Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:26 am
Time: 12:26 am
Results for murder
10 results foundAuthor: International Federation of Journalists Title: Gunning for Media: Journalists and Media Staff Killed in 2010 Summary: In 2010, 94 journalists and media staff were killed, victims of targeted killings, bomb attacks and crossfire incidents. Three other journalists lost their lives in accidents at work. The details of the losses are spelled out in the enclosed reports from the IFJ regional centres. They show how Pakistan tops the list of the most dangerous zones for journalists in 2010, ahead of Mexico, Honduras and Iraq. Although the numbers are down from the 139 killings recorded a year earlier and are the lowest for eight years, they reveal that regional conflicts, drug wars and political unrest continue to create killing fields for journalists and people who work with them. Details: Brussels: International Federation of Journalists, 2011. 36. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 24, 2011 at: http://www.ifj.org/assets/docs/177/253/f8badb1-e23bbfd.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.ifj.org/assets/docs/177/253/f8badb1-e23bbfd.pdf Shelf Number: 120865 Keywords: HomicidesHuman RightsJournalistsMediaMurder |
Author: Nunley, John M. Title: Demographic Change, Macroeconomic Conditions, and the Murder Rate: The Case of the United States, 1934 to 2006 Summary: Fluctuations in aggregate crime rates contrary to recent shifts in the age distribution of the U.S. population have cast doubt on the predictive power of the age-crime hypothesis. By examining a longer time horizon, back to the early 1930s,, we show that the percentage of the young population is a robust predictor of the observed large swings in the U.S. murder rate over time. However, changes in the misery index — the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates — significantly contribute to explaining changes in the murder rate. This applies, in particular, to those changes that are at odds with the long-run trend of the U.S. age distribution, such as the decline in the murder rate in the latter part of the 1970s or its increase starting around the middle of the 1980s. Details: Auburn, AL: Auburn University, 2010. 20p. Department of Economics, Source: Internet Resource: Auburn University Department of Economics Working Paper Series: Accessed October 22, 2011 at: http://cla.auburn.edu/econwp/Archives/2010/2010-04.pdf Year: 0 Country: United States URL: http://cla.auburn.edu/econwp/Archives/2010/2010-04.pdf Shelf Number: 123093 Keywords: Crime RatesEconomics and CrimeHomicideMurderUnemployment and Crime |
Author: Salomon, Mereth Pauline von Title: Motherhood On Trial: The American Media's Reception of the Filicide Cases of Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, and Casey Anthony Summary: In 2008, two year old Caylee Anthony was reported missing, and a frantic search for the toddler began. In December 2008, the child's body was found in a wooded area close to her mother Casey's parent's house. Casey Anthony was then charged with murder of her daughter. In 2011, Ms. Anthony was found not guilty of killing her daughter. But most Americans – until this day - are convinced that Casey Anthony had gotten rid of her child because she had wanted to continue living her party-life and date men, accusations lined with a loathing of promiscuity and women's sexuality, even though the evidence brought forward against her was not enough to prove the charges pressed against her. I cannot – and neither do I want to – pass judgment about whether or not Anthony's acquittal was justified. What this study aims to do, however, is to lay out how cases of maternal filicide in the United States are reacted to in the American media, an idea that I had shortly after the Anthony trial ended. Even though I had not followed the Anthony trial in its entirety, it became inescapable for me on the Internet. My Facebook Newsfeed blew up on July 5th 2011, the day when Casey Anthony was found not guilty. Many of my friends posted angry statuses about the verdict, several of them calling the outcome of this trial a “crime” in itself. One friend wrote that if Dexter (the homicidal main character of popular TV Show Dexter who brutally kills murderers who had gone unpunished) was real, he would pay Anthony a friendly visit. Ever since then, the Anthony case has been on my mind. I was surprised, flabbergasted even, about what had happened here. I wondered what outraged my friends and millions of people in America about this trial. Were they really just concerned with Caylee (and the justice she arguably had not gotten)? Why did they hate Anthony so much, and what freedom to voice their opinions did the Internet give them? Was Anthony such a target because she was a beautiful young woman who seemed to hide her real face from the world? Or was her single motherhood the real problem at hand - did Americans loathe Anthony so much because she was not what people thought a mother should be? And if that would be the case, what do Americans expect from mothers? These questions form the foundation for this study. In order to answer them, next to the case of Casey Anthony, the media's reception of the cases of Susan Smith and Andrea Yates will be covered. Newspaper and magazine articles will be taken as mirrors and catalysts of public opinion, with the Internet also taking up some room in this study's discussion of the Anthony case. Details: Utrecht, The Netherlands: Utrecht University, 2012. 153p. Source: Internet Resource: Master's Thesis: Accessed October 1, 2012 at: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/student-theses/2012-0719-200734/Master'sThesis-Mereth%20von%20SalomonPDF.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/student-theses/2012-0719-200734/Master'sThesis-Mereth%20von%20SalomonPDF.pdf Shelf Number: 126530 Keywords: Child HomicideFilicide (U.S.)HomicideMass MediaMurderMurderers |
