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Showing 61 - 80 of 1599 items
By Carole Bell Ford. 1991
Houston was a terrible place to divorce or seek child custody in the 1980s and early 1990s. Family court judges…
routinely rendered verdicts that damaged the interests of women and children. In some especially shocking cases, they even granted custody to fathers who had been accused of molesting their own children. Yet despite persistent allegations of cronyism, incompetence, sexism, racism, bribery, and fraud, the judges wielded such political power and influence that removing them seemed all but impossible. The family court system was clearly broken, but there appeared to be no way to fix it.By Kemerer, Frank R.. 2008
In his forty years on the federal bench in Texas, William Wayne Justice has been a formidable force for change.…
His rulings have prompted significant institutional reforms in education, prisons, and racial relations, to name only a few areas of society in Texas and beyond that have been affected by Justice's work. For his labors, Judge Justice has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Federal Trial Judge Award, the Thurgood Marshall Award from the Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities of the American Bar Association, and the Morris Dees Justice Award from the University of Alabama School of Law. This paperback reprint of William Wayne Justice chronicles his judicial career and the decisions he reached. It includes a new epilogue that describes Justice's move to Austin as a judge on senior status yet with a full caseload, tracks the long-running institutional reform cases to their conclusion, and examines the legacy of this remarkable and controversial jurist.By David Foxton. 2013
Karl Llewellyn described Thomas Scrutton as 'the greatest English-speaking commercial judge of a century'. Scrutton played a key role in…
a number of politically sensitive court cases from the Great War to the 1930s. This biography draws on unpublished sources to evaluate his contribution as counsel, campaigner and judge in a number of areas: the development of a modern law of copyright; the checking of executive power in and after the Great War; and his attempt to develop English commercial law on a basis which reflected the practices and expectations of the commercial community. In addition to providing valuable insights into the nature of legal practice and advancement in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the book examines Llewellyn's claim that Scrutton adopted a 'realist' approach to the development of commercial law, and uses the body of Scrutton's judgments to explore the limits of a 'realist' approach to jurisprudence.By Carol Jenkins, Elizabeth Gardner Hines. 2004
The grandson of slaves, born into poverty in 1892 in the Deep South, A. G. Gaston died more than a…
century later with a fortune worth well over $130 million and a business empire spanning communications, real estate, and insurance. Gaston was, by any measure, a heroic figure whose wealth and influence bore comparison to J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie. Here, for the first time, is the story of the life of this extraordinary pioneer, told by his niece and grandniece, the award-winning television journalist Carol Jenkins and her daughter Elizabeth Gardner Hines.Born at a time when the bitter legacy of slavery and Reconstruction still poisoned the lives of black Americans, Gaston was determined to make a difference for himself and his people. His first job, after serving in the celebrated all-black regiment during World War I, bound him to the near-slavery of an Alabama coal mine--but even here Gaston saw not only hope but opportunity. He launched a business selling lunches to fellow miners, soon established a rudimentary bank--and from then on there was no stopping him. A kind of black Horatio Alger, Gaston let a single, powerful question be his guide: What do our people need now? His success flowed from an uncanny genius for knowing the answer. Combining rich family lore with a deep knowledge of American social and economic history, Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Hines unfold Gaston's success story against the backdrop of a century of crushing racial hatred and bigotry. Gaston not only survived the hardships of being black during the Depression, he flourished, and by the 1950s he was ruling a Birmingham-based business empire. When the movement for civil rights swept through the South in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gaston provided critical financial support to many activists.At the time of his death in 1996, A. G. Gaston was one of the wealthiest black men in America, if not the wealthiest. But his legacy extended far beyond the monetary. He was a man who had proved it was possible to overcome staggering odds and make a place for himself as a leader, a captain of industry, and a far-sighted philanthropist. Writing with grace and power, Jenkins and Hines bring their distinguished ancestor fully to life in the pages of this book. Black Titan is the story of a man who created his own future--and in the process, blazed a future for all black businesspeople in America.From the Hardcover edition.By Paul R. Kavieff. 2008
