Fiona Brookman
Biographic Data
| ID | 160643 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fiona Brookman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fiona |
| FAMILY NAME | Brookman |
| SIGNATURE | BROOKMAN F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Wales |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1016-7088 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 121 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Homicide investigation in the Global South
Risky calls
Despite concerns having been voiced internationally about the validity and reliability of mobile phone evidence, there remain large gaps in our understanding of how police acquire and process mobile phone data, and the risks associated with this work. This paper fills some of these gaps by drawing upon qualitative data gathered during an ethnographic study of the role of forensic sciences and technologies in British homicide investigations. Speci…
Backstage at the Barristers’ Case Conference
Socio-legal ethnographies have focused largely on the dramaturgical themes present in the competing performances seen in adversarial trials. Drawing on ethnographic observations of British homicide investigations, we illuminate the hidden “backstage” space of prosecution barristers’ case conferences. Using Goffman’s dramaturgical framework, we analyze the interactions, deliberations, and negotiations that are enacted between barristers, homicide …
Understanding Homicide
Sex, drugs, and coercive control
While many of the motives people provide for using drugs transcend gender, there are also notable gendered differences. These differences in motive talk aid in stigma management, shape gender performances, and can encourage or constrain behavior. Using data from a photoethnography with 52 people who use methamphetamine in rural Alabama, we find that men and women articulate their motives for drug use in distinctly gendered ways. Most notably, men…
Crafting Credible Homicide Narratives
Drawing upon qualitative data gathered during a four-year ethnographic study of homicide investigation in Britain, this paper explores how detectives, scientists, and other experts use findings from forensic sciences and technologies (FSTs) when constructing and modifying pre-trial homicide narratives. We consider how these narratives unfold from the earliest moments of the investigation and are told and re-told, as they are assembled into one co…
We need to talk about dialogue
In this paper, we explore the importance of dialogue for collaborative sensemaking during homicide investigation, focusing upon interactions between detectives, forensic scientists and other experts involved in managing and undertaking forensic work. Drawing on data from a 4-year ethnographic study of British homicide investigations, we provide insights from criminal justice actors about both the value of, and barriers to, inter-professional and …
Capturing killers
Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data gathered during a four-year ethnographic study of 44 British homicide investigations, this paper advances the sparse literature on how closed-circuit television (CCTV) contributes to criminal investigations and the risks associated with its use. Based on insights gleaned from interviews with homicide detectives, analysis of case files and observations of live homicide investigations, we examine how C…
Photo-Elicitation Interviews with Vulnerable Populations
Photo-elicitation is a qualitative interview technique where researchers solicit responses, reactions, and insights from participants by using photographs or other images as stimuli. Images can be researcher-generated or participant-generated and each has particular benefits and challenges. Though not new, the use of images within criminology is an underused technique. In this paper we advocate the use of photo-elicitation techniques suggesting t…
Visualizing Crime and Deviance
Qualitative Research in Criminology (1999)
Part 1 The process of criminilization: the Public Order Act 1936 and the Greenshirt movement for social credit, Mark Drakeford investigating a criminal public sphere - reflexivity, law and class struggle, John Michael Roberts accessing and analyzing police murder files, Fiona Brookman social constructions of violence aginst the police, Mike Levi and Lesley Noaks accessing a demonised subculture - studying drug use and violence among bodybuilders,…
“Deciding” to Kill
This chapter examines the cognitive, affective, and situational factors that influence the decision-making processes of those who kill. With little existing research that specifically focuses on homicide offender decision making, this chapter brings together criminological and psychological research on violence-related cognition, affect, and the situational dynamics of violent encounters. The authors make the case for combining these three perspe…
The Handbook of Homicide
Helping police with their enquiries
It remains one of the key paradoxes of policing studies that homicide investigation is one of the most publicly visible and concomitantly least understood aspects of the police function. When mass
The problem of success
Police detectives traditionally defined a successful homicide investigation as involving a suspect being identified, charged and ultimately convicted – preferably for murder. However, it is increasingly being recognised, not least by police officers themselves, that definitions of success can be more complex. Informed by empirical data drawn from field studies of police murder investigations in the UK, this article identifies four alternate defin…