Author: Liem, Marieke Christine Agatha Title: Homicide Followed by Suicide. An Empirical Analysis Summary: When headlines such as the ones above confront us every now and then our illusion of safety is shattered: the perpetrator is not a stranger, but someone who is well‐known to us. Although already considered to be incomprehensible, when in such killings the perpetrator subsequently kills himself, we remain puzzled. The event is even more puzzling given the fact that usually, these perpetrators are older, white men, who do not have a criminal record (Marzuk et al., 1992; Stack, 1997), thereby challenging our idea of the ‘conventional’ criminal. Some see the perpetrator as a victim of his own acts, whereas others are of the opinion that his suicide is spiteful as he cannot be brought to justice for his4 cruel acts. Acts in which a homicide is followed by the suicide of the perpetrator are termed homicide‐suicides. So far our knowledge of homicide‐suicide is remarkably limited, particularly in the Netherlands. In the first place, this concerns our empirical knowledge of the phenomenon. Given the differences in their very nature, both homicide and suicide have mostly been studied independently, or, as Stack has (1997) has pointed out: “Research on homicide has neglected suicide and research on suicide has neglected homicide”. Even though numerous studies have been conducted on both homicide (for an overview, see Nieuwbeerta & Leistra, 2003) and on suicide (e.g. Garssen & Hoogenboezem, 2007; Neeleman, 1998) in the Netherlands and elsewhere, up until now only a limited number of studies have undertaken the endeavor to examine homicide‐suicides theoretically and empirically. Compared to the studies carried out on homicide and suicide, research on homicide‐suicide is considerably limited. A second gap in our knowledge exists regarding theoretical approaches to homicide-suicide. So far, no comprehensive theoretical approach to the homicide‐suicide phenomenon has been developed. Rather, from a current theoretical point of view homicide‐suicide constitutes a combination of both homicide and suicide, both types of lethal violence resulting from aggressive impulses. These theories, however, do not clarify under which circumstances one chooses to commit one type of lethal violence over another type – and they certainly do not explain the occurrence of a homicide - suicide. Homicide‐suicide is typically regarded as a variation of homicidal behaviour, where the subsequent suicide is the result of feelings of guilt or a fear of the judicial consequences, or as a variation of suicidal behavior, in which the victim is ‘taken along’ in the suicide of the perpetrator (Cavan, 1928; Milroy, 1993; West, 1965). The fact that we hardly have any adequate empirical or theoretical knowledge on homicide‐suicide has major implications both from a criminal justice and a public health perspective. Within the criminal justice system, particularly concerning detention facilities, there is a need to distinguish suicidal from non‐suicidal homicide perpetrators. DuRand et al. (1995), for example, have shown that a charge of murder or manslaughter poses an important risk factor in prison suicide. Various other studies have found that the majority of those committing suicide in prison were accused of murder or manslaughter (Danto, 1989; Salive et al., 1989; Smialek & Spitz, 1978). Yet, none of these studies regarded the suicide as a reaction to the initial homicide. Rather, the homicide is considered as a correlate rather than a cause of prison suicide. Distinguishing suicidal from non‐suicidal homicide perpetrators might allow for improvements in the prevention of suicide in detention. From a public health perspective, considering homicide‐suicide as primarily homicidal implies that prevention measures for homicide are parallel with those for homicide‐suicide. Similarly, considering homicide‐suicide as primarily suicidal infers that similar prevention measures for suicide might contribute to preventing homicidesuicides. However, perceiving of homicide‐suicide as a separate phenomenon might require a different approach to prevention altogether. To sum up, homicide followed by the suicide of the perpetrator constitutes a neglected phenomenon in the scientific realm. This study aims to increase our knowledge of homicide‐suicide in at least four ways, namely by: 1. Systematically reviewing previous empirical studies on homicide‐suicide as well as previous theoretical notions connected with the homicide‐suicide phenomenon; 2. Describing the nature and incidence of homicide‐suicide in the Netherlands and putting these findings into an international perspective; 3. Advancing the state of knowledge by not only assessing homicide‐suicides in isolation, but by comparing these acts to both homicide and suicide, in that way coming to an understanding of which characteristics explain the occurrence of homicide‐suicide relative to other types of lethal violence; 4. Empirically assessing existing theoretical assumptions on homicide‐suicide. Details: Utrecht, The Netherlands: Utrecht University, 2010. 257p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 5, 2012 at: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2010-0204-200151/liem.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2010-0204-200151/liem.pdf Shelf Number: 126559 Keywords: HomicideMurderSuicideViolent Crime |
