Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country

Patricia Evangelista documents the extrajudicial killings occurring during the Philippine drug war under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte. She tracks the expansion of police state violence and the rise of local death squads through five years of on-the-ground reporting. The narrative follows specific crime scenes in Manila slums, detailing the bureaucratic language used to justify homicide and the testimonies of both the bereaved families and the gunmen themselves. Evangelista analyzes the psychological shift in a populace that began to view state-sponsored execution as a necessary tool for social order.

Readers of investigative journalism and political science will find a granular case study on how populist rhetoric facilitates mass violence within a democracy. The book serves those studying the mechanics of state impunity and the linguistic frameworks used to dehumanize specific segments of society. A reader walks away with a technical understanding of the logistics behind state-sanctioned murder and an awareness of how public consensus is manufactured to support authoritarian policies. It provides a historical record of the specific victims and perpetrators involved in the campaign.