High Rates Of Violent Crime Research Articles

Exploring the ecological association between crime and medical marijuana dispensaries.

Routine activities theory purports that crime occurs in places with a suitable target, motivated offender, and lack of guardianship. Medical marijuana dispensaries may be places that satisfy these conditions, but this has not yet been studied. The current study examined whether the density of medical marijuana dispensaries is associated with crime. An ecological, cross-sectional design was used to explore the spatial relationship between density of medical marijuana dispensaries and two types of crime rates (violent crime and property crime) in 95 census tracts in Sacramento, CA, during 2009. Spatial error regression methods were used to determine associations between crime rates and density of medical marijuana dispensaries, controlling for neighborhood characteristics associated with routine activities. Violent and property crime rates were positively associated with percentage of commercially zoned areas, percentage of one-person households, and unemployment rate. Higher violent crime rates were associated with concentrated disadvantage. Property crime rates were positively associated with the percentage of population 15-24 years of age. Density of medical marijuana dispensaries was not associated with violent or property crime rates. Consistent with previous work, variables measuring routine activities at the ecological level were related to crime. There were no observed cross-sectional associations between the density of medical marijuana dispensaries and either violent or property crime rates in this study. These results suggest that the density of medical marijuana dispensaries may not be associated with crime rates or that other factors, such as measures dispensaries take to reduce crime (i.e., doormen, video cameras), may increase guardianship such that it deters possible motivated offenders.

The Association Between Density of Alcohol Establishments and Violent Crime Within Urban Neighborhoods

Numerous studies have found that areas with higher alcohol establishment density are more likely to have higher violent crime rates, but many of these studies did not assess the differential effects of type of establishments or the effects on multiple categories of crime. In this study, we assess whether alcohol establishment density is associated with 4 categories of violent crime and whether the strength of the associations varies by type of violent crime and by on-premise establishments (e.g., bars, restaurants) versus off-premise establishments (e.g., liquor and convenience stores). Data come from the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2009 and were aggregated and analyzed at the neighborhood level. Across the 83 neighborhoods in Minneapolis, we examined 4 categories of violent crime: assault, rape, robbery, and total violent crime. We used a Bayesian hierarchical inference approach to model the data, accounting for spatial auto-correlation and controlling for relevant neighborhood demographics. Models were estimated for total alcohol establishment density as well as separately for on-premise establishments and off-premise establishments. Positive, statistically significant associations were observed for total alcohol establishment density and each of the violent crime outcomes. We estimate that a 3.9 to 4.3% increase across crime categories would result from a 20% increase in neighborhood establishment density. The associations between on-premise density and each of the individual violent crime outcomes were also all positive and significant and similar in strength as for total establishment density. The relationships between off-premise density and the crime outcomes were all positive but not significant for rape or total violent crime, and the strength of the associations was weaker than those for total and on-premise density. Results of this study, combined with earlier findings, provide more evidence that community leaders should be cautious about increasing the density of alcohol establishments within their neighborhoods.

Temperature and Violent Crime in Dallas, Texas: Relationships and Implications of Climate Change

IntroductionTo investigate relationships between ambient temperatures and violent crimes to determine whether those relationships are consistent across different crime categories and whether they are best described as increasing linear functions, or as curvilinear functions that decrease beyond some temperature threshold. A secondary objective was to consider the implications of the observed relationships for injuries and deaths from violent crimes in the context of a warming climate. To address these questions, we examined the relationship between daily ambient temperatures and daily incidents of violent crime in Dallas, Texas from 1993–1999.MethodsWe analyzed the relationships between daily fluctuations in ambient temperature, other meteorological and temporal variables, and rates of daily violent crime using time series piece-wise regression and plots of daily data. Violent crimes, including aggravated assault, homicide, and sexual assault, were analyzed.ResultsWe found that daily mean ambient temperature is related in a curvilinear fashion to daily rates of violent crime with a positive and increasing relationship between temperature and aggravated crime that moderates beyond temperatures of 80°F and then turns negative beyond 90°F.ConclusionWhile some have characterized the relationship between temperature and violent crime as a continually increasing linear function, leaving open the possibility that aggravated crime will increase in a warmer climate, we conclude that the relationship in Dallas is not linear, but moderates and turns negative at high ambient temperatures. We posit that higher temperatures may encourage people to seek shelter in cooler indoor spaces, and that street crime and other crimes of opportunity are subsequently decreased. This finding suggests that the higher ambient temperatures expected with climate change may result in marginal shifts in violent crime in the short term, but are not likely to be accompanied by markedly higher rates of violent crime and associated increased incidence of injury and death. Additional studies are indicated, across cities at varying latitudes that experience a range of daily ambient temperatures.

