Homicide Victimization Rates Research Articles

Patterns of Female Homicide Victimization in Western Europe

Recent years witnessed an increase in attention to femicide, or the killing of women because of their gender. Prior empirical studies have drawn attention to the prevalence of female homicide victimization, but most have been unable to give a detailed overview of the specific contexts in which women are killed, and to what extent female homicide victimization is unique, i.e., in that it differs from male victimization. This exploratory study aims, first, to map the nature and scope of female homicide in six European countries: Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland; and, secondly, to compare female homicide victimization with male homicide victimization. Using data from a new uniform homicide recording system, the European Homicide Monitor, this study allowed for unique cross-country comparisons and a detailed breakdown by victim-offender relationship, and type of homicide. Results indicated that female homicide victimization rates remained relatively stable during the last decade, with a narrowing gender gap. Furthermore, results reflected substantial heterogeneity in the context in which women were victimized. Finally, female homicide victimization differs in many respects from male victimization, but overlaps do exist. Such heterogeneity, and possible overlaps with male victimization call for differential approaches.

US homicide rates increase when resources are scarce and unequally distributed.

As homicide rates spike across the United States, researchers nominate diverse causes such as temperature, city greenness, structural racism, inequality, poverty and more. While variation in homicide rates clearly results from multiple causes, many correlation studies lack the systematic theory needed to identify the underlying factors that structure individual motivations. Building on pioneering work in evolutionary human sciences, we propose that when resources are unequally distributed, individuals may have incentives to undertake high-risk activities, including lethal violence, in order to secure material and social capital. Here we evaluate this theory by analysing federal data on homicide rates, poverty and income inequality across all 50 US states for the years 1990, 2000 and 2005-2020. Supporting predictions derived from evolutionary social sciences, we find that the interaction of poverty (scarcity) and inequality (unequal distribution) best explains variation in US homicide rates. Results suggest that the increase in homicide rates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic are driven in part by these same underlying causes that structure homicide rates across the US over the last 30 years. We suggest that these results provide compelling evidence to expand strategies for reducing homicide rates by dismantling structures that generate and concentrate sustained poverty and economic inequality.

Environmental Hazards and Structural Covariates of US Homicide Rates: Methodological Considerations When Investigating the “Ecology” of Violence

ABSTRACT Environmental hazards such as air pollutants have increasingly been investigated as macro-level correlates of violent criminal activity, including rates of homicide across space. Such efforts highlight the growing appreciation in the social sciences of the interaction between humans and the natural environment, particularly within the subfields of environmental sociology and green criminology. However, while such investigations broaden the scope of relevant social scientific inquiry, they often fail to appreciate the theoretical and methodological contributions from prior crime and deviance scholars. Given the expansive history within the social sciences of investigating structural covariates of homicide rates, this effort seeks to determine whether differential levels of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) can be observed as unique predictor of lethal violence in the US after simplifying the dimensionality of the regressor space. Results indicate that while air pollution levels share covariate space with population size and density, their combined influence represents a robust predictor of county-level homicide rates in the various spatial econometric models estimated.

Not Just Another Test of Institutional Anomie Theory: Assessing Relative Institutional Imbalances

Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT) proposes high violent crime rates are due partially to imbalances in societal institutions, specifically the dominance of the economy over non-economic institutions. Tests of IAT have focused largely on the absolute strength of the economy, which ignores the core argument of institutional imbalance and the possibility that institutional preferences may not be additive and limited. If one institution is strong, it does not mean other institutions are weak. We believe rigorous tests of IAT must include its central concept of relative institutional imbalance. Utilizing the World Values Survey for a sample of 74 nations, we created institutional imbalance ratios for each pairing of the economy with family, education, religion, and polity. We employed multiple regression to determine if our measures of institutional preferences were associated with homicide victimization rates. Results indicated only the Economic:Education institutional imbalance ratio was positively and significantly associated with national homicide rates.

Violent victimization among immigrants: Using the National Violent Death Reporting System to examine foreign-born homicide victimization in the United States

Limited research attention has focused on homicides involving foreign-born victims. Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, we examined 9428 homicides that occurred in 2017 in the United States across 32 states and D.C. Approximately 8% of homicide victims were foreign-born. Homicide victimization rates were substantially lower for foreign-born persons, compared to U.S.-born persons. However, foreign-born persons from Honduras, El Salvador, and Jamaica had a substantially higher risk of homicide victimization. Notably, few homicides involving foreign-born victims were gang- or drug-trade-related. With the growing number of immigrants in the United States, policy and prevention efforts should be guided by research.

