Homicide

¿Qué causan los feminicidios? ¿Qué tipo de factores hacen que una mujer sea más propensa a ser víctima de feminicidio? Respuestas de este tipo aún son parte de la agenda pendiente en América Latina y más aún lo es ligar tales resultados con formaciones teóricas sólidas. Con miras a construir un conocimiento base para América Latina, en este artículo exploramos estas preguntas a partir de literatura que primordialmente viene de otras regiones. Para hacerlo, agrupamos los enfoques de investigación en tres grandes explicaciones: factores microsociales, factores macrosociales y una tercera categoría, especie de mezcla de los dos anteriores, que responde al modelo ecológico. Finalmente, también abordamos la influencia del Estado en los feminicidios.

In the few recent studies of primary care settings, incidence (assaulted within the past year) of battered women from self-report (rather than record review) has ranged from 5% to 25%. [70] [101] The strongest risk factor for identification of battered women in one of the primary care settings was depressive symptoms. Rath et al found that not only the battered women in the HMO studied but also their children used health services six to eight times more often than did controls. Thus, it is important for scholars and clinicians in both the physical and mental health fields to understand, further investigate, and recognize the physical and mental health effects of intimate partner violence on battered women and their children. This article reviews the pertinent research in the field and makes suggestions for better health care services for this vulnerable population.

Despite the great interest in the study of sexual homicide, little is known about the processes involved in an individual’s becoming motivated to sexually kill, deciding to sexually kill, and acting on that desire, intention, and opportunity. To date, no comprehensive model of sexual murdering from the offending perspective has been proposed in the criminological literature. This article incorporates the

Literature depicts emotions arising from conflict and makes them available to readers, who experience them vicariously. Literary meaning lodges itself not in depicted events alone but also, and more importantly, in the interpretation of depicted events: in the author's treatment of the depicted events; the reader's response to both the depicted events and the author's treatment; and the author's anticipation of the reader's responses. This chapter outlines possible stances toward violence, makes an argument for the decisive structural significance of violence in both life and literature, and then presents a representative sampling of violent acts in literature. The examples from literature are organized into the main kinds of human relationships: one's relation to oneself (suicide); sexual rivals, lovers, and marital partners; family members (parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins); communities (violence within social groups); and warfare (violence between social groups).

This article reviews recent findings in the developmental neurophysiology of children subjected to psychological trauma. Studies link extreme neglect and abuse with long-term changes in the nervous and endocrine systems. A growing body of research literature indicates that individuals with severe trauma histories are at higher risk of behaving violently than those without such histories. This article links these two research areas by discussing how severe and protracted child abuse and/or neglect can lead to biological changes, putting these individuals at greater risk for committing homicide and other forms of violence than those without child maltreatment histories. The implications of these biological findings for forensic evaluations are discussed. Based on new understanding of the effects of child maltreatment, the authors invite law and mental health professionals to rethink their notions of justice and offender accountability, and they challenge policymakers to allocate funds for research into effective treatment and for service delivery.

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between expert witness likeability and jurors' judgments of credibility and tendencies in sentencing. Two actors playing expert witnesses were trained to present themselves as high and low in likeability in a standard testimony scenario in the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial. The effects of extraversion and gender of the 210 psychology undergraduates serving as mock jurors attending to expert testimony were also examined. The dependent variables were the jurors' perceptions of the witnesses' credibility and their agreement with the testimony. The likeability of the expert witnesses was found to be significantly related to the jurors' perception of their trustworthiness, but not to their displays of confidence or knowledge or to the mock jurors' sentencing decisions. The women rated highly likeable experts as more credible than the less likeable ones, but the men did not differentiate between the ...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been offered as a basis for criminal defenses, including insanity, unconsciousness, self-defense, diminished capacity, and sentencing mitigation. Examination of case law (e.g., appellate decisions) involving PTSD reveals that when offered as a criminal defense, PTSD has received mixed treatment in the judicial system. Courts have often recognized testimony about PTSD as scientifically reliable. In addition, PTSD has been recognized by appellate courts in U.S. jurisdictions as a valid basis for insanity, unconsciousness, and self-defense. However, the courts have not always found the presentation of PTSD testimony to be relevant, admissible, or compelling in such cases, particularly when expert testimony failed to show how PTSD met the standard for the given defense. In cases that did not meet the standard for one of the complete defenses, PTSD has been presented as a partial defense or mitigating circumstance, again with mixed success.

