Human psychological and physical well-being is damaged and destroyed when people are deliberately killed by other people. There are millions of primary and secondary victims of murder throughout the world, and human society as a whole is a tertiary victim of murder. Despite this, people are often fascinated and engrossed by stories of homicide and killers. This book provides a fascinating exploration of murder, providing an insight into what leads people to kill and what effect this has on society as a whole. This book is organized into five chapters that each answer a specific question on murder: What is Murder? Who Commits Murder? Why Commit Murder? Why is Murder Devastating? Why is Murder Fascinating?

An award-winning journalist and producer of This American Life traces the stories of five convicted murderers to assess their struggles for redemption, efforts toward parole and first steps in transitioning back to civilian life. 25,000 first printing.

A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture “Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal “Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

A controversial psychological examination of how soldiers’ willingness to kill has been encouraged and exploited to the detriment of contemporary civilian society. Psychologist and US Army Ranger Dave Grossman writes that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to pull the trigger in battle. Unfortunately, modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. The mental cost for members of the military, as witnessed by the increase in post-traumatic stress, is devastating. The sociological cost for the rest of us is even worse: Contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army’s conditioning techniques and, Grossman argues, is responsible for the rising rate of murder and violence, especially among the young. Drawing from interviews, personal accounts, and academic studies, On Killing is an important look at the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects the soldier, and of the societal implications of escalating violence.

In recent years, there has been a surge in school shootings, workplace homicides, hate violence, and deadly terrorist attacks in the United States. This has resulted in a greater focus on homicidal behavior, its antecedents, ways to recognize warning signs of at-risk victims and offenders, and preventive measures. It has also led to increased efforts by lawmakers to create and pass tough crime legislation as well as improved federal, state, and local law enforcement response to murder and other violent crimes. The Dynamics of Murder: Kill or Be Killed is a multifaceted probe of murder offenses, offenders, victims, and characteristics of homicide in American society. This book breaks new ground in homicide studies by examining issues generally ignored or neglected among researchers. Topics include murders occurring in the workplace and in schools, those perpetrated by gangs and terrorists, those incited by bias, and intimate and intrafamilial murders. The book discusses sexual killers, serial and mass murderers, and suicide. It also examines psychological and sociological theories on murder and violence, as well as the increasing role the Internet plays in these crimes. Case studies of actual murderers are included, including serial killers Gerald and Charlene Gallego, mass murderer Byran Koji Uyesugi, the murder/suicide case of Sahel Kazemi, and the intrafamilial murders committed by Charles Stuart and Sarah Marie Johnson. A comprehensive exploration of the crime of murder in American society, this fascinating study is an essential resource for researchers, criminologists, and other professionals in a wide range of disciplines.

In American Homicide, Randolph Roth charts changes in the character and incidence of homicide in the U.S. from colonial times to the present. Roth argues that the United States is distinctive in its level of violence among unrelated adults—friends, acquaintances, and strangers. America was extraordinarily homicidal in the mid-seventeenth century, but it became relatively non-homicidal by the mid-eighteenth century, even in the slave South; and by the early nineteenth century, rates in the North and the mountain South were extremely low. But the homicide rate rose substantially among unrelated adults in the slave South after the American Revolution; and it skyrocketed across the United States from the late 1840s through the mid-1870s, while rates in most other Western nations held steady or fell. That surge—and all subsequent increases in the homicide rate—correlated closely with four distinct phenomena: political instability; a loss of government legitimacy; a loss of fellow-feeling among members of society caused by racial, religious, or political antagonism; and a loss of faith in the social hierarchy. Those four factors, Roth argues, best explain why homicide rates have gone up and down in the United States and in other Western nations over the past four centuries, and why the United States is today the most homicidal affluent nation.

This book offers a unique framework for examining the various types of family murder -- delving into the commonalities, the differences, and society's misconceptions and providing readers with a comprehensive guide to begin to understand these tragedies.