Missing Women, Missing News: Covering Crisis in Vancouver`s Downtown Eastside

The arrest and trial of Robert Pickton—a man charged with murdering 26 prostitutes in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside—is at the center of this study of the behavior of police officers and news reporters when a crime involves poor or marginalized victims. The analysis asks What made it possible for so many women to simply disappear from a densely populated urban neighborhood without provoking an aggressive response by the state? For answers, the book compares the Vancouver murders to the disappearance of a single teenager in Toronto—a tragic but isolated incident—that marshaled vigorous police work and extensive media coverage. Pointing to the broad social forces that drove this unequal treatment, the discussion calls for changes in the way the media covers police work.