“Love hurts”— as the saying goes — and a certain amount of pain and difficulty in intimate relationships is unavoidable. Sometimes it may even be beneficial, since adversity can lead to personal growth, self-discovery, and a range of other components of a life well-lived. But other times, love can be downright dangerous. It may bind a spouse to her domestic abuser, draw an unscrupulous adult toward sexual involvement with a child, put someone under the insidious spell of a cult leader, and even inspire jealousy-fueled homicide. How might these perilous devotions be diminished? The ancients thought that treatments such as phlebotomy, exercise, or bloodletting could “cure” an individual of love. But modern neuroscience and emerging developments in psychopharmacology open up a range of possible interventions that might actually work. These developments raise profound moral questions about the potential use—and misuse—of such anti-love biotechnology. In this essay we describe a number of prospective love-diminishing interventions, and offer a preliminary ethical framework for dealing with them responsibly should they arise.

The aim of this study was to investigate the number and type of brain abnormalities and their influence on psychosocial development, criminal history and paraphilias in sexual murderers. We analyzed psychiatric court reports of 166 sexual murderers and compared a group with notable signs of brain abnormalities (N = 50) with those without any signs (N = 116). Sexual murderers with brain abnormalities suffered more from early behavior problems. They were less likely to cohabitate with the victim at the time of the homicide and had more victims at the age of six years or younger. Psychiatric diagnoses revealed a higher total number of paraphilias: Transvestic fetishism and paraphilias not otherwise specified were more frequent in offenders with brain abnormalities. A binary logistic regression identified five predictors that accounted for 46.8% of the variance explaining the presence of brain abnormalities. Our results suggest the importance of a comprehensive neurological and psychological examination of this special offender group.

Homicide is the most newsworthy of all crimes. Yet not all homicides are reported equally: some
receive extensive coverage while others receive little or none. Qualitative questionnaires, completed
by ten UK national tabloid journalists, explored the criteria that determine the newsworthiness of
homicide. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis revealed that, with certain exceptions, homicides
involving ‘perfect’ victims, statistically deviant features, killers on the run, sensational elements
and/or serial killers will almost always be newsworthy, while those involving ‘undeserving’
victims in commonplace circumstances will almost always not. However, analysis further revealed
that there will always be caveats to this, with some, normally under-reported, homicides gaining
widespread coverage through unpredictable factors such as current societal issues or interest from
a particular editor.

Hidup manusia akan selalu berurusan dengan tanda-tanda, maka dari itu ilmu semiotika muncul. Ilmu semiotika adalah ilmu tentang tanda. Manusia akan selalu bergairah untuk membuat tanda-tanda, memaknai dan menginterpretasikannya. Tanda bisa berbentuk kata-kata, gambar, suara, aroma, rasa, tingkah laku, dan objek, tetapi tanda tidak akan menjadi tanda sebelum manusia maknai.
Judul skripsi ini adalah “Representasi Perlawanan Sipil dalam Lirik Lagu Tantang Tirani: Analisis Semiotika Charles Sanders Peirce”. Tujuannya untuk mengetahui bagaimana perlawanan sipil dimaknai dan mengetahui representasi perlawanan sipil dalam lirik lagu Tantang Tirani dari grup rap Homicide. Sifat penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah sifat penelitian deskriptif dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Metode penelitian yang dipakai adalah metode semiotika Charles Sanders Peirce dan teknik pengumpulan datanya adalah data kualitatif berbentuk teks berisi simbol-simbol dari lirik lagu Tantang Tirani.
Simpulan yang didapat setelah melakukan penelitian adalah lirik lagu Tantang Tirani memaknai perlawanan sipil sebagai aksi resistensi yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat, aksi tersebut muncul karena ada penindasan yang dilakukan oleh tiran. Merujuk pada konsep, aksi resistensi merupakan aksi perlawanan sipil yang tidak menggunakan unsur-unsur kekerasan. Representasi perlawanan sipil juga muncul dalam lirik lagu Tantang Tirani ini.

