Homicide Narrative
More than 20,000 people die by the hands of another in the US each year. About 60% of homicides occur in families. Males account for about 90% of all homicides. Explaining these large numbers requires many sources of information and many approaches.
Homicides may look alike because of weapons used. Homicides may have the same motives shared by perpetrators, but no two homicides occur exactly alike for the exact same motives. Although, some are more alike than others. Relationships between the victim and the perpetrator may show commonalities in family homicides, business relationships, and street homicides.
Two common approaches for understanding homicide include what I call the "external view" and the "internal view." I use the same classification for explaining suicide. The external view seeks to explain homicide by exploring the perpetrator's immediate environment, biography, and more. The internal view seeks to explain homicide by psychotically models for violent behavior. Freudian and Behaviorist models as well as others exist among these pages.
Crossing over between these two approaches occurs when homicides perpetuators act out their emotions or plans. Homicides are classified by type and style. A single homicide is one victim, one homicidal event; double homicide is two victims, one event, and in one location; and a triple homicide has three victims in one location during one event. Anything beyond three victims is classified a mass murder; that is, four or more victims in one location, and within one event. There are two types of mass murder: classic and family. A classic mass murder involves one person operating in one location at one period of time. That period of time could be minutes. A homicide cleanup of these magnitudes takes a long time.
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Women and Children
Worldwide, in war and peace, both women and children remain the primary victims of homicides. Domestic violence usually occurs because of the male's aggression against the female. At times this aggression leads to homicide either for the woman as victim or the male as victim. Most usually males commit homicides in the home. On this page we seek to explain some of this social problem. In the most general terms, the situation of women remains precarious, at best.
When females become victims of homicide, murder, in a domestic violence setting, it occurs because the male loses control and often acts under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both, frequently. Sometimes it's an ego problem.
When the female perpetrates the homicide, murder, against the male it occurs often enough because of the female acts in self-defense.
Before 1974 violence against wives in domestic settings were labeled "misdemeanors" in most states. Because the police do not make arrests for misdemeanors, women were left at home with an assultive husband. A survey conducted in 1975 showed that about 28% of married couples reported a violent assault between spouses during their relationship.
In 1974 the first battered women's shelter opened. By 1980 the first Family Violence Survey, which proceeded many reforms, reflected the high rate of violence in families.
On the legal scene, police officers responded to family violence as emergencies and made arrests. Judges began to recognize spousal abuse as a defense for against murder charges.
Judges may have noted that when women strike out with lethal force, usually they do so against a family member in self-defense. Males tend to strike out with lethal force against strangers or acquaintances. Males account for 90% of homicides as a result. We can bet that a female family member does the family homicide cleanup.
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Family Homicides
So we see that homicides between family members account a large number of violent deaths. In fact, a person has a greater risk of death by homicide in the family than anywhere else, but for the military and police ranks. In Canada, 6 out of 10 victims of family homicide are children.
Mass murder represents a growing threat. With the growth of the automatic weapons business lives lost to murder occur in higher numbers. We have witnessed mass murder in the USA far too many times in last twenty years. Terrorism by US citizens against US citizens shocked all of us. Then terrorism by foreigners committed against US citizens brought us to a new threat.
Before we knew to expect about 20,000 homicides in the US. Now the the recent mass murder of police officers gives rise to concerns for our own safety. has suffered mass murder of the worst sort. Until recently, most families did their own homicide cleanup tasks. Now homicide cleanup has become a growing business for corrupt county and city employees.
Culture has an influence on homicide without question. In some cultures homicide occurs at a greater rate then in another culture.
When we write of "culture" we think about symbols, language, music, art, dance, religion and more. Only recently has the Internet become a big influence on culture. Until most recently, television empowers marketers more than any other medium. Edward R. Marrow's penetrating journalism brought millions of Americans news from around the world, first on radio and then television. As a result cigarette manufacturers gained a vast market.
Lucille Ball's comedy antics would soon replace Marrow's real-world journalism and TV would never serve the public need as before her arrival.
