Wellman Ashley, Borg Marian
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Violence Vict. 2018 Dec;33(6):1102-1123. doi: 10.1891/0886-6708.33.6.1102.
While police make an arrest in the majority of homicide cases occurring annually in the United States, a portion remain unsolved and are eventually classified as "cold cases." Family members of the victims are not only left grieving the loss of their loved ones, but also plagued by the knowledge that the murderer has yet to be officially identified or held accountable. How do these family members-cold case homicide survivors-navigate their open-ended journey through grief? Using a social constructivist approach, we analyze in-depth interviews with 24 cold case homicide survivors to describe the unique dimensions of their experience, including how their hopes are tied to understandings of achieving justice for their loved ones. Three themes emerge from their narratives: a certainty that the killers will be identified; a demand for the harshest punishment possible; and an underlying anxiety about what the identification of the offender will ultimately mean for them. We consider the implications of survivors' expectations for the future, especially for their relationships with the police, other family members, and the criminal justice process in general.
虽然美国警方每年破获大部分发生的杀人案件，但仍有一部分案件未得到解决，最终被归类为“悬案”。受害者的家属不仅要承受失去亲人的悲痛，还要因凶手尚未被正式确认或追究责任而备受折磨。这些家属——悬案杀人案的幸存者——是如何在无尽的悲痛中前行的呢？我们采用社会建构主义方法，深入分析了对24名悬案杀人案幸存者的访谈，以描述他们经历的独特层面，包括他们的希望如何与为亲人讨回公道的理解相联系。他们的叙述中出现了三个主题：坚信凶手会被确认；要求给予最严厉的惩罚；以及对确认罪犯最终对他们意味着什么的潜在焦虑。我们考虑了幸存者对未来期望的影响，特别是对他们与警方、其他家庭成员以及整个刑事司法程序关系的影响。
