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Palgrave Macmillan

A Victim Community

Stigma and the Media Legacy of High-Profile Crime

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Nicola O’Leary

    1. Criminology and Sociology, University of Hull, Hull, UK

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  • Introduces the concept of the victim community
  • Offers an innovative exploration of victimisation and victim identity through investigation of high profile crimes
  • Provokes discussion about the need for evidence-based policies and interventions

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology (PSVV)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. Introduction

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 1-20

  3. The Paradoxes and Contradictions of ‘Victim’ and ‘Community’

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 21-59

  4. Crime News, Media and Identity

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 61-88

  5. Dunblane: A United Community Divided

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 89-121

  6. Soham: The Litany of a ‘Tragic Town’

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 123-155

  7. Making Sense of ‘Victim Communities’: Negotiating Collective Identity

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 157-184

  8. Conclusion

    • Nicola O’Leary
    Pages 185-193

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 195-211
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Keywords

About this book

Although historically ignored, crime victims are now very firmly on the map. For politicians, newspapers, the media and the public at large, criminal injury and loss are a source of constant concern and anxiety. Criminologists and media analysts have studied much of this concern in recent years  but what has not been investigated is how communities experience high profile crimes and the media intrusion that inevitably follows. This book seeks to address this gap by exploring how the communities of Soham and Dunblane, that witnessed high profile crimes, lived with the tragic events at the time and the attention of the world’s media afterwards.

Based on a two-year qualitative study of these communities, this book looks beneath the surface of the relationships, dilemmas and unexpected triumphs of communities struggling to come to terms with the most harrowing of events, within the glare of the media spotlight. Combining empirical observations with media analysis and social theory, this book offers something new to the criminological audience: the concept of the victim community. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Criminology and Sociology, University of Hull, Hull, UK

    Nicola O’Leary

About the author

Nicola O’Leary is Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Criminology and Sociology at the University of Hull, UK.

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