Was Lindsay Clancy mad or just bad?

Part I

I would be willing to wager that every single person whose eyes fall on this essay is nurturing a resentment about an apology never offered to them.

Taking on the topic of forgiveness—anywhere and in any form—is not for the faint-hearted.

Hatred is an emotion which doesn’t miss any of us.

A notorious fetal abduction case is in the news again with the Netflix documentary, Maternal Instinct, about Taylor Parker, a 27-year-old woman who, in 2020, faked her own pregnancy and then killed he...

If you have ever wondered what the mind of a psychopath is like, you would do well to take a look at today’s sex slavers.

Betty Broderick died a couple of weeks ago at age 78 in her thirty-seventh year in a California prison.

In many ways, criminal justice is little more than the choice to focus a lens.

[Part I of There Must Be a Better Way]

Suicide has many faces, but they all scream pain.

How did one’s uncle, an otherwise normal older man, come to fall down the rabbit hole around 2017?

Extreme times beg for bold expression.

I consider the word “no” to be the most powerful word in the human language.

What we do for love!

It’s not a function of anyone’s genius.

How Rob and Michele Reiner came to be murdered by their son has been on my mind a lot.

The History and Uses of DSM-V-TR—Part I

We’d all like to know how law enforcement is doing in reducing unjustified killings of civilians (see Note).

War crimes is a concept intended to draw a line separating the United States from rogue and terrorist states.

Duane Buck was 32 years old when he murdered his former girlfriend and a man she was with in Houston.

There are times when the news of certain crimes haunts me into deliberating with the most white and gray brain matter I possess to try and understand them.

Authentic victims want to heal—and they usually want justice; they are motivated to stop what happened to them from happening to others.

What does it take to choose the straight life when a person is formed in criminal culture?

As psychological beings, we have a combustible engine comprised of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

(The Safety Net, Part 2)

[Warning: this is not an uplifting post.

Today’s news is saturated with the never-ending, disgusting saga of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Many followers of the Bryan Kohberger plea deal are disappointed and angry because he will not be tried and subject to execution.

The State of Texas owes 69-year-old Kerry Max Cook $3.2 million for wrongfully incarcerating him in tortuous conditions for nineteen years.

The “crying mama.” Less than twenty years ago in this country, that was the extent of a capital defendant’s hope of escaping execution.

I have a confession: whenever I see a big ol’ honkin’ cybertruck barreling down the freeway here (and since Musk has practically colonized Austin, there are a few), I have an acute urge to follow it t...

The manifest purpose of using violence is to control a sentient being through inflicting harm or pain on that being.

America’s criminal justice system seems to be changing its mind about how to penalize its worst murderers: today there are far fewer executions, convictions, and even capital murder charges since the ...

I think a lot about innocence.

Most people have opinions of defense attorneys which tend to match their opinions of the people they represent—which is to say, not positive.

First, let’s all agree: there are many dedicated, talented, honest prosecutors in our criminal justice system.

Sean Combs, the 55-year-old former hip-hop music magnate, is on trial in NYC on federal charges of racketeering, sex-trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Defending people who have murdered is a bit of a ball and chain in your life—it takes a lot to process it on the inside, as well as the disconsolate ways the job settles on those around you.

If you will allow me, this week I am taking something of an emotional ride on the scales of justice.

Psychotic delusion—you should know it when you see it, right?

On May 9th, a Los Angeles District Court Judge will determine if Lyle and Erik Menendez, convicted of the 1989 brutal murders of their parents, are allowed to be resentenced to time served.

I write about topics at the intersection of true crime and forensic psychology. Click to read Inside Criminal Minds, by Kate Allen, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

Picture this scene: After several hours on the witness stand in criminal court, I use the last of my time to describe how much damage the defendant’s methamphetamine addiction wreaked in his life begi...

A parent’s job in facilitating their child’s developing brain—from gestation through the next twenty-four years—resembles the art of growing a bonsai.

“The law treats man’s con­duct as autonomous and willed, not because it is, but because it is desir­able to pro­ceed as if it were¹.” Herbert Packer’s 1969 classic statement is an indictment of the cr...

I write about topics at the intersection of true crime and forensic psychology.

Consider this: modern-day slavery exists in the context of extreme domestic violence.

“Your body, my choice.” Call it a meme, a way to own the libs, or a threat.

This simple question supports the argument that society is the male domestic abuser’s willing partner: If the ratio of people in power was reversed—women holding financial power, having the highest pa...