1 I am grateful to participants in the workshops in Oslo and in Uppsala for their comments on this paper, and am especially indebted to my colleague, Mirko Canevaro, for his detailed and salutary observations, and to Edward Harris for casting a critical eye over a penultimate draft. I had the honour of presenting an earlier version of the argument as the second D. M. MacDowell Memorial Lecture, University of Glasgow, 2011. 2 MacDowell (1963 argues that this is a case of bouleusis (planning, plotting) of intentional homicide (phonos hekousios/ek pronoias), while Gagarin (1990: 94-5) regards it as a straightforward case of intentional homicide. The issue appears to be settled in the latter's favour by the careful discussion of Harris 391-404, esp. 398-9 on this speech. 3 The Areopagus, a court consisting of former archons, heard all cases of phonos hekousios. [Aristotle] Ath. Pol. 57. 3 indicates that another court heard cases of involuntary homicide (phonos akousios), adding 'and also cases of bouleusis '. MacDowell (1963: 64-9) takes this to mean that bouleusis might be of both intentional and involunary homicide and that all cases of bouleusis were heard at the Palladion; the traditional view (e.g. of Lipsius and Wilamowitz, cited by MacDowell loc. cit.) had been that Ath. Pol. is referring only to bouleusis phonou akousiou (planning of involuntary homicide, i.e. the planning of acts that led unintentionally to the victim's death); but more recently it has been argued that, though bouleusis could refer to the planning of actions that did result in death (which would be dealt with by the appropriate court, depending on whether the killing was alleged to be intentional or otherwise), its primary reference in practice was to actions that did not (thus covering attempted homicide); such cases would be dealt with by the Palladion. See Harris 400-2. 4 Again, MacDowell stipulates bouleusis phonou akousiou (1963: 63-4); but see Gagarin (1990) 95; Harris (2006) 399-40.

The amount of empirical research on men who commit sexual murders is scarce, and no distinction has been made between those who have victimized adults and those who have victimized children. Therefore, to better understand specifically sexual murderers of children (n = 11), comparisons were performed with a group of sexual murderers of adult women (n = 66) on developmental,

To see how contemporaries understood the body's place in differences between men's and women's homicidal violence, this paper disaggregates the data from a sizeable sample of English homicide records produced between c. 1500-1680 to see who men and women were accused of killing, and how, and places that information within the context of early modern medical and legal works. Women killed far fewer people than did men, which accords with studies of homicide in other times and places; but if we include in our counts (as contemporaries would have done) both infanticide and killings by means of witchcraft, we see that women were disproportionately represented amongst those deemed to have committed murder rather than the less serious crime of manslaughter. Early modern responses to homicide, and thus the long-lived laws that grew from them and the bodies of evidence upon which we rely, had embedded within them humoural understandings of male and female difference that were premised on variations in vital heat. More so than their 'hot-blooded' counterparts, women were associated with cold-blooded killings.

