American Homicide

American Homicide PDF Author: Randolph Roth
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674054547
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
In American Homicide, Randolph Roth charts changes in the character and incidence of homicide in the U.S. from colonial times to the present. Roth argues that the United States is distinctive in its level of violence among unrelated adults—friends, acquaintances, and strangers. America was extraordinarily homicidal in the mid-seventeenth century, but it became relatively non-homicidal by the mid-eighteenth century, even in the slave South; and by the early nineteenth century, rates in the North and the mountain South were extremely low. But the homicide rate rose substantially among unrelated adults in the slave South after the American Revolution; and it skyrocketed across the United States from the late 1840s through the mid-1870s, while rates in most other Western nations held steady or fell. That surge—and all subsequent increases in the homicide rate—correlated closely with four distinct phenomena: political instability; a loss of government legitimacy; a loss of fellow-feeling among members of society caused by racial, religious, or political antagonism; and a loss of faith in the social hierarchy. Those four factors, Roth argues, best explain why homicide rates have gone up and down in the United States and in other Western nations over the past four centuries, and why the United States is today the most homicidal affluent nation.

American Homicide

American Homicide PDF Author: Randolph Roth
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674054547
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
In American Homicide, Randolph Roth charts changes in the character and incidence of homicide in the U.S. from colonial times to the present. Roth argues that the United States is distinctive in its level of violence among unrelated adults—friends, acquaintances, and strangers. America was extraordinarily homicidal in the mid-seventeenth century, but it became relatively non-homicidal by the mid-eighteenth century, even in the slave South; and by the early nineteenth century, rates in the North and the mountain South were extremely low. But the homicide rate rose substantially among unrelated adults in the slave South after the American Revolution; and it skyrocketed across the United States from the late 1840s through the mid-1870s, while rates in most other Western nations held steady or fell. That surge—and all subsequent increases in the homicide rate—correlated closely with four distinct phenomena: political instability; a loss of government legitimacy; a loss of fellow-feeling among members of society caused by racial, religious, or political antagonism; and a loss of faith in the social hierarchy. Those four factors, Roth argues, best explain why homicide rates have gone up and down in the United States and in other Western nations over the past four centuries, and why the United States is today the most homicidal affluent nation.

American Murder

American Murder PDF Author: Gini Graham Scott JD, Ph.D
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313024766
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
America has long had the reputation as the most violent and murderous of modern industrialized nations. Even while violent crime has dropped in recent years, our murder rate is still incredibly high. Since the beginning of the 20th century, our society has undergone profound changes. Our technologies have advanced, but the motives and methods for murder and escaping the long arm of the law have kept pace, often capitalizing on available technologies. In addition, as the century progressed, the media became an integral part of murder in America, helping investigations, glamorizing murder, and bringing it into our homes on a daily basis. Here, Scott examines the changing face of murder in the context of societal changes and traces the advances in investigative techniques and technologies. Each chapter offers vivid accounts of the most notorious and representative murders for each time period, focusing especially on those murderers who have had the edge on their pursuers, even escaping detection to this day. Beginning at the turn of the century, Scott details one of the most notorious cases of the day, in which a jealous woman poisoned the wife of her lover. The book ends with the still-unsolved Tupac Shakur murder case. Taking readers through the various developments in methods of murder, and the techniques used to capture the criminals, Scott provides a fascinating overview of the way murder has changed through the decades and how law enforcement has kept pace. This insightful book sheds light on both our fascination with murder and on murderers and their nemeses over the last one hundred years.

American Murder: Homicide in the early 20th century

American Murder: Homicide in the early 20th century PDF Author: Gini Graham Scott
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
America has long had the reputation as the most violent and murderous of modern industralized nations. Even while violent crime has dropped in recent years, our murder rate is still incredibly high. Since the beginning of the 20th century, our society has undergone profound changes, and our technologies have advanced, but the motives and methods for murder and escaping the long arm of the law have kept pace, often capitalizing on availble technologies. In addition, as the century progressed, the media would become an integral part of murder in America, helping investigations, glamorizing murder, and bringing it into our homes on a daily basis. Here, Scott examines the changing face of murder in the context of societal changes, and traces the advances in investigative techniques and technologies. Each chapter offers vivid accounts of the most notorious and representative murders for each time period, focusing especially on those murderers who have had the edge on their pursuers, even escaping detection to this day. Beginning at the turn of the century, Scott details one of the most notorious cases of the day, in which a jealous lover poisons the wife of her lover. The book ends with the still-unsolved Tupac Shakur murder case. Taking readers through the various developments in methods of murder, and the techniques used to capture the criminals, Scott provides a fascinating overview of the way murder has changed through the decades and how law enforcement has kept pace. This insightful book sheds light on both our fascination with murder and on murderers and their nemeses over the last one hundred years.

