Secrets, Lies, and Consequences: A Great Scholar’s Hidden Past and His Protégé’s Unsolved Murder, by B. Lincoln

This article explores how I use LA Noire , an open-world detective video game, to teach students about homicide investigations. Specifically, I use the video game to dive into the unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, who was posthumously nicknamed the “Black Dahlia” in newspapers, as a central case study. In LA Noire , the backdrop of Elizabeth Short’s murder highlights the complexities of detective work. It is complemented by other in-game cases inspired by real murders that police suspected were connected. These interactive missions provide an interactive way to discuss the difficulties of homicide investigations, the media’s sensationalism of violent crimes, and the collaborative nature of institutional responses. By moving beyond mere entertainment, video games like LA Noire can serve as powerful tools for enhancing student learning and engagement.

Joyce Carol Oates's My Sister, My Love is a fictional memoir inspired by the unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey. The novel, told from the perspective of the victim's brother, satirizes the exploitation of children in beauty pageants and the superficiality of suburban life. Through a counter-memory narrative, Oates sheds light on the hidden abuse endured by children, revealing the dark underbelly of a seemingly perfect family. The novel serves as a powerful critique of societal pressures and the devastating consequences for young victims.

Joyce Carol Oates's My Sister, My Love is a fictional memoir inspired by the unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey. The novel, told from the perspective of the victim's brother, satirizes the exploitation of children in beauty pageants and the superficiality of suburban life. Through a counter-memory narrative, Oates sheds light on the hidden abuse endured by children, revealing the dark underbelly of a seemingly perfect family. The novel serves as a powerful critique of societal pressures and the devastating consequences for young victims.

Homicide has an effect on the community, as family members are left to grapple with the loss. The Women Survivors of Homicide Movement (WSOHM) is a grassroots effort aimed at empowering women of color to advocate for themselves as a homicide survivor. A systematic analysis was conducted to examine how power and privilege impact the groups’ approach to change-making. Mixed research methods were employed including key informant interviews and document review. Findings indicate WSOHM employs multiple strategies to achieve its goals, which are focused on bringing attention to unsolved murders in Boston and ensuring survivors and victims are given respect.

Abstract Soil forensics is not only a well‐established research domain but has also been used in numerous successful international searches for burials and as trace evidence to help police and law enforcement in solving criminal, environmental and terrorism investigations. However, despite the confidentiality and legal constraints in case work in many parts of the world, some actual case studies using soil materials as evidence in court hearings have been published in international journals and books. This paper presents a case from the Campania region in Italy where soil analysis played a pivotal role. Employing a multiscale integrated approach encompassing soil microtomography, morphology, chemical analysis and geography, the study aimed to discern the origin of questioned soil residues found on a victim of crime. Results highlight the significance of considering spatial variability and an appropriate choice of analytical methods. The sequential and multiscale approach facilitated timely investigation without incurring unnecessary costs. Soil morphological and chemical analysis revealed inconsistencies between soil on the victim and soil at the suspected crime scenes, narrowing the investigative area down to approximately one square km. While detailed sampling did not yield statistically significant results, the evidence provided crucial insights, aiding investigators in working out what happened and helped in building a narrative around their case. The analysis indicated contact with a primary scene where the victim was likely dragged (over a Calcisol) and a final deposition site (over an Andosol) where the body was found. While potential murder sites were excluded, final guilt attribution remained inconclusive, and as in all trace evidence evaluation, it is not the role of the forensic soil scientist to consider the level of guilt, but to provide factual soil forensic evidence to assist the justice system. This study exemplifies the use of soil forensics in informing criminal investigations and highlights the complexities that can be involved in establishing comparability between soil samples.