Author: Violence Policy Center Title: When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2010 Homicide Data - Females Murdered by Males in Single Victim/Single Offender Incidents Summary: The annual VPC report details national and state-by-state information on female homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender. The study uses the most recent data available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report and is released each year to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. Nationwide, 1,800 females were murdered by males in single victim/single offender incidents in 2010. Where weapon use could be determined, firearms were the most common weapon used by males to murder females (849 of 1,622 homicides or 52 percent). Of these, 70 percent (597 of 849) were committed with handguns. In cases where the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 94 percent of female victims (1,571 out of 1,669) were murdered by someone they knew. Of these, 65 percent (1,017 out of 1,571) were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers. Sixteen times as many females were murdered by a male they knew than were killed by male strangers. In 88 percent of all incidents where the circumstances could be determined, the homicides were not related to the commission of any other felony, such as rape or robbery. Details: Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2012. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 22, 2012 at http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2012.pdf Shelf Number: 127258 Keywords: Crime RatesCrime StatisticsHomicideMurderViolence Against Women |
Author: British Columbia. Missing Women Commission of Inquiry Title: Forsaken: The Report of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry Summary: The Commission Report consists of four volumes: Volume I: The Women, Their Lives and the Framework of Inquiry: Setting the Context for Understanding and Change. It provides the framework for the Inquiry's factual findings and conclusions and for its broader policy advisory responsibilities, which focus on recommendations for forward-looking change. Emphasis has been placed on developing a contextualized framework: context is the setting for a particular idea or event, a set of circumstances or facts that surround an event or situation that give it meaning. The missing and murdered women investigations were not isolated events; they must be situated and assessed relative to a bigger picture. This contextual framework comprises of four elements: The international, national and provincial dimensions of the crisis of missing and murdered women; - The women as individuals; - The women as a group and their lives in the DTES; and - The legal and policy framework for police investigations of missing women and suspected multiple homicides. Volume II: Nobodies: How and Why We Failed the Missing and Murdered Women. It contains my findings of facts and conclusions pertaining to the police investigations framed by four main parts: - The police investigation into the assault on Ms. Anderson and the decision to stay proceedings against Pickton in January 1998; - An overview of the missing and murdered women investigations designed to serve as a narrative account upon which further analysis is carried out, including a timeline of key events to assist the reader; - An analysis of the seven main critical police failures; and - An analysis of the underlying causes of these critical police failures. Due to its size, Volume II is printed in two volumes: Volume IIA and Volume IIB. A summary of my findings of facts and conclusions is included at the end of Volume IIB. Volume III: Gone, but not Forgotten: Building the Women's Legacy of Safety Together. This volume summarizes the information gathered through the study commission process and sets out my recommendations for reform. The framing of the recommendations is closely tied to the factual conclusions that I reached in Volume II. The discussion and recommendations are set out in relation to what I identify as the ten components of the missing women's legacy: - Laying the foundation for effective change: acknowledging the harm and fostering healing and reconciliation; - Renewing our commitment to equal protection of the law through practical measures; - Listening, learning and responding: strategies to prevent violence against marginalized women in the DTES and other urban areas; - Standing together and moving forward: strategies to prevent violence against Aboriginal and rural women; - Fostering innovation and standardization: a framework for best practices in missing person investigations; - Enhancing police investigations of missing persons and suspected multiple homicides; - Committing to a regional police force in Greater Vancouver; - Facilitating effective multi-jurisdictional responses to crime; - Ensuring police accountability to the communities they serve; and - Assuring the women's legacy: implementation, change management and evaluation. A summary of my recommendations is included at the end of Volume III and at the end of this Executive Summary. Volume IV: The Commission's Process. It contains materials related to the Commission's process and is meant to provide a public record of the work that led to the preparation of this report. The first section is a detailed overview of the Commission's approach to the hearings and study commission processes. The remaining sections provide information about the Commission's work including the Terms of Reference, a list of Commission personnel, a list of Participants and Counsel, practice and procedure guidelines and directives, a list of witnesses at the evidentiary hearings, a list of oral and written submissions to the study commission, and a list of Commission studies and reports. Details: Victoria, BC: Missing Women Commission on Inquiry, 2012. 