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PubMed2000

Social context and geographic patterns of homicide among US black and white males.

OBJECTIVES: The recently published Atlas of United States Mortality depicted striking regional differences in homicide rates for Black and White males in the United States. This study examined these rates to gain an understanding of the contribution of social context to geographic variability in homicide. METHODS: Homicide rates were calculated by health service area for the years 1988 to 1992. The contributions of age, geographic location, urbanization, and sociostructural characteristics were evaluated by means of a weighted linear mixed effects model. RESULTS: Regional differences in urbanization explained much of the geographic variation in homicide rates, but sociostructural factors also had a significant impact. The results suggest that these effects operate similarly for White and Black males, although differences were found in the magnitudes of the effects for the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Results point to a strong association between homicide and urbanization and socioeconomic conditions in all regions of the country for both Black and White males. These findings shed light on the potential correlates of high homicide rates in the United States in the near future.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Vodka and violence: alcohol consumption and homicide rates in Russia.

In Russia, rates of alcohol consumption and homicide are among the highest in the world, and already-high levels increased dramatically after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rates of both, however, vary greatly among Russia's 89 regions. We took advantage of newly available vital statistics and socioeconomic data to examine the regional covariation of drinking and lethal violence. Log-log models were employed to estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on regional homicide rates, controlling for structural factors thought to influence the spatial distribution of homicide rates. Results revealed a positive and significant relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide, with a 1% increase in regional consumption of alcohol associated with an approximately 0.25% increase in homicide rates. In Russia, higher regional rates of alcohol consumption are associated with higher rates of homicide.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2003

Underreporting of justifiable homicides committed by police officers in the United States, 1976-1998.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the consistency of estimates of the number of justifiable homicides committed by US police officers and identified sources of underreporting. METHODS: The number of justifiable homicides committed by police officers between 1976 and 1998 was estimated from supplementary homicide report (SHR) and National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) mortality data. RESULTS: Nationally, the SHR estimate was 29% larger than the NVSS estimate. However, in most states this pattern was reversed, with more deaths reported in the NVSS. CONCLUSIONS: Both systems underreport, but for different reasons. The NVSS misclassifies cases as homicides, rather than justifiable homicides committed by police officers, because certifiers fail to mention police involvement. The SHR misses cases because some jurisdictions fail to file reports or omit justifiable homicides committed by police officers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Gun control law (Bill C-17), suicide, and homicide in Canada.

Canadian Bill C-17 was implemented in 1991 to restrict the use of firearms, providing a chance to investigate the effect of firearm control laws in the use of firearms for suicide and homicide. Following Lester and Leenaars' comprehensive studies, the present study examined the use of firearms for suicide and homicide during the period prior to the bill and during the period after the passing of Bill C-17 to assess the association of the bill with rates of suicide and homicide by method. Analysis showed a significant decrease after passage of Bill C-17 in the rates of suicides and homicides involving firearms and the percentage of suicides using firearms. The analysis provides support for the position that restricting the availability of firearms as a lethal means of committing suicide and homicide may help reduce the numbers of suicides and homicides.

Canada↗
PubMed2001

Handgun sales, beer sales, and youth homicide, California, 1972-1993.

Whether regulating access to firearms and alcohol will reduce violent injuries is an important policy question. Empirical answers are difficult to obtain because only observational data are available. The present study estimated the association of firearm sales and alcohol sales with subsequent homicides, after adjusting statistically for potential confounders (e.g., unemployment rates) using California data from 1972 through 1993. Handgun sales and beer sales were lagged one year and used to explain variation in the homicides of Californians (e.g., 1990 sales were used to explain 1991 homicides). Differences across population groups were investigated, with a focus on 15- to 34-year-olds, the highest risk age group. Even when taking potential confounders in the base population into account, beer sales and handgun sales generally are associated positively one year later with homicide, particularly among young men. Reducing beer sales may reduce homicides. And, although they represent a small fraction of existing firearms, regulating the number of handguns sold may reduce the number of homicides.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

A sex-specific analysis of correlates of homicide victimization in United States cities.

