Crime

Rochelle and Anthony Yates. On July 18, 1988 the Yates' five year old son Marcus was killed in gun crossfire between two drug dealers fighting for turf in a corner store. There were 11 children in the store playing video games, two others were shot but survived; one of them was Marcus' six year old brother. Since the incident, the Yates' have become activists against senseless violence; they lecture to high schools, take in foster children who have lost family members to violence, run a day care center and organize community activities to take back neighborhoods.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Kiss of Death." It stars David Caruso, Samuel Jackson, and Nicolas Cage.

David Fisher is the author of the book Hard Evidence, which lays out how the FBI examines evidence to track down bombing suspects.

Patrick Mcguigan, editorial page editor of the Daily Oklahoman. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the Oklahoma City bombing and how he's been covering it in the news.

Robert Jay Lifton is an expert psychologist on mass social trauma and psychological after affects from anger, rage and vulnerability. He directs the center on violence and Human Survival at the City University of New York John Jay College.

An interview with Frank Salomon, a member of the Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue Unit, which is one its way to Oklahoma City to help with the rescue efforts there.

World music critic Milo Miles remembers two musicians who were recently assassinated: Rachid Baba Ahmed, a producer and musician of Algerian Rai Music, and Tejano music's Selena.

Kaminer's new book, It's All the Rage offers insights into our culture's larger questions of individual responsibility, victimization, punishment, innocence and guilt. Kaminer is also a contributing editor to the Atlantic Monthly and Public Fellow at Radcliffe College.

Haggard has been on the country music scene since the early sixties and has more number one hits than any country music star except Conway Twitty. Recently, two tribute albums of his songs were released: Mama's Hungry Eyes and Tulare Dust. Haggard was also recently inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Michael Tonry is a professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota. His new book, Malign Neglect: Race Crime, and Punishment in America, discusses how our current approach to fighting crime victimizes disadvantaged black Americans. He calls for a reform of sentencing and parole policies.

Fresh Air prison correspondent Wilbert Rideau is editor emeritus of the Angolite, the news magazine of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where he is serving a life sentence. He talks about dying in prison. With longer sentences and less parole, prisoners are beginning to die in prison. Rideau recently spoke with a dying inmate, a prison nurse and a warden who handles funeral arrangements.

David Von Drehle has written a new book, "Among the Lowest of the Dead: the Culture of Death Row." He looks at the current capital punishment debate using historical and personal observations and accounts of death row inmates, victims and survivors, and the people in charge of the executions. He says keeping people in prison is a bargain compared to the price of death row appeals and the fact that only 5% of death row executions actually occur. Von Drehle is arts editor of the Washington Post.

Chicago police officer Eric Davis, known as "21" in the rap group the Slick Boys. Davis and two other officers founded the group in 1991 to provide positive role models for the inner-city kids they encountered on their jobs every day. The group has received national acclaim for their songs about the importance of getting an education and staying off of drugs and out of gangs. Davis grew up in the Cabrini-Green development of Chicago, where the three officers work.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Just Cause," the new thriller starring Sean Connery.

Special correspondent Wilbert Rideau is editor-in-chief of the award winning prison magazine The Angolite. He's also an inmate of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, serving a life term for murder. When the prison was under a state of emergency in 1990, warden John P. Whitely was hired. In his five year tenure, Whitely's management style helped turn the prison around garnering national and international attention. It also gained the attention of the inmates, who recently hosted a farewell dinner in honor of the departing warden.

Critic David Bianculli looks at the ample television coverage of the O.J. SImpson, from network TV, the E! channel, and Court TV.

Journalists Michelle Slatalla and Joshual Quittner both work for Newsday. They've collaborated on a new book, called "Masters of Deception." It's about two rival gangs of teenage computer hackers in New York City, Masters of Deception and the Legion of Doom. The gangs, broke into phone company computers, downloaded confidential credit histories, and broke into private and corporate computer files. The rivalry was friendly until a computer remark by one hacker set off a "gang war."

John Lee is a former member of the Masters of Doom. Federal agents had been monitoring the rivalry between his gang and their rivals, The Legion of Doom. Lee was arrested and sent to jail.

Terry discusses the recent murder of abortion doctors with Dr. Susan Wicklund, who provides abortion services; National Director of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue Reverend, Flip Benham; and Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, Pat Mahoney.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz has served as an expert witness for the prosecution in the murder trials of John Hinkley, Joel Rifkin, Jeffrey Dahmer and others. In each case he presented evidence against the defense of insanity, saying that these men knew that they were committing terrible crimes. Dietz also has a consulting firm, Threat Assessment, which focuses on workplace violence. He is a consultant to the HBO special "Murder 9 to 5," which examines murder at work.