How to Name a Serial Killer

Every report of the case of serial killer Stephen Griffiths referred to him as the ‘Crossbow Cannibal’. But where did this name come from? Griffiths gave this name when makingĀ his first court appearance before MagistratesĀ in May 2010. He didn’t come up with it himself – because it had already featured in a headline in the Sun …

A Literary Graph of Murder

What does this graph tell us? It’s meant to show the frequency of the terms murder and homicide in English books from the time of ‘Jack the Ripper’ to the present day. The answer is probably ‘not much’ – apart from showing that murder is used much more often (in those books that have been …

21st Century Court Reporting

Reports that legal history had been made by a judge allowing the use of Twitter in open court for an extradition hearing in London sparked a few earth-shattering predictions. Was this the end of court reporting as we know it? Could this be ‘possibly the final nail in the coffin of shorthand’? Will court hearings soon be televised? …

Violence in Films and Computer Games: Guest Blog

Does the portrayal of violence in the media affect human behaviour? Should we be concerned about violence in computer games, books and film? These questions are being asked more often as games in particular grow ever more realistic. The US Supreme Court recently debated whether video games are worse than films and books because they …

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

The cult film noir Detour has an unusual take on murder. The ‘hero’ is neither a hardened criminal or an innocent man fighting for justice. Instead the main character, hitchhiker Al Roberts, asks us to believe that he has accidentally become a double killer. Watching it was a bit like listening in court to a …