Detroit's Infamous Purple Gang is a photographic history of one of the most notorious organized crime groups of the 20th…
century. The photographs chronologically follow the evolution of the Purples from their days as a juvenile street gang through their rise to power and eventual self-destruction. Using rare police department mug shots and group photographs, the book transports readers through the dark side of Prohibition-era Detroit history. Detroit had a gold rush atmosphere and a thriving black market during the 1920s that attracted gangsters and unsavory characters from all over the country.By Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Ryan L. Sumner. 2010
For nearly a century and a half, police in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have displayed tremendous courage and sacrifice in…
the execution of their duty, adapted to social and cultural changes within the American South, and increasingly embraced sophisticated methods and revolutionary advances in technology to meet the challenges posed by criminals and a violent culture. Images of America: Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Police highlights the rich history of two departments that consolidated in 1993 as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.By Monica Hesse. 2017
The arsons started on a cold November midnight and didn’t stop for months. Night after night, the people of Accomack…
County waited to see which building would burn down next, regarding each other at first with compassion, and later suspicion. Vigilante groups sprang up, patrolling the rural Virginia coast with cameras and camouflage. Volunteer firefighters slept at their stations. The arsonist seemed to target abandoned buildings, but local police were stretched too thin to surveil them all. Accomack was desolate—there were hundreds of abandoned buildings. And by the dozen they were burning.By Geoff Manaugh. 2016
Encompassing nearly 2,000 years of heists and tunnel jobs, break-ins and escapes, A Burglar's Guide to the City offers an…
unexpected blueprint to the criminal possibilities in the world all around us. You'll never see the city the same way again. At the core of A Burglar's Guide to the City is an unexpected and thrilling insight: how any building transforms when seen through the eyes of someone hoping to break into it. Studying architecture the way a burglar would, Geoff Manaugh takes readers through walls, down elevator shafts, into panic rooms, up to the buried vaults of banks, and out across the rooftops of an unsuspecting city. With the help of FBI Special Agents, reformed bank robbers, private security consultants, the LAPD. Air Support Division, and architects past and present, the book dissects the built environment from both sides of the law. Whether picking padlocks or climbing the walls of high-rise apartments, finding gaps in a museum's surveillance routine or discussing home invasions in ancient Rome, A Burglar's Guide to the City has the tools, the tales, and the x-ray vision you need to see architecture as nothing more than an obstacle that can be outwitted and undercut. Full of real-life heists--both spectacular and absurd--A Burglar's Guide to the City ensures that readers will never enter a bank again without imagining how to loot the vault or walk down the street without planning the perfect getaway.From the Trade Paperback edition.By R. Kent Newmyer. 1985
The primary founder and guiding spirit of the Harvard Law School and the most prolific publicist of the nineteenth century,…
Story served as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1811 to 1845. His attitudes and goals as lawyer, politician, judge, and legal educator were founded on the republican values generated by the American Revolution. Story's greatest objective was to fashion a national jurisprudence that would carry the American people into the modern age without losing those values.By Anna R. Hayes. 2008
The first woman judge in the state of North Carolina and the first woman in the United States to be…