Accounting for Violations of the Convict Code
Research over the past several decades shows that those who act in ways inconsistent with desired identities often account for (i.e., excuse or justify) their actions to save face and maintain social identities. While the bulk of research on the use of accounts examines how people make sense of behaviors that go against conventional values, recent research suggests that those who do not adhere to subcultural norms engage in similar talk. The curr…
Street Codes as Formula Stories
Recent developments in the study of narratives suggest that people can construct identity by referencing acculturated stories (i.e., formula stories) and often do so when explaining untoward behavior. Formula stories connect one's personal identity with generally accepted subcultural identities and the narratives associated with them. In light of this, it becomes clear that cultural codes (e.g., the code of the streets) provide structured storyli…
Handbook on Crime
Multi‐Agency Work on Sexual Violence
The current policy climate in Britain requires that agencies work together to improve their performance and provide a better service to clients. This is especially apparent in recent initiatives designed to improve the services afforded to victims of crime. Whilst there is an established literature dealing with both the potential benefits of, and challenges posed by, multi-agency work (for example, Crawford 1997; Hughes 2007; Maguire 2004; Pearso…
Gender, Motivation and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery in the United Kingdom
In an influential study of gender and the accomplishment of street robbery in the United States, Miller (1998) demonstrated that whereas there were few gender differences in the motivations for such crimes, men and women typically committed them in strikingly different ways. Other recent work has similarly established both convergence within and divergence between male and female criminal enactment patterns. Most of that work, however, also was c…
The Foreground Dynamics of Street Robbery in Britain
Research into the situational dynamics of street robbery in the United States has identified a commitment to street culture, and participation in the self-indulgent activities promoted by that culture, as primary etiological mechanisms operating in the phenomenological foreground of such offences. Little research, however, has been undertaken on the extent to which British street robberies evolve out of similar cultural dynamics. This paper, base…
Understanding Homicide
Access to Legal Advice for Young Suspects and Remand Prisoners
This article argues that legal advice is particularly important for young suspects and pre‐trial remand prisoners. We explore the experience of these two groups in accessing legal advice and consider whether it breaches Article 6(3)(c) of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), which guarantees the right to consult a lawyer when charged with a criminal offence. We find that, whilst policies may appear compatible on paper, the reality in terms of practic…
Books Reviewed
Photo-Elicitation Interviews with Vulnerable Populations
Photo-elicitation is a qualitative interview technique where researchers solicit responses, reactions, and insights from participants by using photographs or other images as stimuli. Images can be researcher-generated or participant-generated and each has particular benefits and challenges. Though not new, the use of images within criminology is an underused technique. In this paper we advocate the use of photo-elicitation techniques suggesting t…
Street Codes as Formula Stories
Recent developments in the study of narratives suggest that people can construct identity by referencing acculturated stories (i.e., formula stories) and often do so when explaining untoward behavior. Formula stories connect one's personal identity with generally accepted subcultural identities and the narratives associated with them. In light of this, it becomes clear that cultural codes (e.g., the code of the streets) provide structured storyli…
Accounting for Violations of the Convict Code
Research over the past several decades shows that those who act in ways inconsistent with desired identities often account for (i.e., excuse or justify) their actions to save face and maintain social identities. While the bulk of research on the use of accounts examines how people make sense of behaviors that go against conventional values, recent research suggests that those who do not adhere to subcultural norms engage in similar talk. The curr…
The Foreground Dynamics of Street Robbery in Britain
Research into the situational dynamics of street robbery in the United States has identified a commitment to street culture, and participation in the self-indulgent activities promoted by that culture, as primary etiological mechanisms operating in the phenomenological foreground of such offences. Little research, however, has been undertaken on the extent to which British street robberies evolve out of similar cultural dynamics. This paper, base…
Sex, drugs, and coercive control
While many of the motives people provide for using drugs transcend gender, there are also notable gendered differences. These differences in motive talk aid in stigma management, shape gender performances, and can encourage or constrain behavior. Using data from a photoethnography with 52 people who use methamphetamine in rural Alabama, we find that men and women articulate their motives for drug use in distinctly gendered ways. Most notably, men…