PurposeThis study aims to use a novel data set of 636 murderers sentenced to death in California to investigate homicide offenses that are committed but not prosecuted or officially solved, a concept known as the dark figure of crime.Design/methodology/approachUaing appellate records from the Supreme Court of California, which contain extensive information about the offender’s background, criminal offense history and mental health diagnoses, it was revealed that one-third of the offenders in the sample have additional homicide offenses for which they likely bear responsibility, but were not prosecuted.FindingsMost of these involve one or two additional homicides, though a wide range was observed spanning 0 to 93 additional victims. Those with a dark figure of murder and unsolved homicides had substantially more prior arrests, convictions and prison incarcerations and were higher in psychopathy, sexual sadism, homicidal ideation and gang involvement than offenders without a dark figure. Psychopathy and homicidal ideation were the most robust predictors of both the presence and magnitude of a dark figure of murder and unsolved homicides, whereas sexual sadism was inconsistently associated.Originality/valueA disproportionate amount of the unsolved murders in the USA are likely perpetrated by the most pathological types of offenders, those with extensive antisocial careers and severe externalizing psychopathology.

Citizenship education is very important to instill legal awareness, principles of justice, and an understanding of human rights. This education provides a deep understanding of the constitution, judicial system, human rights, and various other laws. This not only increases public awareness of the importance of obeying the law, but also instills good ethics and morals in individuals through values such as honesty, justice and social responsibility. In addition, the values of Pancasila serve as the main foundation in shaping the character of citizens. good country. It is hoped that the next generation will become citizens who are aware of their rights and obligations as members of society and are able to defend the values of Pancasila. The state and society are responsible for fighting crime, including unsolved murder cases. It is very important for law enforcement agencies and the community to work together to ensure that the legal process is fair and transparent and provides appropriate protection to victims and their families. Through active community participation in providing information and support to law enforcement agencies, criminal cases can be uncovered and resolved appropriately, resulting in a safer and fairer environment for everyone.

ABSTRACT In 2021, three documentary series revitalised the unsolved murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996 in West Cork, Ireland, for a global audience of true crime enthusiasts. This article analyses the podcast West Cork (Audible 2018/iTunes 2021) and two streaming series, Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie (Sky Crime 2021) and Sophie: A Murder in West Cork (Netflix 2021) and argues that they conferred documentary celebrity on their central figures, Sophie Toscan du Plantier and Ian Bailey. The celebritisation of these individuals as victim and villain, was achieved through the development of a convergent narrative across the three series, one salted with the plot twists, end-of-episode cliff hangers, emotional confrontations and supernatural speculation familiar to viewers of true crime, reality television and serial drama. Moreover, the gendered discourse deployed by these documentaries posthumously transformed Sophie Toscan du Plantier into a world-famous victim while providing an opportunity for Ian Bailey, who remains the prime suspect, to self-brand as a Gothic villain. Bailey’s 2022 announcement that he would launch a podcast and television series and his self-promotional activity on TikTok confirm the cultural capital associated with documentary celebrity, even, or especially, for the infamous.

Introduction: This paper presents the first application of forensic entomology in a murder investigation in Nigeria involving the remains of a 54-years victim, on January 9th, 2019 in a shaded wooded area in advanced decomposition, with no clear indication of the time of death. Objectives: To estimate the minimum post-mortem interval of a 54-year-old corpse recovered in the advanced decomposition stage using the blowfly Chrysomya megacephala and the Advance-Degree-day (ADD) method. Results: An autopsy report revealed multiple wounds to the forehead including a bullet hole. Dead embalmed dead maggots recovered from the body were identified as C. megacephala, and an accumulated degree-day model was used to estimate the minimum post-mortem interval. The findings revealed that the recovered larvae were still within the third-instar stage and had accumulated thermal energy between 58 hours (= 1.6 days, equivalent to 38.7 ADD) and 102 hours (= 2.8 days, equivalent to 68.0 ADD), suggesting that the body may have been exposed to insect activity between January 1st and 9th January 2019 after expanding the range to cater for some uncertainties. Conclusion: In this Nigerian murder case, forensic entomology used the calliphorid species C. megacephala to estimate the minPMI to be between 2 and 9 days before the body was discovered, which translates to 1st - 9th January 2019 after consideration of some uncertainties and limitations. This confirmed the crucial role that insects play in providing valuable evidence to complement forensic pathological findings in homicides when conventional methods failed. Notwithstanding difficulties with employing insect evidence in forensic investigations in Nigeria, the application of this modern forensic technique has the potential to aid in the resolution of many unsolved murder cases and expedite the delivery of justice. The ability of law enforcement agencies in Nigeria to use the potential of insects in criminal investigations can be improved through collaborations and training with professionals from diverse professions.

