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)

Homicide is Preventable!

A fundamental belief that researchers at the Center for Homicide Research operate under is that homicide is preventable. The rate and frequency of homicide has been high for so long in the United States that many people have come to accept killing as a fact of daily life. But it hasn't always been so, and homicide is finally down across the country. The question is why - what caused this reduction. Research can help to answer this question. (More)

Homicides in San Francisco

Many readers may find this information quite interesting. In the early 1970's gay people flocked to the City of San Francisco as a place of refuge from the stifling oppression in other parts of the country. As the gay community emerged, so did the killings of GLBT people. But, was there a pattern to these killings?

Researchers at Ohio State University worked to develop a database that could be used to understand long-term trends in homicide. Their data incidentally include information on homicides of GLBT people. Little of the gay data has been analyzed to date, however researchers at the Center have put this chart together to take a preliminary look at prevalence which has been part on an ongoing interest with us. To see the chart, click on the link at the bottom of this article.

This 1970's data reflect a period in which the gay community was only then emerging in the Castro District of San Francisco. At the time the Modern Gay Movement was just emerging. Also right about then were the serial killer panics of the mid-1970's. People started making up names for the supposed offenders and the newspapers were quick to cover these sensational stories. The benefit of their reporting was to show how dangerous it was to be gay, or to practice homosexuality. Even heterosexual homicides were blamed on alleged homosexual serial killers. The funny part was that the victims were mostly females, not males. The etiology of typical serial homicide (though not all serial homicide) is one of a sexual motivation. The sex homicides were the ones getting all the publicity due to the brutal and bizarre nature of these killings.

Killings were occurring in the gay districts in the 70's, some of which would even qualify for the term hate-crime had the law been in existence back in the day. This fearful sense that gay people were being preyed upon, first by rogue heterosexuals, and now by serial killers, was contagious. Most gay male homicides have a certain similarity that is quite different than heterosexual homicide. They occur all across the nation, year-after-year in similar ways. Most are not the result of serial homicide however, but rather shaped by the context in which gay homicides occur. A significant portion of the murders are the result of shame attacks following homosexual activity.

To view the chart, click on the following link: (more)

Applications Now Being Accepted for Spring 2010 Internships

Undergraduate, graduate and law students are encouraged to make application for internships at the Center for Homicide Research for spring 2010.  The Center provides an unique, intensive internship opportunity in research methodologies, analysis, and criminology. 

Applications for fall 2010 internships are still being accepted. Start dates can vary depending on summer schedules.  (more)

Distributor of - Homicide: A Bibliography

15th Annual Homicide Training Conference

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College collaborated with the Center for Homicide Research to present "The Many Faces of Murder". The two-and-a-half day conference is an annual regional training in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It will offered attendees a detailed, cutting-edge trip through the mosaic of murder.

Sessions presented covered topics from gauging a killer's level of evil, to murder in hospitals. From dismemberment murders to kids who kill their parents. From correspondence from murderers, and what it means, to fatal dog attacks, and the staging of murders to look like attacks. There were also tips on investigating high-profile homicides, as well as two in-depth case studies.

This conference was presented to afford professionals with state-of-the-art best practices ready to implement upon their return to their home communities.

Internship and Service-Learning Academy

This year the Center has trained a record number (111) of students from various colleges and universities around the Twin Cities and across the state. Each season, students enlist for internships or service-learning opportunities. Interns complete 160 hours of service as they learn about homicide and the research process. Service-learning students must be enrolled in an existed program within a college or university and be recommended by their professor. These student attend for shorter lengths of time, usually 30-40 hours, although law school students normally invest 80 hours of service. All students must successfully pass a background check through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. For more information, please contact the Principal Researcher at dallas.drake@mindspring.com.

Center Co-presents International Conference for
GLBT Criminal Justice Professionals

The conference, one of the largest in recent years, featured keynote addresses by Judy Shepard, mother of murdered gay college student Matthew Shepard, and Commander Dave O'Malley, retired police chief of Laramie, Wyoming and principal investigator in the Shepard case.

The Center for Homicide Research played a significant role in this conference. The Center’s Principal Researcher Dallas Drake delivered four separate workshop presentations to police officers, corrections officers and other criminal justice professionals.  Drake is often regarded as a national expert on the topic of GLBT homicide. 

The four-day conference included presentations on hate crimes, homicide, coming out, professional development, and the role of law enforcement in major social events. (more)

New Program Offered for Homicide Investigators

Investigators looking for an opportunity to advance their understanding of the phenomenon of homicide have a new opportunity at the Center for Homicide Research. The Center now offers an individualized, intensive study program tailored to meet the needs of both experienced and new homicide investigators.

This unique opportunity offers a “learning sabbatical” for investigators, away from the front lines, where they can develop an advanced understanding of the homicide event and its analysis. The program offers investigators a retreat to step away from the daily pressures of investigations to reevaluate their own effectiveness and investigational procedures. This program offers the chance to learn about new research as well as proven tactics.

The Center provides an immersion style seminar, with structured learning as well as independent study. Participants will have access to the Center’s resource library with more than 1,200 books, an extensive vertical file, and 16 journals. Programs can be up to five days in length.

Topics available include:

For specialized training needs or other topics, please contact the Center and allow for adequate lead time.

To discuss the program and enrollment, contact Principal Researcher, Dallas Drake at dallas.drake@mindspring.com or by telephone at (612) 331-4820. (download brochure)

 

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 Researcher Presents on Crime Scene Symbolism
at Qualitative Research Conference

Center for Homicide Research Principal Research Dallas Drake deconstructed the messages and symbolism inherent in homicide crime scenes at a conference hosted by the University of St. Thomas.  Drake's presentation investigated the crime scene using a process of semiotic deconstruction, grounded in interpretivism and symbolic interaction.  Using crime scene behavior, Drake explored 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 was held at the University of St. Thomas Minneapolis Conference on April 17-18. 
 

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.