2008.02.19
Homicide victims: A picture's worth a thousand columns and rows
I've added as many pictures of victims as I could find in our archive to the entries on our homicide map. So far, 11 of the 27 deaths documented on the map have thumbnail pictures embedded with them.
We can't always obtain images of victims, though we always try. Sometimes family members are hard to locate, or just don't care to share. We do our best to avoid reducing victims to names on a list, to remind readers they are human.
It's in the same spirit that I'm adding these images to the map. Data can seem pretty cold and not very human or personal. I hope these pictures make a difference. Take a look, most especially if you've looked before. When you click on those markers, and what pops up is not only text with dates, but the face of a smiling young mother or proud deputy sheriff, it gets to you in a different way.
At least it does me.
