Inequality, grievances, and the variability in homicide rates

US homicide rates increase when resources are scarce and unequally distributed

“…Finally, as noted in previous studies (Daly & Krupp, 2022 ), unexplained residual variation in model results may be the product of spatial scale bias in variable measures. Estimates of homicide and inequality are at the level of states in our analysis and are often at the level of whole countries (Daly, 2023 ), while homicide is a manifestation of the interaction between local poverty and inequality. After all, individuals will surely use local cues of resource scarcity rather than state-wide or national markers.…”

“…While this literature is too vast to summarise in detail, we outline several important trends in the field pertaining to empirical approaches that establish links between economic conditions and homicide and studies which hypothesise explicit causal relationships. A more thorough review of non-evolutionary approaches can be found in Daly (2016Daly ( , 2023.…”

“…Researchers drawing on evolutionary theory propose the causal argument that absolute and relative resource scarcity structures the costs and benefits for violent interpersonal competition (Allen et al, 2016 ; Daly, 2016 , 2023 ; Daly & Wilson, 1988 ; Daly et al, 2001 ; McCool et al, 2022 ). Specifically, when resources are unequally distributed, individuals with limited wealth and income may have incentives to undertake high-risk activities – including those that lead to lethal violence – in order to access material and social capital.…”

“…These studies and others (e.g. Allen et al, 2016 ; de Courson et al, 2023 ; Daly & Krupp, 2022 ; Daly, 2023 ) develop a general evolutionary theory of lethal violence, which links material conditions necessary for survival and reproduction to the variable costs and benefits of homicide. Importantly, this theory recognises that (1) homicide cannot be explained with reference only to pathologies that produce maladaptive behaviours (Daly & Krupp, 2022 ; Hackman & Hruschka, 2013 ), (2) most homicide is, rather than a manifestation of mental illness, a complex, facultative capability sensitive to the conditional payoffs for competition over limited resources (Daly & Krupp, 2022 ) and (3) life history trade-offs may partially explain persistent cycles of killings (also termed enduring neighbourhood effects; de Courson et al, 2023 ), whereby homicide itself increases extrinsic mortality risk, which positively feeds back on life history strategies, and in addition, (4) we find it important to bring up the naturalistic fallacy, namely, that while homicide may be adaptive by providing Darwinian fitness benefits under certain conditions, this does not suggest that homicide is beneficial to society or morally appropriate.…”

“…Causal arguments are varied, but often propose violence to be a reaction to structurally imposed constraints on material and social capital leading to deprivation in certain communities (e.g. McDaniel et al, 2022 ; Daly, 2023 ; Vásquez et al, 2023 ). While this research programme has produced numerous empirical insights, studies often find conflicting results (e.g.…”