Violent Crime, Mobility Decisions, and Neighborhood Racial/Ethnic Transition

Numerous studies have observed a positive cross-sectional relationship between the size of racial/ethnic minority groups and crime and posited that this relationship is entirely due to a causal effect of minorities on crime rates. We posit that at least some of this relationship might be due to the opposite effect: neighborhood crime increases the number of racial/ethnic minorities. This study employs a sample that allows nesting housing units within census tracts in a number of cities to test the effect of violent crime rates on residential mobility. We find that racial/ethnic transformation occurs due to two effects: first, white households are more likely to exit neighborhoods with higher rates of violent crime than are African American households. Second, whites are significantly less likely to move into a housing unit in a tract with more violent crime, particularly if this violent crime rate is increasing. On the other hand, African American and Latino households are more likely to enter neighborhoods with higher levels of violent crime. And Latinos are particularly likely to enter neighborhoods experiencing an increasing level of violent crime over the previous four years.

Sweetened blood cools hot tempers: physiological self-control and aggression

Aggressive and violent behaviors are restrained by self-control. Self-control consumes a lot of glucose in the brain, suggesting that low glucose and poor glucose metabolism are linked to aggression and violence. Four studies tested this hypothesis. Study 1 found that participants who consumed a glucose beverage behaved less aggressively than did participants who consumed a placebo beverage. Study 2 found an indirect relationship between diabetes (a disorder marked by low glucose levels and poor glucose metabolism) and aggressiveness through low self-control. Study 3 found that states with high diabetes rates also had high violent crime rates. Study 4 found that countries with high rates of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (a metabolic disorder related to low glucose levels) also had higher killings rates, both war related and non-war related. All four studies suggest that a spoonful of sugar helps aggressive and violent behaviors go down.

Does Crime Undermine Public Support for Democracy? Evidence from Central America and Mexico

The current crime crisis in Mexico and Central America has captured domestic and international headlines. The region is now infamous for some of the highest homicide rates in the world. In addition to high rates of violent crime, organized crime has also emerged as a powerful challenge to public security. As police and military forces confront suspected criminals and even armed drug cartels, many have feared that this escalating conflict might undermine the relatively recent transitions to democracy. Indeed, there is considerable theoretical and empirical evidence to lend credence to such concerns. New democracies frequently do not have sufficient time to develop their institutional capacities to fight crime, and can find themselves weak and ineffective when trying to maintain order. Furthermore, recent studies have linked public fear of crime to support for undemocratic alternatives, such as extra-legal justice. This paper aims to assess the impact of crime on Mexican and Central American democracy empirically. Building upon the burgeoning literature on crime and democracy, this analysis examines the impact of crime on citizens’ attitudes toward democracy and their political participation. In doing so, this project aims to assess the impact of personal victimization and fear of crime on citizens’ political attitudes (support for the rule of law) and behavior (voting and community participation).

The social ecology of police attitudes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use Klinger's theory of negotiated order to examine whether district crime and deviance levels exert influence on levels of police cynicism towards district residents. A secondary purpose is to discuss the policy implications for the proposed relationship between district crime and police cynicism.Design/methodology/approachInterviews from the Project on Policing Neighborhood (POPN) and patrol district crime data were used to study whether crime and deviance levels exert influence on police cynicism of district residents (n=574). It was hypothesized that officers would be more cynical of citizens in districts with higher rates of violent crime compared with their colleagues assigned to districts with lower rates of violent crime.FindingsThe results of OLS regression analyses indicate that district violent crime rate was related to police cynicism and in the direction hypothesized, controlling for both individual and occupational covariates. Officers with more experience were also found to have lower levels of cynicism.Research limitations/implicationsItems used to construct the measure of police cynicism were adapted from the POPN survey data set which asked general questions about officer perceptions of district residents. Further research and better measures are necessary in order to examine the determinants of police cynicism with implications for explaining behavior. Findings from the study might be used by policymakers in terms of police assignment and deployment to high crime areas.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical attempt at examining Klinger's theory of social ecology. The study incorporates a policy argument based on the theoretical precepts and the results from the data analysis.