elected chief justice of a state supreme court, Susie Marshall Sharp (1907-1996) broke new ground for women in the legal profession. When she retired in 1979, she left a legacy burnished by her tireless pursuit of lucidity in the law, honesty in judges, and humane conditions in prisons.Anna Hayes presents Sharp's career as an attorney, distinguished judge, and politician within the context of the social mores, the legal profession, and the political battles of her day, illuminated by a careful and revealing examination of Sharp's family background, private life, and personality. Judge Sharp was viewed by contemporaries as the quintessential spinster, who had sacrificed marriage and family life for a successful career. The letters and journals she wrote throughout her life, however, reveal that Sharp led a rich private life in which her love affairs occupied a major place, unsuspected by the public or even her closest friends and family. With unrestricted access to Sharp's abundant journals, papers, and notes, Anna Hayes uncovers the story of a brilliant woman who transcended the limits of her times, who opened the way for women who followed her, and who improved the quality of justice for the citizens of her state. Without Precedent also tells the story of a complicated woman, at once deeply conservative and startlingly modern, whose intriguing self-contradictions reflect the complexity of human nature.By Thomas J. Craughwell. 2011
A riveting lineup of the world's most famous and infamous arrests, from Lizzie Borden (double murder) to Lindsay Lohan (DUI)…
to Roman Polanski (unlawful sexual intercourse) Although the headlines fade, the humiliation, vulnerability, and sometimes chilling smugness of the alleged criminal in the mug shot stands the test of time. Covering 150 years of run-ins with the law, Busted reveals more than 500 of the most famous, disturbing, and just plain pathetic mug shots ever recorded. Subjects from all walks of life face front and turn to the left in this enthralling slice of social history. Among the alleged perpetrators are James Brown (carrying an unlicensed weapon and assaulting a police officer), Lenny Bruce (obscenity), Bill Gates (running a red light, driving without a license), Al Capone (tax evasion), Jeffrey Dahmer (rape, torture, murder, cannibalism), Eminem (assault), Mick Jagger (drugs charges), Malcolm X (burglary), Al Pacino (carrying a concealed weapon), Charles Barkley (disorderly conduct), Frank Sinatra (morals charges), Bernie Madoff (securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, perjury, making false filings with the SEC, theft from an employee benefit plan), Bugsy Siegel (gambling and bootlegging), Tupac Shakur (sexual assault), Roger Clinton (drug dealing), and hundreds more. The date of the arrest is provided, along with the fascinating, shocking, and sometimes ludicrous stories of the circumstance that led to the arrest, as well as occasional details of the trial and punishment (or merely the humble apology) that followed. Impossible to turn away from, Busted is the perfect coffee-table or gift book for our celebrity-obsessed society.By Sonia Sotomayor. 2013
La primera latina y tan sólo la tercera mujer designada a la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos, Sonia Sotomayor…
se ha convertido en un icono americano contemporáneo. Ahora, con un candor e intimidad nunca antes asumidos por un juez en activo, Sonia nos narra el viaje de su vida --desde los proyectos del Bronx hasta la corte federal-- en una inspiradora celebración de su extraordinaria determinación y del poder de creer en uno mismo. Esta es la historia de una niñez precaria, con un padre alcohólico que moriría cuando ella tenía nueve años y una madre devota pero sobrecargada, y del refugio que una niña tomó de la confusión del hogar con su apasionada y enérgica abuela. Pero no fue hasta que le diagnosticaron diabetes juvenil que la precoz Sonia reconoció que, en última instancia, dependía de sí misma. Pronto aprendería a darse a sí misma las inyecciones de insulina necesarias para sobrevivir y a rápidamente forjar un camino hacia una vida mejor. Con personajes de televisión como modelo y poca idea sobre lo que en realidad implicaba, Sonia decidió ser abogada, un sueño que la sostendría en su improbable recorrido, desde su brillante paso por la escuela secundaria, la universidad de Princeton y la escuela de Derecho de Yale hasta la fiscalía de distrito del Condado de Nueva York, la práctica privada, y el nombramiento a la Corte Federal de Distrito, todo antes de llegar a los cuarenta años. A lo largo del camino vemos como Sonia fue formada por diversas experiencias (como su fallido matrimonio), mentores invaluables, y la versión moderna de familia que creó con amigos queridos y sus hijos. A través de sus aún asombrados ojos, las posibilidades infinitas de los Estados Unidos son vislumbradas nuevamente en este libro cálido y honesto, destinado a convertirse en un clásico de la autoformación y el autodescubrimiento.By Brian Lamb, Susan Swain. 2010
The Supreme Court grew out of a unique opportunity to interview all nine sitting Supreme Court Justices plus retired Justice…
