Homicide Studies

Publisher:
Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:
2021-09-06
ISBN:
1088-7679

Issue Number

Latest documents

  • Help-Seeking Barriers for Latinx Victims of Intimate Partner Homicide: Insight From Survivors, Advocates, and Community Practitioners

    Limited studies have considered the experiences of Latinx intimate partner homicide (IPH) survivors. A federally designated, culturally specific gender-based violence resource center partnered with nine community-based organizations to enhance culturally specific knowledge on IPH prevention by conducting listening sessions and key informant interviews with Latinx survivors, advocates, and community practitioners. The current study analyzed data from the larger project to explore help-seeking barriers encountered by Latinx IPH survivors, specifically cisgender and transgender women. Results identified six themes impacting help-seeking: an inaccessible criminal justice system, inequitable resources, immigrant identity, gender role beliefs and expectations, a lack of culturally sensitive services, and family concerns. Policy implications and future research are discussed.

  • Black Femicides Matter: Conceptualizing the Killings of Black Girls and Women as Structural and Cultural Violence

    Although men of color are disproportionately the victims of violence in the United States, Black women face a substantial risk. This work presents a layered commentary on the growing epidemic of Black femicide. First, hypervisibility and invisibility within institutions is explored. Second, using feminist victimology and intersectionality frameworks, four forms of Black femicide are analyzed: gun violence, intimate partner violence, targeted violence, and institutional violence. Third, topics of missing and insufficient information on Black femicide are probed. Fourth, procedural limitations and recommendations for future works are proposed. This essay seeks to improve discussions surrounding Black femicide in research and practice.

  • White Violence, Black Victims: The Impact of Political and Economic Competition on Interracial Killings in 21st Century America
  • “Invisible Deaths”: A Critical Analysis of the Study of Prison Homicide

    Prison homicide, or homicides that occur between individuals who are incarcerated, has received a dearth of attention in scholarly literature. These homicides have increased over the past several decades with devastating consequences for those housed within prison walls, correctional and administrative staff, the families of those incarcerated, and the communities from which they are removed. Perpetrators of prison homicides often continue to engage in violence despite incapacitation, calling into question the ability of the state to house individuals safely. When fatal violence occurs, victims of these homicides are constructed as deserving of violence. Drawing from critical criminological perspectives of state-sanctioned violence, I argue that treatment of these victims affects the legitimacy of the criminal justice system and public safety.

  • Anti-Transgender Ideology, Laws, and Homicide: An Analysis of the Trifecta of Violence

    In this study we explore homicides and fatal violence against transgender individuals using the framework of the trifecta of violence—violent ideology, violent policies and laws, and violent actions. In recent years, researchers, activists, and the media, particularly the news media, have been warning that the increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, especially but not exclusively online, coupled with a surge in anti-transgender legislation, has resulted in increased instances of violence against the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender people. In this article we examine patterns of transphobic ideology and rhetoric, anti-trans legislation, and fatal violence against transgender people in the United States from 2015 to 2022. We find that increases in all three occurred over this time period, with all three aspects of the “trifecta” correlated.

  • The Gay and Trans Panic Defense: Focusing on the Homicides, Not the Court Room Strategy

    This study analyzes 351 homicides where defendants raised gay or trans panic defenses within the United States from 1970 to 2022. This work builds on prior research by focusing on gay men and trans women as distinct groups to examine the demographic and socio-economic variables of these victims and their killers. This study also explores how the offenders killed their victims, focusing on the fatal weapon, time of murder, and homicide location. Finally, this study investigates situational variables, including relationship between victim and killer, use of drugs/alcohol, offender’s stated motivation for murder, and whether the offender stole the victim’s property.

  • Intimate Partner Homicide Prevention Among Latinas: A Qualitative Study of Risk and Protective Factors

    The current study explored perceptions of homicide risk and protective factors among Latina survivors of gender-based violence and culturally specific practitioners, including indigenous and transgender survivors. Themes resulting from a grounded theory analysis include histories of violence and homicide threats, power and social connections, difficulty disclosing threats to safety, fear and conviction, and separating/leaving partners. Listening sessions with transgender and indigenous Latina survivors uniquely emphasized experiences of structural discrimination. Narratives also shed light on community strengths that can inform intimate partner homicide prevention, including the role of kinship in culturally specific programing.

