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This contribution is a sequel to an earlier paper in the journal by the second author. It examines the Government's remit to the Law Commission to suggest revision to the law relating to homicide, and the eventual somewhat muted implementation in the Coroners and Justice Act of 2009. These changes to the law of homicide, and more specifically the revisions to the partial defences of diminished responsibility and provocation, are critically reviewed, and are discussed in light of the future of homicide law reform. It is argued that more radical reform to the substantive law of homicide is needed, but this article also discusses the problems of implementing this more radical reform given the Government's reluctance to remove the mandatory life sentence for murder.

Over a decade ago the present author presented some comments on homicide inquiries in this journal. Since then there have been a number of important developments, including the increase in the number of such inquiries and changes in their constitution and functions. A somewhat neglected area has been soliciting the views of those who chair such inquiries. The present contribution endeavours to remedy this deficiency.

The publication of the Law Commission's Consultation Paper and final proposals for the reform of homicide legislation has prompted the author to review some clinical and legal aspects of homicidal behaviour. It is suggested that the complexities of this behaviour are not well served under current legal provisions.

Despite the longstanding public and media fascination with the modern ‘serial killer’, the academic literature is relatively limited. The international field is dominated by individualistic biographical accounts, which offer a highly reductionist and distorted stereotype of the perpetrator, with little opportunity to learn from past cases, or place them within wider socio-cultural contexts. Furthermore, there are a profusion of overlapping and confusing terms, confounded by the FBI's social construction of the ‘serial killer problem’, and perpetuating widespread misleading assumptions. After many years teaching in this area, we are often struck by how these media-driven misconceptions of the serial killer dominate students' knowledge and interest in the topic. This is despite a growing critique of the area in recent years, particularly from within our field of criminology. We seek to debate these issues by exploring some useful cases of serial killing, foregrounding some UK case examples, which are often underexplored. We argue for the need to facilitate scholarly, systematic research to counter the voyeuristic, essentialist narratives within popular media. We also advocate the alternative socio-cultural approach to the study of serial killing, which has emerged in recent years, although been relatively unacknowledged in the international literature to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The report into the care, treatment, and supervision of Michael Stone is commented upon; special attention is paid to questions of anonymity, confidentiality, inter-agency communication, and media conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are three themes in this short paper. First, a brief historical context; second, the semantics of 'dangerousness' and 'risk'; third, some issues that emerge from recent inquiries into homicides committed by persons known to the psychiatric service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]