UWF professors to talk about homicide textbook
Two University of West Florida professors, Drs. Richard Hough and Kimberly McCorkle, will answer questions about their new textbook, “American Homicide,” during a forum on Thursday, March 24. The event will be held at 4 p.m. in Building 70, Room 115 on the UWF Pensacola Campus. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided.
“American Homicide” explores how and why people kill and how crimes are investigated and prosecuted. The co-authors decided to create the book to fill a gap in the publishing market.
“Existing books tend to focus on serial killers, mass murders, school shootings and cult killings,” Hough said. “People fear these things, but they actually make up a very small percentage of homicides.”
McCorkle said she and Hough wanted to offer a more balanced view of homicide that concentrated on the most common types of murder in the United States, confrontational homicide and intimate-partner homicide. The text also covers the procedures of investigating and prosecuting a crime.
“Really a lot of us have grown up watching the television shows and the movies that glamorize the role of the homicide detective or instill us with the fear of the random murderer,” Hough said.
In the book, Hough and McCorkle disabuse these notions and offer insight into the investigative process that involves aspects such as witnesses, technology, victims and what a detective actually does to bring a case to closure.
