American Homicide

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 examines all types of homicide, and gives additional attention to the more prevalent types of murder and suspicious deaths in the United States. Authors Richard M. Hough and Kimberly D. McCorkle employ more than 30 years of academic and practitioner experience to help explain why and how people kill and how society reacts. This compressive text takes a balanced approach combining scholarly research and theory with compelling details about recent cases and coverage of current trends.

Yeardley Love was a star athlete and student with her whole life ahead of her. Born into a world of privilege, Yeardley was exceptionally modest and generous. She was adored by many, especially the members of her lacrosse team at the University of Virginia, where she won the heart of another lacrosse player: George Huguely V. As champion athletes, Yeardley and George were a celebrity couple at UVA. But George's hard partying, hostile behavior, and jealousy proved too much for Yeardley. Then, just one month before graduation, Yeardley's lifeless body was found in her campus apartment... According to an affidavit, George admitted to bashing down her door and hitting her head against a wall. Did he intend to kill her? His lawyer claimed Yeardley's death was at most an accident. But as investigators uncovered more about George's past, they learned he was no stranger to violence: He was involved in at least two prior episodes of alcohol-fueled assault. And despite George's elite origins and seemingly perfect young life, police insist he was a time bomb about to explode...This is the true story of two young lovers and one All-American Murder.

American Homicide examines all types of homicide, and gives additional attention to the more prevalent types of murder and suspicious deaths in the United States. Authors Richard M. Hough and Kimberly D. McCorkle employ more than 30 years of academic and practitioner experience to help explain why and how people kill and how society reacts. This brief, yet comprehensive book takes a balanced approach, combining scholarly research and theory with compelling details about recent cases and coverage of current trends. Comparative coverage of homicide types and rates in countries around the world shows how American homicide statistics compare internationally.

Describes how a Bangladeshi immigrant, shot in the Dallas mini mart where he worked in the days after September 11 in a revenge crime, forgave his assailant and petitioned the state of Texas to spare his attacker the death penalty.

There are places in the United States of America where violent acts of bloodshed have occurred. Years may pass—even centuries—but the mark of death remains. They are known as Murder Houses. From a colonial manse in New England to a small-town home in Iowa to a Beverly Hills mansion, these residences have taken on a life of their own, gaining everything from local lore and gossip to national—and even global—infamy. Writer Steve Lehto recounts the stories behind the houses where Lizzie Borden supposedly gave her stepmother “forty whacks,” where the real Amityville Horror was first unleashed by gunfire, and where the demented acts of the Manson Family horrified a nation—as well some lesser-known sites of murder that were no less ghastly. Exploring the past and present of more than twenty-five renowned homicide scenes, American Murder Houses is a tour through the real estate of some of the most grisly and fascinating crimes in American history. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

A study of criminal homicide in America from precolonial times to the present, drawing on accounts of witnesses, official documents, physical remains, and private papers to reconstruct representative cases of the past and look for broader trends. Investigates why murder rates go up or down at different periods, how the justice system has dealt with murder, and the roles of economic difference, family structure, and media, seeking to explain why postindustrial America has the highest murder rate in the developed world. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In a chilling scene in the film Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood as the gunman stands over a wounded Gene Hackman, the sheriff, aiming a rifle at his head. "I don't deserve this, to die like this," says Hackman. Eastwood replies, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it," cocks his rifle, and fires point blank at his helpless victim. This scenario dramatically brings home to the viewer what historians have long debated and hundreds of other films and books suggest: the turn-of-the-century West was a violent time and place. Ranchers, miners, deputy sheriffs, teenagers and old men, occasionally even housewives and mothers found themselves at the business end of a shotgun or a .38 revolver. Yet, since western historians tend to portray violence as essentially episodic--frontier gunfights, range wars, vigilante movements, and the like--solid data has been hard to come by. As a beginning point for actually measuring lethal violence and assessing the administration of justice, here at last is a detailed and well-documented study of homicide in the American West. Comparing data from representative areas--Douglas County, Nebraska; Las Animas County, Colorado; and Gila County, Arizona--this book reveals a level of violence far greater than many historians have believed, even surpassing eastern cities like New York and Boston. Clashing cultures and transient populations, a boomtown mentality, easy availability of alcohol and firearms: these and many other factors come under scrutiny as catalysts in the violence that permeated the region. By comparing homicide data, including coroner's inquests, indictments, plea bargains, and sentences across both racial and regional lines, the book also offers persuasive evidence that criminal justice systems of the Old West were weighted heavily in favor of defendants who were white and against those who were African American, Native American, or Mexican. Packed with information, this is a book for students and scholars of western history, social history, criminology, and justice studies. Western history buffs will be captivated by colorful anecdotes about the real West, where guns could and did blaze over anything from love trysts to vendettas to too much foam on the beer. From whatever perspective, all readers are sure to find here a well-constructed framework for understanding the West as it was and for interpreting the region as it moves into the future.

Greg DeVillers was a top biotech executive, and Kristen Rossum was embarking on a career in toxicology at the San Diego Medical Examiner's office. They seemed to be happily married, living the American dream. But only months shy of their second anniversary, Kristen found her handsome husband dead from a drug overdose-his corpse sprinkled with rose petals. By his side was their wedding photo. The scene was reminiscent of American Beauty, one of Kristen's favorite movies. Authorities deemed it a suicide. Until they discovered that the rare poison found in Greg's body was the same poison missing from Kristen's office. Until they discovered the truth about Kristen's lurid affair, about her own long-time drug addiction, and about the personal and professional secrets she would kill to keep hidden-secrets that would ultimately expose the beautiful blonde as the deadly beauty she really was...a Deadly American Beauty

The relationship between alcohol and homicide in America is explored both historically and theoretically, providing the groundwork for two empirical analyses. The first, a theoretical approach, leads to the development of a selective disinhibition hypothesis, the implications of which are tested in a longitudinal analysis of alcohol availability and homicide in 256 U.S. cities between 1960 and 1980. Alcohol availability was found to significantly increase homicide rates. Availability also interacted with city poverty rates, lack of social bonds, and the age structure to further increase the incidence of murder. The second analysis, policy based, focuses on the impact on youth homicide rates of increases in the minimum age of purchase for alcohol, enacted by most states during the 1980s. This analysis shows that increases in the minimum drinking age had a significant impact on certain types of youth homicide. The book concludes with a discussion of the causes of the alcohol and homicide relationship, public policy and crime control alternatives for reducing alcohol related homicide, and other ongoing research that addresses these and other issues.