Race and Gender-Disaggregated Homicide Offending Rates

Abstract

Although gender and race are two of the best known correlates of violent crime, surprisingly little research has examined how gender and race intersect in the etiology of violent behavior. To redress this, the authors' study integrates a communities and crime perspective within a gender inequality framework to examine the city-level correlates of homicide offending rates disaggregated by race and gender. Two questions are addressed: a) Are the contextual underpinnings for high rates of urban homicide in the United States similar or distinct across race and gender categories? b) Does the ability of city characteristics as predictors of violence vary depending upon the context of violence (i.e., by victim-offender relationship)? Consistent with expectations, findings indicate that there are differences in the relative importance of predictors of homicide across race and gender categories. In addition, the relative importance of homicide predictors depends upon the nature of the victim-offender relationship.

Assessing the Impact of Changes in Gender Equality on Female Homicide Victimization

“…Our findings offer modest support for the traditional/ameliorative hypothesis that women's increasing status relative to men decreases their risk of lethal victimization and is consistent with the previous work of Titterington (2006), Dugan et al (2003), Haynie and Armstrong (2006), Stout (1992), Bailey and Peterson (1995), Brewer and Smith (1995), and Davies (1996). Counter to the predictions of liberal, radical, and socialist feminism, these effects were limited to the total female homicide and friend homicide models, and there was no effect for gender equality on intimate partner homicide.…”

Money Matters: Dissecting the Relationship Between Gender Equality and Female Homicide Victimization Rates in the European Union

“…Vieraitis, Britto, and Morris (2015) provided a comprehensive review of the existing literature, heavily dominated by studies conducted with U.S. data, so I will only present a summary of their findings and add information about a few other studies that were not included in their review. Vieraitis et al (2015) found seven studies supporting the amelioration hypothesis (Bailey & Peterson, 1995;Davies, 1996;Dugan, Nagin, & Rosenfeld, 1999;Haynie & Armstrong, 2006;Stout, 1992;Titterington, 2006), and their own 2015 analysis using multilevel modeling to examining change over time in the United States provided some support for this hypothesis as well, for a total of eight studies. In addition, they identified 10 studies supporting the backlash hypothesis (Avakame, 1999;Davies, 1996;DeWees & Parker, 2003;Dugan et al, 1999;Gartner et al, 1990;Gauthier & Bankston, 1997;Stout, 1992;Vieraitis & Williams, 2002;Whaley, Messner, & Veysey, 2013).…”

Injury Patterns for Homicide Followed by Suicide by the Relationship Between Victims and Offenders

“…The importance of the relationship between victims and their offenders dates back to Wolfgang’s (1958) study of patterns in Philadelphia homicides from 1948 to 1952, which indicated that the majority of homicides occur between individuals with a close relationship (i.e., intimate partners, family members, friends). Since Wolfgang’s seminal work, considerable scholarly attention has focused on the role that victim and offender characteristics play in lethal violence (e.g., Decker, 1993, 1996; Gruenewald & Pridemore, 2009; Haynie & Armstrong, 2006; Regoeczi & Riedel, 2003), with research showing the relationship between the victim and the offender to be an important factor to consider in understanding homicide offending behavior (Avakame, 1998; Cao, Hou, & Huang, 2008; Decker, 1993, 1996; Drawdy & Myers, 2004; Haynie & Armstrong, 2006; Osho & Williams, 2013).…”