«A Triumph of American Police Methods»: Representations of Police Work in Two Sensational Kidnap-Murder Cases of the 1920s
In the 1920s, two sensational kidnap-murders involving adolescents captured the attention of the press and the reading public: the thrill-kill of the Leopold-Loeb case and the brutal mutilation of a young girl in the Hickman case. The press representations of police workin these two cases delineate...
Salvato in:
| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/chs, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Crime, Histoire & Sociétés
2009
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | In the 1920s, two sensational kidnap-murders involving adolescents captured the attention of the press and the reading public: the thrill-kill of the Leopold-Loeb case and the brutal mutilation of a young girl in the Hickman case. The press representations of police workin these two cases delineate the contours of the public images of policework at a time when the police professionalization process was still incomplete. A close reading of these images provides a glimpse of the transformation process by which the police officer in the U.S. shed his early reputation as a corrupt and inept fool and re-fashioned as a trust worthy and competent professional crime-fighter. |
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