3,576 articles
Samuel Little
Samuel Little (Samuel McDowell, 1940-2020), American serial killer; FBI-confirmed most prolific in U.S. history, confessed to 93 murders 1970-2005, at least 60 confirmed, convicted 2014 in Los Angeles.
San Diego serial murders
San Diego serial murders: the Torrey Pines State Beach killings of Barbara Nantais (1978) and Claire Hough (1984), the Kevin Brown DNA controversy, and related San Diego County serial-homicide cases and methods.
Sandra Ávila Beltrán
Sandra Ávila Beltrán, known as La Reina del Pacífico, was a Mexican woman who served as an intermediary between Colombian cocaine suppliers and Mexican drug cartels, arrested in 2007.
Sandra Good
Sandra Good (Blue, Sandra Collins), born 1944, a Manson Family member and close friend of Squeaky Fromme, imprisoned 1976-1985 for mailing death threats to corporate executives, later ran the Access Manson website.
Sanity
Sanity: soundness of mind; in law, a defendant's criminal responsibility at the time of an offense, tested by standards from the 1724 wild-beast rule to M'Naghten and the 1984 federal reform act.
Sante Kimes
Sante Kimes (Sante Singhrs, "the Dragon Lady"), American con artist and murderer who with son Kenneth killed Irene Silverman in 1998 to steal her Manhattan townhouse and murdered David Kazdin; convicted on circumstantial evidence, died in prison 2014.
Santo Trafficante Jr.
Santo Trafficante Jr. (1914-1987), "The Silent Don," was the Tampa Mafia boss who ran Havana casinos under Batista, joined CIA plots to kill Castro, and was questioned in the JFK assassination without conviction.
Sanyika Shakur
Sanyika Shakur, born Kody Scott, also known as Monster Kody, was an American author and former Eight Tray Gangster Crips member; his 1993 prison-written memoir Monster became a bestseller and he later joined the New Afrikan Independence Movement.
Sara Jane Moore
Sara Jane Moore, also known as Sara Jane Kahn, was an American would-be assassin who fired two shots at President Gerald Ford in San Francisco in 1975.
Sara Jane Olson
Sara Jane Olson, born Kathleen Ann Soliah, former Symbionese Liberation Army member and 25-year fugitive; pleaded guilty to the 1975 LAPD car-bombing attempt and to the 1975 Myrna Opsahl murder; sentenced, then won and lost sentence-reduction litigation.
Sarabjit Singh
Sarabjit Singh, Indian farmer from Bhikhiwind, Punjab; held 22 years on death row in Pakistan as suspected spy 'Manjit Singh'; died May 2, 2013 after a Lahore jail assault.
Sarah Balabagan
Sarah Balabagan, Filipina domestic worker, killed her employer Almas Mohammed al-Baloushi in Al Ain, UAE, in July 1994, claiming self-defense during a rape. Sentenced to seven years, then death, then one year and 100 lashes; released July 1996.
Sarah Good
Sarah Good (Sarah Solart, 1653-1692), Salem Village beggar, was among the first three accused in the Salem witch trials, examined March 1, 1692, convicted on spectral evidence, and hanged July 19, 1692, refusing to confess.
Sarah Jo Pender
Sarah Jo Pender (born 1979) is an American woman serving 110 years in Indiana for the 2000 shotgun killings of her two roommates in Indianapolis.
Saskatoon freezing deaths
Saskatoon freezing deaths, or starlight tours: deaths of Indigenous men including Neil Stonechild, Rodney Naistus, and Lawrence Wegner abandoned outside Saskatoon in winter by police; Wright Inquiry found police role; no officer convicted for the deaths.
Satyam scandal
Satyam scandal: 2009 accounting fraud at Satyam Computer Services, India's fourth-largest IT firm, dubbed India's Enron. Founder Ramalinga Raju confessed to $1.47 billion falsified accounts; government reconstituted the board and sold the company to Tech Mahindra.
Scam centers in Myanmar
Scam centers in Myanmar are fortified compounds, mainly in Myawaddy and northern Shan State, where trafficked workers are forced to run online fraud; the industry grew after the 2021 coup and survives crackdowns, sanctions, and repatriation drives.
Schapelle Corby
Schapelle Corby, Australian Gold Coast woman convicted in Bali in 2005 of importing 4.1 kg of marijuana found in her bodyboard bag; sentenced to 20 years, paroled 2014, deported 2017; case sparked Australian media frenzy and proceeds-of-crime actions.
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, also known as the SC/ST Act, is an Indian law criminalizing specific atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
School-to-prison pipeline
School-to-prison pipeline: US policy framework, also called the STPP, linking zero-tolerance discipline, school policing, and exclusionary suspensions to dropout and juvenile or criminal justice contact, disproportionately affecting Black, Latino, and disabled students.
Scold's bridle
Scold's bridle, also called branks or witch's bridle: an iron punishment mask with a mouth gag, sometimes spiked or belled, used in Britain and northern Europe from the 1500s, mostly on women judged scolds, until the mid-1800s.
Scott Dozier
Scott Raymond Dozier, Nevada death-row inmate #1011685, convicted of the 2002 murder of Jeremiah Miller, waived appeals to demand execution, was blocked by drug-protocol litigation, and died by suicide at Ely State Prison on January 5, 2019.
Scott Lee Kimball
Scott Lee Kimball, also known as Scott Kimball, is an American serial killer from Colorado who murdered four people between 2003 and 2004 while an FBI informant.
Scourge
Scourge: a multi-thonged whip (Latin flagrum, flagellum) used for flogging as Roman punishment, religious self-mortification, judicial whipping, and colonial discipline; still legal in dozens of countries today.
Scream copycat crimes
Scream copycat crimes are real offenses inspired by the 1996 horror film Scream and its sequels, including the 1998 California Padilla-Ramirez case, a 2002 French case, and a matricide by a 16-year-old who said the film gave him the idea.
Sde Teiman gang rape
Sde Teiman gang rape: alleged 2024 sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee by IDF Force 100 reservists at the Sde Teiman camp in the Negev; nine arrested, five indicted in 2025, charges dropped in 2026.
Sean Combs sexual misconduct allegations
Sean Combs sexual misconduct allegations: Cassie Ventura's November 2023 sex-trafficking suit, the 2024 federal indictment, the July 2025 mixed verdict (two Mann Act convictions, trafficking acquittals), and 50-plus civil suits.
Sean Sellers
Sean Sellers (1969–1999), Oklahoma murderer executed February 4, 1999 for three killings committed at 16; the only post-1976 US execution of a 16-year-old offender, diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder after trial.
Sean Vincent Gillis
Sean Vincent Gillis (born 1962) is an American serial killer, the 'Other Baton Rouge Killer,' who murdered eight women around Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1994-2004; arrested by DNA and tire-track evidence in 2004, he is serving multiple life sentences at Louisiana State Penitentiary.
Search warrant
A search warrant is a written authorization signed by a judge that permits law enforcement to search a specified person, place, or vehicle for criminal evidence. It requires probable cause.