Youth Gangs as Pseudo‐Governments: Implications for Violent Crime

We hypothesize that the failure of government to protect the rights of individuals from violence committed by youths has led to the formation of youth gangs as protective agencies. Our theory predicts an opposite direction of causality between gang activity and violent crime from what is widely accepted. While areas with more gang activity also have more violence, our results suggest that gangs form as protection agencies precisely in areas with high violent crime rates. While gangs, like governments, use violence to enforce rules, the net impact of gangs is likely to lower violent crime. We test this hypothesis and offer policy implications.

Mammography facilities are accessible, so why is utilization so low?

This study examines new socio-ecological variables reflecting community context as predictors of mammography use. The conceptual model is a hybrid of traditional health-behavioral and socio-ecological constructs with an emphasis on spatial interaction among women and their environments, differentiating between several levels of influence for community context. Multilevel probability models of mammography use are estimated. The study sample includes 70,129 women with traditional Medicare fee-for-service coverage for inpatient and outpatient services, drawn from the SEER-Medicare linked data. The study population lives in heterogeneous California, where mammography facilities are dense but utilization rates are low. Several contextual effects have large significant impacts on the probability of mammography use. Women living in areas with higher proportions of elderly in poverty are 33% less likely to use mammography. However, dually eligible women living in these poor areas are 2% more likely to use mammography than those without extra assistance living in these areas. Living in areas with higher commuter intensity, higher violent crime rates, greater land use mix (urbanicity), or more segregated Hispanic communities exhibit -14%, -1%, -6%, and -3% (lower) probability of use, respectively. Women living in segregated American Indian communities or in communities where more elderly women live alone exhibit 16% and 12% (higher) probability of use, respectively. Minority women living in more segregated communities by their minority are more likely to use mammography, suggesting social support, but this is significant for Native Americans only. Women with disability as their original reason for entitlement are found 40% more likely to use mammography when they reside in communities with high commuter intensity, suggesting greater ease of transportation for them in these environments. Socio-ecological variables reflecting community context are important predictors of mammography use in insured elderly populations, often with larger magnitudes of effect than personal characteristics such as race or ethnicity (-3% to -7%), age (-2%), recent address change (-7%), disability (-5%) or dual eligibility status (-1%). Better understanding of community factors can enhance cancer control efforts.

Trading the Forward Rate Puzzle

Permits to carry concealed firearms in public (CCW permits) remain controversial. A small scale natural experiment with shall-issue CCW permit policy in California, a may-issue state, is reported. During the mid-1990s, the chief of police of the Sacramento County town of Isleton issued permits to all county residents who applied and passed a standard background check. This program received national publicity. The incidence of subsequent criminal activity among 691 persons applying for CCW permits through Isleton’s program in 1995 and that in a statewide sample of 965 CCW applicants from 1993–94 were compared. Subjects were followed up for three years from their application dates. The arrest rates for violent crime among Isleton and statewide applicants were 291 and 104 per 100 000 person-years, respectively (relative risk 2.8, 95% confidence interval 0.7 to 11.2, p = 0.18). This suggests that a shall-issue policy for CCW permits may result in higher rates of violent crime among permit holders, but the results do not reach statistical significance; larger studies are needed.

