For most of the past century, the positive outcome of grief in the West was characterized as the relinquishment of the bond to the deceased. Phrases such as "let go", "move on", and "get over it" were, and continue to be, common to the language of this pursuit. This 'breaking bonds' perspective does not take into account other means of grief resolution, nor does it consider historical or cultural findings. Consequently, reports of bereaved parents who indicate resolution of grief yet maintain a continued relationship with their deceased child were not given much attention until the 1990s. This research employed a Durkheimian approach, taking the social bond as the starting point of inquiry and examined continuing bonds of parents to their murdered children. How these bonds were related to the parents' attitudes of re-investing in life and their level of grief was measured. The relationship between the parents' level of grief and their life attitudes was also assessed. The sample consisted of 46 parents living in North Texas whose child had been murdered three or more years ago. A triangulated methodology was utilized and the data were collected by means of participant observation, unstructured interviews, and a mailed questionnaire which obtained information on continuing bonds, level of grief, life attitudes and demographic variables. Multiple regression techniques were utilized to analyze the quantitative data. Parents on the Continuing Bonds Scale reported high levels of bonds with their deceased child. Contrary to expectation, the level of continuing bonds parents maintained with their children was found to be independent of other variables in the study. The relationship between parents' level of grief and their life attitudes was inverse in that higher levels of grief were associated with lower levels of re-investing in life. The finding of the independence of the Continuing Bonds Scale indicates the parent's level of grief and life attitudes are not related to continuing bonds; the bonds exist regardless. The relationship between level of grief and life attitudes points to a crisis of meaning.

Magistro darbo tema „Nužudymą kvalifikuojantys požymiai pagal Lietuvos ir kitų valstybių baudžiamuosius įstatymus“, todėl pagrindinis darbo tikslas yra atskleisti nužudymą kvalifikuojančius požymius, numatytus Lietuvos Respublikos bei kitų valstybių baudžiamuosiuose įstatymuose, pasitelkiant lyginamąjį metodą. Siekiant išsamiai atskleisti kvalifikuoto nužudymo požymius, darbe nagrinėjamas nužudymo nusikaltimo teisinis reglamentavimas – pirmoje darbo dalyje aptarta nužudymo samprata, toliau išanalizuojami teisės šaltiniai, kurie turėjo įtakos formuojant dabartinę kvalifikuoto nužudymo sudėties konstrukciją Lietuvos, Prancūzijos, Vokietijos bei Rusijos Federacijos galiojančiuose baudžiamuosiuose įstatymuose. Kadangi nužudymo kvalifikuota sudėtis apima pagrindinę sudėtį, trečioje darbo dalyje nagrinėjama pagrindinės nužudymo sudėties objektyvieji ir subjektyvieji požymiai. Nužudymą kvalifikuojančių požymių analizei skiriama didžioji darbo dalis, kurioje, remiantis galiojančiais baudžiamaisiais įstatymais, moksline literatūra bei teismų praktika, nagrinėjamas kiekvienas nužudymą kvalifikuojantis požymis, lyginant su pasirinktų užsienio valstybių baudžiamaisiais įstatymais. / The title of the master‘s thesis is „The qualifying features of murder according to criminal laws of Lithuania and other countries“, therefore the core aim of this work is to disclose the qualifying features of murder provided in criminal codes of the Republic of Lithuania and other countries, invoking comparative method. In order to thoroughly disclose the features of the qualified murder, the juridical reglamentation of this crime is examined in the paper - the conception of murder is discussed in the first part of the paper, afterwards, legal sources that had influence on the development of the present qualified murder content construction in valid criminal laws of the Republic of Lithuania, France, Federation of Germany and Russia are analyzed. As the qualified content of murder includes the main content of murder, the general content of this crime is described in the third part of the paper analyzing objective and subjective features. The analysis of the qualifying features is presented in the greater part of the work where according to the valid criminal laws of the chosen countries, scholarly literature and the practice of courts, every qualifying feature of murder is examined comparing it with the criminal laws of the chosen countries.

