Understanding Homicide

In this engaging and accessible book, Brookman draws upon several decades of her own research on homicide and violence, including ethnographic research on homicide investigation in the UK and USA and interviews with violent offenders, in order to unravel the characteristics and causes of homicide, how police and forensic scientists investigate it and how it can be prevented. Synthesising bespoke new analysis of the Home Office Homicide Index with case studies of homicides and international debate and literature, this comprehensive textbook will be a valuable resource for students studying homicide, violence, its investigation and responses to it, as well as researchers and practitioners interested in homicide and violence.

Table of Contents:
Part One: Placing Homicide in Context Chapter 1: Deconstructing Homicide Chapter 2: Patterns and Characteristics of Homicide in the UK Part Two: Explanations of Homicide Chapter 3: Biological Explanations of Homicide Chapter 4: Psychological Explanations of Homicide Chapter 5: Sociological Explanations of Homicide Part Three: Making Sense of Particular Forms of Homicide Chapter 6: Homicide Amongst Males Chapter 7: Femicide Chapter 8: Women Killing Men Chapter 9: The Killing of Children Chapter 10: Corporate Homicide Part Four: Dealing with Homicide Chapter 11: The Investigation of Homicide Chapter 12: Preventing Homicide

About the Author :
Fiona Brookman is Professor of Criminology at the University of South Wales, UK. She obtained her PhD from Cardiff University in 2000 and has, since then, researched and published mainly in the fields of homicide, violence and policing.  Using qualitative research methods, her research focuses on the causes of homicide and violence, narratives of violence and the investigation and prevention of homicide. She has extensive experience of conducting in-depth interviews with violent offenders, detectives and forensic scientists, and of shadowing homicide detectives (in Britain and America).  She recently completely a four-year ethnographic study of the role of science and technology in British homicide investigations, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Fiona is Director of the Criminal Investigation Research Network (CIRN) and was Visiting Professor at American University, Washington DC in 2012. She advises the Home Office on serious violence policy and is a member of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Transforming Digital Forensics Working Group. Fiona has over 70 publications including research papers in international journals and numerous chapters in edited collections, including The Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making (Oxford: 2017), Ethnography in Criminology (Springer: 2017), the Oxford Handbook of Criminology (Oxford: 2012), In Their Own Words (Oxford: 2013), Narrative Criminology (New York: 2015) and The Handbook of Qualitative Criminology (Routledge: 2015).  She edited, with Mike Maguire and Ed Maguire, the Handbook of Homicide (Wiley: 2017).

Review :
Criminal homicide has long been a topic of morbid fascination in the public imagination. With this book, Fiona Brookman has assembled a fascinating tour of all the key themes and topics needed to understand how, when and why fatal violence occurs, and what can be done about it. Fiona Brookman is one of the world’s leading experts on homicide. In this comprehensive but accessible book, she helps readers separate fact from fiction about homicide. This is a fascinating and invaluable book for anyone wanting to learn more about homicide. Understanding Homicide is a beautifully written and well-organized textbook for college students interested in murder; it is also an invaluable reference for scholars and practitioners who work in this area. Professor Brookman has done a masterful job discussing controversial issues related to homicide in a balanced way, synthesizing different theoretical approaches in explaining lethal violence, dissecting types of murders within the lens of gender, and tackling thorny issues involved in the investigation and prevention of homicides. This treatise is a must read for those seriously interested in understanding homicide. Professor Brookman’s book, Understanding Homicide, offers a comprehensive set of sociological explanations for the phenomenon of homicide, introducing students to the historical roots while helping them focus on the most contemporary tests of theories. Especially useful are the varied examples from around the world, adding a comparative element that helps students understand concepts and illustrates theory in action. Covering all of the heavy hitters of sociological thought at both the macro and micro levels, Understanding Homicide also introduces students to ideas that have been tangential in previous discussions of understanding violence but are vital in homicide research and becoming a more important part of mainstream criminological understanding in general, such as bystander effects. Professor Brookman doesn’t steer away from criticisms either, giving students a well-rounded understanding of the ways in which we understand homicide and the places where there is room for improvement. The "Pause for Thought" interludes offer useful ideas for individual reflection and class discussion and are targeted to help students apply their learning in meaningful ways, which will be useful to instructors of first year and advanced students alike. This is the perfect book for a class on homicide in particular or violent crime in general. Understanding Homicide would be good companion reading for traditional theory classes, given its comprehensive theoretical framework.