The article presents the Trylogia Berlińska [The Berlin Trilogy] by Magdalena Parys, a Polish writer living in Berlin. The series consists of three thrillers (Tunel, 2011; Magik, 2014; Biała Rika, 2016 [Tunnel, Magician, White Rika]) which critics have described as „political thrillers”. In the multi-threaded plots, set both in the contemporary and historical realities (World War II and the immediate post-war period), Polish émigrés, rooted in the Berlin’s metropolitan area, without complexes and pursuing their professional goals play a special role. The Poles include representatives of the middle generation – Germans of Polish descent, policemen, photographers, journalists who investigate vicious and unsolved murder cases. The confrontation of characters of Polish descent with their German peers, whose parents and grandparents live with the trauma of expulsion or of being a victim of Stasi surveillance, makes the reader think about the memory and the problem of German-Polish relations in the 21st century.

The usage of forensic DNA techniques to trace biological kinship is a very important process in identifying unknown deceased victims in unsolved murder cases. In most contexts, DNA collection to investigate unknown persons’ cases is entrusted to authorities under the assumption that the case may be a murder, an unnatural death or other crime. Short tandem repeats (STRs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and mitochondrial DNA analyses are three classes of markers which will play an important role in the present and the future of forensic DNA typing. Furthermore, the combination of Y-STRs and Y-SNPs provides valuable investigative leads on the geographical ancestry of the male trace donor. The mitochondrial DNA is highly polymorphic and can also provide statistical inferences of a DNA donor’s bio-geographical ancestry. In the case of unresolved murder, identification of unknown victim provides a clue to a very important case resolution. Therefore, we need to discuss the use forensic DNA information to identify for unknown victims of unnatural death related to murder cases.

