Homicide is drive-by pacification—warfare on the cheap.Jill Leovy
Where the criminal justice system fails to respond vigorously to violent injury and death, homicide becomes endemic.Jill Leovy
Black men were murdered at a rate of 20.66 per 100,000 from 1960 to 1995, while the figure for white men was 2.82—seven times lower.Jill Leovy
When it comes to the law, it's not about what you know, it's about what you can prove.Jill Leovy
Law abhors randomness and moral ambiguity. It seeks to make definable that which is not.Jill Leovy
The thing about grief, Bryon always said, is it's not the despair that gets you in the end; it's the hope.Bryon (character)
Murder mysteries are puzzles that are speedily, gratifyingly solved. But in ghettos all over America, the reality is a Dickensian panorama of obtuse officialdom overlaying raw human need.Jill Leovy
Who polices the ghetto is not as important as what they do there.Jill Leovy
To refuse to call police, skelton told his men, was to abdicate responsibility. It meant you didn't care if a murderer got away - went on to kill again.Skelton (character)
Ignorance led men into chain reactions of predictable behavior: knee-jerk muscle-flexing, chest thumping, dominance displays.Jill Leovy
That was the system: indelible, but eternally flexible and open to reinterpretation.Jill Leovy