Gender, Motivation and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery in the United Kingdom
In an influential study of gender and the accomplishment of street robbery in the United States, Miller (1998) demonstrated that whereas there were few gender differences in the motivations for such crimes, men and women typically committed them in strikingly different ways. Other recent work has similarly established both convergence within and divergence between male and female criminal enactment patterns. Most of that work, however, also was c…
The problem of success
Police detectives traditionally defined a successful homicide investigation as involving a suspect being identified, charged and ultimately convicted – preferably for murder. However, it is increasingly being recognised, not least by police officers themselves, that definitions of success can be more complex. Informed by empirical data drawn from field studies of police murder investigations in the UK, this article identifies four alternate defin…
Crafting Credible Homicide Narratives
Drawing upon qualitative data gathered during a four-year ethnographic study of homicide investigation in Britain, this paper explores how detectives, scientists, and other experts use findings from forensic sciences and technologies (FSTs) when constructing and modifying pre-trial homicide narratives. We consider how these narratives unfold from the earliest moments of the investigation and are told and re-told, as they are assembled into one co…
Helping police with their enquiries
It remains one of the key paradoxes of policing studies that homicide investigation is one of the most publicly visible and concomitantly least understood aspects of the police function. When mass
Capturing killers
Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data gathered during a four-year ethnographic study of 44 British homicide investigations, this paper advances the sparse literature on how closed-circuit television (CCTV) contributes to criminal investigations and the risks associated with its use. Based on insights gleaned from interviews with homicide detectives, analysis of case files and observations of live homicide investigations, we examine how C…
Visualizing Crime and Deviance
Books Reviewed
Access to Legal Advice for Young Suspects and Remand Prisoners
This article argues that legal advice is particularly important for young suspects and pre‐trial remand prisoners. We explore the experience of these two groups in accessing legal advice and consider whether it breaches Article 6(3)(c) of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), which guarantees the right to consult a lawyer when charged with a criminal offence. We find that, whilst policies may appear compatible on paper, the reality in terms of practic…
Understanding Homicide
The Foreground Dynamics of Street Robbery in Britain
Research into the situational dynamics of street robbery in the United States has identified a commitment to street culture, and participation in the self-indulgent activities promoted by that culture, as primary etiological mechanisms operating in the phenomenological foreground of such offences. Little research, however, has been undertaken on the extent to which British street robberies evolve out of similar cultural dynamics. This paper, base…
Gender, Motivation and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery in the United Kingdom
In an influential study of gender and the accomplishment of street robbery in the United States, Miller (1998) demonstrated that whereas there were few gender differences in the motivations for such crimes, men and women typically committed them in strikingly different ways. Other recent work has similarly established both convergence within and divergence between male and female criminal enactment patterns. Most of that work, however, also was c…
Multi‐Agency Work on Sexual Violence
The current policy climate in Britain requires that agencies work together to improve their performance and provide a better service to clients. This is especially apparent in recent initiatives designed to improve the services afforded to victims of crime. Whilst there is an established literature dealing with both the potential benefits of, and challenges posed by, multi-agency work (for example, Crawford 1997; Hughes 2007; Maguire 2004; Pearso…
Handbook on Crime
Street Codes as Formula Stories
Recent developments in the study of narratives suggest that people can construct identity by referencing acculturated stories (i.e., formula stories) and often do so when explaining untoward behavior. Formula stories connect one's personal identity with generally accepted subcultural identities and the narratives associated with them. In light of this, it becomes clear that cultural codes (e.g., the code of the streets) provide structured storyli…
Helping police with their enquiries
It remains one of the key paradoxes of policing studies that homicide investigation is one of the most publicly visible and concomitantly least understood aspects of the police function. When mass
The problem of success
