Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime

The fascination that violent crime, especially murder, exerts on the human mind goes far back into the history of the world and is now deeply embedded into most cultures. In the so‐called developed world, we read about factual murder cases in our newspapers as well as crime fiction and non‐fiction; we see horror films full of terrible violence; and on television we watch for only a few minutes before a character pulls out a gun and shoots down an unwary victim. Actors such as Clint Eastwood on the big screen and John Thaw on television make their reputations by playing...