American Homicide

In direct response to the growing rates of homicide in the United States, I decided to take on murder as a subject, in order to attain a macro-view on the societal effects of homicide on people, both individually and as a group.

American Homicide is being built in three parts: Families of Victims, Families of Perpetrators, and the lives of Homicide Detectives, who are caught in the middle, trying to both apply justice and to also remain human, for both themselves and their families. This project is in progress.

The goal is to look at how homicide affects all parties involved. Traditionally, when looking at murder, most attention is paid to the victim and their immediate family. Although this attention is justified to a certain degree, I am more interested in the larger picture, and how cumulatively, these homicides affect us as a society.

As units of justice, Homicide Detectives are often portrayed as alcoholics and people with mental illness, dealing with stress in unhealthy ways. Their families are almost never mentioned.

Also, when it comes to the families of perpetrators, there is almost no coverage or documentation of their experience. I aim to give equality to all three sides, in order to take a fresh look at an old problem.

In the United States, for example, there are over 150 organizations that offer support for victims’ families.

For families of perpetrators, who have also lost someone to the act of homicide, there are zero.

In addition to photographing the lives and experiences of all three elements, I am collecting written statements, as well as conducting extensive audio interviews to gain the perspective of all involved.

As far as the Homicide Unit goes, I have been given access to one of the largest police departments in the United States with almost an entire year of full access to crime scenes.

Through establishing personal connections, I have also been able to access their personal lives at home, within their inner circles.

Through my research, I have discovered only a handful of documentary projects that have been able to breach the divide between the general public and a Homicide Unit through visual documentation, and never for this length of consecutive time.

The last extensive survey of this topic, although it was more general, was James Nachtwey’s essay Crime and Punishment, in 1992.

So far I have been working on this project since April of 2022 thru September of 2022.

I return to the Homicide Unit in January 2023 to document their daily lives during the winter months in Dallas, Texas.

In between these dates, I have continued to meet and interview families of victims and perpetrators from across the nation.

This also includes convicted murderers currently serving time in prison.