About the Center for Homicide Research

The Center for Homicide Research is a unique, volunteer-driven, nonprofit organization addressing the issue of homicide in our communities. The mission of the Center for Homicide Research is to promote greater knowledge and understanding of the unique nature of homicide through sound empirical research, critical analysis, and effective community partnerships.

The three-fold goals of the Center are to increase case solvability, to articulate homicide issues and to reduce incidence of homicide. Our ultimate aim is to prevent homicides.  (more)

Applications Now Being Accepted for Summer Internships

Undergraduate, graduate and law students are encouraged to make application for internships at the Center for Homicide Research for summer 2008.  The Center provides an unique, intensive internship opportunity in research methodologies, analysis, and criminology. 

Applications for summer 2008 internships are now being accepted.   (more)

New Partnership Expands GLBT Homicide Research into Washington DC

A landmark collaboration is underway involving unsolved homicide of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender victims in Washington DC. This project will give CHR researchers unique access to police records involving unsolved GLBT homicides in our nation’s capital city. A major goal of the study is to develop new strategies for law enforcement to increase their clearance and solvability rate of homicide cases.

The Center is providing several components including the methodology design, training and analysis. The Metropolitan Washington DC Police Department (MPD) Major Case/Cold Case Unit will identify homicides and provide case files, as well as office space and direct supervision of the data processors. Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia is providing graduate students in forensic psychology to analyze and code the cases as volunteers.

Approximately 125 unsolved GLBT cold case homicides have been identified by MPD detectives for inclusion in this project.  (more)



Center to Co-Sponsor and Present at International Gay and Lesbian Criminal Justice Conference

The Center for Homicide Research will partner with the the Mid-Atlantic Gay Officer's Action League to present this year's international conference for GLBT criminal justice professionals.  The Center is a co-sponsor of this year's conference and will make two presentations for attendees.  

Principal Researcher Dallas Drake will deliver two training presentations for conference attendees:

The conference will be held at the George Washington University Conference Center in Washington DC from May 10 to 15. 

For more info about the conference, visit the GOAL website.

Center Researcher to Present on Crime Scene Symbolism
at Qualitative Research Conference

Center for Homicide Research Principal Research Dallas Drake will deconstruct the messages and symbolism inherent in homicide crime scenes at a conference hosted by the University of St. Thomas.  Drake will investigate the crime scene using a process of semiotic deconstruction, grounded in interpretivism and symbolic interaction.  Using crime scene behavior, Drake will explore the themes, possible explanations and relationships between the various actors involved in the homicide incident. 

Drake says, "Although offenders have the right to remain silent, many have already spoken through their crime scene behaviors.  Often without realizing it, offenders impress themselves into the crime scene medium."  Using various research methodologies, crime scenes can be understood through the process of semiotic deconstruction, therein possibly facilitating the solving of similar homicide cases.

The Midwest Qualitative Research Conference will be held at the University of St. Thomas Minneapolis Conference from April 17-18.  For more information about the conference, visit the University of St. Thomas website.
 

Church Shootings Are Subject of Original Research

Two CHR research interns have developed first-of-its-kind data on 140 shootings occurring in churches from 1980-2005. This data has the potential to provide insight into the nature of hate crimes in churches and mass killings. Research interns Amy Kielmeyer (University of North Dakota) and Derek Bixby, B.A. (University of Minnesota) conducted the research and developed the data. The dataset is currently ready to be submitted to the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research based at the University of Michigan and is being prepared for presentation at various national conferences.
 

Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota Historical Homicides
Become Focus of Special Project

A new research initiative being undertaken at the Center for Homicide is showing that these perceptions are not correct. The number and locations of homicide incidents in the metropolitan area have changed over time, moved, and affected different populations and ethnic/racial communities over time. These findings are in stark contrast to widely held beliefs about homicide in the area. This special project aims to catalogue and analyze nearly four decades of homicide information using Minnesota Department of Health data, law enforcement resources, media archives and historical documents. Student interns and service learners from several area colleges and universities are involved in this effort.

 Detailed homicide case files from the mid-1980s to the present have been developed. Archival information from the 1960’s and 1970s are being evaluated and interpreted. One aspect of this project is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to map these data over time to show the movement over time of these homicide incidents, as well as the characteristics of these crimes.