Murder: the importance of the structural and cultural conditions of society.
This paper argues that a crucial feature in studying murder is to recognize that the structural and cultural conditions of a society may provide the context in which psychopathologies are created and emerge to such devastating effect. The paper focuses on some recent contributions in the development of a widening academic interest in the phenomenon of serial killing, in particular, and then considers murder in general. Issues of time and place are paramount and lead to two types of question: Firstly, is serial killing quintessentially a modern phenomenon? Secondly, why does it occur in some countries and not others? The discussion then considers why there is traditionally a low murder rate in England and Wales. The recent works of Bernard Capp, Maria Tatar and Elliott Leyton provide the framework for trying to answer these questions.
Soothill
K
K
Department of Applied Social Science, Lancaster University, Lancs, UK.