Social scientist, victim advocate, and the mother of a murder victim - Deborah Spungen is well acquainted with all facets of what she defines as "the blackest hell accompanied by a pain so intense that even breathing becomes an unendurable labor." In Homicide: The Hidden Victims, Spungen illustrates just how and why family members become co-victims when a loved one is murdered, and she poignantly addresses the emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological effects of such traumatic events. The timely information and innovative modalities discussed in this book make it ideal for mental health and criminal justice professionals, pastoral counselors, social workers, and victim advocates.
Social scientist, victim advocate, and the mother of a murder victim - Deborah Spungen is well acquainted with all facets of what she defines as "the blackest hell accompanied by a pain so intense that even breathing becomes an unendurable labor." In Homicide: The Hidden Victims, Spungen illustrates just how and why family members become co-victims when a loved one is murdered, and she poignantly addresses the emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological effects of such traumatic events. The timely information and innovative modalities discussed in this book make it ideal for mental health and criminal justice professionals, pastoral counselors, social workers, and victim advocates.
Annotation In the US, murderers, particularly those sentenced to death, are usually considered as entirely different from the rest of us. Sociologist Susan F. Sharp challenges perspective by reminding us that those facing a death sentence, in addition to being murderers, are brothers or sisters, mothers or fathers, daughters or sons.
“Honest and moving . . . Her painful tale is engrossing.”—Washington Post Book World For most of us, it was just another horrible headline. But for Deborah Spungen, the mother of Nancy, who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel, it was both a relief and a tragedy. Here is the incredible story of an infant who never stopped screaming, a toddler who attacked people, a teenager addicted to drugs, violence, and easy sex, a daughter completely out of control—who almost destroyed her parents’ marriage and the happiness of the rest of her family.
The American homicide rate remains dramatically higher than that in other Western nations. News of a murder has become a routine event. How do we explain such high levels of lethal violence in the world's leading democracy? Echoing Durkheim's Suicide, this book focuses on one important phenomenon to explain larger currents in American society. Leonard Beeghley examines the historical and cross-national dimensions of homicides and evaluates previous attempts to explain it. He finds the sources of America's murder rate in the greater availability of guns, the expansion of illegal drug markets, greater racial discrimination, more exposure to violence, and sharper economic inequalities. He deftly blends the evidence related to each of these factors into a well-reasoned sociological analysis of the nature of American society. Features Highlights how sociology can be used to explain problems and seek solutions Distinguishes between structural and social psychological levels of analysis Provides a constrasting perspective to Messner & Rosenfeld's widely assigned Crime and the American Dream Uses metaphors and analogies in order to make sociological ideas meaningful to students Employs an engaging writing style to place the analysis in the scholarly literature Offers clear explanations of Durkheim, Weber, Merton, and others, that show their usefulness for understanding modern life
An introduction summarizes the social theories of homicide and the methodological issues in the study of homicide. This accessible volume then focuses on specific types of homicides including: mass and serial murders, homicides by youth, gang homicides, domestic homicides, homicides by female offenders, and alcohol/drug related homicides.
Publisher's description: What are the effects that violent crime has on our everyday lives, both in terms of the individual victims and their larger community? This unique text draws from both the fields of criminology and psychology to provide a comprehensive examination of the two major areas that are most significantly effected by violent crime - the crime victims themselves and the larger sphere of their families, friends, neighborhoods, and communities. Beginning with a discussion of the how we measure and study violent victimization, the authors R. Barry Ruback and Martie P. Thompson, look at the immediate and long-term impact violent acts has upon the direct victims. Social and Psychological Consequences of Violent Victimization examines "secondary victims"--Family members, neighbors, friends, and the professional involved with investigating and prosecuting the crime and helping the victim, and also impacts of violent crime on neighborhoods and communities. The authors conclude with recommendations of effective interventions that can be made at the levels of the individual, the community, and the criminal justice and mental health systems. This book's one-of-a kind focus on both the psychological and social impact of crime makes it an invaluable supplementary text for criminal justice and criminology courses dealing with victimization, violent crimes, and the criminal justice process. The book will also interest professionals in victim services, crime prevention, criminal justice, and social work.
The Global Study on Homicide 2013 is based on comprehensive data from more than 200 countries/territories, and examines and analyses patterns and trends in homicide at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels. Such analysis is fundamental to understanding the various factors and dynamics that drive homicide, so that measures can be developed to reduce violent crime. The Study provides a typology of homicide, including homicide related to crime, coexistence-related homicide, and socio-political homicide. The nature of crime in several countries emerging from conflict, the role of various mechanisms in killing, and the response of the criminal justice system to homicide are also analyzed. A further chapter examines homicide at the sub-national level, and includes analysis at the city-level for selected global cities.
On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.