The Cross-National Relationship Between Women’s Autonomy and Long-Term Homicide Trends

Some researchers argue that growing women’s autonomy has worsened homicide victimization rates, attributed to a backlash effect. Others argue that increased women’s autonomy has an ameliorative effect, lessening homicide rates. To address this ambiguity, this article puts forward both methodological and theoretical modifications. First, data (from the UNODC Global Study on Homicide) is analyzed longitudinally rather than cross-sectionally. This analytical focus on changing trends is more appropriate to test existing theories. Second, we use measures of women’s autonomy across a number of social institutions, estimating and comparing effects in terms of women’s gains in political office, the labor market, and for adolescent fertility. Women’s gains in political office have no relationship with homicide rates. Integration of women in the labor market shows a curvilinear relationship, demonstrating a backlash affect until women are about 40% of the labor market, when homicide rates start declining. However, for low-income countries the labor market integration shows a linear, positive effect on homicide rates. Adolescent fertility has a strong, positive association with homicide trends—in fact, among the strongest of all predictors. Finally, gains in women’s autonomy are similarly consequential for the homicide against males and females. Overall, findings show that different measures of autonomy have distinct effects, and that gains amongst a restricted political elite do not necessarily spill over to other social institutions, such as the private sphere of families, which can be more impactful for changes in homicide rates.

Parsing out the “Hispanic Effect” in Disaggregated Homicide Trends at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender from 1990 to 2016

This study contributes to homicide research by parsing out the Hispanic Effect and applying an intersectional approach to examining U.S. homicide victimization trends by race, ethnicity, and gender, jointly. Drawing on mortality data, we document and describe total, firearm, and non-firearm homicide victimization rates from 1990 to 2016 for six subgroups: Black women, Black men, Hispanic women, Hispanic men, White women, and White men. The analysis of within- and between-group homicide trends reveals important subgroup-specific patterns that prior studies using aggregate or confounded data have masked. The findings have important research, theory, and policy implications and advocate for an intersectional approach to studying homicide.

The Enduring Influence of Cohort Characteristics on Race-Specific Homicide Rates

AbstractThis study extends research on cohort effects and crime by considering how bifurcated population dynamics and institutional constraints explain variation in homicide rates across racial groups in the United States. Drawing upon the extensive research on racial residential segregation and institutional segmentation, we theorize how the criminogenic influences of cohort characteristics elucidated in prior work will be greater for Black cohorts than for White cohorts. We assess our hypothesis by estimating Age-Period-Cohort Characteristic models with data for the total population and separately for the Black and White populations over the 1975–2014 period. The results reveal persistent effects of relative cohort size and nonmarital births on Black cohort-specific homicide rates but null effects among the White population. These effects follow Black birth cohorts across the life course, leading to higher rates of both homicide arrest and homicide victimization.

The Impact of State Firearm Laws on Homicide Rates among Black and White Populations in the United States, 1991-2016.

This study aimed to investigate the potential differential effects of state-level firearm laws on black and white populations. Using a panel design, authors examined the relationship between state firearm laws and homicide victimization rates among white people and black people in 39 states during the period between 1991 and 2016. Authors modeled homicide rates using linear regression with year and state fixed effects and controlled for a range of time-varying, state-level factors. Results showed that universal background check laws and permit requirement laws were associated with lower homicide rates among both white and black populations, and "shall issue" laws were associated with higher homicide rates among both white and black populations. Laws that prohibit firearm possession among people convicted of a violent misdemeanor or require relinquishment of firearms by people with a domestic violence restraining order were associated with lower black homicide rates, but not with white homicide rates. Author identification of heterogeneity in the associations between state firearm laws and homicide rates among different racial groups has implications for reducing racial health disparities.

Homicide in the South: Higher Rates Among Whites and Fewer Racial Disparities.

Describe southern US homicide rates in whites and blacks between 1999 and 2015. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Multiple Cause of Death Files provided mortality rates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for non-Hispanic whites (NHW) as well as non-Hispanic blacks and African Americans (NHB). Overall, age-adjusted (1 to ≥85 years) homicide was significantly higher in the South (7.6/100,000, 95% CI 7.6-7.7) than the rest of the United States (4.9/100,000, 95% CI 4.8-4.9) even though the southern rate among NHB (18.7/100,000, 95% CI 18.5-18.8) was lower than the rest of the United States (23.3/100,000, 95% CI 23.1-23.5). The overall southern NHB:NHW mortality rate ratio was 5.1 and 10.6 in the rest of the nation. Homicide rates among NHW men were higher in the South than in each of the other US Census areas, whereas corresponding rates among NHB men were lower. For both men and women the NHB:NHW mortality rate ratio was lower in the South than in any other region. In addition, homicide rates among NHB women in the South were equal to or lower than corresponding rates in the West and Midwest. Finally, higher rates for NHW in metropolitan areas led to overall higher NHW mortality rates and relatively low NHB:NHW rates. Southern NHW had a higher percentage of firearms-related homicides (58.4%) than the corresponding percentage in the rest of the United States (49.8%; P < 0.001). Southern NHB used firearms for 78.8% of homicides compared with 83.9% in the rest of the United States (P < 0.001). The overall high homicide rates in the southern United States were attributable to relatively higher NHW rates than those found in the rest of the country. Further research targeting the role of firearms as well as cultural and other issues could further the understanding of the interrelations of homicide with complex regional and cultural factors.