O'Connor for a documentary on the Supreme Court. Through Brian Lamb and Susan Swain's interviews with our country's most influential judges, the book offers portraits of the Justices that introduces readers to the closed world of the Supreme Court, and what's it's really like to serve on the nation's highest Court. Accompanying the Justices around the Supreme Court, and through offices steeped in historic memorabilia, Lamb and Swain offer readers a window into a fascinating world to which few have had access. In these pages, Justice Sotomayor reflects on her first impressions of the job and the acclimation process. Justice Breyer takes us behind the scenes on a private tour of his Chambers as he describes how the Court works. And Chief Justice Roberts talks about the role of the Court in Society, the role of the Chief Justice, and the process of deciding cases. Enriching this unique material are interviews with journalists, court historians, and other experts on the Court. Journalists Joan Biskupic and Lyle Denniston (the longest serving Supreme Court reporter) talk about the process that unfolds in the Court and the impact of a new member of the Court. Clerk of the Supreme Court William Suter provides insights into the traditions of the Court. Historian Jim O'Hara discusses the Supreme Court building and its history. Two attorneys who have argued numerous cases in front of the Supreme Court tell readers what it's like facing the justices in fast paced oral arguments. Vividly illustrated with color photographs, the book is a perfect gift for anyone interested in the makings of this powerful institution.By Sonia Sotomayor. 2013
La primera latina y la tercera mujer designada a la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos, Sonia Sotomayor se ha convertido…
en un ícono contemporáneo. Ahora, con un candor e intimidad inusitados, Sonia nos narra el viaje de su vida -desde los proyectos del Bronx hasta la corte federal- en una inspiradora celebración del poder de creer en uno mismo.Ésta es la historia de una niñez precaria, con un padre alcohólico que moriría cuando ella tenía nueve años y una madre devota pero sobrecargada, y del refugio que una niña tomó de la confusión del hogar con su enérgica abuela. Pero no fue hasta que le diagnosticaron diabetes juvenil cuando la precoz Sonia reconoció que, en última instancia, dependía de sí misma. Pronto aprendería a ponerse a sí misma las inyecciones de insulina necesarias para sobrevivir y forjar un camino hacia una vida mejor.Con personajes de televisión como modelo y con poca idea sobre lo que en realidad implicaba, Sonia decidió ser abogada, unsueño que la sostendría en su improbable recorrido, desde su brillante paso por la escuela secundaria, la Universidad de Princeton y la Escuela de Derecho de Yale hasta la Fiscalía de Distrito del Condado de Nueva York, la práctica privada, y el nombramiento a la Corte Federal de Distrito, todo antes de llegar a los cuarenta años.A lo largo del camino vemos cómo Sonia fue formada por diversas experiencias, mentores invaluables, y la versión moderna de familia que creó con sus amigos y sus hijos. Todos esos elementos se hilvanan en un libro cálido y honesto, destinado a convertirse en un clásico de la autoformación y el autodescubrimiento.By Guy Lawson, William Oldham. 2006
From inside the heart of the NYPD - The shattering police corruption scandal and the trial that stunned a city.…
Detective Stephen Caracappa achieved the distinguished rank of first grade detectve while under the hire of the Luchese crime family. Detective Louis Eppolito worked the heart of Brooklyn's mobland; he himself was the son of a Gambino crime family soldier. Detective William Oldham, the lead investigator on major organized-crime cases, quietly and relentlessly tracked Caracappa and Eppolito for more than seven years. The Brotherhoods is the riveting account of the notorious rogue cops charged with murdering for the mob, and the brilliant detective who stalked them. With unparalleled access to both the NYPD and organized crime, a gallery of unforgettable characters, and sweeping from Manhattan to Las Vegas to Hollywood, this is the ultimate wiseguy story, packed with psychological intrigue, criminal audacity, and paranoid, blood-soaked fury. Now with updates on the trial's shocking outcome and the ongoing legal battle.By Michael P. Rich. 2014
The San Diego Harbor Police Department has proudly provided more than 50 years of law enforcement. From its humble beginnings…
