by Diane Dimond on April 30, 2012
Who or What Do You Trust?
“With liberty and justice for all…..” are the last six words of our Pledge of Allegiance. I’m just sappy enough to still hold on to that sentiment as the creed for my country. But to achieve a true feeling of justice you have to have faith, right? So let me ask. How’s your faith holding up? Mine is a little shaky lately.
I’m not talking about a religion-based faith. I’m talking about the faith and admiration we need to have in our government, our social institutions, our communities and our fellow citizens.
An article in the National Journal entitled, “In Nothing We Trust” got me thinking. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on March 5, 2012
Equality For All People, Right?
I have never written a column about the state of North Dakota, a state from which my parents hailed and where I still have close relatives. The state’s motto is, “Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable.”
But that’s not necessarily so if you are a Black American.
North Dakota has no anti-bias or hate crimes on the books, no independent Human Rights Commission** (as most states do) and no easy, reliable system for those who feel they have been wronged to seek relief. The issue is important because minorities are pouring in to the state to work in the newly lucrative oil fields. The industry’s six-figure salaries have trickled down to create many more jobs in the housing, restaurant, hotel and home furnishings sectors and people of color are responding in droves. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on February 27, 2012
Prolonged Isolation Destroys the Mind
Americans were once riveted by the horrific news of U.S. soldiers and military contractor’s treatment of enemy combatants at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Media reports beginning in 2004 made us cringe with shame when we realized Americans had humiliated, raped and even killed prisoners of war – and casually taken snapshots of their own crimes.
Today, I believe there is another atrocity taking place inside our own American prison system. Oh, it doesn’t involve naked inmates being paraded around on a dog collar as happened in Baghdad but the end result is just as appalling – if not more so. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on February 6, 2012
NFL Commish Goddell
I wonder if the National Football Commissioner Roger Goodell knows the information I’m about to tell you? If not, may I be the one to clue him in to the shocking criminal background of a guy named Gary who is prominently featured at NFL games … including this year’s Super Bowl?
Around 1980, when Gary was in his mid-30’s he was charged with having sex with an underage 14 year old girl named Allison. He was acquitted.
For the entire decade of the 80’s Gary was considered to be such a dangerous and chronic drunk driver that authorities banned him from getting behind the wheel for ten years. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on January 16, 2012
How Many Are There in America?
It was a small but horrifying item in the Los Angeles Times. “Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying what they call a ‘serious, dangerous serial killer operating in Orange County. Police believe one person is responsible for stabbing three middle-aged homeless men. He is (considered) extremely dangerous to the public.”
Another serial killer, I thought. And then the question: How many serial killers are out there in America?
John Douglas, a former Chief of the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit and author of [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on January 3, 2012
What Road Will The New Year Take?
Time for New Year resolutions. Mine take the form of wishes and hopes focused on how to make our crime and justice system safer, saner and more evenhanded for all.
I know some of my wishes are unlikely to come true. But I also know many of them could if we were all determined to make society work better.
I hope that the coach Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State University gives strength and solace to the millions of victims of child sexual abuse everywhere, no matter how old they are now. May each of them understand that society condemns every person who preys on children and that the shame isn’t theirs, it rests solely on the molester. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on December 26, 2011
A Christmas Trend
It’s been a chore trying to figure out an uplifting topic for this Christmas-time column. In a space usually dedicated to the negative aspects of human nature I can think of no better time to highlight the positive.
I’m always on the lookout for trends in crime – troubled veterans returning home and becoming entangled in the justice system, questionable prisoner releases from overcrowded institutions and the recent reported decline in state’s use of the death penalty to name just a few.
But the latest trend I spotted is as far away from crime as I can imagine – and since it is so positively pervasively Christmas-y in its effect – I think it earns a mention. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on December 19, 2011
Blagojevich: Famous For Being Infamous
It is an odd thing we do here in America. People who get wrapped up in scandal often become elevated to celebrity status.
You know the type of people I’m talking about – those who are caught up in sex or drug scandals, criminal suspects, or some other type of social misfit who’s every move is followed by reporters. Cameras are there as they hustle in to court, show up for their community service or just try to dodge embarrassing questions about their problematic behavior.
These folks become famous for being infamous. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on December 5, 2011
A Jury Says He Killed Michael Jackson
You may not have been the least bit interested in the recent trial of Dr. Conrad Murray who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of entertainer Michael Jackson. He has now been sentenced to the maximum – four years behind bars for giving Jackson the hospital-only anesthesia Propofol in his home every night for at least two months.
Here’s why the case is important.
The case riveted doctors across the nation. Especially doctors in celebrity studded areas of the country like Los Angeles and New York, Aspen and Nashville, Atlanta and New Mexico where concerts and movie shoots attract some of the biggest divas in the entertainment business.
As the old Hollywood saying goes, “Where there’s a star there are drugs.” [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on November 21, 2011
The Fight Against Child Abuse Needs A Plan
Those who fight to stop child abuse need to get some pizzazz in their campaign. They need a marketing strategy. They’ve got no slogan or badge or colored ribbon for supporters to display to acknowledge their solidarity in trying to wipe out this criminal scourge.
As everyone knows the crippling psychological effects of childhood abuse and neglect often lasts a lifetime. And if the abuse is of a sexual nature a victim can grow up to victimize others in a similar fashion. It’s an awful cycle.
Those on the front line of this fight – abuse survivors, law enforcement’s first responders, social workers, prosecutors and medical experts need an enthusiastic movement like the one launched by the family of the late Susan G. Komen who died of breast cancer in 1980. [click to continue…]
