Rethinking Homicide

Using multiple data sources and methods, this book involves a micro-historical analysis of the nature of change and stability in homicide situations over time. It focuses on the homicide situation as the unit of analysis, and explores similarities and differences in the context of homicide for different social groups. For example, using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we investigate whether various social groups (e.g., men vs. women, teenagers vs. adults, strangers vs. intimates, Blacks vs. Whites) kill under qualitatively different circumstances and, if so, what are the characteristics of these unique profiles. The analysis of over 400,000 US homicides is supplemented with qualitative analysis of narrative accounts of homicide events to more fully investigate the structure and process underlying these lethal situations. Our findings of unique and common homicide situations across different time periods and social groups are then discussed in terms of their implications for criminological theory and public policy.

• It involves a systematic analysis of over 400,000 US homicides over the last three decades • It empirically documents the most common situations of homicide in the last three decades • It provides a different way of looking at homicide - offers a nice bridge between macro-level studies of homicide rates and micro-level case studies

Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction: studying homicide situations; 2. Theoretical development; 3. Data and methodology for studying homicide situations; 4. The empirical distribution of homicide; 5. Instrumental and expressive motives in homicide situations; 6. Gender differences in the structure of homicide situations; 7. Change and stability in the structure of youth homicide; 8. Racial differences in homicide situations; 9. Victim/offender relationships; 10. Conclusions and implications.

‘Rethinking Homicide presents a new perspective and approach for examining homicide situations and makes an informative and useful addition to the existing body of literature on homicide, which is of use to students and practitioners researching homicide.‘ Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling