David Wilson

Attempts to understand serial murder tend to focus on individual cases rather than the social context in which they occur. In contrast, this book sets the case of nineteenth-century serial killer Mary Ann Cotton in its full social context. Drawing from historical records of Cotton’s court appearances, it shows how institutions such as the family, economy, and religion shaped the environment she inhabited.

A superbly targeted resource for those wanting to learn about serial killings. Deals with and analyses some of the best known (as well as lesser) cases from English criminal history, ancient and modern. Looks at the lifestyles, backgrounds and activities of those who become serial killers. Identifies clear categories of individuals into which most serial killers fall. Led by Professor David Wilson the authors are all experts and practised teachers concerning the ever-intriguing phenomenon of serial killing: why, when and how it happens and whether it can be predicted. Taking some of the leading cases from English law and abroad they demonstrate the patterns that emerge in the lives and backgrounds of those who kill a number of times over a period. The book is aimed at those studying the topic as an academic discipline, whether on one of the many courses now run by institutions or as a serious attempt at private study and understanding.It contains notes on key terms and explanations of essential topics such as co-activation, Munchausen syndrome, cooling-off period, psychopathy checklist, social construction, case linkage, family annihilation, activity space, rational choice theory, medicalization and rendezvous discipline. As the first textbook of its kind it will be an invaluable resource for both teaches and all students of serious crime whether formally or self-taught.

A key issue in economic discourse today is the relation (or lack of it) between economic behaviour and morality. Few (presumably) would want to deny that human beings are in some sense moral or ethical creatures, but the devil is in the detail. Should we think of economic behaviour as an essentially amoral process – a process adequately characterised by a means-ends rationality – into which any number of subjective ethical concerns or orientations may be intruded to give a particular action its determinate moral content? Or is it rather the case that our moral being runs deeper than this, in the sense that all of our behaviour – ‘economic’ or otherwise – is enabled or capacitated by a competence that is fundamentally ethical in character? With new analyses of the work of Hobbes and Smith, Dixon and Wilson offer a fresh approach to the debate surrounding economics and morality with a novel discussion of the self in economic theory. This book calls for a change in the way that the relation between economic behaviour and morality is understood – from an understanding of morality as a kind of preference that informs certain types of other-regarding behaviour (the way that modern economics understands the relationship), to an idea of morality as a competence that enables or, rather, conditions the possibility of all forms of human behaviour, other-regarding or not.Offering a new insight on homo economicus, this book will be of great interest to all those interested in the history of economics and of economic thought.

This is the report of the excavation of an enigmatic site in South Gloucestershire, which contained a decorated cellar with a cruciform setting of channels beneath its floor, almost certainly of 'ritual' significance, and a very large bath-house which included a swimming pool some fourteen metres long. Both the cellar and the bath-house had painted wall plaster and the bath-house contained a small area of tessellated floor. No other rooms were decorated in any way. The site dates from the late 1st Century AD and there was no evidence of any earlier activity apart from a number of randomly distributed flints, mainly Mesolithic.

Pain and Retribution charts the rise and rise of a form of punishment that takes place behind the walls of the institution we have come to call ‘prison’. It is the first single-volume history of British prisons, charting their history from the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day. Written by a former prison governor who is now one of the country’s leading criminologists, the book offers unrivalled insight into the prison system in England, Scotland and Wales.David Wilson, using criminological theory, looks at the way in which the prison has needed to satisfy the demands of three interested parties: first, the public, including politicians and media commentators; second, prison staff; and third, the prisoners themselves. The amount of influence each of these different factions had has varied at different points in history, according to the prevailing concerns and issues of the period. The inability of the prison to satisfy all three groups at the same time means that the prison system is perpetually in crisis, and is therefore seen as a failure. Ironically, the prison system continues to prosper in terms of the numbers of prisoners incarcerated and the vast amount of money that society invests in keeping them locked up.Pain and Retribution explores prison as an institution and discusses not only who gets imprisoned but also what happens to people when they are ‘banged up’. David Wilson investigates how prisons are designed and how they are organized and managed, allowing the reader access to all areas, from the prison landing to the people behind the locked doors, including the prison staff. He asks searching questions about the purpose of Britain’s current prison system and why prison exerts such a hold on the collective psyche and imagination.

From the rolling Preseli Hills to its dramatic cliff-top coastline, Pembrokeshire, in west Wales, both excites and enthralls with a sense of timeless beauty. And yet there is also a story to be told, one of meaning and of ancestry, which acclaimed landscape photographer David Wilson brings to life through his remarkable black and white images. Join David as he explores his native county through 58 stunning images and discover for yourself what the landscape really looks like.

As one of the UK's leading commentators, David Wilson shows how some serial killers stay in the headlines whilst others rapidly become invisible - or "unseen". Yet Mary Ann Cotton is not just the first but perhaps the UK's most prolific female serial killer, with more victims than Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, Beverly Allit or male predators such as Jack the Ripper and Dennis Nielsen. But her own north east of England and criminologists apart, she remains largely forgotten, despite poisoning up to 21 victims in Britain's 'arsenic century'. Exploding myths that every serial killers is a 'monster', the author draws attention to Cotton's charms, allure, capability, skill and ambition - drawing parallels or contrasting the methods and lifestyles of other serial killers from Victorian to modern times. He also shows how events cannot be separated from their social context - here the industrial revolution, growing mobility, women's emancipation. And concerning the reticence of 'human nature', Like Dr Harold Shipman, Cotton was allowed to go on killing despite reasons to suspect her.The book contains other resonances to aid understanding of how serial murderers can continue to kill despite such things as coincidence, gossip, whispers or motives that become more obvious with the benefit of hindsight. It is also a detective story in which the persistence of a single individual saw Cotton tried and executed, events analysed first-hand and in detail from the records.

Investing in Communities Achieves Results fills an important gap in the global knowledge on community level results and resources related to HIV and AIDS. While communities, in spite of their limited resources, have played a key role in the HIV/AIDS response, their contributions and innovative approaches to prevention, treatment, care, and support have not always been the focus of systematic and rigorous evaluations. To address this deficit, a series of studies-including evaluations in Burkina Faso, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe-were undertaken over a three-year period (early 2009 to early 2012), helping to build a robust pool of evidence on the effects of community-based activities and programmes.A unique feature of this multicountry evaluation was the collaboration between two international organisations (the World Bank and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development) and a major civil society network (the U.K. Consortium on AIDS and International Development). Other attributes that contributed to the successful outcome were the sustained consultation process with civil society and stakeholders at the local, national, and global levels, and the collaboration among high-calibre, multi-disciplinary researcher teams.The book's findings are promising. At varying levels, depending on the country context, the HIV response in communities was shown to improve knowledge and behaviour and increase the use of health services- and even decrease HIV incidence. Evidence on social transformation was more mixed, with community groups found to be effective only in some settings. Each study in the evaluation provides a partial view of how communities shape the local response; however, taken together they constitute a significant pool of rigorous evidence on the contributions of communities, community groups, and civil society to the national and global HIV and AIDS response. The studies suggest that communities have produced significant results at the local level, which contribute to outcomes at the national level.

In March 1882, when John Watson is invited to Edinburgh to visit his cousin, the eminent Dr. Patrick Watson, he convinces Holmes to accompany him on what he believes will be a relaxing holiday. But where Sherlock Holmes tends to go, then surely a crime must be detected. What begins as a chance encounter of a seemingly simple mystery at an Edinburgh home, soon takes Holmes and Watson in to conflict with the Edinburgh Police, an investigation involving murder and corruption, and crossing paths with the local populace including Dr. Joseph Bell. As Holmes works more closely with a young Edinburgh constable on the case, it causes Watson to question not only his own position, but his very relationship with Sherlock Holmes.