Shelf Life

As part of her study of feminine crime in turn-of-the-century Chicago, Newberry Graduate Scholar in Residence Rachel Boyle scoured more than 200 boxes of 100-year-old court records, collecting information on every homicide involving a female suspect she could find. Faced with a bounty of data about arrests and convictions, she plotted these crimes onto historical maps of the city to make sense of her findings. In this episode of "Shelf Life," we talk with Rachel about her research and the larger conclusions she was able to draw about society's response to criminal women in the past, as well as today. (Intro music: "Two Types of Awakenings" by Nheap)