Attempts to understand serial murder tend to be focused on individual cases rather than the social context in which they occurred. This book departs from that approach, taking up the case of nineteenth-century serial killer Mary Ann Cotton and setting it in its full social context. Drawing from records of Cotton's court appearances, local histories, and newspaper articles, it shows how institutions such as the family, economy, and religion shaped the environment she inhabited. While not denying the singularity of individuals who commit serial murder, the authors nonetheless make a powerful...

As our interactions with others become ever more mediated by various forms of electronic communication, the relationship between crime and technology is becoming an increasingly important topic for both theoretical and practical studies of criminology. This book analyzes digital communications as they play a part in contemporary homicide, drawing on a range of cases from the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world--cases where killers confessed on social media, for example, or where their actions were traced using their digital communications. Offering a groundbreaking conceptual framework...

As our interactions with others become ever more mediated by various forms of electronic communication, the relationship between crime and technology is becoming an increasingly important topic for both theoretical and practical studies of criminology. This book analyzes digital communications as they play a part in contemporary homicide, drawing on a range of cases from the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world--cases where killers confessed on social media, for example, or where their actions were traced using their digital communications. Offering a groundbreaking conceptual framework...