As such Television also serves as an inexpensive baby-sitter for young mothers. As a consequence many of us grow up with marketing agents' messages as part of our ideology, our systems of belief.
The role of television in American homicide shows the power of ideas and images.
As a result of the sensationalist story tellers and the gun's role in the "West." millions of young Americans grew up with an image of the American West. This image unveiled the handgun as part of the American psyche. Homicide took a mere trigger-pull as a result.
Columbus brought gun powder to the Americas. Little could he have known how far and deep the consequences of this technology would penetrate human existence.
With the advances in gun-smiting and fire-power, the native population soon lost control over their land. The rifle and the handgun served as tools of conquest unlike any weapons known.
As centuries passed popular culture became a popular market for penny-per-word story tellers. Soon a mystique grew around the "six-gun" because of its power to save or destroy life. Wyatt Europe, Billy the Kid, and all of the other western archetypes associated with the six-gun became the stuff of stories for young and old to enjoy.
This all became possible about 10 years before the Civil War broke out. At that time hand guns became a more viable weapon for homicide. Before, rifles and handguns were poor tools for committing homicide. Most homicide cleanup work followed murder by clubs, axes, and knives.
It's a matter of technological improvements. With advancing industrialism came improved weapons. The smooth bore rifle gave way to rifle barrels with groves. This simple improvement caused firearms to project lead with greater accuracy. By placing a spin on bullets the bullets remained true to their target. Simply revolving as they punched through wind and rain helped lead remain on target.
Today's gun manufacturers supply a hungry market for semi-automatic weapons, handguns and rifles. As a result more firearms have become more lethal. From the single-shot accuracy of a cylinder revolver to the 20 shot semi-automatic hand gun, gun buyers have a wide choice of weapons.
Imagine one of these high-powered, semi-automatic weapons in use at Valley Forge as the American Revolution broke out. On the side of the revolutionaries (rebels if you prefer), a stunning victory might have followed within the first hour. One soldier on horseback carrying such a weapon behind enemy lines would have created a route and murderous scene beyond belief.
Today's orientation shows that modern guns can be fired accurately over considerable distances. Even so, even police officers have trouble hitting their targets in gun battles.
To increase these odds, manufacturers now produce thousands of semi-automatic pistols. Citizens may carry these weapons wherever they work or drive. Seven to twenty rounds of ammunition fit into their magazines. Each round inserts into the weapon automatically as it reaches its loading chamber. By the 1990s, hospitals received a new type of gunshot victim on a routine basis. Victims were now arriving with multiple gunshot wounds on gurneys. Now victims bled from multiple wounds from high-caliber bullets that carry greater killing power. Now bullets were designed with a hollow point, giving each bullet an explosive power once it entered its human target. Homicides became a more easily attained goal for murdering thugs.
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Maryland's homicide cleanup pages also lead to Maryand crime scene cleanup web pages. Available at all hours, a professional homicide cleanup technician answers important questions.
Corporate pig of the year: Cascade Corporate Managment.
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The Homicide of Kelly J.
Homicides have more similarities than differences. Although, differences of acts leading to homicides may vary widely, it all comes down to the taking of another human life. The murder of Kelly J. lead to a first-degree murder conviction. The loss of Kelly J. lead to her family's deep sorrow. It's the loss of Kelly J. that we note here as a victim, rather than the homicide itself.
The judge said someting like the following in his jury instructions::
A homicide takes place when one person acts either intentionally or unintentionally in the death of another human being. An act or omission, this is, in the cause of anothers death. Criminal homicide occurs when one intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with extreme negligence to a human life resulting in their death.
In this case the killer remains alive in a death row cell.
Members of Kelly's family suffer from post traumatic survivor syndrone. Her youngest child of three cries at random times for his mother. He is 6 years-old and cannot attend public school because of hs psychological problems. He witnessed his mothers death as the shooter blew her head off with a 357 magnum handgun. Her offense? Refusal to submit to rape.
Kelly J.
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