Investigators recently set out to consider whether homicides involving
social networking sites were unique and worthy of labels such as
‘Facebook Murder’, and to explore the ways in which perpetrators had
used such sites in the homicides they had committed.
The cases they identified were not collectively unique or unusual when
compared with general trends and characteristics—certainly not to a
degree that would necessitate the introduction of a new category of
homicide or a broad label like ‘Facebook Murder’.
“Victims knew their killers in most cases, and the crimes echoed what we
already know about this type of crime,” said Dr. Elizabeth Yardley,
co-author of the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice article. “Social
networking sites like Facebook have become part and parcel of our
everyday lives and it’s important to stress that there is nothing
inherently bad about them. Facebook is no more to blame for these
homicides than a knife is to blame for a stabbing—it’s the intentions of
the people using these tools that we need to focus upon.”
Dawn Peters, +1 781-388-8408
ScienceNewsroom@Wiley.Com