Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder

Extreme Killing offers you a comprehensive overview of multiple homicide, including both serial and mass murder. Filled with classic and contemporary case studies, this fully updated Fourth Edition reflects a growing concern for specific types of multiple homicides--indiscriminate public massacres, terrorist attacks, hate crimes, and school shootings--as well as largely debated issues such as gun control and mental illness.

Renowned experts and authors in the field, James Alan Fox, Jack Levin, and Emma Fridel bring their years of research and experience to create distinctions between serial and mass murders, address characteristics of both killers and their victims, and recognize the special concerns around multiple murder victims and their survivors. You will examine the latest theories of criminal behavior and apply them to mass and serial murderers from around the world, such as the mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas, the Grim Sleeper in Los Angeles, the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, the shooting of nine African Americans by a white supremacist in a Charleston church, and more.

James Alan Fox is the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy at Northeastern University. He has published 18 books, dozens of journal and magazine articles, as well as hundreds of freelance columns in newspapers around the country, primarily in the areas of multiple murder, youth crime, school and campus violence, workplace violence, and capital punishment. As a member of its Board of Contributors, his opinion column appears frequently in USA TODAY. Fox often gives keynote talks and testimony before Congress and in criminal and civil court proceedings. He has briefed various leaders here and abroad, and has worked on criminal investigations surrounding serial and mass murder cases. He also served as a visiting fellow with the Bureau of Justice Statistics focusing on homicide patterns and trends. Finally, he has received several awards and honors for his work, including the Hugo Adam Bedau Award for excellence in capital punishment scholarship.

Emma E. Fridel is a doctoral student in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. She has published articles on various aspects of homicide in journals such as Psychology of Violence and Violence and Gender. Her main research interests include serial and mass murder, homicide trends, sex crimes, paraphilia, and biosocial theories of crime.

Jack Levin is the Brudnick Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Northeastern University, where he co-directs its Center on Violence and Conflict. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 books, most recently The Violence of Hate and Hate Crime: A Global Perspective. Dr. Levin has also published more than 250 articles and columns in professional journals, books, magazines, and newspapers, such as The New York Times, London Sunday Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and USA Today. Dr. Levin was honored by the Massachusetts Council for Advancement and Support of Education as its "Professor of the Year" and by the American Sociological Association for his contributions to the public understanding of sociology. He has also received awards from the Eastern Sociological Society, New England Sociological Association, Association of Clinical and Applied Sociology, and Society for the Study of Social Problems. Moreover, he has spoken to a wide variety of community, academic, and professional groups, including the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the Department of Justice, OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (a membership of 59 countries), and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.