Do National Homicide Rates Follow Supranational Trends?

Objectives: We explored supranational trends in national homicide rates. We searched for a global trend, regional trends, and trends specific to other theoretically relevant groups of nations. We also tested two common metanarratives—modernization and conflict—as potential explanations for any global trend present in homicide rates. Method: We obtained annual homicide victimization rates for 94 nations between 1979 and 2013. We examined year-to-year differences, squared semipartial correlation coefficients to search for supranational trends, and pooled cross-sectional mixed models to test potential explanations of any global trend. Results: There was a very weak global homicide trend. We found strong regional trends in Eastern Europe and in Northern Europe, a weak trend for South and Central America, and no trend for Asia. Both wealthy and nonwealthy nations exhibited weak trends. Transitional nations shared a strong homicide trend. Modernization and conflict theories fared poorly as explanations for the weak global trend. Conclusions: The presence or absence of supranational homicide trends holds significant implications for theory. A weak global trend is evidence against widely held metanarratives such as the modernization, civilizing, and conflict perspectives. Strong subregional homicide trends in Eastern Europe and Northern Europe demand further exploration and should shift popular attention away from Western Europe. The lack of a homicide trend in developed or developing nations and the presence of a strong trend among transitional nations are curious features requiring further consideration.

Black women, victimization, and the limitations of the liberal state

This article challenges contemporary understandings of the US carceral state by confronting the realities of exceptionally high rates of homicide victimization among Black women and considering the implications for equality and understandings of the carceral state. We propose that neither the US state nor the US penal order can be fully understood without taking account of the exceptionally high rates of violence to which Black women are exposed. Conceptions of the carceral state that do not situate criminal justice within the larger context of raced and gendered subject formation depict criminal “justice” as an arena composed almost entirely of adult males. This obscures the realities of how state form contributes not only to criminal justice practices but also to risk of violence. Black women are uniquely situated at the intersection of risk of violence, and risk of experiencing the collateral damage of the carceral state. Without significant attention to issues of connectivity and care, which are direc...

Population-level alcohol consumption and national homicide rates

We explored the cross-national association between population-level alcohol consumption and homicide victimization rates. The very few prior studies of this association had small homogeneous sample...

An Evaluation of the Impacts of Changing Firearms Legislation on Australian Female Firearm Homicide Victimization Rates.

Reducing lethal violence against women requires comprehensive measures addressing individual, social, economic, cultural, and situational factors. Regarding situational factors, access to weapons-and firearm access in particular-has received notable research attention. However, most study comes from the United States of America, and findings may not apply elsewhere. The current study examines whether changing gun laws in Australia affected female firearm homicide victimization. Female firearm homicide victimization may have been affected; however, no significant impacts were found for male firearm homicide victimization. Findings suggest there may be value in preventing legal access to firearms by persons who have a history of intimate partner violence, although considerable further study is required.

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

This study utilized a fairly new measure of gender equality from the European Union to dissect the relationship between gender-specific homicide victimization rates and different forms of gender equality across a sample of European countries. Results showed support for a curvilinear relationship between financial equality and female and male homicide victimization, providing support for amelioration and backlash theories, but no support for absolute economic marginalization. While there were some similarities between the female and male models, there were enough differences to warrant further investigations of gendered theories of violent victimization.

The effects of detrimental drinking patterns and drug use on female homicide victimization rates across Europe

This study examines the extent to which drinking patterns and drug use can explain cross-national variations in female homicide victimization across Europe. Given the limitations in measuring femicide consistently across a large number of countries, this study uses mortality data on recorded female deaths as a proxy to explain differences in levels of this kind of violence against women across Europe. In particular, it focuses on national-level patterns of alcohol and drug use as predictors, controlling for other known structural correlates. Contrary to findings of previous studies, cultural drinking patterns were not significantly related to female homicide victimization in this sample of countries, but detrimental drug use was.