O objeto desta tese é o homicídio doloso, inserido no tema de pesquisa sobre administração e funcionamento do sistema de justiça criminal no Brasil. Em termos teóricos, o estudo é desenvolvido segundo a perspectiva da construção social e institucional da realidade, principalmente a etnometodologia. O objetivo do trabalho é identificar possíveis elementos que determinem a condenação de indivíduos acusados de matar alguém intencionalmente. Em termos metodológicos, foi realizada etnografia em uma unidade de polícia especializada na investigação de homicídios, especialmente junto a uma equipe de perícia. Empreendeu-se análise estatística sobre o rito do tribunal do júri com base em informações extraídas de 154 processos judiciais, os quais foram também analisados qualitativamente. Como principais resultados, destaca-se a importância da denúncia nos momentos de decisão nas duas fases do rito do tribunal do júri.

The principle of 'fair labelling' has become common currency in debates about the scope of murder and involuntary manslaughter (the offences which form the focus of this chapter). For that reason, it provides the filter through which this paper assesses those crimes. Section two begins by assessing the labelling implications of the current murder/involuntary manslaughter framework, before considering how satisfactorily these are addressed by the Law Commission’s homicide ladder. That process reveals a range of labelling priorities across these offences. Subsequently, section three undertakes a comparative study of murder and involuntary manslaughter provisions in South Africa, the United States, Australia and Canada. This exercise contextualises the domestic fair labelling priorities already considered and points to possible improvements in labelling strategy. Finally, in light of the domestic and comparative findings, section four considers alternative options in the quest for fair labelling of murder and involuntary manslaughter in English law.

Positions on the ethics of human enhancement technologies can be (crudely) characterized as ranging from transhumanism to bioconservatism. Transhumanists believe that human enhancement technologies should be made widely available, that individuals should have broad discretion over which of these technologies to apply to themselves, and that parents should normally have the right to choose enhancements for their children-to-be. Bioconservatives (whose ranks include such diverse writers as Leon Kass, Francis Fukuyama, George Annas, Wesley Smith, Jeremy Rifkin, and Bill McKibben) are generally opposed to the use of technology to modify human nature. A central idea in bioconservativism is that human enhancement technologies will undermine our human dignity. To forestall a slide down the slippery slope towards an ultimately debased ‘posthuman’ state, bioconservatives often argue for broad bans on otherwise promising human enhancements.This paper distinguishes two common fears about the posthuman and argues for the importance of a concept of dignity that is inclusive enough to also apply to many possible posthuman beings. Recognizing the possibility of posthuman dignity undercuts an important objection against human enhancement and removes a distortive double standard from our field of moral vision.

Purpose: To construct an empirically rigorous typology of multiple homicide offenders (MHOs). Method: The current study conducted latent class analysis of the official records of 160 MHOs sampled from eight states to evaluate their criminal careers. Results: A 3-class solution best fit the data (À2LL = À1123.61, Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) = 2648.15, df = 81, L 2 = 1179.77). Class 1 (n = 64, class assignment probability = .999) was the low-offending group marked by little criminal record and delayed arrest onset. Class 2 (n = 51, class assignment probability = .957) was the severe group that represents the most violent and habitual criminals. Class 3 (n = 45, class assignment probability = .959) was the moderate group whose offending careers were similar to Class 2. Conclusion: A sustained criminal career with involvement in versatile forms of crime was observed for two of three classes of MHOs. Linkages to extant typologies and recommendations for additional research that incorporates clinical constructs are proffered. ß

