Homicide investigation in the Global South: ‘jeitinho’ and differences between policy and street-level practice
This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of homicide investigation practices in a Global South city with a high homicide rate. We focus in particular on how homicide detectives deal with formal rational-legal controls such as laws, regulations, and policies while investigating homicides...
| VerfasserInnen: | ; ; |
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| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2025
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| In: |
Policing and society
Jahr: 2025, Band: 35, Heft: 8, Seiten: 1019-1035 |
| Online-Zugang: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
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| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Zusammenfassung: | This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of homicide investigation practices in a Global South city with a high homicide rate. We focus in particular on how homicide detectives deal with formal rational-legal controls such as laws, regulations, and policies while investigating homicides in a constrained setting. Our findings reveal that the standard operating procedures governing homicide investigation practices were enacted primarily for symbolic reasons. As a result, the actual practices of homicide investigators are only loosely coupled with the formal procedures ostensibly governing those practices. Our findings are consistent with previous research on the institutional dynamics shaping police practices. However, the paper shows that in this setting, these dynamics are shaped in part by prevailing cultural norms in the country. Taken together, these institutional dynamics and cultural norms such as ‘jeitinho’ exert a powerful influence on how homicide investigations unfold. Our findings add to the literature on police organisations generally and homicide investigation more specifically. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-2728 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/10439463.2025.2553653 |