180p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2014 at: http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/public_inquiries/docs/Forsaken-ES.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/public_inquiries/docs/Forsaken-ES.pdf Shelf Number: 132100 Keywords: Criminal InvestigationsHomicideMissing PersonsMissing WomenMurderSerial MurderViolence Against Women |
Author: New Zealand. Law Commission. Title: Strangulation: The Case for a New Offence Summary: The Commission has been asked to report on a possible new crime of strangulation. This Report discharges that obligation. The Commission has considered: the rationale for establishing such a crime; if a crime of non-fatal strangulation is to be created, what the appropriate elements of the offence should be; what the maximum penalty should be having regard to the structure and terms of other offences in the Crimes Act 1961; and whether there are other legislative or operational options that would better address the concerns the proposed crime is intended to address. This reference forms part of a range of initiatives the Minister of Justice is considering in respect of family violence. The current government has made the scourge of family violence in New Zealand one of its highest priorities. The Police deal with over 100,000 family call-outs per year. Studies have shown that strangulation, often to the point of unconsciousness, is a common form of family violence. It is a dreadful tool for coercion and control within a domestic relationship. It is not well accommodated within the existing offences in the Crimes Act. Summary of recommendations STRANGULATION OFFENCE Part 8 of the Crimes Act 1961 should be amended to make a person who strangles or suffocates another person liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years. In that offence, "strangles or suffocates" should mean impedes normal breathing or circulation of the blood by intentionally applying force on the neck or by other means. NOTING FAMILY VIOLENCE ON THE CRIMINAL RECORD The Crimes Act should be amended to require that, if a person pleads guilty to the strangulation offence or is found guilty of the strangulation offence, and the court is satisfied that the offence was a family violence offence, the court must direct that the offence be recorded on the person's criminal record as a family violence offence. AGGRAVATING FACTOR FOR SENTENCING Section 9 of the Sentencing Act 2002 should be amended to include strangulation as an aggravating factor that must be taken into account in sentencing. OPERATIONAL CHANGES The Police family violence incident report (POL 1310) should be amended to include questions designed to screen for strangulation. The Police National Intelligence Application (NIA) should be amended to record specifically whether or not a family violence incident included an allegation of strangulation. Police who attend family violence call-outs should receive education about the prevalence, signs, symptoms and lethality of strangulation. Similar education should also be offered to judges who undertake criminal law or family law work. Details: Wellington: New Zealand Law Commission, 2016. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 10, 2016 at: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/NZLC-R138.pdf Year: 2016 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/projectAvailableFormats/NZLC-R138.pdf Shelf Number: 139364 Keywords: Family ViolenceHomicideIntimate Partner ViolenceMurderStrangulation |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison, Syria Summary: At Saydnaya Military Prison, the Syrian authorities have quietly and methodically organized the killing of thousands of people in their custody. Amnesty International's research shows that the murder, torture, enforced disappearance and extermination carried out at Saydnaya since 2011 have been perpetrated as part of an attack against the civilian population that has been widespread, as well as systematic, and carried out in furtherance of state policy. We therefore conclude that the Syrian authorities' violations at Saydnaya amount to crimes against humanity. Amnesty International urgently calls for an independent and impartial investigation into crimes committed at Saydnaya. Details: London: AI, 2017. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2017 at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/5415/2017/en/ Year: 2017 Country: Syria URL: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/5415/2017/en/ Shelf Number: 145306 Keywords: DisappearancesMurderPrisonersPrisonsTorture |
