It is the Thomas Beltran case all over again, two years later and in Redondo Beach. Many of you may remember what happened in the case of Thomas Beltran - the 30-year veteran teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica who sexually assaulted several of his female junior high...

Are you kidding me? Has the "Summer of Missed Opportunities" extended to the Fall of 2009, as well? It sure looks that way!

The summer of 2009 was marked by cases where there were clear "missed opportunities," a term used to define cases where law enforcement, prosecutors, parole, the judicial...

As the saying goes, "Justice delayed is justice denied." It has been over seven years since Elizabeth Smart was taken from her home and some six years, seven months since Brian David Mitchell was charged with her kidnapping and rape. When is justice coming for Elizabeth Smart and her family?...

Some say that Nancy Garrido, 54, is the "real monster" in the 1991 abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard. There is no doubt that her husband, Phillip Garrido, 58, is a horrific figure. But it's the predator's partner who sends shivers down my spine.

I don't know...

ATM is practically synonymous with "stick up." Everyone knows that being at an ATM is like practically screaming, "I have cash, rob me!" ATMs are the perfect crime site: they are open 24 hours a day and the people going there are going to get money. Yup -- a perfect...

Opponents of sex offender registration lists argue that the lists are more punitive than they are helpful. These opponents are using the Philip Garrido case as the smoking gun to show how ineffective sexual registration laws and registries are.

After taking one look at the Garrido case, there is...

As I read the LA Timesthis week about the snafus that VH1 made in selecting Jasmine Fiore's (alleged) killer, Ryan Jenkins, as a contestant on Megan Wants a Millionaire, I wondered how these background check "snafus" keep happening time and time again.

VH1 blamed it on "clerical" errors....

Why is that human trafficking is so pervasive and yet so misunderstood? Why do we assume that it's really an "overseas" issue? Why do most people think of Cambodia or Thailand when the words "human trafficking" are uttered?

It's not because it does not exist here in the United...

It's not often when an article from The Economist screams, "Robin, you need to read me." But it happened on August 6, 2009 when I read America's Unjust Sex Laws with the stringer, "An ever harsher approach is doing more harm than good, but it is being copied around...

When I tell people I have written a book, they usually expect the title to resemble some hip chick-lit title like Lipstick Jungle or Kappa Kappa Linden. When I tell them that the book is about child molesters and predators, they usually respond with a distressed look, probably thinking...

We've all heard the saying, "Don't believe everything you read." Well, I saw this played out in spades after reading the now infamous article posted by Andrew Blankstein in the LA Times. Here's the lesson -- while a story can be "true" for editorial purposes, it may not express...

Why are the prosecutor and the defense attorney in cahoots to keep a journalist from observing the Dr. William Ayres child molestation trial in Redwood City? Yup, you read correctly. A journalist who is simply reporting on the trial for the San Diego Reader and who is writing a book...

Can't find me on my cell? Can't track me down at the office? Have you checked Twitter? Or perused Facebook? Social networking sites are great for tracking people down, but they're even better for checking people out!

But then, you knew that...right? If you think only your "friends"...

Whenever I tell people that I am a sex crimes prosecutor, people say, "Eeewww, how can you do that?" And while I can understand that spending one's day talking to kids about the most invasive abuse on their private parts can seem uncomfortable, it shouldn't give people the heebie-jeebies.

It is no surprise that OJ is appealing his conviction. After all, what else does he have going on for the next 33 years? Will he continue his supposed attempts to search for Nicole Brown's and Ron Goldman's real killer? Or will he find creative new ways to bilk the...

In 1983 President Ronald Regan proclaimed May 25 National Missing Children's Day. Each administration since has honored this annual reminder to the nation to renew efforts to reunite missing children with their families and make child protection a national priority. But have we come far enough since 1983 or is...