Violence in Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Victim Injury in Robbery Incidents

Abstract

Prior research highlights the importance of both situational variables and the broader social context in explaining the distribution of crime. It is unclear, however, whether these factors continue to influence a criminal event as it unfolds, thus affecting the severity of violence. The present study draws on developments in opportunity theory to assess the influence of situational variables and the broader social context on the severity of violence. Using incident-level data from National Incident Based Reporting System and city-level Census data, we estimated a series of multilevel models to examine the effects of location and time of day on victim injury during robberies. We also modeled cross-level interactions to observe the moderating influence of concentrated disadvantage. Findings suggest location and time of day are significantly associated with victim injury, and the broader social context conditions the effect of location on victim injury. We discuss the implications of our findings and directions for future research.