Author: Perry, David Title: On Media Coverage of the Murder of People with Disabilities by Their Caregivers Summary: or this White Paper, we looked at the media coverage of 260 cases of the killing of disabled people by the parents or other caregivers, ultimately narrowing our sample down to 219 cases in which the circumstances were clear. The cases date from January 2011 to December 2015. The cases range from clearly intentional acts of murder to death through neglect; the victims have a wide range of disabilities, and the legal outcomes vary from acquittal or no charge to lengthy prison sentences. Our Goals Identify and assess the patterns in coverage. Analyze how those patterns might contribute to stigmatization of disability and disabled people and even intensify the risks of future crimes. Provide a comparative framework so that journalists covering such a story in their own community might have easily accessible references. Highlight the efforts of the self-advocate community to combat disability stigma, to demand victim-centered stories, and work for change. National data repeatedly indicates that people with disabilities are at higher risk for violent crime than people without disabilities. The deaths of people with disabilities at the hands of caregivers, including parents, is a particularly tragic subset of this broader pattern. Moreover, when journalists cover the deaths of this vulnerable segment of the population, the focus is often directed at the murderer. Journalists, consciously or unconsciously, often write stories that build sympathy for the murderer and the circumstances that led them to their crime, while the person with a disability is erased from the story. We have examined over 200 news reports about cases in North America between 2011-2015 that clearly describe the murder of a victim with a disability by a parent, child, spouse, or unrelated caregiver. Findings At least 219 disabled people were killed by parents and caregivers between 2011 -2015 - an average of approximately a murder a week. This is a very conservative number due to under-reporting and the fact that a victim's disability is not always made public. The real numbers are likely much higher. The killers routinely claim "hardship" as a justification for their acts. The media rarely questions such claims or asks for comment from disability rights organizations, and especially not from people with disabilities themselves. In the drive to explain a killing, the lives of the victims get erased resulting in killer-centered, rather than victim-centered reporting. Spreading the hardship narrative may lead to more violence, rather than changing policy around supports. In many cases, moreover, the narrative is fundamentally not true. Many killers receive little to no prison time. In such cases, perceptions of disability as suffering inform judicial decisions not to punish murder. Best Practices Tell victim-centered stories. Don't just report what the killer says about the victim, which will always be dehumanizing. Do the journalism to find out more about the victims' lives, their desires, their agency. Talk to experts in disability. The disability rights community follows these cases closely and will provide expert commentary. Remember, most caregivers do not kill disabled people, so blaming a killing on disability-related hardship is never the full answer. Challenge the claims of defense attorneys and perpetrators. Investigate whether the claims of defense attorneys and perpetrators are accurate. When prosecutors treat such cases lightly, investigate whether they treat cases involving non-disabled victims the same way. Provide Context. These cases are rare (there are around 450 cases of parents killing children every year in the United States), but not unique. They need to be put in context so the consequences of dehumanizing disabled people can be made visible to the general public. Details: Newton, MA: Ruderman Family Foundation, 2017. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2017 at: http://www.rudermanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Murders-by-Caregivers-WP_final_final-2.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.rudermanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Murders-by-Caregivers-WP_final_final-2.pdf Shelf Number: 145157 Keywords: Disabled PersonsFemicideFilicideHomicideMedia and CrimeMurder |
Author: Weare, Siobhan Title: The Socio-Legal Response(s) to Women Who Kill: A proposed model for acknowledging their agency Summary: This thesis will explore the socio-legal response(s) to women who kill. Interrogating the constructions of "woman" and "femininity" within criminal legal discourse it will argue that the agency (that is, the ability of an individual to choose to act in a particular way) of women who kill is denied, both passively and actively within criminal legal discourse. It will be argued that denying the agency of women who kill is problematic for numerous reasons, including but not limited to, the construction and reinforcement of gender discourse surrounding femininity and issues of justice both being done and being seen to be done for women who kill and for their victims. In order to address these issues, this thesis will therefore propose an agency-based model for women who kill, which will interrupt both the passive and active agency denials which currently exist for these women. Details: Lancaster University, 2014. 320p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed November 21, 2017 at: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/74373/1/2015WearePhD.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/74373/1/2015WearePhD.pdf Shelf Number: 148286 Keywords: Female OffendersHomicideMurderViolence Crime |