The Ecology of Homicide: Race, Place, and Space in Postwar Philadelphia

Eric C. Schneider

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2021

The Ecology of Homicide

Race, Place, and Space in Postwar Philadelphia

Eric C. Schneider

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812297836

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examining the transcripts of nearly two hundred murder trials, The Ecology of Homicide presents the voices of victims and perpetrators of crime, as well as the enforcers of the law, to show how the combined effects of poverty and disinvestment accumulated to sustain and deepen what Eric C. Schneider calls an "ecology of violence."

Author / Editor information

Eric C. Schneider (1951-2017) was Assistant Dean and Associate Director for Academic Affairs and Adjunct Professor of History in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Smack: Heroin and the American City, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Reviews

"The Ecology of Homicide is an interdisciplinary microhistory of how racial discrimination, violence, crime, and masculinity have played a role in the high rates of murder in Philadelphia's hyper-segregated Black communities, from World War II to the early 1980s. By relying on research from sociologists and criminologists, [Schneider] refutes theories suggesting that African Americans and their culture are inherently violent. Instead, he explains historically how high murder rates in marginalized Black communities are a result of generations of social inequality that create an environment where life is uncertain and murder is performed as self-protection from physical violence and dishonor in the public and private spheres of society . . . [A] relevant book that should not only be consumed by scholars but also by city officials, policymakers, and police."—The Metropole

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Foreword, Howard Gillette Jr. Howard Gillette Jr. Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Chapter 1. Dancing with Knives: The Ecological Structure of African American Homicide in Postwar Philadelphia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2. Killing Women and Women Who Kill: Intimate Homicides Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter 3. Race and Murder in the Remaking of West Philadelphia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Chapter 4. Dirty Work: Police and Community Relations and the Limits of Liberalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
Chapter 5. The Children’s War Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Chapter 6. Street Wars: Shooting Police and Police Shootings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 264
Keywords: American History; African-American Studies; African Studies; Public Policy; Urban Studies

eBook

Published: November 13, 2020
ISBN: 9780812297836