Many aspects of modern life, from drug safety to fire codes, have come not from the sustained efforts of government bureaucrats but rather from the flash and sizzle of a tragic crime and the public outrage it provokes. This book is about those trigger crimes and how they have changed our world.

Preface
Chapter 1: 1911 Triangle Factory Fire-Building Safety Codes
Chapter 2: 1915 Chloroform Killer-Medical Examiners
Chapter 3: 1932 Lindbergh Kidnapping and Dillinger Robberies- Federalization of Criminal Law Enforcement
Chapter 4: 1937 Sulfanilamide Crisis-Drug Safety
Chapter 5: 1956 NYC Mad Bomber-Criminal Profiling
Chapter 6: 1957 Mafia Commission Apalachin Meeting-Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
Chapter 7: 1962 Harlem Heroin Epidemic-War on Drugs
Chapter 8: 1964 Genovese Murder-Witness Scandal-9-1-1 Emergency System
Chapter 9: 1965 Watts Riots and Texas Sniper-SWAT and the Militarization of Police
Chapter 10: 1967 Calabrese Intimidation-WITSEC
Chapter 11: 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and Cuyahoga River Fire-Environmental Protection Agency
Chapter 12: 1972 TWA Bombings and Hijackings-Airport Security
Chapter 13: 1980 Killing of Cari Lightner-Drunk Driving
Chapter 14: 1981 Reagan Assassination Attempt-Insanity Defense
Chapter 15: 1982 Schaeffer Stalking Murder-Stalking Offense
Chapter 16: 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing-Internationalization of the FBI
Chapter 17: 1983 Thurman Beatings-Domestic Violence
Chapter 18: 1986 Leicestershire Murders-DNA
Chapter 19: 1993 Polly Klaas Abduction-Three-Strikes Sentencing
Chapter 20: 2001 9/11 Attacks-War on Terror
Chapter 21: 2001 ENRON Scandal-Financial Crimes
Conclusion: Trigger Crimes and Social Progress

Paul H. Robinson, JD, is a Colin S. Diver Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Robinson is one of the world's 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, including Intuitions of Justice and the Utility of Desert (2013), Distributive Principles of Criminal Law (2008), and Law Without Justice: Why Criminal Law Doesn't Give People What They Deserve (2005).
Sarah Robinson works 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.