To describe the characteristics and consequences of sexual assault within intimate relationships specific to racial or ethnic group, compare the findings to a similar group of physically assaulted-only women, and measure the risk of reassault after victim contact with justice and health services METHODS: A personal interview survey of 148 African-American, Hispanic, and white English-and Spanishspeaking abused women seeking a protection order. Extent of sexual assault, prevalence of rape-related sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, and risk of reassault after treatment were measured RESULTS: Sixty-eight percent of the physically abused women reported sexual assault. Fifteen percent of the women attributed 1 or more sexually-transmitted diseases to sexual assault, and 20% of the women experienced a rape-related pregnancy. Sexually assaulted women reported significantly (P ‫؍‬ .02) more PTSD symptoms compared with nonsexually assaulted women. One significant (P ‫؍‬ .003) difference occurred between ethnic groups and PTSD scores. Regardless of sexual assault or no assault, Hispanic women reported significantly higher mean PTSD scores compared with African-American women (P ‫؍‬ .005) and White women (P ‫؍‬ .012). The risk of sexual reassault was decreased by 59% and 70% for women who contacted the police, or applied for a protection order, after the first sexual assault. Receiving medical care decreased the woman's risk of further sexual assault by 32% CONCLUSION: Sexual assault is experienced by most physically abused women and associated with significantly higher levels of PTSD compared with women physically abused only. The risk of reassault is decreased if contact is made with health or justice agencies. (Obstet Gynecol 2005;105:99 -108.

This study investigates the convergent and predictive validity of behavioral crime scene indicators of sexual sadism in the context of rape and sexual homicide. The study is based on a sample of 268 adult males sentenced to a federal penitentiary in Canada. Information regarding crime scene behaviors was gathered from police records, a clinical interview with a psychologist, and a semistructured interview with the offender. A series of logistic regressions were performed to determine whether behavioral crime scene indicators of sexual sadism were associated with an official diagnosis of sexual sadism and were able to distinguish between sexual aggressors against women and sexual murderers. Findings suggest that several crime scene behaviors overlap with an official diagnosis of sexual sadism as well as being able to distinguish between sexual aggressors of women and sexual murderers. Importantly, the majority of crime scene behaviors associated with a clinical diagnosis of sexual sa...

Although the murders committed by serial killers may not be considered rational, there is growing evidence that the locations in which they commit their crimes may be guided by an implicit, if limited rationality.The hypothesized logic of disposal site choice of serial killers led to predictions that (a) their criminal domains would be around their home base and relate to familiar travel distances, (b) they would have a size that was characteristic of each offender, (c) the distribution would be biased towards other non-criminal activities, and (d) the size of the domains would increase over time.Examination of the geographical distribution of the sites at which 126 US and 29 UK serial killers disposed of their victims' bodies supported all four hypotheses. It was found that rational choice and routine activity models of criminal behavior could explain the spatial choices of serial murderers. It was concluded that the locations at which serial killers dispose of their victims' bodies reflect the inherent logic of the choices that underlie their predatory activities. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Occurring in a broad range of non-western and western countries, violence committed against women in the name of family honor has been viewed in several ways, including as
a crime, as gendered violence, or as a violation of human rights. But from a purely explanatory point of view, family honor violence is most profitably viewed as a type of
social control, specifically penal social control. As punishment, honor violence appears to obey the same principles as other forms of punishment. Drawing on the theoretical strategy of pure sociology, the present article highlights two such principles: punishment
increases with the social distance and social inferiority of the offender. These twin principles help to explain a broad range of facts about when and where family honor violence will occur, and how severe – in particular, how lethal – it will be.

An 18-item stalking inventory and personal interviews with knowledgeable proxy informants and victims of attempted femicide were used to describe the frequency and type of intimate partner stalking that occurred within 12 months of attempted and actual partner femicide. One hundred forty-one femicide and 65 attempted femicide incidents were evaluated. The prevalence of stalking was 76% for femicide victims and 85% for attempted femicide victims. Incidence of intimate partner assault was 67% for femicide victims and 71% for attempted femicide victims. A statistically significant association existed between intimate partner physical assault and stalking for femicide victims as well as attempted femicide victims. Stalking is revealed to be a correlate of lethal and near lethal violence against women and, coupled with physical assault, is significantly associated with murder and attempted murder. Stalking must be considered a risk factor for both femicide and attempted femicide, and abused women should be so advised.

