The people were forced to confront these ideas as they also sought to defend the town against those who thought simply that Laramie must have fostered these ideas and must be complicit in the death. Even without that element, the horror of the situation caused many to ask how anyone in their community could do such a thing, a common response in any community where a terrible crime takes place.
Loffreda's analysis is extensive, and she is able to talk to many people ion the town who otherwise were avoiding speaking to the media at all. Her investigation took place at the same time as the trial and other events related to the crime, making her ability to get answers from a shell-shocked public all the more remarkable. She shapes the book by first telling what it is about, then by examining the community, and later by continuing the analysis of what happened by writing about the trial and its aftermath. She then concludes by pondering the meaning of these events and what they might tell the reader about America, about Wyoming, and about the reader him...
The event was terrible, but it did bring about a soul-searching that could lead to improved attitudes, better relations among groups in society, increased tolerance, and solutions to some of the problems between different populations.
The book illuminates many of the issue facing law enforcement and the courts in America today as well as many of the complexities that make solutions so difficult. Loffreda never forgets that human beings are at fault for these problems, and she does not treat the perpetrators as simply monsters who cannot be understood. Instead, she tries to understand their actions as well as those of the community. Her work provides an interesting and important addition to books on crime and criminology as well as sociology and psychology.
References
Barak, G., Flavin, J., & Leighton, P. (2001). Class, Race, Gender and Crime: Social Realities of Justice in America. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing.
Loffreda, B. (2000). Losing Matthew Shepard. New York: Columbia University Press.
