Citation

May H. Br. J. Sociol. 1999; 50(3): 489-506.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, London School of Economics and Political Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15259197

Abstract

Based on in-depth interviews with relatives of people convicted of murder, this article examines the ways in which everyday understandings of 'murder' are socially constructed, as revealed by the narratives of murderers' relatives. To this end, interviewees' explanations of the killings are analysed and a distinction is drawn between interviewees who understood the killings committed by their relatives as manslaughter and those who accepted the murder verdict. In defining the offences in this way, interviewee s identified the significance of victimization and culpability to understandings of interpersonal violence. Through the analysis of interview data, it is possible to examine the ways in which 'murder' is seen to have occurred only when particular criteria of victimization and culpability are met.

Language: en