Comment: Neoliberal stories of racial redemption

Have the Civil Rights movements and the change associated with them been used to the advantage of powerful interests in ways that conflict with and contradict the reforms won by the movements? Has post-Civil Rights era sensitivity to race and "myths" of racial progress-in particular issues of equality-actually helped paper over the social problems challenging many African Americans and African American communities? My answer to both questions is "yes." However, the use of race and rhetoric of racial redemption in the service of elites and powerful interests is nothing new, and Professor Baca seems to agree with this in his paper "Neoliberal stories of racial redemption." Nevertheless, critique of how civil rights policies mesh with and support neoliberalism alone does not help us grasp the pervasiveness of the confluence, nor does it suggest feasible alternatives to the convergence. Indeed, this "critical" approach is not vastly different from the kind of critiques presented by the analysts who Professor Baca sees as glorifying Civil Rights and Fordism, while demonizing conservatism and neoliberalism. People can use race to oppress, liberate, and maintain a status quo. Ideologies and policies attendant to neoliberalism, conservatism, and civil rights only tap the surface of the elaborate and contradictory make-up of race. This mix of race and politics must not be divorced of people's conflicted awareness of their situation, or the possibilities of upending elite hegemony over resources and ideas. I want to offer a different angle on Professor Baca's argument. During 1981, I briefly worked in a motor pool, cleaning and servicing vehicles. My supervisor was an unremarkable Black man, perhaps 20 years older than I (I want to emphasize race, so from here on I will use "Black" rather than African American). This fellow, let's call him Jeff, won election as a state representative in the late 1990s to a district that is home to a large number of Black people, many of them suffering from low literacy, high rates of violent crime, high

Race, crime, and Republican strength: Minority politics in the post-civil rights era

This investigation assesses the relationships between racial threat and partisan dominance in state legislatures with tests of interactive hypotheses. The findings show that historically contingent expectations derived from racial threat theory, Republican law and order campaign appeals, and fundamentalist strength account for Republican strength in the legislatures. Two-way fixed-effects estimates based on pooled time-series analyses of 799 state-years in the post-civil rights era show that the percentage of Republicans in the state legislatures grew after increases in African American presence and the violent crime rates. The combined effects of a growth in African American and fundamentalist populations also account for increased Republican seats in these bodies. Statements by Republican campaign officials on how they deliberately used mass resentments against minorities to gain votes provide evidence about the intervening links between minority threat, the menace posed by high violent crime rates, and increased Republican strength in the state legislatures.

Organizational, Administrative, and Environmental Correlates of Complaints About Police Use of Force

Minority representation among police personnel, relative to the communities they serve, has long been advanced as an explanatory factor for the prevalence of negative police—public interactions as well as police agency responsiveness to public concerns, particularly with regard to the use of force. But minority representation has rarely been studied empirically and on a large scale. The present study examined minority representation and additional organizational, administrative, and environmental correlates of citizen complaints about police use of force in 496 large municipal police departments. Data were drawn from the 2003 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Results indicate that (a) rates of force complaints were higher among agencies having greater spatial differentiation, internal affairs units, and higher violent crime rates; (b) the percentage of complaints sustained was higher among agencies characterized by greater formalization and lower where collective bargaining was authorized for officers; and (c) minority representation was unrelated to complaint rates nor to the percentage of complaints sustained. Implications for the policing literature as well as future refinements for the LEMAS survey are discussed.

Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa (review)

