Diane Dimond

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The Staggering Costs of Imprisonment in the U.S.

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Guess how much our nation’s system of mass incarceration costs each year? I’m talking about the taxpayer funded budgets of prisons, jails, probation departments and the public employees who staff them. Add in the cost of running the criminal justice system; the amount spent on health care, food and incidentals for inmates and the financial burden on families that have a person in the system.

Put all that together and guess how much we, collectively, spend on our system of imprisonment in the United States? [Read more…]

Allowing Prisoners to Vote – Let’s Think This Through

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So democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders wants to give all prisoners the right to vote. He said so during a recent campaign speech, much to the surprise of many. I was among them.

Sanders believes “the right to vote is inherent to our democracy” and even “terrible people” like the Boston Marathon bomber should be allowed to participate.  No other democratic candidate has gotten behind this idea, although several have said they support returning the right to vote to convicts after their release.

[Read more…]

It is Not a Crime to Win

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This is not one of my typical crime and justice columns. This one comes from a personal place.

I love the television show Jeopardy. I adore host Alex Trebek and I watch the program whenever I can.  . So, when the contestant, James Holzhauer, recently started racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then reached more than $1.6 million before a two-week hiatus, I was spellbound!  Holzhauer is on his way to, perhaps, beating the all-time Jeopardy champ, Ken Jennings, who took home more than $2.5 million in 2004.  I can’t wait to see if that record is broken.        [Read more…]

Reducing Mass Shootings by Recognizing Red Flags

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 Want to reduce the number of mass shootings in the United States? Then let’s ramp up efforts to stop domestic abuse.

Just as a red flag is raised when a child tortures animals, often a precursor to later criminal behavior, there is plenty of evidence that mass shooters display red flag behaviors, like aggression and violence against women and children, before they ever pick up a gun and start hunting fellow human beings. [Read more…]

Who Polices the Prosecutors?

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We in America have lost faith.  Not only is there a decline of religious faith in the United States, there is also a lack of confidence in the institutions that made this country what it became – a worldwide superpower, respected by all.

I’m most worried about the lack of faith in our justice system. [Read more…]

Myths Surround Rape Victims 

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Former Pennsylvania Prosecutor Kristen Gibbons Feden has a message for defense attorneys who represent accused rapists:  the days of victim-shaming are over.  Her prosecution partner, Stewart Ryan, agrees saying, “The band aid has been ripped off now” and more than ever victims are feeling strong enough to press charges against their attacker and go to trial.

Credit the #MeToo movement. But also credit the team of Feden and Ryan (along with police investigator Sergeant Richard Schaffer) who delivered to the nation the first major celebrity sex crimes conviction in recent history – that of comedian Bill Cosby. [Read more…]

About Diane

I was raised in the great American Southwest by parents who stressed personal responsibility, integrity, compassion for others and the ability to tell a good story. Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico I absorbed the moral and ethical values I would carry with me throughout life and use daily as a journalist.
After a humble beginning in Albuquerque radio (covering the cops and courts beat) I moved east. First, radio in Washington, DC where politics was the name of the game and then to New York where I got my first taste of television. It was to be a long draw at the TV trough, from New York to Hollywood and back again. And always my most fulfilling work was done in the crime and justice genre. My long running syndicated column allows me to deep dive into the human stories behind the headlines on a weekly basis. Writing books about crime and how society reacts to it still fascinates me.

Email Diane at Diane@DianeDimond.com

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