A Rose by Any Other Name: Problems in Defining and Conceptualising Serial Murder with a New Proposed Definition

The prevalence of serial murder is low; however, it has been the focus of much academic and popular attention. Despite a considerable research base on serial murder, there is still debate as to how it should be defined. This article examines often used definitions of serial murder, followed by a critique of some of the main components of these definitions. From this, a definition is advanced with rationales for the inclusion of the characteristics in the proposed definition. This analysis provides for some clarity in the identification of serial murder and those aspects of the crime used to define it.

Predator or Prey Who Do You Think You Are?

In the Japanese animation PSYCHO-PASS, the setting is a future Japan where every citizen’s mental health is monitored and analysed, and where they can sometimes be terminated according to the state of their mental health. In such a dark and dystopian setting, the motifs from the many bloody quotations of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play Titus Andronicus are used in the three-episode multiple murder case of young schoolgirls. The animation shows how Shakespeare is used to stylise and elaborate the serial murder case. This article discusses how Titus Andronicus is used to give relevance and sophistication to serial murder, and how the bloodiness of a serial murder can give a different impression to audiences by the use of literature.

Pretty in pink: David Antonio Cruz’s portrait of the florida girls

Roused by the deaths of five African American transgender women in Florida in 2018, artist David Antonio Cruz intervenes in inaccurate media reports about these murders. Painting portrait of the florida girls in 2019, his diptych of significant scale and palette, confronts this senseless violence and challenges sensationalized coverage. This article centralizes his work arguing for the ways in which Cruz innovates transgender of color visibility through a queer of color critiquing of the portrait form and concerted use of a ‘blacktino’ optic. Ruminating on the combined tragedies of gun violence at Pulse nightclub and serial murder of trans femmes, Cruz’s work interrogates the posthumous transgender image with a reversal of digital source material and bodily logics in pose and countenance. By turning to the transnational crossroads shaping these communities’ shared horrors, central Florida, Cruz activates his audience with a sense of urgency in the persuasive power of pink.