Reviewed by: Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa Michael Lambek Adam Ashforth . Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. xx + 396 pp. Ill. $62.50 (cloth, 0-226-02973-5), $25.00 (paperbound, 0-226-02974-3). Adam Ashforth has written a compelling book about life in an urban society in which witchcraft is rampant. Not quite the masterpiece that Madumo1 is, it complements that previous work by supplying a good deal of the social context and consequences and the academic references that were missing there. More scholarly than Madumo, this book too is written with great ease and is a pleasure to read. It also raises many provocative issues that readers will be eager to debate with the author. Having lived extensively in Soweto, Ashforth is convinced of the depth, salience, and prevalence—the social reality—of witchcraft. While critical of earlier anthropological accounts that have seen witchcraft as symbolic or indexical of social conflict, Ashforth builds his case around what he calls "spiritual insecurity." This is a cagey term, insofar as it can be read both literally—a worry about spirit attack—and figuratively, as a condensation of all the woes of postapartheid South Africa: daily economic hardship and disillusionment; envy at the success of neighbors, and the pervasive evidence of class polarization in the black community; increasing deaths from AIDS (he does not discuss the stress of caring for the sick); poor medical services; loss of a common goal and enemy; breakdown of descent groups, families, and paternal strength; disruption of traditions that maintained protective relations between the living and the ancestors; and high rates of alcohol abuse, traffic fatalities, and violent crime. Ashforth is at his best in describing life "in a world with witches." The social correlate of witchcraft is pointedly phrased as "the presumption of malice." Ashforth works through questions of gossip, secrecy, and confession and provides a useful update of Evans-Pritchard's arguments about rationality for the modern urban context. Although witchcraft operates "within a paradigm of communication rather than one of mechanism" (p. 119), the task is no longer to translate between cultures or systems of belief, but to show how witchcraft might be plausible to anyone. Sowetans struggle against believing in witchcraft, or attempt to remove themselves from it under the protection of the Christian churches. Most saliently, Ashforth asks: "How can one represent the 'beliefs' of people who do not know what to believe? How can one represent the 'culture' of people who are ignorant of 'their' culture?" (p. 130). In fact, this is followed by a very competent and comprehensive but quite traditional review of beliefs and practices, punctuated by occasional poignant ethnographic vignettes. The explanatory question is really why a life crowded with spiritual beings necessarily results in insecurity. Ashforth makes the telling point that people no longer have "access to ancestral forces powerful enough to meet the challenges of large-scale suffering" (p. 206). The most original contribution here concerns the role of the state in addressing the insecurity of its citizens. To what degree can or should the modern liberal [End Page 682] state intervene in issues of social justice raised and exacerbated by witchcraft? How can it protect human rights without being perceived as protecting witches, and thereby becoming witchlike itself? Ashforth demonstrates the conundrums involved in bringing witchcraft under the regime of law. Here he might have distinguished ritual murders for body parts, where objective evidence is present and the perpetrators are all too real, from the majority of cases that are based on allusion and persuasion. He also reviews difficulties in the bureaucratic rationalization of healing or valuation of "traditional knowledge," such as the fact that healers are a diverse lot, hardly self-regulated by ancestral tradition, and including now vast numbers of prophets in the African Initiated Churches and other charismatic congregations. In effect the question is how, and whether, to take a figurative world literally. Ashforth implies that in order to address spiritual insecurity the government must acknowledge the prevalence of witchcraft. Yet the fact that he problematizes all means by which it might do so suggests that it could do better...

Youth Gangs as Pseudo-Governments: Implications for Violent Crime

We hypothesize the failure of government to protect the rights of individuals from violence committed by youths has led to the formation of youth gangs as protective agencies. Our theory predicts an opposite direction of causality between gang activity and violent crime than is widely accepted. While areas with more gang activity also have more violence, our theory suggests gangs form as protection agencies precisely in areas with high violent crime rates. While gangs, like governments, use violence to enforce rules, the net impact of gangs is to lower violent crime. We test this hypothesis and offer significant policy implications.

Institutional reforms: the case of Colombia

These studies of Colombian economic, political, and social institutions offer not only theoretically grounded analyses but also practical recommendations for policy reform. Experts from the United States, Europe, and Colombia approach such problems as executive-legislative branch conflict, fragmented political parties, crime prevention, inefficient decentralization, and mistargeted social spending from a political economics perspective. Their findings provide an illuminating example of the way ideas from this relatively new area of research can be applied to real-world problems. Colombia suffers not only from institutional problems—many of which may stem from its overly rigid 1991 constitution—but also high rates of violent crime, endemic drug trafficking, guerrilla warfare, and political corruption; the authors do not shrink from these topics, but treat them for the most part from an institutional perspective. Following a useful overview of recent economic history in Colombia, three chapters examine political institutions, discussing separation of powers, Colombia's complicated electoral and political party system, and reform of the judicial system. The remaining chapters treat economic and social institutions, covering the fiscal imbalance of centralized taxing and decentralized spending, transparent and fiscally responsible budget processes, education reform, the provision of social services, and the advantages of an independent central bank. Each chapter includes specific policy proposals that are politically feasible and require minimal legislative action. The proposed solutions to Colombia's institutional problems also shed light on similar problems in other developing countries.

Relationships between child, family and neighbourhood characteristics and childhood injury: A cohort study

