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From ‘forensic narratives’ to ‘narratives of forensics’: telling stories about the murder of Gay Gibson
This chapter critiques crime in the media by identifying the origins of damaging narratives which blame women victims for violence by men. By tracking stories about the 1947 murder of Gay Gibson by James Camb from news media and archived trial documents, through iterations of the narrative over more than seventy years, I identify the forensic contexts of courtroom and capital punishment as critical to comprehending the construction and reincarnation of misogynistic tropes. Moreover, overlooking these contexts in favour of overstating DNA and other scientific evidence has consequences for contemporary justice. By restyling the Gibson murder as a ‘cold case’, selectively reinvestigating partial evidence and jurifying the public via social media, a tabloid press publisher and television documentary have retrospectively re-silenced Camb’s victims. This article argues that stories about historical crime in the media are telling of attitudes to gender and justice in the present as much as the past.
Funding
Black Books: The Institutional Memory of Hanging and Mercy at the Home Office; G2465; LEVERHULME TRUST; ECF-2018-448
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Publisher
Palgrave MacmillanExternal DOI
Page range
77-111Pages
400.0Book title
Critiquing Violent Crime in the MediaISBN
9783030837570Department affiliated with
- Sociology and Criminology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Editors
Maria Mellins, Sarah MooreLegacy Posted Date
2021-11-23First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2021-11-23Usage metrics
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