Making Sense of Homicide

The first dedicated textbook for criminology students studying homicide. As the authors explain, criminal homicide is just one form of lethal violence victims may suffer, leading them to describe a much broader range of scenarios. Ranging from murder to manslaughter, state killings, genocide, and disasters involving victims of public policy, corporate crime, or shortcomings in health and safety, "Making Sense of Homicide" repositions the 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. "Making Sense of Homicide" covers a range of topics from serial killing to mass and spree homicide across the jurisdictions of the UK, USA, and other countries. Interwoven 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 immensely valuable to anyone wishing to see violence through a new lens. With a foreword by Professor David Wilson.