There has been little research into the role of neighbourhood effects in childhood injury. We report results from a cohort study, comprising 1717 families (2357 children aged 0–7 years) registered at 47 general practices in Nottingham, UK. Multi-level Poisson regression examined relationships between electoral ward (neighbourhood), family and child characteristics and medically attended injury rates. Primary care attendance rates were higher for children in rented accommodation and those aged 2–3 years. An n-shaped relationship was found between geographical access to services and the primary care attendance rate. Accident and Emergency (A&E) department attendance rates were higher amongst boys, children in rented accommodation, with a teenage mother, aged 2–5 years and living in wards with a higher number of parks and play areas. They were lower for children whose families had a smoke alarm. Hospital admission rates were higher amongst children living in more deprived wards and wards with higher violent crime rates. They were lower in children whose families had smoke alarms, stair gates and stored sharp objects safely. Primary care and A&E attendance rates varied significantly between families. Variation between wards in the A&E attendance rate was explained by family characteristics. We conclude that characteristics of wards, families and children are associated with medically attended childhood injury rates. This study did not find a neighbourhood effect for A&E attendances that could not be explained by family level characteristics. Studies with greater power and a measure of injury severity independent of health service utilisation are needed to explore the relationship between neighbourhood effects and more severe injuries. The greater variation in injury rates vary between families than between neighbourhoods suggests reducing inequalities in injury rates may be achieved more effectively by focussing prevention at families rather than neighbourhoods, but in practice interventions at both levels are likely to be necessary.

Was an increase in cocaine use among injecting drug users in New South Wales, Australia, accompanied by an increase in violent crime?

BackgroundA sharp reduction in heroin supply in Australia in 2001 was followed by a large but transient increase in cocaine use among injecting drug users (IDU) in Sydney. This paper assesses whether the increase in cocaine use among IDU was accompanied by increased rates of violent crime as occurred in the United States in the 1980s. Specifically, the paper aims to examine the impact of increased cocaine use among Sydney IDU upon police incidents of robbery with a weapon, assault and homicide.MethodsData on cocaine use among IDU was obtained from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS). Monthly NSW Police incident data on arrests for cocaine possession/use, robbery offences, homicides, and assaults, were obtained from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Time series analysis was conducted on the police data series where possible. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from law enforcement and health agencies about the impacts of cocaine use on crime and policing.ResultsThere was a significant increase in cocaine use and cocaine possession offences in the months immediately following the reduction in heroin supply. There was also a significant increase in incidents of robbery where weapons were involved. There were no increases in offences involving firearms, homicides or reported assaults.ConclusionThe increased use of cocaine among injecting drug users following the heroin shortage led to increases in violent crime. Other States and territories that also experienced a heroin shortage but did not show any increases in cocaine use did not report any increase in violent crimes. The violent crimes committed did not involve guns, most likely because of its stringent gun laws, in contrast to the experience of American cities that have experienced high rates of cocaine use and violent crime.

Institutional Reforms: The Case of Colombia

These studies of Colombian economic, political, and social institutions offer not only theoretically grounded analyses but also practical recommendations for policy reform. Experts from the United States, Europe, and Colombia approach such problems as executive-legislative branch conflict, fragmented political parties, crime prevention, inefficient decentralization, and mistargeted social spending from a political economics perspective. Their findings provide an illuminating example of the way ideas from this relatively new area of research can be applied to real-world problems.Colombia suffers not only from institutional problems -- many of which may stem from its overly rigid 1991 constitution -- but also high rates of violent crime, endemic drug trafficking, guerrilla warfare, and political corruption; the authors do not shrink from these topics, but treat them for the most part from an institutional perspective. Following a useful overview of recent economic history in Colombia, three chapters examine political institutions, discussing separation of powers, Colombia's complicated electoral and political party system, and reform of the judicial system. The remaining chapters treat economic and social institutions, covering the fiscal imbalance of centralized taxing and decentralized spending, transparent and fiscally responsible budget processes, education reform, the provision of social services, and the advantages of an independent central bank. Each chapter includes specific policy proposals that are politically feasible and require minimal legislative action. The proposed solutions to Colombia's institutional problems also shed light on similar problems in other developing countries.

Ideology, Social Threat, and the Death Sentence: Capital Sentences across Time and Space

Capital punishment is the most severe criminal penalty, yet we know little about the factors that produce jurisdictional differences in the use of the death sentence. Political explanations emphasize conservative values and the strength of more conservative political parties. Threat accounts suggest that this sentence will be more likely in jurisdictions with larger minority populations. After controlling for many explanations using two-equation count models, the results show that larger numbers of death sentences are probable in states with greater membership in conservative churches and in states with higher violent crime rates. The findings suggest that political conservatism, a stronger Republican party, and racial threat explain whether a state ever used the death sentence, but these hypotheses do not account for the number of death sentences beyond one. By highlighting the explanatory power of public ideologies, these findings support political explanations for the harshest criminal punishment.