Looking at Lam & What Needs to Be Done
By Debora Gordon Lam was, and perhaps still is, a young man with a lot of potential. He could have gone on to lead a life of commonplace trials and triumphs; having a family, a job[Read more]
Tag Archives: Guns
A Call to Lam’s Mother
By Debora Gordon Many, perhaps most, parts of this story have been hard to tell. I often imagine someone who might be personally affected by a particular part of the story looking over my shoulder.[Read more]
School-to-Prison Pipeline
By Debora Gordon Every time a student does poorly in school, or drops out, there is likely a great increase in the chances he will wind up in prison. I recall in my discussion with[Read more]
Going to Prison, Part III: Lam Tells His Story
By Debora Gordon On Sunday, December 9th, I headed back to prison. When I arrived, I learned the previous day’s lock down had been lifted. Many of the same visitors were there again. The woman[Read more]
Cut Gun Clip Sizes for Fewer Shooting Victims
By Howard Dyckoff After a year with 131 murders in Oakland – not the city’s highest ever, but the most since 2005 – and after the massacre in Sandy Hook took 26 lives, mostly children,[Read more]
Going to Prison, Part II: Getting In, the Visiting Room, and Lockdown
By Debora Gordon After my visit with Lt. Smith, I had some time to kill that Friday evening in Delano, California. While there may be more than meets the tourist eye, what the casual passer-through[Read more]
White-On-White Crime Makes Lots of Noise, Even if You’ve Never Heard of It
By Ron Owens Mass murders get some people all stirred up. TV news shows become obsessed and devote all their attention to the homicides and to peoples’ reactions to them. You go to work or[Read more]
Going to Prison, Part I
By Debora Gordon I drove down to visit Lam in the Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) the weekend of December 7ththrough December 10th. I checked in by phone and email with the Public Information Officer,[Read more]
Alicia’s Story
I asked her what she would say directly to Lam if she could speak to him. At first, she was silent. And after a moment, tears flowed from her eyes, and her mother followed suit.[Read more]
‘Want to spend the rest of your life in prison?’: A Judge’s Advice & Some Murky Testimony
“You’re only 19 or so," Lam's judge said to him at the hearing. "I’m sure it’s difficult to conceive or imagine that many years in custody. But I think that leads some people to go[Read more]
