who drive around the community with radio or telephone capabilities? They are trained to observe when something might be asker and to phone in a report of suspicious activity, such as someone breaking into a window. This gives law enforcement extra eyes on the community.
SIMPSON: We need to be careful with the use of the word ‘deputize’. Police work requires specialized training and certification, however the idea that you are talking about is important—putting additional eyes and ears in the community and that has been a priority of my administration. We have expanded neighborhood watch in Loudoun County, and initiated the Community Policing program to increase the interaction between my office and the public. And I can tell you it is working. With the explosion of cell phone usage, virtually everyone is able and encouraged to report suspicious activity. And they do!

JOE McGINNISS, author, November 13, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: What attracted you to write about crime stories, and what do you believe is the attraction for readers towards the intricacies of crime stories?
McGINNISS: Well, I’ve written eleven books and only four of them, over almost forty years, have been about crimes of violence. So it hasn’t exactly been an obsession. The stories behind the four true crime books I have done, including “Never Enough”, have all involved seemingly “perfect” families suddenly destroyed by a horrific and totally unforeseen act of violence. (In “Never Enough” I guess you could say Rob Kissel did have some warning, but he never took it seriously the possibility that his wife might be planning to kill him.) What is it that goes wrong in these families? What pressures built in the background over years, leading to such sudden and utter destruction? A lot of us live in families, a lot of us live imperfect lives, but only a very few ever had to confront raw violence from a spouse or a child. What makes these people different? Or are they really different from the rest of us, or maybe just unluckier? Overall, I think we’re interested in extreme forms of behavior, because most of us don’t manifest it. I think it’s at the extremes that human nature most clearly reveals itself.
CZIKOWSKY: How do you choose the cases that you write about? Are there particular aspects of the cases you seek before you write about them?
McGINNISS: It’s really more a question of the cases choosing me. I don’t read many true crime books. I don’t follow true crime stories on television. But every once in a while something just jumps at me. With “Never Enough” it was having a Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch investment banker’s body found rolled inside a carpet in a storeroom in the most luxurious expatriate enclave in Hong Kong. How did it get there? This guy was on the fastest of the fast tracks. What happened? Then I read that his wife had been arrested and charged with the crime, then tried and convicted by a Chinese jury and sentenced to life without parole in a Hong Kong prison. Why? Because she wanted to be free to continue an affair with a video and store installer who lived in a trailer in New Hampshire? For that, she would kill her husband, effectively orphan her three children, and risk her own freedom? What was going on here? Nothing I read made it make any sense, so I decided to find out for myself. Of the four cases I’ve written about, all involve violence within a family, but otherwise they could not be more different from one another in terms of social class, setting, and the unfolding of the story itself.
CZIKOWSY: New information often arises after cases have been settled by juries or investigators. What has been the most startling thing you learned about a case on which you had written that you learned after you had published a book on the crime?
McGINNISS: Hmmmm. Good question. But I don’t think I have a good answer. With “Fatal Vision”—nothing new was learned about the case itself, despite MacDonald’s repeated claims of “new evidence” over the years. With “Blind Faith”: nothing. The jury got it right (a no-brainer, that one, just like Rob Marshall, a guy who had his wife killed.) And nothing new on “Cruel Doubt”, either. With “Never Enough”, I think the big surprise would be to find out the identity of the recently-retired Goldman Sachs partner who is paying the costs of Nancy Kissel’s ongoing criminal defense. And to find out why he’s sent her more than a million dollars. I mean, I know investment bankers can get into ego-driven squabbles with one another, but to pay more than a million to try to win freedom for the woman who murdered a colleague: wow, there’s something going on there. I know who the guy is and tried to catch up with him until almost the day the book was published, but never did. I understand, however, that the Wall Street Journal is working on a story about this now, and I’m sure they’ll nail it. After all, nobody can hide from Rupert Murdoch.