After Homicide

This book describes the development and organization of the self help and campaigning groups for the families of murder victims that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. It begins with an overview of the criminology and victimology of homicide in England and Wales. It then contrasts the views of criminologists - who have tended to dismiss violent bereavement as a statistically small and contained occurrence - with the perspectives of the bereaved themselves, who find it a cataclysmic event which throws their life into utter disorder, and can lead to a desire to restore order through social and political action. It then demonstrates how that reasoning led to the manufacture and evolution of self-help groups. The evolution of wo organizations is examined in particular detail: SAMM (Support After Murder and Manslaughter), and Justice for Victims.