Dead Lines: Essays in Murder and Mayhem

Collection of popular press op-ed articles on homicide from world-renowned experts on the subject. This book provides strong evidence that the opinions of criminologists, based on research and theory, can effectively make their way into the popular press in order to influence public opinion as well as the thinking of policymakers. Almost all of the 56 essays reprinted in this volume were originally published by the authors as opinion columns in major newspapers around the country. These op-eds, as they are called, focus on various types of murder - how to account for changes in the rate of homicide, why individuals commit various types of murder, and how our criminal justice system ought to respond in order to combat extreme acts of violence.