Buhârî’nin el-Câmi‘u’s-sahîh’i, hadis literatüründe hadis-bab başlığı ilişkisi bağlamında pek çok çalışmaya konu olmuş, bu çalışmaların her biri ile eserin ve musannifin daha iyi anlaşılması hedeflenmiştir. Buhârî’nin bab başlıklarının, bab başlığı ile hadis münasebetinin çok sayıda çalışmaya konu olması, onun hadislerden elde ettiği sonuçların özgünlüğüyle ilgilidir. Öte yandan Sahîh-i Buhârî’deki hadis-bab başlığı münasebeti her zaman açık ve net değildir, çoğu defa dikkatli bir tetkiki gerektirmektedir. Bu çalışma Sahîh-i Buhârî’yi “Menâkıbü’l-ensâr” bölümünün sonlarında yer alan ve Câhiliye dönemi ile ilgili 19 rivayet içeren “Eyyâmü’l-Câhiliye” babını bab-hadis ilişkisi bağlamında tetkik etmeyi hedeflemektedir. Bu bab başlığının eserin geneli içerisindeki yeri, muhtevası, hadislerin bab başlığıyla ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Böylelikle Buhârî’nin tasnif usulünü ve istidlallerini anlamaya yönelik çalışmalara bir katkı sunulmuştur. İlgili babın tetkiki ile hem musannifin babın içinde naklettiği hadislerden elde ettiği sonuçların tespiti hem de câhiliye kavramına verdiği mananın anlaşılması hedeflenmiştir. Sahîh-i Buhârî dışındaki hadis musannefatının ahkamla ilgili bazı bab başlıklarında Câhiliye dönemi âdetlerine değinilmişse de Sahîh-i Buhârî’de diğer eserlerden farklı olarak siyer babları arasında müstakil ve kapsamlı bir başlık hâlinde Câhiliye dönemi konu edilmiştir. Câhiliye dönemini çeşitli yönlerden tasvir etmek üzere bir hadis kitabında kapsamlı bir bölüm oluşturulması Buhârî’ye özgü bir faaliyettir. Buhârî’nin bu başlık altında naklettiği 19 rivayetin 5’i merfû, 13’ü mevkûf, 1’i maktûdur. Bu durum onun Câhiliye dönemini daha ziyade sahabe sözlerinden hareketle tasvir ettiğini gösterir. Bu çalışmada Buhârî’nin aktardığı hadislerin ortak içeriklerinden ve vurgularından yola çıkılmış, böylece onun câhiliye kavramına verdiği anlamın yanı sıra Câhiliye dönemini nasıl tasvir ettiği, câhiliyeden İslam’a geçiş sürecini nasıl okuduğu da araştırılmıştır. İlgili başlık altında yer alan rivayetlerin her birinin bab başlığıyla münasebeti Fethu’l-Bârî başta olmak üzere Sahîh-i Buhârî şerhleri üzerinden tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler, Buhârî’nin bu bab başlığı altında bir câhiliye tarihlendirmesi yapmayı hedeflediğini göstermektedir. Anlaşıldığı kadarıyla Buhârî’ye göre câhiliye “İslam öncesi yaşantı” anlamında bi‘setten sonra da yer yer devam etmiş bir süreçtir. Câhiliyenin İslam’ın öncesi olma durumu izafi bir değer taşımaktadır. Bi‘set sonrasında da henüz Müslüman olmamış kişiler veya İslam’ın hâkim olmadığı bölgeler Câhiliye döneminde kabul edilmişlerdir. Bununla birlikte el-Câmi‘u’s-sahîh’in bütününde câhiliye kavramı çok katmanlı bir anlam taşımaktadır. Keza Buhârî’nin câhiliye tasviri sadece olumsuz yönleri öne çıkaran bir nitelikte değildir. Musannif, İslam öncesi tarihî bir dönem anlamıyla ele aldığı câhiliyenin inanca, ibadetlere ve sosyal hayata dair bazı kabullerinin İslam döneminde devam ettiğine, bazı hususların kısmen, bazı hususların tamamen değiştiğine dair haberler derlemiştir. Câhiliye döneminde tevhid inancının, aşura orucunun ya da faili meçhul cinayetlerde kasâme tatbikinin varlığına dair nakledilen rivayetler İslam dönemiyle devam eden uygulamalardır. Bu uygulamalara dair rivayetler câhiliyeden İslam’a geçişteki tarihsel sürekliliğe delalet eder. Buna karşın yine ilgili bab başlığında aktarılan haberlere göre nesî tatbiki, atalar adına yemin gibi bazı câhiliye âdetleri İslam ile kökten reddedilmiştir. Bu durum Buhârî’nin câhiliye kavramına her yönden İslam’ın “öteki”si anlamını yüklemediğini düşündürmektedir. Ona göre câhiliye olumlu ve olumsuz özellikleriyle bir dönemin adıdır. Musannifin ilgili bölümde aktardığı haberler, Câhiliye döneminin bazı ibadetlerinin, sosyal ve hukuki hayata dair birtakım uygulamalarının İslam dönemine de intikal ettiğini, câhiliyeden İslam’a geçiş sürecinin sosyal akışkanlık içinde devrim niteliği taşımaksızın devam ettiğini göstermektedir. Bu yönden, Sahîh-i Buhârî’deki Câhiliye dönemi tasvirinin, sosyal değişim alanında yapılacak çalışmalar için de önemli veriler sunduğu belirtilebilir.

This paper focuses on how the paramilitary organisations of the Turkish state have transformed and been used over time as a ‘useful’ tool against dissidents, especially the Kurds. Paramilitary groups have been one of the main actors in the war between the Turkish state and the PKK, which has been ongoing for nearly forty years. These groups have sometimes been used as auxiliary forces and at other times made into death squads operating alongside the official armed forces, and they have mainly been used against Kurdish civilians who allegedly support the PKK, especially at the height of the war in unsolved murders, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings since the 1980. In this article, I argue that the Turkish state elites use this apparatus not only in domestic politics but also in conflicts in the Middle East and the Caucasus and that this paramilitary tradition of the state even extends to western Europe.