American Murder: Homicide in the late 20th century

American Murder: Homicide in the late 20th century PDF Author: Gini Graham Scott
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
America has long had the reputation as the most violent and murderous of modern industralized nations. Even while violent crime has dropped in recent years, our murder rate is still incredibly high. Since the beginning of the 20th century, our society has undergone profound changes, and our technologies have advanced, but the motives and methods for murder and escaping the long arm of the law have kept pace, often capitalizing on availble technologies. In addition, as the century progressed, the media would become an integral part of murder in America, helping investigations, glamorizing murder, and bringing it into our homes on a daily basis. Here, Scott examines the changing face of murder in the context of societal changes, and traces the advances in investigative techniques and technologies. Each chapter offers vivid accounts of the most notorious and representative murders for each time period, focusing especially on those murderers who have had the edge on their pursuers, even escaping detection to this day. Beginning at the turn of the century, Scott details one of the most notorious cases of the day, in which a jealous lover poisons the wife of her lover. The book ends with the still-unsolved Tupac Shakur murder case. Taking readers through the various developments in methods of murder, and the techniques used to capture the criminals, Scott provides a fascinating overview of the way murder has changed through the decades and how law enforcement has kept pace. This insightful book sheds light on both our fascination with murder and on murderers and their nemeses over the last one hundred years.

The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America

The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America PDF Author: Barry Latzer
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594039305
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
A compelling case can be made that violent crime, especially after the 1960s, was one of the most significant domestic issues in the United States. Indeed, few issues had as profound an effect on American life in the last third of the twentieth century. After 1965, crime rose to such levels that it frightened virtually all Americans and prompted significant alterations in everyday behaviors and even lifestyles. The risk of being mugged was a concern when Americans chose places to live and schools for their children, selected commuter routes to work, and planned their leisure activities. In some locales, people were afraid to leave their dwellings at any time, day or night, even to go to the market. In the worst of the post-1960s crime wave, Americans spent part of each day literally looking back over their shoulders. The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America is the first book to comprehensively examine this important phenomenon over the entire postwar era. It combines a social history of the United States with the insights of criminology and examines the relationship between rising and falling crime and such historical developments as the postwar economic boom, suburbanization and the rise of the middle class, baby booms and busts, war and antiwar protest, the urbanization of minorities, and more.

American Serial Killers

American Serial Killers PDF Author: Peter Vronsky
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593198816
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
Fans of Mindhunter and true crime podcasts will devour these chilling stories of serial killers from the American "Golden Age" (1950-2000). With books like Serial Killers, Female Serial Killers and Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky has established himself as the foremost expert on the history of serial killers. In this first definitive history of the "Golden Age" of American serial murder, when the number and body count of serial killers exploded, Vronsky tells the stories of the most unusual and prominent serial killings from the 1950s to the early twenty-first century. From Ted Bundy to the Golden State Killer, our fascination with these classic serial killers seems to grow by the day. American Serial Killers gives true crime junkies what they crave, with both perennial favorites (Ed Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer) and lesser-known cases (Melvin Rees, Harvey Glatman).

The Medieval Crossbow

The Medieval Crossbow PDF Author: ELLIS-GORMAN STUART
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
ISBN: 9781526789532
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame it has been decades since an in-depth history of the medieval crossbow has been published, which is why Stuart Ellis-Gorman's detailed, accessible, and highly illustrated study is so valuable. The Medieval Crossbow approaches the history of the crossbow from two directions. The first is a technical study of the design and construction of the medieval crossbow, the many different kinds of crossbows used during the Middle Ages, and finally a consideration of the relationship between crossbows and art. The second half of the book explores the history of the crossbow, from its origins in ancient China to its decline in sixteenth-century Europe. Along the way it explores the challenges in deciphering the crossbow's early medieval history as well as its prominence in warfare and sport shooting in the High and Later Middle Ages. This fascinating book brings together the work of a wide range of accomplished crossbow scholars and incorporates the author's own original research to create an account of the medieval crossbow that will appeal to anyone looking to gain an insight into one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages.

The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: A-De

The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: A-De PDF Author: Wilbur R. Miller
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1412988764
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 2713

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Book Description
This comprehensive and authoratative four-volume work surveys the history and philosophy of crime, punishment, and criminal justice institutions in America from colonial times to the present.

Furious Hours

Furious Hours PDF Author: Casey Cep
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 110194787X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This “superbly written true-crime story” (Michael Lewis, The New York Times Book Review) masterfully brings together the tales of a serial killer in 1970s Alabama and of Harper Lee, the beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who tried to write his story. Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell’s murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called The Reverend. Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.

The Invention of Murder

The Invention of Murder PDF Author: Judith Flanders
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250024889
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description
"Superb... Flanders's convincing and smart synthesis of the evolution of an official police force, fictional detectives, and real-life cause célèbres will appeal to devotees of true crime and detective fiction alike." -Publishers Weekly, starred review In this fascinating exploration of murder in nineteenth century England, Judith Flanders examines some of the most gripping cases that captivated the Victorians and gave rise to the first detective fiction Murder in the nineteenth century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama-even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other-the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P.D. James and Patricia Cornwell. In this meticulously researched and engrossing book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder in Great Britain, both famous and obscure: from Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus, to Burke and Hare's bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedy of the murdered Marr family in London's East End. Through these stories of murder-from the brutal to the pathetic-Flanders builds a rich and multi-faceted portrait of Victorian society in Great Britain. With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the utterly dangerous, The Invention of Murder is both a mesmerizing tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.