Complex, emotional and difficult : deconstructing the experiences of professionals in violent crime cases

Newham, KJ

Abstract

"Complex, emotional and difficult" encapsulates both the experiences of the
professionals involved in the three research cases as well as the experience
as a research student while conducting this small-scale qualitative study. The
research focuses upon three British violent crime cases in the late 1980s and
early 1990s, case one being that of the murder of a student, case two being
the torture and murder of a woman by multiple perpetrators and case three
being the case of a multiple rapist. Using in depth interviews and documentary
analysis of newspaper and court transcripts, the thesis deconstructs the
partially closed world of the criminal case through the eyes of the
professionals involved. It focuses on the role of the researcher and the impact
of their relationship with their subjects in the interview situation. The difficulty
and unpredictable nature of access negotiations is also explored as well as
other methodological processes.
The thesis examines the interplay of notions of masculinity, truth and evil as
they figure in the personal, cultural and situational properties of the police,
legal professionals and media. It examines the gendering of the criminal
justice system and the media. It is argued that masculinity is very important in
understanding the construction of the cases. The thesis explores the
constructions of criminal masculinity produced by the different professionals.
The police and other professional give ample demonstration in their interviews
that they operate with logics of binary opposites, contrasting their own
masculinity with the deviant masculinity of the offender. Truth is seen as an
essentially contested concept to be approached through the lens of particular
value systems and power structures. Dominant perspectives emerge on the
development of procedural truth in the construction of the cases. The
research also examines the use of the idea of evil to explain violent
criminality, finding it being used as a catch-all term questioning the validity of
criminological explanations by those who deal with violent crime
professionally. Overall the thesis seeks to help the reader understand the complex process
involved in constructing criminal cases from the police investigation through to
the legal trial.

Citation

Newham, K. Complex, emotional and difficult : deconstructing the experiences of professionals in violent crime cases. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2006