Murder & Mayhem, Homicide, United States, World, Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Legal History, Social Sciences, History, American, General Law, American General Law 

"This collection examines murder jurisprudence - the social rules that govern the arrest, trial, and punishment of people accused of murder - in the United States from the colonial period to the present. The contributors show how changing social mores have influenced the application of murder law by highlighting the ways cultural biases like racism, changing ideas about childhood and insanity, and the ameliorative effects of middle class status and paternal imagery both helped and handicapped persons accused of murder. Such famous cases as the Lizzie Borden axe murder and African American activist Abu-Jamal's murder trial are included."--Jacket. 

Content:

Adjudicating homicide : the legal framework and social norms / Robert Asher, Lawrence B. Goodheart, and Alan Rogers -- Cross-cultural "Murther" and retribution in colonial New England / John J. Navin -- Jim Crow justice, the Richmond Planet, and the murder of Lucy Pollard / Michael A. Trotti -- Justice denied : race and the 1982 murder trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal / Dave Lindorff -- Murder and minors : changing standards in the criminal law of Connecticut, 1650-1853 / Nancy H. Steenburg -- Murder and madness : the ambiguity of moral insanity in nineteenth-century Connecticut / Lawrence B. Goodheart -- Mad men and wronged women : murder and the insanity defense in Massachusetts, 1844-2000 / Alan Rogers -- Murder by inches : Shakers, family, and the death of Elder Caleb Dyer / Elizabeth A. De Wolfe -- "He has ravished my poor, simple, innocent wife!" : exploring the meaning of honor in the murder trials of George W. Cole / Laura-Eve Moss -- Bodies of evidence : inquest photography in the trial of Lizzie Borden / Tiffany Johnson Bidler. 

Includes bibliographical references and index.