Foreign object insertion into the vagina of a murder victim is a rare occurrence. When it is encountered it is often seen as an indicator of a sexual murder, or regarded for signature analysis purposes. Due to its rare occurrence it is often only documented in literature in case-study form. In this research seventeen cases of vaginal foreign object insertion were analysed, by far the largest study of this occurrence to date. Cases were only included in the research if the object was still in the vagina when the body was discovered. The research set out to determine the typical victim profile, crime-scene actions, and offender profile, with the intention of assisting in the profiling of these crimes in the future. There were distinct differences amongst the victims in terms of race, occupation, time of death, cause of death, circumstances and area of the crimes. Only six of the seventeen crimes had been solved, yet amongst the eight known offenders certain common characteristics were observed. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1948 P74 / Master of Science

The concept of the unreliable narrator has been studied in academic circles for the last fifty years. When an author decides to create unreliable narration, there is a reason for it. This essay compares the unreliability in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, using theories formulated by Tamar Yacobi, Bruno Zerweck, Therese Heyd, James Phelan and Amit Marcus. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the technique of other-deceptive narration is used by Christie. In Lolita the unreliability is complex. Using both other-deception and self-deception to create discrepancies between descriptions of the same event and phenomenon, Nabokov succeeds in creating an intricate unreliability. The effects of the unreliability in both novels, however, create an emotional bond between the reader and the narrator. The reader can be emotionally cathected to the narrator, even if the narrator is clearly a criminal.

This thesis explores the extent to which forensic archaeology and forensic anthropology are utilised within Great Britain and to what extent they aid, or do not aid, medico-legal investigation of death. Chapter One introduces the topic and considers the need for an exploration of these issues. In Chapter Two, the differences between the American and British situations are examined and an explanation for the differences proposed, based on the development of the academic ‘parent’ disciplines during the last century. Chapter Three explores issues around accreditation and registration in the UK. The role of the courts in maintaining standards of expert evidence is examined. National and European schemes are considered. After considering the practitioners in this way, Chapter Four looks at the methods, and how the practitioners’ experience informs their choice of method. One specific topic for each discipline is discussed in depth and the complexity of choice illustrated. The difficulty in assessing the full scope for use of forensic archaeology and forensic anthropology are detailed in Chapter Five, with the marked lack of available research data. The problems inherent in media-derived data are considered. The scope for use of the two disciplines is discussed and illustrated with examples from the Media Derived Case List In Chapter Six, a complex multiple-burial multiple-murder case is discussed; and interviews across one police force area are discussed. These illustrate the use and usefulness of forensic archaeology in practice. Conclusions are drawn in Chapter Seven, and radical recommendations are made.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences / Department of Sociology

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences / Department of Sociology

Does the murder of a sibling affect the health and well-being of siblings over the longer term? Between 2009 and 2013 there was an annual average of 562 homicides in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2013) and 14,767 in the United States (FBI, 2013). Anecdotal report and a small body of literature suggest siblings’ lives are impacted by the murder of a sister or brother and that there are lasting effects. For the most part, however, siblings of murder victims are largely ignored by research. Studies that do exist rely mainly on qualitative data from small, non-representative, and mixed samples. This study used a quasi-experimental design to compare data previously obtained from 67 Canadian and American homicide-bereaved siblings with data from 80 comparison participants, matched as a group on age and sex. Groups were compared on measures of SES, overall general health, subjective distress, perceived social support, life-satisfaction, recollections of growing up, and self-worth. Homicide-bereaved siblings reported significantly higher levels of current subjective distress, less perceived social support, and less positive recollections of growing up in the years following a sibling’s muder. Despite ongoing subjective distress, homicide-bereaved siblings reported self-worth and life satisfaction equivalent to comparison participants. Preliminary data support the continued theoretical and applied research exploring the overlap of trauma and grief in homicide bereavement and of intervention protocols. Findings from this study will inform criminal justice professionals, victim service workers, counsellors, family members, friends, and community members supporting those who have lost a brother or sister to murder. / Graduate / kwright3@uvic.ca

The subject of this diploma thesis is "Methodology of Murder Investigation (Selected Problems)". Because this is a very wide subject, it is not within the diplomate's reach to cover the matter completely enough for a diploma thesis and the thesis therefore focuses on the methodology of the investigation of serial murders. The first chapter is devoted to defining the term "serial murder" and the differentiation between serial, mass and spree killers is explained. The legal classification of serial killing within Czech criminal law is briefly outlined. The second chapter focuses on criminal character. It examines the typical characteristics of serial killers, their biological and social preconditions, the psychology behind a first murder and the profile of the serial killer. Further, the separation of serial killers into the organized and unorganized is shown, including characteristic features. From the perspective of criminal characterization, the work further discusses victims of serial killings, with an emphasis on themes of the methods of perpetration. Within this, differences between the terms ‚modus operandi' and ‚signature' are explained. The individual phases of killing are determined. Murder weapons, as well as classifications of the scenes of crimes and serial killers according to mobility...