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Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence

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Mr. James outlines the history of popular crime beginning with Rome in 24 AD with the murder of a wife by her husband Plautius Silvanus and the subsequent desire for retribution from his wife's family eventually removing Plautius, his family and their ancestors from all public life. He then jumps to the questionable abduction of Elizabeth Canning in London in1759 followed by one of the most famous crimes of the century when Elma Sands' body floating in the Manhattan Well of New York in 1799. The trial of Levi Weeks, her accused killer, was filled with controversy. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, both famous politician of the time and mortal enemies would both be hired by Mr. Weeks father to defend his son. This comprehensive survey of popular crime continues through the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Dozens of crimes are described in detail along with a critique of suggested books for further reading. Theories are provided on numerous matters relating to crime. Eighteen elements are provided by which crime can be categorized. Elements could be celebrity of political status, an innocent victim may have been involved, fraud, adventure, or money. From these elements, Mr. James has devised a scale by which a crime can be categorized according to it's potential for popular interest. Obviously, a celebrity will be higher on the scale as would a high level of mystery or sexual violence. JonBenet Thomas was not a celebrity in her own right prior to her death but her father was wealthy, her death was a mystery and had elements of sexual violence. Naturally, the O.J. Simpson case would score in the stratosphere of popularity both in reality and in accord with Mr. James' scale. Mr. James' theorizes that the high crime levels experience in the U.S. during the sixties and seventies were a consequence of a misplaced empathy of the criminals over the victims. He gives examples of young women such as Sharon Tate and Patty Hearst both enamored by men who they believed to be true revolutionaries but no more than murderers. Mr. James ends his book with an enumeration of that is negative about popularization crime which he believes is outweighed by the positive aspects which he also outlines 'Popular Crime' provides lots of crime, lots of theories and lots of ghoulish entertainment.