Police detectives traditionally defined a successful homicide investigation as involving a suspect being identified, charged and ultimately convicted – preferably for murder. However, it is increasingly being recognised, not least by police officers themselves, that definitions of success can be more complex. Informed by empirical data drawn from field studies of police murder investigations in the UK, this article identifies four alternate defin…
Accounting for Violations of the Convict Code
Research over the past several decades shows that those who act in ways inconsistent with desired identities often account for (i.e., excuse or justify) their actions to save face and maintain social identities. While the bulk of research on the use of accounts examines how people make sense of behaviors that go against conventional values, recent research suggests that those who do not adhere to subcultural norms engage in similar talk. The curr…
Qualitative Research in Criminology (1999)
Part 1 The process of criminilization: the Public Order Act 1936 and the Greenshirt movement for social credit, Mark Drakeford investigating a criminal public sphere - reflexivity, law and class struggle, John Michael Roberts accessing and analyzing police murder files, Fiona Brookman social constructions of violence aginst the police, Mike Levi and Lesley Noaks accessing a demonised subculture - studying drug use and violence among bodybuilders,…
“Deciding” to Kill
This chapter examines the cognitive, affective, and situational factors that influence the decision-making processes of those who kill. With little existing research that specifically focuses on homicide offender decision making, this chapter brings together criminological and psychological research on violence-related cognition, affect, and the situational dynamics of violent encounters. The authors make the case for combining these three perspe…
The Handbook of Homicide
Photo-Elicitation Interviews with Vulnerable Populations
Photo-elicitation is a qualitative interview technique where researchers solicit responses, reactions, and insights from participants by using photographs or other images as stimuli. Images can be researcher-generated or participant-generated and each has particular benefits and challenges. Though not new, the use of images within criminology is an underused technique. In this paper we advocate the use of photo-elicitation techniques suggesting t…
Visualizing Crime and Deviance
We need to talk about dialogue
In this paper, we explore the importance of dialogue for collaborative sensemaking during homicide investigation, focusing upon interactions between detectives, forensic scientists and other experts involved in managing and undertaking forensic work. Drawing on data from a 4-year ethnographic study of British homicide investigations, we provide insights from criminal justice actors about both the value of, and barriers to, inter-professional and …
Capturing killers
Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data gathered during a four-year ethnographic study of 44 British homicide investigations, this paper advances the sparse literature on how closed-circuit television (CCTV) contributes to criminal investigations and the risks associated with its use. Based on insights gleaned from interviews with homicide detectives, analysis of case files and observations of live homicide investigations, we examine how C…
Understanding Homicide
Sex, drugs, and coercive control
While many of the motives people provide for using drugs transcend gender, there are also notable gendered differences. These differences in motive talk aid in stigma management, shape gender performances, and can encourage or constrain behavior. Using data from a photoethnography with 52 people who use methamphetamine in rural Alabama, we find that men and women articulate their motives for drug use in distinctly gendered ways. Most notably, men…
Crafting Credible Homicide Narratives
Drawing upon qualitative data gathered during a four-year ethnographic study of homicide investigation in Britain, this paper explores how detectives, scientists, and other experts use findings from forensic sciences and technologies (FSTs) when constructing and modifying pre-trial homicide narratives. We consider how these narratives unfold from the earliest moments of the investigation and are told and re-told, as they are assembled into one co…
Backstage at the Barristers’ Case Conference
Socio-legal ethnographies have focused largely on the dramaturgical themes present in the competing performances seen in adversarial trials. Drawing on ethnographic observations of British homicide investigations, we illuminate the hidden “backstage” space of prosecution barristers’ case conferences. Using Goffman’s dramaturgical framework, we analyze the interactions, deliberations, and negotiations that are enacted between barristers, homicide …
Risky calls
Despite concerns having been voiced internationally about the validity and reliability of mobile phone evidence, there remain large gaps in our understanding of how police acquire and process mobile phone data, and the risks associated with this work. This paper fills some of these gaps by drawing upon qualitative data gathered during an ethnographic study of the role of forensic sciences and technologies in British homicide investigations. Speci…
Homicide investigation in the Global South
Criminology (19 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Poison control (12 works) · Homicide (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Human Factors and Ergonomics (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works)