Death by the Powerful: Invisibility and Social Harm

by Katy Snell

Overview

This vital book exposes the devastating ways families are treated after their loved ones have been killed by a relatively powerful perpetrator; revealing how families are harmed; silenced by the criminal justice process and invisible in both criminology and the mainstream media. Drawing on landmark cases such as the Grenfell fire, it explores the failures of de-regulation and how institutional perpetrators fail to be held accountable.

Centering the voices of secondary victims—those left behind after corporate harm—it highlights the ways in which justice is avoided, and the effect of this on the families. A vital contribution to zemiology and the study of corporate crime, this book confronts the true cost of crimes committed by the powerful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529233940
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2026
Series:	Studies in Social Harm
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Katy Snell is Lecturer of Criminology at the University of Hull.

Table of Contents

Introduction – Aims, Methodology, Chapter Outline

1. Corporate Crime: Criminology and Social Harm

2. A Biography of Harm, Victims and Secondary Victims of the Powerful

3. How Victims and Secondary Victims Are Pushed to Invisibility

4. Harmful Effects on Secondary Victims

5. The Counter to Invisibility and Harm

Conclusion – Alternative Social Arrangements and Final Summary