BY DIANE DIMOND Sherry Johnson gave birth when she was 10 years old. When she turned 11, her parents, members of a conservative Pentecostal church, decided she should marry the 20-year-old man who had raped her. Their reasoning? Marriage would deflect a criminal case and help protect the reputation of the church. Amazingly, a clerk […]
BY DIANE DIMOND Summertime is upon us, the season when out-of-school kids are frequently left alone in the house. Here’s a question for all parents and grandparents out there: Do you have guns in your home? According to a new report from the Children’s National Hospital, 20,000 American children — yes, 20,000 — will be […]
BY DIANE DIMOND This nation has faced some tough law enforcement dilemmas in recent years: an increase in murders, drug and gang violence in several major cities, a breakdown in citizen’s respect for authority, police overreaction to situations (ignited by either a macho officer or one who honestly fears for his or her safety) and, […]
BY DIANE DIMOND There’s a new forensic tool that’s being developed that’s going to knock your socks off! Investigative science professor Dr. Glen P. Jackson at West Virginia University spoke with me recently about his advances in crime fighting, and while it’s all kind of science-y, I think you’ll agree it is fascinating. Professor Jackson […]
COLUMN BY DIANE DIMOND It’s clearly time to bring back firing squads. If we’re going to keep carrying out the death penalty in this country and if we are going to continue to grandly insist that they are “humane executions” then only a return to a firing squad will insure a speedy and relatively pain-free […]
BY DIANE DIMOND Justice is supposed to be blind. But what happens when it turns out to be blind, deaf and dumb? Sadly, there is not enough space here to tell you the entire 7-year saga of whistleblower Michael Winston, but the bottom line is this: He got royally screwed by the California judicial system. […]