A considerable amount of research has been devoted to determining structural correlates of homicide across places in the United States. However, recent research has found that general correlates may not hold when homicide rates are disaggregated into analysis of specific groups. Adopting a public health approach, we explore the possibility that male and female rates of homicide victimization may show differential patterns of association with selected social-structural risk factors across a sample of U.S. central cities. The results show that both male and female homicide victimization is related to a general set of factors derived from the theoretical framework of social disorganization. At the same time, it is found that these factors are better predictors of male than female homicides. Suggestions are made for research to discern additional factors, perhaps distinct from those of men, related to the rather considerable variation in the prevalence of female homicide across communities in the United States.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Homicide trends and characteristics--Brazil, 1980-2002.

Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America (2002 population: approximately 175 million) (Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute [BGSI], unpublished data, 2004). Although life expectancy in Brazil has increased and rates of infant mortality have decreased as a result of reductions in infectious disease mortality, homicide and other forms of injury-related mortality have increased as a proportion of overall mortality. Homicide is now the leading cause of death for persons aged 15-44 years. To describe trends and characteristics of homicides countrywide and in Sĕo Paulo city (2000 population: approximately 10.4 million) (BGSI, unpublished data, 2004), the State Health Department of Sĕo Paulo (SHDSP) analyzed vital statistics and census data for 1980-2002. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that the homicide rate in Brazil more than doubled during this period. Since 2001, Brazilian authorities have implemented several initiatives to reduce the number of homicides, including a law that controls gun ownership and prohibits anyone other than police and members of the armed forces from carrying guns. However, homicides among adolescents and young adults remain a substantial public health problem in Brazil, and additional prevention strategies that target young persons are needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pattern of homicidal deaths in Faisalabad.

BACKGROUND: Homicide is a reflection of extreme aggression. Many factors influence such a behavior. Family environment, urbanization and the presence of weapons. We conducted this study on autopsies conducted at the department of forensic medicine, Punjab Medical College Faisalabad to know the dimensions of homicide in terms of age, sex, weapons involved and seasonal variation if any. METHODS: The study encompasses all 188 cases of homicide reporting for autopsy at the department of forensic medicine, Punjab Medical College Faisalabad from July 2001 to June 2002. The cases were categorized on the basis of police inquest and autopsy findings. RESULTS: The homicide rate in Faisalabad was 8.3/100,000 population/year. The age of predilection was the third decade of life and males outnumbered females by a ratio of 3.47:1. A firearm was used in almost 50% of the cases. A surge in the summer months was noticed. CONCLUSION: Homicide rate is high in Faisalabad. Firearms are the major weapon used for committing homicide.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Intimate partner violence: homicides followed by suicides in Kentucky.

Homicides followed by suicides are rare yet devastating events. This study, for the first time, details the problem in Kentucky by linking coroner, medical examiner, vital statistics and administrative judicial data. In the three-year period 1998-2000, there were 492 firearm homicides in Kentucky, of which 32 (6.5%) were followed by a firearm suicide. All perpetrators who followed their homicide by killing themselves were males. Just or 9% of firearm homicides (46/492) were intimate partner-related but the majority of these (54%) were followed by a suicide. Although we found that only a small percentage of firearm homicides a followed by firearm suicide, when women were shot and killed by their intimate partners, the perpetrator shot himself in two thirds of cases. Continued research about violent deaths might provide a better understanding of homicides followed by suicides--critical for surveillance and prevention efforts.

Crime Victims↗
PubMed2005

Homicide in Adana, Turkey: a 5-year review.

