Maria Mellins – författare

This book explores the recent surge in true crime by critically exploring how murder and violence are represented in documentaries, films, podcasts, museums, novels and in the press, and the effects. From a range of contributors, it touches on a wide variety of topics overall and illustrates how examining true crime across the changing popular media landscape can contribute to important debates in contemporary culture and society. It encourages a critical eye towards understanding the harmful stereotypes, myths and misinformation that popular media can bring.

Arranged into four sections, including: true crime trials, representations of victims, the consumption of serial killer narratives, and true crime spaces, each chapter explores different themes and topics across traditional and newer media. These topics include: emotion and appeals for justice in Making a Murderer, #MeToo and misogyny in crime narratives, true crime journalism being exploitative, the ethics of consuming dark tourism and the appetite for true crime, live streamed murder, and the ways in which true murder accounts might lend insight into other types of crime such as domestic violence and stalking. This book stimulates discussion on undergraduate courses in crime, media and culture as well as in film and media studies, and it also speaks to those with a general interest in true crime.

This book addresses domestic abuse and stalking among young people in the UK and Ireland, with a focus on intersectionality and lifestyle settings. In partnership with the Alice Ruggles Trust, this book draws on a wealth of expert contributions including those with lived experience, frontline services such as Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service, charities EmilyTest and Hollie Gazzard Trust, researchers of so-called honour-based abuse and online harms, and forensic psychologists who work with people who stalk. It begins with an overview of ways to recognise harmful behaviours, including those carried out online. The discussion then moves on to methods and motivations of stalking and coercive control and the various lifestyle contexts including education environments, young people in the workplace, and the role of the police and frontline support services in tackling these issues. It is a vital resource for undergraduate students across criminology, sociology, law, psychology, education, social justice, policing, and forensic psychology, as well as a combination of academic researchers and professionals working within stalking and domestic abuse support and prevention. This action-orientated book also includes ''Key Points'' and ‘Discussion Questions’ in each chapter to direct student learning in the classroom and to create discussion points for wider readers.