California Crooks
A couple of crime stories from the Golden State have impressed me recently. In
"Risking a Life Term to Protect a Child," Sean Webby of the
San Jose Mercury News tells
the story of Matthew Ryan Hahn, a convicted burglar who stole a safe
only to find inside evidence of a much more horrible crime. Webby
describes Hahn's agonizing decision of whether to turn the evidence
over to police and risk getting caught himself, or to keep quiet and
preserve his own freedom. Webby's taut writing -- notice his potent
action verbs -- make this a compelling read.
A bit further north,
Phillip Reese of the
Sacramento Bee uses
mapping and data base software combined with old-fashioned shoe-leather
reporting to identify the Sacramento neighborhoods where crime is
rising the fastest. I like how
"Watchdog Report: Bearing the Brunt of Violent Crime" humanizes what could have been a dry statistical story by using specific examples from residents' lives.