Murder Conventions

Homicide always will be an aspect of life, whether it is in the 16th century, 21st century or in the future. At times of extreme stress, people may turn to murder as an outlet of a greater problem they cannot fix or control. Presently, homicide has a greater value in society due to popular culture references through the media such as television, film and writing; society constantly has homicide and murder in the subconscious. In David M. Buss’ findings in The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill,

It argues that the police are not simply incompetent, but even apathetic to the problems of the community they have sworn to protect and serve. This is evidenced in that, while investigating the murder of a young girl, the police go door to door a single time canvassing for witnesses. When everyone claims that they didn’t see anything, the police move on. The play suggests that this, along with picking up the usual black suspects for questioning, is about the extent of their investigation. The police don’t appear to spend much time gathering evidence from the scene. They don’t come back to see if anyone has remembered anything since the shock wore off. In fact, they seem to be trying to avoid the scene of the crime. Zooman himself calls the police officers out on their lack of dedication to finding a murderer in this rough neighborhood, claiming, “[I]f a black kills a black, and they don’t catch you right away, they [sic] liable to forget about it” (Fuller 47). This indicates that his past experiences with law enforcement haven’t led him to believe in their capabilities, so much so that he has completely given up on the

Andre Dubus’s “Killings” is a very interesting look into the psychology that goes on after a person has been killed. The story discusses the ramifications of the original murder, the subsequent actions of “justice,” and finally what is left when it is all said and done.

Murder on a Sunday Morning is about an African American boy who was wrongly convicted of murder. He was only fifteen years old when his life changed forever. While first watching the documentary, it seems to the audience that Brenton Butler, the convicted boy, is guilty. Mr. Stephens, husband of the victim, Ann Stephens, claims that Butler came over, tried to take Anna Stephens’ purse, and then before she could comply, he raised his gun and shot her in the face. Sadly, Mr. Stephens was the only eye-witness, which is a major red flag, as he is connected to the victim. After being forced by the detective, Butler confesses. Once defense attorney, Patrick McGuinness is involved, he has Butler tell the court of his innocence and thus beings the criminal proceedings for Brenton Butler.

What did the judge do wrong? Which judicial selection option—either appointment, election, or merit—would help to reduce instances of judicial misconduct?

Synopsis: Our story follows a economist from Harvard University called Henry Spearmen who takes a vacation from his life of writing books and lectures to go to the virgin islands with his Wife. However, as they reach their resort (Cinnamon bay) they quickly find that there is trouble in paradise as radical black power groups are spreading their influence on the island and wish to harm the tourism industry by harassing white visitors. Nonetheless the couple enjoy their stay and meet colorful characters such as Mr.Dyke a fellow Harvard professor of theology, a vacationing couple called the Clarks and General Decker: a strict and demanding military official that earns

On November 15, 1959, the Clutter family was found murdered in their home in Holcomb, Kansas. Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith were arrested for murdering the family of four six weeks after the crime was committed. During my research, I found that prior to the murder, Hickock and Smith were both in jail when a fellow prisoner, Floyd Wells, told Hickock about Mr. Clutter and the amount of cash he had stashed in a safe in his house. Hickock contacted Smith and convinced him to commit the robbery with him and start a new life in Mexico with the money.

When discussing the death penalty, rarely do we acknowledge the impact executions have on the men and women who facilitate the process. Although this process is solely voluntary, the side effects are not. According to several executioners, the first experience is far from what they had anticipated. To bring to light the stories of these men and women, Jim Willet facilitates an audio recording which covers the process of executing an inmate and the aftermath which is often felt by the executioner.

Many of these murders happen spontaneously and are not organized. Some of these scenes are shocking, primeval, and appalling. These moments leave the viewers stunned and disoriented.

The genre of crime fiction reflects shifting social, cultural and political conditions. Each composer is influenced by these shifting paradigms and thus incorporates them into their texts, pushing past the conventions and boundaries set in earlier eras to create new sub-genres. Daniel Chandler in An Introduction to Genre Theory, identifies this phenomenon: "genres change over time; conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are discontinued." Through my prescribed texts, Howard Hawks' hardboiled film The Big Sleep (1946) and P.D. James' Revenge Tragedy The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982), and related texts, Agatha Christie's classic detective story Murder on the Orient Express (1933)

The film, In Cold Blood holds in account various reasons why murders are perpetrated, but one of the major reasons is being due to mental illness, affected by socioeconomic, self-image, and being under the influence of pressure. These causes have been implemented in the film showing how they have influenced each other in carrying out a murder just like the murder of the Clutter family. It also ties in the way the Criminal Justice System went about dealing with homicides and the penalty that that followed in an unjustified manner.

The modern law of murder developed over many centuries from the English common law of homicide. Homicide is simply defined as the killing of another person. Before the 1500’s, common law judges categorized homicide into two broad categories known as, criminal and noncriminal homicides (Samaha, 2013). Over the next five decades, a number of newly developed statutes were established and further divided criminal and noncriminal homicide. Criminal homicide included murder and manslaughter, while noncriminal homicide was divided into justifiable and excusable homicide (Samaha, 2013). By the 1700’s, three types of homicides were firmly embraced by English common law and the American Colonies. The three categories according

1- the most obvious and important reason of all is the blood spatter analysis, if you look at the blood pattern on the wall and see that he is holding the gun in his right hand, it just doesn't add up. The blood spatter on the wall suggests that the energy came from the opposing end of the room I.e (left hand self inflicted gunshot or that someone shot him from the left side of the head).

The idea of serial killers and the role they play in our lives has fascinated people since the cases of Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes, although serial murderers existed before them. The infamous and mysterious complexities of these cases have puzzled and terrified people for over a century. Perhaps due to the deviant and taboo nature of serial killings, people in our society and others have tried to attribute many reasons for why they occur. In this search for answers, one major scope has been widely left out of the research: the sociological imagination. It is through this method of understanding that I will attempt to explain the development of serial killers and apply theories that explain the frequency of serial killings in our society.

Murder in the city occurs due to different reasons, and there is an interconnection of various factors that motivate individuals to commit crimes. Key factors for this phenomenon are social, economic, and political. Murder in the city can be analyzed or investigated from sociological approach since those who commit the crimes have to undergo a decision-making process for them to identify who to commit their heinous crime or whether they are justified to do.