  • Editorial Introduction to Homicide Studies Special Issue: Critical Perspectives on Homicide
  • “La Loca” y “La Victima”: An Analysis of Penalizing Gender Non-Conformity After Death

    The United States experienced a record number of homicides against transgender victims in 2020, six of which occurred in Puerto Rico. Of the victims, five were trans women, and one was a trans man. Through case-study analysis, we explore how gender nonconformity is stigmatized within the context of Puerto Rico. Using storyline analysis of the language used by offenders, news media, and police, several themes emerged: (1) framing trans people as deceitful; (2) deadnaming, misgendering, and victim-blaming, and (3) community advocacy for the murder victims. Using the framework of hetero-cis-normativity, we explore how hetero-cis-normative biases may explain why negative attitudes toward trans individuals vary.

  • Sexually Frustrated Mass Shooters: A Study of Perpetrators, Profiles, Behaviors, and Victims

    Although several mass killings by incels have received much attention, the overall phenomenon of sexually frustrated offenders seems even larger. This study drew from a recently developed sexual frustration theory to closely examine public mass shooters in the United States from 1966 to 2021 (n = 178). Results showed that some sexually frustrated perpetrators just wanted sex, while others lusted after unavailable partners or had illegal urges that were difficult to satisfy. Quantitative analyses indicated that compared to other mass shooters, sexually frustrated perpetrators were more frequently young, male, unmarried, childless, and unemployed. They were also more likely to be misogynistic, sex offenders, and fame-seekers, and their attacks killed significantly more female victims. Concerted efforts to reduce toxic masculinity and provide better guidance to young men could help reduce this threat.

Featured documents

  • Preventing Intimate Partner Homicide: The Long Road Ahead

    Intimate partner homicide (IPH) consists primarily of men killing women in the context of intimate partner violence. Researchers have described and identified risk factors associated with IPH; additional comprehensive data collection is needed to better understand IPH risk and to develop risk-inform...

  • The Implementation of Domestic Violence Death Reviews in Australia

    In Australia, a significant proportion of homicides occur in a domestic context, many following an identifiable history of domestic violence. For this reason, many domestic violence homicides are considered to be preventable. Sector advocacy and policy reform has reframed domestic violence as a...

  • Counting and Accounting for Deaths in Australian Immigration Custody

    Since 2000, more than 1,500 people have died trying to reach Australia by boat or in other ways that are connected with the enforcement of border controls. This article is concerned with a subset of those deaths that can be classified as deaths in immigration custody. In the Australian context,...

  • Criminal Histories of Intimate Partner Homicide Offenders
  • Female Sexual Homicide Offenders

    Limited information exists regarding the criminal phenomenon of female sexual homicide. Using FBI’s Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) data spanning 32 years (1976-2007), 204 female sexual homicide offender cases (27 juveniles and 177 adult offenders) were examined. The offender and victim racial...

  • Gender Equality and the Usual Suspects: A Cross-National Study on Female and Male Homicide Victimization

    Gender inequality is a central concept in cross-national feminist criminological literature. There is not a readily agreed-upon operationalization of gender inequality. The variation in the operationalization of gender inequality in cross-national research could be the cause for the inconsistent...

  • Victim Lifestyle as a Correlate of Homicide Clearance

    The current inquiry adds to the literature by using Hindelang’s lifestyle theory to examine the relevance of victim involvement in a deviant lifestyle to the likelihood of and time to homicide clearance. Bivariate analyses suggest that victim lifestyle is an important factor in the distribution of...

  • Spatial Correlates of Gun Deaths in Harris County, Texas

    Firearm homicide and suicide deaths for 2014 were examined in Harris County, Texas, for spatial variation and socio-economic correlates. Higher firearm homicide rates were found closer to central Houston than firearm suicide rates. Local hot spots were identified for both types but overlapped at...

  • The Profiles of Victims, Perpetrators, and Unfounded Beliefs in Honor Killings in Turkey

    Despite Turkey’s increasing awareness of honor killings, many unfounded beliefs and assumptions still pervade concerning the general profiles of victims, perpetrators, and the crimes committed. These erroneous views are predicated upon a plethora of weak generalizations rather than robust research...

  • An Examination of Investigative Practices of Homicide Units in Florida

    The study examined Florida law enforcement agency homicide investigation practices previously identified in the literature as best (or most frequent). Departments handling at least 25 homicides per year and those that handle fewer were surveyed, a comparison not previously examined. The agencies...

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT