Lydia Voigt

Homicide Followed by Suicide: An Integrated Theoretical Perspective

Homicide followed by suicide is an extremely rare event, requiring an integrated theoretical understanding that goes beyond explaining it as either homicide or suicide. Police reports, newspaper articles, and interviews with families, friends, and neighbors connected with 42 homicide–suicide cases that occurred in greater metropolitan New Orleans between 1989 and 2001 form the empirical base of this study. A homicide followed by suicide typology predicated on thematic context, including victim–perpetrator relationship, age, sex, race, ethnicity, and occupation in addition to precipitating factors, motivation, type of fatal injury, and location of event, is discussed. An integrated theoretical model using structural conflict intensity factors; elements of the social stress–strain perspective focusing on frustration, failure and anomie; and power dominance issues is presented. Although additional research is certainly called for, these sociological autopsies raise important methodological and theoretical questions for future exploration.

Disaster-Related Human Rights Violations and Corruption A 10-Year Review of Post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

The main goal of this article is to share results of an examination of cases of institutional and structural violations of human rights stemming from various types of corruption, especially in their expression in the later stages of recovery and reconstruction in post-Katrina New Orleans. Utilizing the United Nations definitions of human rights and corruption, our 10-year review finds that a wide variety of disaster-related human rights violations and corruption can be identified in all phases of the disaster. These cases range from failure to plan/implement an adequate response to the impending danger of the hurricanes to failure to protect the public from inadequate products/services to enacting everyday public policies enabling discriminatory practices and denial of human rights to failure to shield the public from official corruption that has continued to prey on disaster victims. Based on our analysis, we recommend ways of safeguarding human rights, including the right to be free from corruption and reducing disaster risks, particularly for the most vulnerable populations in the future.