The (Null) Effects of Percent Young on 15 to 24 Age-Specific and Male- and Female-Specific Cross-National Homicide Rates

Recent systematic research indicated percent of the population that is young is not significantly associated with cross-national homicide victimization rates. However, there are theoretical reasons to expect percent young may be associated with 15 to 24 age-specific and with gender-specific cross-national homicide victimization rates. We test three hypotheses: Percent young is associated with 15 to 24 age-specific, male-specific, and female-specific homicide victimization rates. We employed data for 1999-2004 from a sample of 55 nations and utilized multiple statistical analyses. Results indicated no significant association between percent young and 15 to 24 age-specific and gender-specific homicide victimization rates. We situate our findings within the larger literature.

How effective are our ‘better angels’? Assessing country-level declines in homicide since 1950

Pinker makes the sweeping argument that violence declines with modernization as countries of the world gradually converge in terms of economic markets, communication structures, and culture. An alternative prediction is provided by conflict perspectives, which argue that growing income inequality both within and between countries will serve to drive criminal violence ever higher. We use fixed effects regression models to examine the extent to which national homicide victimization rates for 55 countries have shared declining trends for the past six decades. Our results show that homicide rates in the countries examined trended in the same downward direction since the early 1990s, but support for a modernization perspective was limited mostly to a subset of wealthy, western-style democracies.

U.S. spousal homicide rates by racial composition of marriage

PurposeAmerican spousal homicide rates persistently and substantially vary by racial composition of the married couple. Analyses examined different racial couple types' spousal homicide rates in light of nonspousal homicide victimization and offending rates and couple types' average social, demographic, and economic characteristics. MethodsAnalyses used 2003 to 2007 spousal homicide data from Supplementary Homicide Reports for which missing data have been multiply imputed. Current Population Survey data provided estimates of the number and average characteristics of different couple types. Log-linear models related couple types' differing spousal homicide rates to different race-sex groups' general rates of homicide victimization and offending and couple types' average characteristics. ResultsAmong couple types with at least 50,000 couples, annual rates of male-on-female spousal homicide ranged from 0.95 to 8.76 per 100,000 couples; for female-on-male spousal homicide, this range was 0.13 to 2.29. Rates somewhat reflect different race-sex groups' nonspousal homicide activity, but with greater gender disparity and an excess of spousal homicide in some couple types. The association between victim's and offender's race is parsimoniously described by models using couple types' average characteristics (proportion with female's education exceeding the male's, proportion in central cities, and relative frequency). ConclusionsGeneral homicidal-violence reduction strategies may partly apply to spousal homicide, but specifically targeted efforts are required too. Interventions must address different couple types' particular social, economic, and cultural experiences.

A Comparative Profile of Violent Clients of Prostitute Women

To be effective and meaningful, offender profiles must be based on empirical comparisons of offenders and non-offenders' characteristics. Prostitute women have the highest homicide victimization rate of any population of women ever studied. Violent crimes against prostitutes tend to be difficult to solve and involve low clearance rates, which underline the need for accurate and actionable offender profiles. We conducted a matched case-control study in which we compared clients who assaulted, raped, and/or killed prostitute women with clients arrested for patronizing prostitutes in the same jurisdictions and time periods. We identified client perpetrators of cleared (solved) prostitute homicides, assaults, and rapes in a national search of US media sources. Controls were men arrested for patronizing in the same time period and jurisdictions in which a case encountered his victim(s). We matched 5 randomly selected controls to each perpetrator. There were 118 cases with suitable controls. Violent clients usually picked up their victims in the same areas where police arrested clients for patronizing. Cleared violent crimes against prostitutes involved long periods of time between the perpetrator’s (first) attack and his arrest (e.g., a median of almost 7 months for prostitute killers). The matched case-control analysis showed that violent clients and controls were similar in terms of age and distance between their residences and victim encounter/arrest locations. However, violent clients were less likely than controls to be white, be underweight or severely/morbidly obese, and drive cars (as opposed to other types of motorized vehicles). Violent clients were also much more likely to have a criminal history of violent, rape, and property offenses, and substantially less likely to have a criminal history of miscellaneous other (non-violent, non-property, non-sex, non-patronizing) offenses than controls. Men with a criminal history of violent and/or rape offenses comprise a pool that would include 40% of prostitute killers (47% of serial prostitute killers). In addition, meaningful proportions of clients arrested for patronizing in two jurisdictions had less money in their possession than the price they had agreed to pay for sex or carried weapons at the time of arrest, suggesting the potential for violence in clients’ interactions with prostitutes.