America's Dumbest Criminals (Hardcover)

by Daniel Butler (Author), Alan Ray (Author), Leland Gregory (Author) "When Detectives Ted McDonald and Adam Watson of the Brunswick (Georgia) Police Department answered this particular home burglary call, they expected a routine report-missing TVs..." (more)
Key Phrases: dumb criminal mind, dumb criminals, dumbest criminals, New York, Las Vegas, Don Parker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
From the hit syndicated television show come 200 stories of fumbling felons, clumsy crooks, and ridiculous robbers—all the crimes are true, but the names have been changed to protect the stupid!

From the Inside Flap
From the hit syndicated television show come 200 stories of fumbling felons, clumsy crooks, and ridiculous robbers?all the crimes are true, but the names have been changed to protect the stupid!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Gramercy; First Printing edition (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517208903
• ISBN-13: 978-0517208908
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,117,698 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light And Amusing, September 27, 2002

By	taking a rest - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This is a group of stories that was put together by officers from around the country sharing some of the more bizarre experiences they have encountered in their careers. This is not about glorifying criminal behavior, it is just meant to highlight human nature at its lowest point when common sense is totally missing.

It is fair to say that common sense is not something a criminal should have by definition, but this book proves that any semblance of judgment is often missing. There are several hundred examples, some of which are a riot to read, and many that seemed forced. Some of the tales seem familiar from other stories I have read centering on The Darwin Awards.

To give you an idea of these geniuses here are a couple of examples. One person serving a 90-day sentence attempted to escape on day 89, the result an additional 18 months added to his time. A man suspected of stealing from vending machines paid his $400 bail, all in quarters. And one stunt was not even a criminal at the outset. A woman decided to alter her lottery ticket so she would win $20. The rub was that if she had left the ticket alone she not only would have avoided jail, but her original numbers had already won her $5,000!

The Police have extremely tough jobs, its nice to know that they do get an occasional laugh from their jobs.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The way it really is, December 31, 2000

By	Loren w Christensen (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: America's Dumbest Criminals: Wild and Weird Stories of Fumbling Felons, Clumsy Crooks, and Ridiculous Robbers (Paperback)

Any reader who says these tales are exaggerated or just war stories, obviously has never worked as a police officer.

There are a lot of dumb crooks out there, so many and so dumb that officers can't always feel proud of their easy arrests. What's amazing is that some of these dummies have survived in this world as long as they have.

While you will laugh out loud at the stories in this book, know that there are thousands of other dumb acts by criminals that could have been included and thousands more that have occurred since this book was written.

And while you laugh, keep the sobering thought in mind that many of these dumb crooks are dangerous.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cop's view of stories, March 15, 1998

By	[e-mail] "akkugel" (New Brunswick, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Dumbest Criminals: Wild and Weird Stories of Fumbling Felons, Clumsy Crooks, and Ridiculous Robbers (Paperback)

Although many of the stories in this book are kinda funny, sometimes it reads too much like stories told by cops over beers. In one story (`The considerate criminal', p. 28), a guy goes to turn himself in, a busy and flustered officer tells him to go elsewhere or `come back at six', and the guy comes back at six! ha? How stupid to continue being cooperative when you originally plan to be cooperative! (?!) I didn't feel the authors were selective enough in picking the stories to include. This would have been less annoying if they didn't keep emphasizing the `dumb' aspect in their writeups. In many of the stories, if you didn't a priori believe the criminal stupid, you wouldn't decide so on the basis of the story. Certain story titles or/and author comments seemed `catty' rather than witty. Overall, given the potential of the concept, I found this book somewhat disappointing.