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SJPL Picks: YA True Crime

Can't get enough of Date Line or 20/20? Check out these true crime YA nonfiction titles chosen by SJPL Librarians.

San José Public Library

24 items

  • Doomed

    Sacco, Vanzetti, and the End of the American Dream

    Florio, John, 1960-
    Relates the story of how in the early 1920s, as a Red Scare gripped America, two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were wrongly accused, tried, and executed for murder, making front-page headlines as they maintained their…
    Book, 2023New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2023. — YA 345.7302 Florio
  • Murder Among Friends

    How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime

    Fleming, Candace,
    Taking readers back to 1924, this shocking true crime story follows two eighteen-year-old college students who kidnapped and murdered a child they both knew, their trial, and how a renowned defense attorney enabled them to avoid the death penalty.
    Book, 2022New York : Anne Schwartz Books, [2022] — YA 364.1523 Fleming
  • A Few Red Drops

    the Chicago Race Riots of 1919

    Hartfield, Claire,
    On a hot day in July 1919, five black youths went swimming in Lake Michigan, unintentionally floating close to the "white" beach. An angry white man began throwing stones at the boys, striking and killing one. Racial conflict on the beach erupted…
    Book, 2022Boston : Clarion Books, an imprint of HoughtonCollinsPublishers, 2022. — YA 305.896 Hartfiel
  • From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry

    the Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement

    Yoo, Paula,
    A groundbreaking portrait of Vincent Chin and the murder case that took America's Asian American community to the streets in protest of injustice. America in 1982. Japanese car companies are on the rise and believed to be putting American…
    Book, 2021New York, NY : Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company, [2021] — YA 305.895 Yoo
  • Just Mercy

    Adapted for Young Adults : a True Story of the Fight for Justice

    Stevenson, Bryan,
    Bryan Stevenson delves deep into the broken U.S. justice system, detailing from his personal experience his many challenges and efforts as a lawyer and social advocate, especially on behalf of America's most rejected and marginalized people. In this…
    Book, 2018New York : Delacorte Press, [2018] — YA 340.092 Stevenso
  • Gail stole her own horse. A modern-day outlaw at fifty-three, Gail learned the law at night while living out of her truck in order to move the horse to safe havens, evade private investigators, and take on a powerful Los Angeles attorney determined…
    Book, 2018New York : TU Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books Inc., [2018] — YA 741.5973 Neri
  • Chasing King's Killer

    the Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassin

    Swanson, James L., 1959-
    James Earl Ray and Martin Luther King, Jr. had two very different life journeys -- but their paths fatally collide when Ray assassinates the world-renown civil rights leader. This book provides an inside look into both of their lives, the history of…
    Book, 2018New York : Scholastic Press, 2018. — YA 323.092 Swanson
  • I Have the Right to

    a High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

    Prout, Chessy,
    The numbers are staggering: nearly one in five girls ages fourteen to seventeen have been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. This is the true story of one of those girls.
    Book, 2018New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2018] — YA 362.883 Prout
  • No Choirboy

    Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row

    Kuklin, Susan,
    Explores life behind bars for teenage prisoners who have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution on death row, discussing the effects of their past actions on themselves and others, and their personal views on the death penalty itself.
    Book, 2014New York : Square Fish, Henry Holt and Company, 2014. — YA 364.6609 Kuklin
  • Student reporters from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, recall the attack on their school, describe recovery efforts and their classmates' part in the struggle for gun control, and discuss their roles as journalists.
    Book, 2018New York : Crown, [2018] — YA 363.3309 We
  • Bonnie and Clyde: we've been on a first name basis with them for almost a hundred years. Immortalized in movies, songs, and pop culture references, they are remembered mostly for their storied romance and tragic deaths. But what was life really like…
    Book, 2018New York : Viking, [2018] — YA 364.1552 PARKER Blumenth
  • What Are My Rights?

    Q&A About Teens and the Law

    Jacobs, Thomas A.
    Provides information to help young readers understand laws, recognize responsibilities, and appreciate their rights, especially in relation to parents, school, job, and personal matters.
    Book, YA 346.7301 Jacobs
  • Recounts the true case of an innocent teen who becomes a hostage stuck in the middle of a dangerous drug-fueled conflict.
    Book, 2018New York : Simon Pulse, 2018. — YA 364.1523 Kovatch
  • It's 1971 in Coronado, a small southern California beach town. For seventeen-year-old Eddie Otero, a skilled waterman and avid surfer, life is simple. Then a friend makes him an offer: Swim an illicit package across the border from Mexico. The…
    Book, 2017New York : Simon Pulse, 2017. — YA 363.4509 Nichols
  • True story of the tragic murder of Long Island teen Gary Lauwers by Ricky Kasso in 1984, called a "Satanic Sacrifice" by the international media. The effects of drugs, occultism, and violent crime on the teenagers involved caught the attention of…
    Book, 2018New York : Simon Pulse, 2018. — YA 364.1523 Pollack
  • One teenager in a skirt. One teenager with a lighter. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California. Sasha, a white…
    Book, 2017New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. — YA 364.1555 Slater
  • The Borden Murders

    Lizzie Borden & the Trial of the Century

    Miller, Sarah Elizabeth, 1979-
    Examines the Borden murders, using newspaper articles to recreate the events and the trial and acquittal of Lizzie Borden and exploring Lizzie's story to theorize on what may have happened.
    Book, 2016New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, [2016] — YA 345.744 Miller
  • Blood, Bullets, and Bones

    the Story of Forensic Science From Sherlock Holmes to DNA

    Heos, Bridget,
    Blood, Bullets, and Bones provides young readers with a fresh and fascinating look at the ever-evolving science of forensics. Since the introduction of DNA testing, forensic science has been in the forefront of the public's imagination.
    Book, 2016New York : Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers [2016] — YA 363.25 Heos
  • Tommy

    the Gun That Changed America

    Blumenthal, Karen,
    John Taliaferro Thompson had a mission: to develop a lightweight, fast-firing weapon that would help Americans win on the battlefield. Instead, the Tommy gun became the weapon of choice for a generation of bootleggers and bank-robbing outlaws, and…
    Book, 2015New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2015. — YA 683.422 Blumenth
  • Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Summer murders, traces the events surrounding the KKK lynching of three young civil rights activists who were trying to register African Americans for the vote.
    Book, 2014New York : Scholastic Press, 2014. — YA 323.1196 Mitchell