as a small security force formed after World War II to protect San Diego imports to the modern and sophisticated police force it is today, the San Diego Harbor Police Department serves as a shining example of the exciting and important role law enforcement plays in the development of a busy 21st-century city. Through a stunning collection of never-before-seen photographs, this book tells the story of the officers who have served and protected one of America's most historic and vital harbors. History lovers, police aficionados, and San Diego locals and visitors will be fascinated by the photographs within, which document the department's history from 1934 through its 1962 transition into the San Diego Unified Port District of today.By Chuck Hornung. 2010
The New Mexico Mounted Police were forged from a frontier civil crisis and hammered to life upon the anvil of…
necessity. The Sunshine Territory of New Mexico had become the last outlaw haven in the Southwest. In the tradition of their red-coated namesake, the Northwest Mounted Police of Canada, this small band of range riders used their fists, guns, and brains to restore law and order during the closing years of New Mexico's territorial era. They carried their mission forward into the early days of statehood.By George Pearson, Paul Campbell, John Glancy. 2014
The Providence Police Department has served New England's second-largest city from its beginnings in 1651 with the appointment of a…
town sergeant to today's force of nearly 500 men and women. Officially established in 1864, policing in Providence has changed considerably from the days of night watchmen armed with handheld rattle alarms and nightsticks. Whether quelling the violent street riots of 1914, enforcing Prohibition, or fighting the New England mob, the PPD has evolved to meet the complex challenges posed by the city. It also boasts a history of leadership among the nation's law enforcement agencies, being among the first to incorporate women into the department's ranks, create innovative campaigns to reduce traffic fatalities, and pioneer the use of trained canines to aid in police work. Today, cutting-edge telecommunications and forensic analysis in crime fighting continue to protect the city of nearly 178,000.By John Paul Stevens, Kenneth A. Manaster. 2001
Illinois political scandals reached new depths in the 1960s and '70s. In Illinois Justice, Kenneth Manaster takes us behind the…
scenes of one of the most spectacular. The so-called Scandal of 1969 not only ended an Illinois Supreme Court justice's aspirations to the US Supreme Court, but also marked the beginning of little-known lawyer John Paul Stevens's rise to the high court. In 1969, citizen gadfly Sherman Skolnick accused two Illinois Supreme Court justices of accepting valuable bank stock from an influential Chicago lawyer in exchange for deciding an important case in the lawyer's favor. The resulting feverish media coverage prompted the state supreme court to appoint a special commission to investigate. Within six weeks and on a shoestring budget, the commission mobilized a small volunteer staff to reveal the facts. Stevens, then a relatively unknown Chicago lawyer, served as chief counsel. His work on this investigation would launch him into the public spotlight and onto the bench. Manaster, who served on the commission, tells the real story of the investigation, detailing the dead ends, tactics, and triumphs. Manaster expertly traces Stevens's masterful courtroom strategies and vividly portrays the high-profile personalities involved, as well as the subtleties of judicial corruption. A reflective foreword by Justice Stevens himself looks back at the case and how it influenced his career. Now the subject of the documentary Unexpected Justice: The Rise of John Paul Stevens, this fascinating chapter of political history offers a revealing portrait of the early career of a Supreme Court justice.By Alison Flowers. 2016
Through intimate portraits of four exonerated prisoners, journalist Alison Flowers explores what happens to innocent people when the state flings…
open the jailhouse door and tosses them back, empty-handed into the unknown. From the front lines of the wrongful conviction capital of the United States-Cook County, Ill.-these stories reveal serious gaps in the criminal justice system. Flowers depicts the collateral damage of wrongful convictions on families and communities, challenging the deeper problem of mass incarceration in the United States. As she tells each exoneree's powerful story, Flowers vividly shows that release from prison, though sometimes joyous and hopeful, is not a Hollywood ending-or an ending at all. Rather, an exoneree's first unshackled steps are the beginning of a new journey full of turmoil and triumph.Based on Chicago Public Media's yearlong multimedia series-a finalist for a national Online Journalism Award-this narrative piece of investigative journalism tells profoundly human stories of reclaiming one's life, overcoming adversity, and searching for purpose-at times with devastating consequences and courageous breakthroughs.