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The
Rules of Homicide*
Rule 1:
Everyone lies.
- Murderers lie
because they have to.
- Witnesses and
other participants lie because they think they have to
- Everyone else
lies for the sheer joy of it, and to uphold a general principle
that under no circumstances do you provide accurate information
to a cop.
Rule 2:
The victim is killed once, but a crime scene can be murdered
a thousand times.
Rule 3:
The initial ten or twelve hours after a murder are the most
critical to the success of an investigation.
Rule 4:
An innocent man left alone in an interrogation room will remain
fully awake, rubbing his eyes, staring at the cubicle walls
and scratching himself in the dark, forbidden places. A guilty
man left alone in an interrogation room goes to sleep.
Rule 5:
It's good to be good but it's better to be lucky.
Rule 6:
When a suspect is immediately identified in an assault case,
the victim is sure to live. When no suspect has been identified,
the victim will surely die.
Rule 7:
A cleared homicide is a money tree.
Rule 8:
In any case where there is no apparent suspect, the crime lab
will produce no valuable evidence. In those cases where a suspect
has already confessed and been identified by at least two eyewitnesses,
the lab will give you print hits, fiber evidence, blood typings
and a ballistics match.
Rule 9a:
To a jury, any doubt is reasonable.
Rule 9b:
The better the case, the worse the jury.
Rule 9c:
A good man is hard to find, but twelve of them, gathered together
in one place, is a miracle.
Rule 10:
There is too such a thing as a perfect murder.
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*
Taken from Homicide: A Year
on the Killing Streets by David Simon.
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