Violence is a significant public health problem. Thus, so as to prevent this problem, homicide, the severest form of violence depriving a human being of his right to live, deserves a detailed examination. This study is a retrospective research examining the 2951 cases of medicolegal autopsies in Adana during a period of 5 years (1997-2001). Among these cases, 620, which were determined to be homicidal, were taken into the scope of this study. The cases were examined with respect to sex, age groups, the method used during the act of homicide, the number and the localization of the wounds on the body. A total of 620 (21%) of the medicolegal autopsies conducted within this period were homicides. Of these cases, 515 (83.06%) were male and 105 (16.94%) female, and the rate of the males to females was 4.9; 72.74% of the victims were between the ages of 21 and 50. It was seen that 54.83% of the homicides involved firearms, while 35.16% of the victims were stabbed to death with a cutting object. It was also determined that the victims suffered a single wound in 47.35% of firearm-related murders and 29.35% of stabbings resulted in death. Alcohol was found in the blood of 7.58% of the homicide victims, while none had any illicit drugs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Homicide in Abbottabad.

BACKGROUND: Homicide is one of the oldest crimes in human history. Although a large number of dimensions have been added to this crime, the age-old factors like revenge, rage, jealousy and honour persist even today. This study was conducted jointly at the attached hospitals of Women Medical College and Ayub Medical College. Abbottabad to know the various dimensions of the victims of homicide. METHODS: The present study encompasses all 40 cases of homicide, which presented for autopsy at DHQ hospital and Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad during the year 2002. The manner of death was categorized as homicide on the basis of police inquest and the autopsy findings. RESULTS: The homicide rate in Abbottabad was found to be 4.22/100,000 per year. Males were the primary targets usually in their prime of youth with 40% victims between 20-29 years. Firearms formed the major weapon of offence. Most victims died before reaching the hospital. Deaths were more common during the daytime and in summer months. CONCLUSION: Homicide rate is on the lower side in Abbottabad amongst places where firearm possession is not strictly controlled, but can be further reduced. Limiting firearm possession alone can go a long way in this goal.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Heterosexual intimate partner homicide: review of ten years of clinical experience.

Most of the literature on intimate partner homicide addresses violence between the two partners, spousal abuse, and family violence. There is less focus on the relationship of mental illness, intellectual functioning, and drug and alcohol abuse to these homicides. We investigated this type of homicide in a collection of forensic cases seen by the first author over a period of 10 years. Twenty-eight patients who underwent forensic psychiatric evaluation for heterosexual intimate partner homicide from August 1993 to June 2003 were studied using a retrospective case review methodology. We found that firearms were used as the method of killing more often by females than by males. We also compared method of killing with substance abuse and intoxication at the time of the homicide. Educational status indicates that this group of accused perpetrators is functioning at higher intellectual levels compared with a previously studied sample of filicides. We also found significant presence of serious mental illness in our sample of accused perpetrators of heterosexual intimate partner homicide.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Homicidal deaths by firearms in Peshawar: an autopsy study.

BACKGROUND: Medico legal autopsies can be valuable sources of information about the distribution of causes of reported deaths, particularly in homicidal cases. The present study provides information regarding the homicidal deaths due to firearm injuries in the district of Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan. METHODOLOGY: This descriptive study was conducted over the period of the year 2004. Data were collected from the autopsy records of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Khyber Medical College Peshawar and included all reported unnatural deaths from urban and rural areas of district Peshawar on whom autopsies were conducted in the department. RESULTS: Homicidal deaths constituted 77.7% (492/633) of all autopsies for the year 2004. Of 492 homicidal deaths, a vast majority of 452 (91.87%) were caused by firearm injuries. Among these, the male to female ratio was 5.5:1. The most common firearm weapon (418/452, 92.5%) were high velocity rifled weapons (Kalashnikov, rifles, pistols), followed by low velocity rifled weapons (18/452, 3.98%) and shotguns (16/452, 3.54%). A total of 956 injuries were found in various body areas, giving an average of over two injuries per person. The head, face and neck sustained the highest injuries (257, 26.9%), followed by the chest (248, 25.9%) and abdomen (149, 15.6%); the extremities, buttocks and genitalia together sustained 302 (31.6%) injuries. CONCLUSION: The vast majority of reported homicides in Peshawar are caused by firearm injuries, which bring up issues related to possession of firearms and changes in cultural attitudes towards use of firearms, if a decrease in firearm-related homicides is desired.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Temporal clustering of homicide among urban 15- to 24-year-old white and black Americans.

