Dr Janet Foster

This course is available on the BSc in Language, Culture and Society and BSc in Sociology. This course is not available as an outside option. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.

This half-unit course examines patterns of homicide in different contemporary societies with different social and political contexts (for example, Russia, Jamaica, USA, Colombia, South Africa, and Britain) and the explanations for their contrasting homicide incidence.   We explore the differences between fictional representations of murder and its actualities both in terms of type/prevalence, as well as investigative practices.  The importance of class, gender and race in patterns of homicide victimisation are explored, as well as the experiences of victims’ families and the significance of murder in contemporary society.

30 hours of workshops in the WT.

Course Outline

Week 1   Introduction: Myth busting  - we explore perceptions of homicide, what these are based on, and how these images might differ from available evidence on patterns of victimisation

Week 2   Researching Homicide: patterns, issues and problems - we explore how homicide is defined, what problems exist with these definitions and why these matter.  We also discuss key theoretical explanations of homicide.

Week 3   Sherlock Holmes & CSI: the impact of crime fiction and media portrayals

Week 4   Patterns of homicide: Using case studies from different parts of the globe, with differing social and political contexts we explore patterns of homicide and the sociological explanations for these varying patterns

Week 5   Intersectionalities: gender, race, and sexuality – the risk of homicide is not equal and in this session we explore how race, gender and sexuality feature in homicide victimisation.

Week 6   Reading week

Week 7   Presentations

Week 8   Investigating homicide – how do homicide investigations work and what factors affect the likelihood of perpetrators being caught?   

Week 9   Living a life sentence: victims’ families experiences

Week 10   Homicide perpetrators: why do people kill?

Week 11   Synthesis: The sociological significance of homicide

Students will be expected to produce 1 piece of coursework in the WT.

Students are expected to read, and prepare in advance, for each of the workshops.  Students must complete either a 1,500 word essay, or a poster, to be submitted in week 8, on one of the topics covered in weeks 2-5 of the course.

Allsop, C. (2018) Cold Case Reviews: DNA, Detective Work and Unsolved Major Crimes Oxford: Oxford University Press

Allsop C & Pike S (eds.) (2024) The Routledge International Handbook of Homicide Investigation Abingdon

Brookman, F et al (2017) The Handbook of Homicide Chicester:Wiley

Brookman, F (2022, second addition) Understanding Homicide London: Sage

Innes, M (2003) Investigating Homicide Oxford: Oxford University Press

Leovy, J (2015) Ghettoside: investigating a homicide epidemic London: Random House

Pridemore, W (2005) ‘Social structure and homicide in post-Soviet Russia Social Science Research Vol. 34 (4) pp732-756

Morris, P and Graycar, A (2011) ‘Homicide through a different lens’ British Journal of Criminology Vol. 51 (5) pp823-838

Policing and Society (2013) Vol. 23, No. 3 Special Issue on homicide

UNODC (2019) Global Study on Homicide: Trends/Context/Data United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Wilson, D (2009) A History of British Serial Killing London: Sphere

Essay (80%) in the ST.
Presentation (20%) in the WT.

The essay length is between 2,500-3000 words.