Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder

Considering only non-state-sponsored multiple homicide, Fox (criminal justice) and Levin (sociology and criminology, both Northeastern U., Boston) reassess some of the prevailing notions about such crimes. In particular they address the artificial and often problematic distinctions between serial and mass murders based primarily on the timing, and the uncritical embrace of sociopathy as an explanation. They feature some high profile recent cases such as school shootings, the District of Columbia snipers, and the Texas woman who drowned her children; as well as some classical ones such as Theodore Bundy and Charles Manson. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Jack Levin is the Irving and Betty Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University. He has authored or coauthored a number of books, including Elementary Statistics in Social Research, The Functions of Prejudice, Gossip: The Inside Scoop, Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed, and Overkill: Mass Murder and Serial Killing Exposed. Levin's work has appeared in professional journals, including Youth & Society, Criminology, The Gerontologist, and Sex Roles, as well as in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Tribune and USA Today. He has lectured on campuses around the country about serial murder, hate crimes, and domestic terrorism. A dedicated educator and social advocate, Jack Levin received Northeastern University's Excellence in Teaching Award and was honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education as its Professor of the Year in Massachusetts.

James Alan Fox is The Lipman Family Professor of Criminal Justice and former dean at Northeastern University in Boston. He has published fifteen books, including his two newest, The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder, and Dead Lines: Essays in Murder and Mayhem. He has also published dozens of journal and magazine articles and newspaper columns, primarily in the areas of multiple murder, juvenile crime, school violence, workplace violence, and capital punishment. As an authority on homicide, he appears regularly on national television and radio programs, including the Today Show, Dateline, 20/20, 48 Hours and Oprah, and is frequently interviewed by the press. He was also profiled in a two-part cover story in USAToday, which dubbed him "The Dean of Death," in a Scientific American feature story as well as in other media outlets. Fox often gives lectures and expert testimony, including over one hundred keynote or campus-wide addresses around the country, ten appearances before the United States Congress, White House meetings with President and Mrs. Clinton and Vice President Gore on youth violence, private briefings to Attorney General Reno on trends in violence, and a presentation for Princess Anne of Great Britain. He served on President Clinton's advisory committee on school shootings, and a Department of Education Expert Panel on Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools. Finally, Fox is a visiting fellow with the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice.