Making Sense of Homicide

Book excerpt: The first dedicated textbook for Criminology students studying homicide. As the authors explain, criminal homicide is but one form of lethal violence victims may suffer, leading them to describe a much broader range of scenarios. Ranging from murder to manslaughter to State killings, genocide and disasters involving victims of public policy, corporate crime or shortcomings in health and safety, Making Sense of Homicide re-positions discussion of the topic for those wishing to see beyond routine media hype and ill-informed popular discourse. The book also contains a special expert contribution by former Police Superintendent Ronald Winch about how the UK police investigate homicide including fundamental requirements and pitfalls. The book ranges in scope from serial killing to mass and spree homicide and across the jurisdictions of the UK, USA and other countries. Also interweaved in this key resource are acutely observed accounts of the Holocaust, capital punishment and homicide within a consumer society. The authors explain the categories within which homicide is conventionally discussed, as well as crimes of the powerful and those made opaque for political, economic or other questionable purposes, making the work one of immense value to anyone wishing to see violence through a new lens. A hugely wide-ranging explanation of homicide, perfect for dedicated courses. The book demonstrates how homicide definition stems from political, cultural and societal choices and looks at the deficits in homicide classifications. An entirely fresh look at the subject. From the Foreword ‘It is no small feat to offer such robust understandings of homicide … A judicious and much needed collection at a time in which our existence is evermore enveloped by aspects of death, despair and homicide in all its various malignant forms.’— Professor David Wilson. Authors Dr Adam Lynes, Professor Elizabeth Yardley and Lucas Danos all teach at Birmingham City University, one of the UK’s leading centres of Criminology where their existing publications have attracted considerable acclaim. Ronald Winch spent over 30 years in the police including investigating homicide and other serious, major and complex crimes. Together they bring straightforward and refreshing perspectives to a sometimes hard to understand and often disquieting topic.