Social scientist, victim advocate, and the mother of a murder victim - Deborah Spungen is well acquainted with all facets of what she defines as "the blackest hell accompanied by a pain so intense that even breathing becomes an unendurable labor." In Homicide: The Hidden Victims, Spungen illustrates just how and why family members become co-victims when a loved one is murdered, and she poignantly addresses the emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological effects of such traumatic events. The timely information and innovative modalities discussed in this book make it ideal for mental health and criminal justice professionals, pastoral counselors, social workers, and victim advocates.

Social scientist, victim advocate, and the mother of a murder victim - Deborah Spungen is well acquainted with all facets of what she defines as "the blackest hell accompanied by a pain so intense that even breathing becomes an unendurable labor." In Homicide: The Hidden Victims, Spungen illustrates just how and why family members become co-victims when a loved one is murdered, and she poignantly addresses the emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological effects of such traumatic events. The timely information and innovative modalities discussed in this book make it ideal for mental health and criminal justice professionals, pastoral counselors, social workers, and victim advocates.

Annotation In the US, murderers, particularly those sentenced to death, are usually considered as entirely different from the rest of us. Sociologist Susan F. Sharp challenges perspective by reminding us that those facing a death sentence, in addition to being murderers, are brothers or sisters, mothers or fathers, daughters or sons.

“Honest and moving . . . Her painful tale is engrossing.”—Washington Post Book World For most of us, it was just another horrible headline. But for Deborah Spungen, the mother of Nancy, who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel, it was both a relief and a tragedy. Here is the incredible story of an infant who never stopped screaming, a toddler who attacked people, a teenager addicted to drugs, violence, and easy sex, a daughter completely out of control—who almost destroyed her parents’ marriage and the happiness of the rest of her family.

The American homicide rate remains dramatically higher than that in other Western nations. News of a murder has become a routine event. How do we explain such high levels of lethal violence in the world's leading democracy? Echoing Durkheim's Suicide, this book focuses on one important phenomenon to explain larger currents in American society. Leonard Beeghley examines the historical and cross-national dimensions of homicides and evaluates previous attempts to explain it. He finds the sources of America's murder rate in the greater availability of guns, the expansion of illegal drug markets, greater racial discrimination, more exposure to violence, and sharper economic inequalities. He deftly blends the evidence related to each of these factors into a well-reasoned sociological analysis of the nature of American society. Features Highlights how sociology can be used to explain problems and seek solutions Distinguishes between structural and social psychological levels of analysis Provides a constrasting perspective to Messner & Rosenfeld's widely assigned Crime and the American Dream Uses metaphors and analogies in order to make sociological ideas meaningful to students Employs an engaging writing style to place the analysis in the scholarly literature Offers clear explanations of Durkheim, Weber, Merton, and others, that show their usefulness for understanding modern life

An introduction summarizes the social theories of homicide and the methodological issues in the study of homicide. This accessible volume then focuses on specific types of homicides including: mass and serial murders, homicides by youth, gang homicides, domestic homicides, homicides by female offenders, and alcohol/drug related homicides.