American Homicide examines all types of homicide, and gives additional attention to the more prevalent types of murder and suspicious deaths in the United States. Authors Richard M. Hough and Kimberly D. McCorkle employ more than 30 years of academic and practitioner experience to help explain why and how people kill and how society reacts. This brief, yet comprehensive book takes a balanced approach, combining scholarly research and theory with compelling details about recent cases and coverage of current trends. Comparative coverage of homicide types and rates in countries around the world shows how American homicide statistics compare internationally.
Dr. Richard Hough has taught criminal justice and criminology courses in the college and university setting for twenty-five years and he has taught investigative methods and other law enforcement and corrections topics in the academy and in-service law enforcement setting for thirty years. This is added to the author's extensive professional experience including investigating homicide. Dr. Hough has held increasingly responsible positions in law enforcement and has served as director of law enforcement and corrections in sheriff's offices, as well as superintendent of detention centers for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Dr. Hough has served as both a law enforcement and corrections academy director. He is currently a faculty member in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of West Florida.
Dr. Richard Hough has conducted more than 100 training seminars, conference presentations, and international briefings on criminal justice issues and he is the primary instructor for contemporary policing practices and gangs and hate groups at the regional law enforcement academy in Pensacola, FL. Dr. Hough is a member of the Homicide Research Working Group (HRWG), the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the International Homicide Investigators Association (IHIA), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Southern Criminal Justice Association (SCJA) and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). Dr. Hough has been interviewed by local, regional and national news media and has appeared on radio and television speaking on criminal justice issues. He has published journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Hough actively consults as an expert witness on police and correctional practices and the use of force.
Kimberly D. McCorkle is a former state prosecutor and currently serves as Vice Provost and Professor at the University of West Florida, where she has been on the faculty since 2002. As a prosecutor, she worked as a specialized domestic violence (DV) prosecutor and conducted over 50 misdemeanor and felony jury trials as lead counsel. In that position, she also trained law enforcement officers on the legal aspects of investigating domestic violence crime. Over the last 20 years, she has been interviewed numerous times by local and national media as an expert on domestic violence crime.
Her primary research focus is intimate partner and family violence and homicide. Dr. McCorkle has published numerous articles and has presented and trained on DV and DV homicide. She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Homicide Research Working Group (HRWG), the Southern Criminal Justice Association (SCJA), and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS).