Background and objective: This review article aims to discuss and evaluate the risk factors for the development of violence and homicidal behaviour and the effectiveness and outcomes of the preferred atypical antipsychotics in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Method: For this purpose, the psychiatry literature was comprehensively reviewed. A screening of the articles in the international databases covering the period between 1970 and 2010 was performed.
Results: Although the risk of homicidal behaviours is higher in patients with schizophrenia compared to the overall population, little is known about the relevant conditions triggering acts of violence among the patients with schizophrenia. The available results suggest that certain factors including some sociodemographic characteristics, young age, alcoholism, substance abuse, noncompliance with treatment, fulfillment of the criteria for antisocial personality disorder and paranoid subtype, history of suicidal ideation and attempts and history of frequent hospitalization increase the potential for violent episodes.
Available data show clozapine to be the most rational therapeutic choice in preventing violent behaviour in patients with schizophrenia. There is evidence from randomized controlled trials in support of the specific anti-aggressive effect of clozapine.
Conclusion: In clinical practice, patients with a risk of committing homicide should be detected and monitored closely. There are many trials showing the efficacy of clozapine on violent and aggressive behaviour.

In Coercion and Responsibility in Islam, Mairaj Syed explores how classical Muslim theologians and jurists from four intellectual traditions argue about the thorny issues that coercion raises about responsibility for one's action. This is done by assessing four ethical problems: whether the absence of coercion or compulsion is a condition for moral agency; how the law ought to define what is coercive; coercion's effect on the legal validity of speech acts; and its effects on moral and legal responsibility in the cases of rape and murder.

Through a comparative and historical examination of these ethical problems, the book demonstrates the usefulness of a new model for analyzing ethical thought produced by intellectuals working within traditions in a competitive pluralistic environment. The book compares classical Muslim thought on coercion with that of modern Western thinkers on these issues and finds significant parallels between them. The finding suggests that a fruitful starting point for comparative ethical inquiry, especially inquiry aimed at the discovery of common ground for ethical action, may be found in an examination of how ethicists from different traditions considered concrete problems.

This publication attempts to create a better understanding of the nature, origins, and evolution of organized crime in Central America by examining the dynamics of organized crime in the three countries of the so-called Northern Triangle—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—as well as the broader regional context that links these case studies. The authors investigate the challenge organized crime poses to the state, its institutions, and governability in general.  This publication is part of a series on the sub-regional dynamics  of organized crime, focusing especially on the linkages between Central America, Mexico, and the Andean region as well as the growing insertion of Latin America in global transnational crime networks.

Over the past year, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program has undertaken an extensive review of the principal United States security assistance program for the region—the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). This review has focused on the major security challenges in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and how CARSI seeks to address these. This publication includes country reports on each country including a review of the current in-country security context, as well as assessing CARSI’s effectiveness for addressing these challenges. The report also includes a chapter providing an in-depth analysis of the geographic distribution of homicides and an examination of how such an analysis can help policy makers design more effective targeted strategies to lower violence. A final chapter outlining policy options for the future completes the report.

1 Este trabajo se enmarca en el proyecto de investigación titulado De la Lucha de Bandos a la hidalguía universal: transformaciones sociales, políticas e ideológicas en el País Vasco (siglos XIV y XV), financiado por el MINECO (código HAR2017-83980-P). Así como en el grupo de investigación consolidado del Gobierno Vasco: Sociedad, poder y cultura (siglos XIV-XVIII), código IT-896-16. 2 ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3407-6233. 3 Por ejemplo, en la primera carta a los corintios señalaba que los lujuriosos, adúlteros, afeminados y homosexuales no tendrían cabida en el reino de Dios (1 Cor. 6, 9). 4 Entre los siglos III al V la doctrina cristiana sobre la sexualidad fue elaborada, entre otros, por Orígenes, Tertuliano, Juan Casiano, San Jerónimo, San Juan Crisóstomo o San Agustín. En ellos tendrían peso las tesis sobre la sexualidad defendidas por estoicos, gnósticos, montanistas o por cultos paganos como el consagrado a Vesta, en el que se consideraba que la virginidad era fuente de poder espiritual. 5 Las cuestiones que se desarrollan a continuación pueden ser consultadas en E. FUCHS, Sexual desire and love: origins and History of the Christian ethic of sexuality and marriage, Cambridge-New York, 1983; J. L. FLANDRIN,

