Can crime make our world safer? Crimes are the worst of humanitys wrongs but, oddly, they sometimes trigger improvement in our lives.Crimes That Changed Our World exploressome of the most important trigger cases of the past century, revealing much about how change comes to our modern world.

The exact nature of the crime-outrage-reform dynamic can take many forms, and Paul and Sarah Robinson explore those differences in the cases they present. Each case is in some ways unique but there are repeating patterns that can offer important insights about what produces change and how in the future we might best manage it.

Sometimes reform comes as a society wrestles with a new and intolerable problem. Sometimes it comes because an old problem from which we have long suffered suddenly has an apparent solution provided by technology or some other social or economic advance. Or, sometimes the engine of reform kicks into gear simply because we decide as a society that we are no longer willing to tolerate a long-standing problem and are now willing to do something about it.

As the amazing and often touching stories that the Robinsons present make clear, the path of progress is not just a long series of course corrections; sometimes it is a quick turn or an unexpected lurch. In a flash we can suddenly feel different about present circumstances, seeing a need for change and can often, just as suddenly, do something about it.

Every trigger crime that appears inCrimes That Changed Our World highlights a societal problem that America has chosen to deal with, each in a unique way.But what these extraordinary, and sometime unexpected, cases have in common is that all of them describe crimes that changed our world.

Paul H. Robinson, JD, is a Colin S. Diver Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Robinsonis one of the worlds leading criminal law scholars, a prolific writer and lecturer, and has published articles in virtually all of the top law reviews. A former federal prosecutor and counsel for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, he was the lone dissenter when the U.S. Sentencing Commission promulgated the current federal sentencing guidelines. He is the author or editor of 14 books, includingIntuitions of Justice and the Utility of Desert(2013),Distributive Principles of Criminal Law (2008), andLaw Without Justice: Why Criminal Law Doesnt Give People What They Deserve(2005).

Sarah Robinsonworks as a writer and researcher and has co-authored three books. She obtained a Masters in Counseling while serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. History, people, and the evolution of thought are her main points of interest. The Robinsons have five children.

Preface
Chapter 1: 1911 Triangle Factory FireBuilding Safety Codes
Chapter 2: 1915 Chloroform KillerMedical Examiners
Chapter 3: 1932 Lindbergh Kidnapping and Dillinger Robberies Federalization of Criminal Law Enforcement
Chapter 4: 1937 Sulfanilamide CrisisDrug Safety
Chapter 5: 1956 NYC Mad BomberCriminal Profiling
Chapter 6: 1957 Mafia Commission Apalachin MeetingRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
Chapter 7: 1962 Harlem Heroin EpidemicWar on Drugs
Chapter 8: 1964 Genovese Murder-Witness Scandal9-1-1 Emergency System
Chapter 9: 1965 Watts Riots and Texas SniperSWAT and the Militarization of Police
Chapter 10: 1967 Calabrese IntimidationWITSEC
Chapter 11: 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and Cuyahoga River FireEnvironmental Protection Agency
Chapter 12: 1972 TWA Bombings and HijackingsAirport Security
Chapter 13: 1980 Killing of Cari LightnerDrunk Driving
Chapter 14: 1981 Reagan Assassination AttemptInsanity Defense
Chapter 15: 1982 Schaeffer Stalking MurderStalking Offense
Chapter 16: 1983 Beirut Barracks BombingInternationalization of the FBI
Chapter 17: 1983 Thurman BeatingsDomestic Violence
Chapter 18: 1986 Leicestershire MurdersDNA
Chapter 19: 1993 Polly Klaas AbductionThree-Strikes Sentencing
Chapter 20: 2001 9/11 AttacksWar on Terror
Chapter 21: 2001 ENRON ScandalFinancial Crimes
Conclusion: Trigger Crimes and Social Progress