Criminology Theory & Practice

This article discusses a suspected murder case in Melbourne and analyzes it using social structure theory and social conflict theory. It explores the causes and implications of the crime, considering factors such as family structure and robbery. The article also highlights the importance of understanding social networks and interactions in investigating such crimes.

Running Head: CRIMINOLOGY THEORY & PRACTICE 1
CRIMINOLOGY THEORY & PRACTICE
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Police appeal for help after suspected murder of woman in Melbourne; Retrieved
from: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/16/police-appeal-for-help-after-
suspected-of-woman-in-melbourne
Synopsis
The police were investigating a suspected murder of a woman in North Melbourne.
The police were examining whether the woman was followed off a tram from the city and
later attacked. The married woman, who had already been formally identified by the police
was found by a passer-by early morning near Polaris shopping centre car park, just a short
distance from the tram stop. Homicide detectives were treating the cases as suspicious
Homicide. They later asked anyone who might have a CCTV footage of No 86 tram between
11 pm and 1 am Tuesday night, and had recorded something suspicious should make a formal
report with the police. The police also asked those who might have a dash cam footage of the
crime area covering anywhere between 11 pm and 1 am to make contact with the police. It
had been about 8 months since the murder of comedian Eurydice Dixon, whose body was
later discovered in Princes Park in Carlton on 13th June 2018. Eurydice Dixon’s killers
pleaded guilty in November last year. What the police wanted from the community was
anyone who might have seen person that could have fit the description of the image that
they put in the public .
Case Analysis
Social Structure theory
The cause of this murder can theoretically be considered to be murder by structure.
The concept of social structure often applies to persons that interact with each other on a
consistent basis. A family unit is considered a general social structure. Parents are the head of
the social structure and children are taken care of and directed through that structure. The

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police had classified this case as a suspected homicide. Even though the concept of social
structure embodies multiple dimensions, in this incident, it can be based on a robbery or
family structure. (Yang, Ryan, & Zhang, 2013).The importance of family, in this case is that
it has a high correlation with other criteria of social status, and thus it makes it valid to
evaluation the family background of the victim. Most murders among married women are
either committed by their spouses and when a man is murdered by a woman, the perpetrator
is usually his wife. Based on the social structure theory, this case appears to be a
premeditated one arising either of disagreements over matters which, from a conventional
standpoint, barely warrant an extreme response. Robbery, another most regular interactional
setting, can be accounted for the murder of the woman (Richmond, 2010).
Social conflict theory
In social conflict theory, divergent behaviors by certain individuals in society often
lead to activities that do not conform to social establishments. The ability of a social
establishment to change such norms always comes into conflict with the individuals. In some
cases, the lawful rights of some victims might be overlooked, while individuals from higher
social structures are considered. Tajfel, (2010) indicates that social conflict theory is founded
upon the idea that the major causes of homicides such as robbery are multiple social factors
operating within society.
A case of justifiable homicide can be made in the sense that the officers reasonably
believe that at the time when the incident occurred, the victim's life was in significant danger.
Social conflict theory can be applied in this case, on the facts that police consider the victim
was out at dangerous hours. Therefore, they might have assumed that a part of a surplus
population that defies the set laws may have preyed upon the woman who was just minding
her business However, surviving family member can file a wrongful death when it can be

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established whether authorities played a role in the murder that resulted to unjustifiable
homicide (McDonough, Reich, & Kotz,2010).
Such types of murders are best understood not by searching for a single determinant
but by reviewing all the available social networks of actions and reactions that might have led
to the murder. This simply implies that the social structure if homicide can only be defined by
the manner at which the social structures of the victim are constructed and the placement of
key suspects in them. The police can, therefore, use a network methodology and incident-
level homicide accounts to reconstruct the structure of such murders in the area. The results
would demonstrate whether individual murders in the area create an institutionalised network
of conflicts and the main motive of individual participation in the murder. De Dreu, (2010)
indicates that, “in analysing crime, the networks often spread in an epidemic-like procedure
of social contamination as the perpetrators isolate the most visible actions of others within
their network and tend to show some dominance that they disseminate through such violent
considerations.”(P. 176).

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References
De Dreu, C. K. (2010). Social conflict: The emergence and consequences of struggle and
negotiation.
Calla Wahlquist , (2019) Police appeal for help after suspected murder of woman in
Melbourne ;Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/16/police-appeal-for-help-
after-suspected-of-woman-in-melbourne
McDonough, T., Reich, M., & Kotz, D. M. (Eds.). (2010). Contemporary capitalism and its
crises: Social structure of accumulation theory for the 21st century. Cambridge
University Press.
Richmond, O. P. (2010). A genealogy of peace and conflict theory. In Palgrave advances in
peacebuilding (pp. 14-38). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Tajfel, H. (Ed.). (2010). Social identity and intergroup relations(Vol. 7). Cambridge
University Press.
Yang, J., Ryan, C., & Zhang, L. (2013). Social conflict in communities impacted by
tourism. Tourism Management, 35, 82-93.