Race, Sex, and Criminal Homicide Offender-Victim Relationships

Abstract

To understand violence it is necessary to focus on the chain of interactions between aggressor and victim, on the sequence that begins when two people encounter each other and which ends when one harms, or even destroys, the other. Hans Toch (1969: 6)

An Empirical Analysis of 30 Years of U.S. Juvenile and Adult Sexual Homicide Offender Data: Race and Age Differences in the Victim–Offender Relationship

“…Close to 60% of Black offender–Black victim homicides in Humphrey and Palmer’s (26) study involved a primary relationship between the offender and victim when compared to 48% in White intra‐racial killings. Black victims who were murdered by their friends were more likely to come from their own racial group.…”

“…Black victims who were murdered by their friends were more likely to come from their own racial group. In contrast, White victims were two times more likely to be killed by strangers than Black victims (26). …”

Investigating the nature of expressiveness in stranger, acquaintance and intrafamilial homicides

“…It has been argued that in order to understand the act of homicide it is necessary to focus on the chain of interactions between the aggressor and victim (Hickey, 1996;Humphrey & Palmer, 1987;Toch, 1969;Wolfgang, 1958;and Silverman & Mukherjee, 1987). However to date, our understanding of interpersonal violence and the dynamics surrounding the victim-offender relationship is limited.…”

Self-Concept and Violent Delinquency in Urban African-American Adolescent Males

“…By 1993, that number reached 51% (U.S. Department of Justice, 1995). Homicide is currendy a leading cause of death for both African-American males age 15 to 44 years and females age 15 to 34 years (Poussaint, 1983;Humphrey & Palmer, 1987;Bell, 1990;Howell, Krisberg, Hawkins, & Wilson, 1995). African-American males have the highest rate of victimization (U.S. Department of Justice, 1995).…”

“…tice, 1994). Because homicide is markedly intraracial (Humphrey & Palmer, 1987;Bell, 1990), this disproportionality is also indicative of the state of African-American offenders: while African Americans represent only 12% of the U.S. population, they comprise 50% of all arrests for violent crimes (Petersha & Turner, 1985;Bartol, 1991;U.S. Department of Justice, 1995).…”