Crime

C.C.H. Pounder is best known for her portrayal of Detective Claudette Wyms on the FX TV show The Shield. Recently, her character got a much deserved promotion to captain. Pounder was raised in Guyana, and schooled in Britain. The Shield is one of this year's recipients of the prestigious Peabody Award, being handed out Monday night.

Our film critic reviews Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The latest project from playwright David Mamet teams him up with Sean Ryan, who created the FX series The Shield. The pair's new show is The Unit, about a covert military unit.

A hardened young South African gang leader steals a woman's car -– then finds out her baby is in the back seat. So starts the South African film Tsotsi, which is up for an Academy Award for best foreign film.

Race and politics add to the tension of a detective's search for a kidnapped child in Freedomland, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore. The film's screenplay was written by Richard Price; the story is based on his novel of the same name.

The Veterinary Genetics Lab at UC-Davis has been called "the CSI of the four-legged world." The lab, directed by Beth Wictum, uses DNA samples from pets and other animals to help solve a variety of crimes.

Moises Naim, editor and publisher of Foreign Policy magazine. His new book is Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy. In it, Naim describes an international black market in which illegal arms, drugs and knockoff goods trade across the globe.

Martha Stewart turned her lifestyle advice into a billion-dollar business: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. In addition to her magazines, Stewart has a new book, The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business. She also has new shows on television and radio this fall.

The new film A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortenson. Director David Cronenberg has made a movie that many viewers will likely find easier to approach than his other movies.

The aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks revitalized New York City's mafia organizations. That's one of the revelations of former 'New York Times' crime reporter Selwyn Raab's new book, 'Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires'.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Constant Gardener, the new thriller based on the John Le Carre novel. The film is directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles and stars Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.

More than 20 years ago, Jody Arlington was at home when her 18-year-old brother murdered their parents and younger sister. She thought she was next, but instead her brother told her they were now free. He went to prison, and Arlington changed her name and had to learn how to live without her family. A similar family slaying has prompted her to speak out about her experiences.

Edward Bunker died Tuesday at age 71 of complications from diabetes. He went to San Quentin prison at age 17 and was their youngest inmate. While incarcerated, Bunker wrote the crime fiction classic No Beast So Fierce. He also acted in more than 20 films, including Reservoir Dogs. This story was originally broadcast on July 12, 1993.

In his new book The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison, chemist John Emsley chronicles cases of accidental and intentional use of lethal substances throughout the ages. Some say Beethoven and Mozart were poisoned to death.

Director Gregg Araki and novelist Scott Heim have collaborated on the new film Mysterious Skin, based on Heim's novel of the same name. It's the story of two young men who were sexually molested as boys, and the different ways in which trauma has shaped their lives.

From 1998 to 2000, William Queen went undercover for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and rode with the Mongols, a southern California motorcycle gang. His new book is Under and Alone.

We talk with Brad Bird, who wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning film The Incredibles, about a suburban family with superpowers. The mix of average characters and extraordinary abilities has turned the animated characters into celebrities.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Sin City, starring Bruce Willis and directed by Robert Rodriguez and comic writer-artist Frank Miller.

Criminal defense attorney Johnnie Cochran died Tuesday at age 67 of cancer, after having been diagnosed in 2003 with an inoperable brain tumor. In 1995, Cochran won O.J. Simpson a not-guilty verdict in the slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Over the years, Cochran defended celebrities as well as lesser-known individuals. He represented football great Jim Brown, as well as rappers Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Sean Combs. (Originial airdate: 10/10/96)

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new season of The Shield. The critically acclaimed show is adding actress Glen Close to its cast of burly, often violent alpha males.