This essay studies the phrase “starting unjust blows,” which has been restored in lines 33–35 of Draco’s homicide law (IG I3 104). A careful examination of the phrase shows that it does not come from a statute
about homicide, but about a law concerning assault (aikeia). A close re-examination of the stone has also shown that the traditional restoration is at best dubious. The phrase should therefore not be restored in lines 33–35 of Draco’s law. A new edition of the inscription is urgently needed.

1 Throughout this paper, due to the range of sources which have been used, the terms "antisocial personality disorder", "psychopathy" and "psychopathy disorder" will be used interchangeably. It should be noted however that "antisocial personality disorder" is in fact the currently accepted term for this condition. Some people with this disorder will also be described as having a dangerous and severe personality disorder. This is not a diagnostic category. It is a term used created by the Government to describe a category of dangerous offenders who present a very high risk. of serious violent or sexual offending.

In the Unites States, middle-class Caucasian heterosexual males in their teenage years and in middle age commit mass murder, the killing of at least three victims during a single episode at one or more closely related locations, in numbers disproportionately high relative to their share of the population. Utilizing an intersectional theoretical approach, this article investigates the convergences of (1) white entitlement, (2) middle-class instability and downward mobility in the postindustrial economy, and (3) heterosexual masculinity and its relationship to violence. Such analysis concludes that, among many mass killers, the triple privileges of white heterosexual masculinity which make subsequent life course losses more unexpected and thus more painfully shameful ultimately buckle under the failures of downward mobility and result in a final cumulative act of violence to stave off subordinated masculinity.

Objective: To construct a model on the consequences of political violence for refugee families based upon a qualitative investigation. Methods: This study used a groundedtheory approach to analyze qualitative evidence from the CAFES multi-family support and education groups with Bosnian refugee families in Chicago. Textual coding and analysis was conducted using ATLAS/ti for Windows. Results: A grounded-theory model of Family Consequences of Refugee Trauma (FAMCORT) was constructed that describes Displaced Families of War across four realms of family life: (1) changes in family roles and obligations, (2) changes in family memories and communications, (3) changes in family relationships with other family members; and (4) changes in family connections with the ethnic community and nation state. In each realm, the model also specifies family strategies, called Families Rebuilding Lives, for managing those consequences. Conclusions: Political violence leads to changes in multiple dimensions of family life and also to strategies for managing those changes. Qualitative family research is useful in better understanding refugee families and in helping them through family-oriented mental health services.

The perfect murder is a recurring theme in many works of art, high and popular.  Scientific inquiry has generally overlooked the issue, though a considerable body of cross-disciplinary evidence documents wide variation in the handling of homicide in human societies. At one extreme lie those intentional homicides that result in no legal sanctions and popular praise for the killer, homicides that may be fairly termed perfect murders. But when will killers get away with murder?  The present paper draws upon pure sociology to specify the conditions under which the combination of maximal legal and popular leniency for homicide occurs.  Data on the killing of civilians by police in the United States and Brazil illustrates the continuum of murder perfection, with those in Brazil providing an especially close fit with the theoretical model.

This article examines the impact of the Children Act 1908 on longstanding concerns that foster or informally 'adoptive' parents were uniquely likely to murder the children in their care. Making particular reference to the last two high-profile cases of 'baby-farmers' tried for homicide on the Welsh and English Assize circuits (in 1907 and 1919, respectively) it argues that the infant life protection provisions in the 1908 Act had a dramatic and immediate impact on such prosecutions, removing the automatic presumption of malice in cases where fostered or adopted children died in suspicious circumstances.