On the basis of generalization of materials of criminal cases and research papers, typological characteristics of the victims, determined by the typical place, time, environment and traces of murders committed in conditions of unobviousness, and typological characteristics of identity of the murderer are provided. It is emphasized that these elements have an important place in the structure of criminalistics characteristics of these crimes because the investigation always starts with their establishment. It is underlined that the elements that are studied in the article provide original information about the crime. On the basis of research and data obtained from the generalization of criminal cases of unsolved murders, probabilistic, statistical and correlation connections between the elements of the forensic characterization of unsolved murders of previous years have been established and standard versions have been proposed based on them, primarily on the identity of murderers. Such versions serve as a kind of guide for investigators in organizing the investigation of a specific act of intentional deprivation of human life, committed in conditions of obscurity. This makes it possible to significantly narrow the scope of the search for persons involved in the crime, and increase the probability of its disclosure. The issue of investigating unsolved crimes recently has been the subject of attention in the works of many scholars. But these studies covered general issues specific to the investigation of all types of unsolved crimes. At the same time, there have been no in-depth studies of the problematic issues of the investigation of unsolved murders in recent years. The analysis of investigative practice shows that there are a number of specific factors for criminal cases of unsolved murders, which are related to the peculiarities of the forensic characterization of these crimes, as well as to mistakes made during the initial investigative actions and investigative measures. In the article the author tries to determine the methodological features of establishing the place, time, situation and traces of murders committed in conditions of obscurity with the subsequent implementation of the results in the investigative practice of law enforcement agencies.

Book Review: Jerry Mitchell, <i>Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era</i>

An epidemic of murders in Oakland, California, has claimed hundreds of lives in the past decade, and the victims’ families often face discriminatory treatment by police, devastating financial burdens, and psychological trauma, with inadequate government support. “Living with Impunity: Unsolved Murders in Oakland and the Human Rights Impact on Victims’ Family Members” presents work by Berkeley Law International Human Rights Law Clinic Co-Director Roxanna Altholz and other researchers who found that surviving family members often were victimized a second time as law enforcement and other agencies treated them with indifference — and even hostility. The impact of this “impunity” falls most heavily on African Americans in low-income neighborhoods, the study found. Oakland has been one of the most violent cities in the country since the 1990s. Over the last decade, approximately 76% of the city’s homicide victims were black. During that time, Oakland police made arrests in just 40% of murder cases when the victim was black, compared to 80% when the victim was white. As a result of high rates of violence yet low arrest rates, the Oakland Police Department has over 2,000 cold homicide cases on its books. For families in Oakland, the report describes a troubling reality in the aftermath of murder: “lackluster police responsiveness and often disrespectful and discriminatory treatment, checkered availability of crime-victim services and restrictions on who can take advantage of them, and stigma and safety concerns that not only often go unaddressed but are exacerbated by the criminal justice system’s cramped approach to justice.” The report uses the concept of “impunity” — the idea, commonly used in the field of international law, that the failure to bring perpetrators of a violent crime to justice creates continuing trauma for survivors — to expose underexamined impacts of these unsolved murders on the families of homicide victims. The “Living with Impunity” report calls on federal, state, and local authorities to invest in the well-being of family members and ensure better treatment and improved communication by the police during the criminal investigation. The report urges officials to provide all family members, including individuals who are on probation, access to wraparound services and long-term care to specifically address the complex needs of family members of homicide victims.

Should publishers adopt a more responsible role when publishing books that name individuals as killers in major unsolved murder cases? This paper explores what could be described as “trial by authors” and the implications this has for victims; and their families; the alleged offenders and their families and the wider Society. It will use the case of the Hammersmith Nude Murders of six female prostitutes, where six books written by six authors identified five different killers and the implications of their naming potential killers. The sexual murders occurred in and around London’s Hammersmith during 1964 to 1965. Nobody was ever convicted. This writer argues that publishers should exercise some control over publishing what would be libellous if the identified individual was still alive.

This essay reads the landscape of Roberto Bolaño’s fictional Santa Teresa through a new materialist lens. In the fourth section of Bolaño’s epic novel 2666, “The Part about the Crimes,” the bodies of 112 women, victims of a series of unsolved murders, accumulate as part of a postglobal dystopic narrative of material and existential waste. Critics have especially noted the text’s clinical narration of events, which effectively reduces the victims’ bodies to interchangeable parts of a larger assemblage that also includes the factories (maquiladoras) where the women work, the northern capital that funds them, the police force that repeatedly fails to solve the murders, and the trash heaps and landfills where many of the bodies appear. It is, however, the women’s inert, mutilated bodies that animate Bolaño’s novel. Dehumanized by the text, the bodies’ materiality paradoxically gives human heft to an otherwise mechanistic account of undifferentiated carnage.

Reviewed by: The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama: Murderous Texts ed. by Caroline Blyth, Alison Jack Brandon R. Grafius caroline blyth and alison jack (eds.), The Bible in Crime Fiction and Drama: Murderous Texts (LHBOTS 678; Scriptural Traces 16; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019). Pp. x + 194. £85. This consistently engaging collection of essays brings the biblical text into conversation with crime fiction, film, and television, exploring the ways that the Bible is quoted or alluded to, and provides a thematic foundation for a variety of narratives. Whether biblical references offer a clue to the identity of the murderer, or whether the Bible is used as a way to introduce “themes that reverberate throughout the biblical tradition” (p. 2) into the narrative, these essays demonstrate the surprising frequency with which the Bible becomes a significant presence in a variety of crime narratives. After a brief introduction by the editors, Matthew Collins (“On the Trail of a Biblical Serial Killer: Sherlock Holmes and the Book of Tobit”) examines a Sherlock Holmes radio broadcast from 1945 entitled “The Book of Tobit.” Holmes and Watson trail a killer named Asmodeus, who has made Diana a widow several times over through the murder of her husbands. The duo discovers that Asmodeus is a fictional creation of Diana’s, who is attempting to cover her own crimes. This solution leads Collins back to the Book of Tobit to ask whether Sarah might be the murderer, or even possibly, as suggested by the “unsolved murder” in Nineveh that occurs near the book’s beginning, whether Sarah and Tobias might [End Page 150] have been “in on it together” (p. 24). Alison Jack (“Tartan Noir and Sacred Scripture: The Bible as Artefact and Metanarrative in Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy”) engages with this series of Scottish crime novels published between 2011 and 2013. While maintaining a complicated relationship with the church and the biblical text, the trilogy frequently employs biblical references to discuss themes of salvation and vengeance. “This language,” Jack writes, “is an apparently unavoidable yet ghostly presence” (p. 39) throughout this trilogy. Moving from Scotland to Scandanavia, Caroline Blyth (“Faith in a Cold Climate: The Bible and Violence in Henning Mankell’s Before the Frost”) explores the connection between “religious fervor and the enactment of violence” (p. 46). Mankell’s novel tells the story of Erik Westin, a survivor of the Jonestown massacre who lives out a violently prophetic theology. Throughout the novel, Blyth sees that “Mankell is at pains to separate the violence of Westin’s cultic fundamentalism from mainstream Swedish Christianity” (p. 52), instead seeing Westin’s violence as a deep perversion of the Christian faith. Suzanne Bray (“‘Understanded of the People’: C. J. Sansom’s Revelation as a Contemporary Cautionary Tale”) turns to crime fiction with a historical setting. Against the backdrop of Reformation-era London, lawyer Matthew Shardlake wrestles with the dual mysteries of a teenager (Adam) who seems to have gone insane and of a serial killer. Shardlake eventually realizes that these mysteries share a similar cause: “Like Adam, the man is obsessed, inappropriately applying one tiny part of scripture, out of context, to himself” (p. 67). For Bray, this novel serves as an extended meditation on the dangers of fundamentalist appropriations of Scripture. Benjamin Bixler (“Where Have All the Good Men Gone? Male Antiheroes in the Book of Judges and American Television”) compares Samson and Breaking Bad’s Walter White. In both characters, Bixler sees a critique of “the violence of hyper-masculinity” (p. 89), suggesting that this violence leads both characters to a dead end. This violence “results in a cycle of retribution, leaving everyone empty and disillusioned” (p. 92). James Oleson (“‘Long Is the Way and Hard, That Out of Hell Leads Up to Light’: Serial Murder as Homily in Se7en”) explores the gritty 1995 film in which a serial killer is selecting victims according to the seven deadly sins and choosing methods for his murders through a lex talionis conception of justice. For Oleson, viewers should be open to the possibility that this killer is the film’s true hero, which has the potential to offer viewers “a serious moral and ontological challenge” (pp...