Temporal clustering of homicides among 15- to 24-year-old black and white Americans was studied in 22 heavily urbanized counties in the United States from 1979 through 1985. Thirty-eight million people, including 37% of black Americans and 14% of white Americans, lived in these densely developed countries. The pattern of white male homicide deaths was cyclical--that is, statistically significant excesses were observed on weekends and on national holidays. The pattern of black male homicide deaths was much less cyclical. But homicide deaths of black males were disproportionately likely to occur in a pattern of single days with multiple homicides as well as in periodic spikes, lasting less than a week, during which many homicides occurred. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Regional variation in homicide rates: why is the West so violent?

Scientists have long been interested in the fact that the South has consistently had the highest crude homicide rates in the United States. Past investigations, however, have generally been predicated on the assumption that this geographic pattern was not attributable to or substantially altered by the age or race structures of the populations being compared. In this study, we calculated age-adjusted homicide rates for each of three race categories--white, black, and other--for each state and region in the United States in 1980. We found that for each race group, homicide rates were highest, not in the South, but in the West. Moreover, homicide rates for blacks were lower in the South than in any other region of the country. We infer that, for 1980 at least, the high crude homicide rate in the South results from the mutual effect of two factors: (1) blacks have very high homicide rates compared with whites, and (2) blacks make up a larger proportion of the population in the South than in other regions of the country. It remains to be determined whether the age-adjusted, race-stratified rates of past decades also show this pattern.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1986

Violent death in children in a metropolitan county: changing patterns of homicide, 1958 to 1982.

Death rates from homicide in children younger than 15 years of age in the United States have increased during the last 30 years. Previous studies have suggested a typology consisting of fatal child abuse in young children and community violence in older children. We reviewed the data from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, coroner's office pertaining to homicides in children less than 15 years of age between 1958 and 1982 and obtained similar findings. The homicide rates for city children increased from 1.1 to 6.7/100,000 in the first 20 years and then stabilized. Nonwhite boys had the highest death rates except in one period. Assailants were usually adolescent and young adult men of the same race; however, 43% of children less than 5 years of age were killed by women. The older the child, the more likely the homicide was to have been committed by a nonrelative, outside of the home, and with a firearm. Overall, firearms are the leading cause of homicide (36.2%). The temporal characteristics of child homicides are also described.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Estimates of early twentieth-century U.S. homicide rates: an econometric forecasting approach.

Bureau of the Census death registration records, as reported in Mortality Statistics, are a primary source for early twentieth-century U.S. homicide statistics. Those data appear to show a massive rise in homicide during the first decade of the century, with a continuing increase through 1933. This increase is quite at variance with the trend away from violence in other industrialized societies. During the first one-third of the century, however, death registration was incomplete; it occurred only in an expanding "registration area" that was composed, in the earlier years, primarily of states with typically low rates of homicide. Further, in the first decade of the century homicides within the registration area often were reported as accidental deaths. As a result, apparent increases in rates of homicide in the United States between 1900 and 1933 may be illusory. I use a two-step process to address these problems. Drawing on internal evidence and commentaries in early volumes of Mortality Statistics, I use GLS regression to estimate the prevalence of undercounts. Then I create a series of GLS models that use registration area data to estimate early twentieth-century national rates. These estimates call into question the extent of homicide change early in the century.

Bias↗
PubMed1995

Homicide victims in the military: 1980-1992.

Data abstracted from the Report of Casualty (DD 1300) is used to describe active duty homicide victims for the period 1980 through 1992. The Marine Corps experienced the fewest homicides (186) but the highest rate (7.36 per 100,000) compared to the other services: Army (619/6.36), Navy (381/5.24), and Air Force (194/2.65). Those younger than 25 accounted for 57% of the homicides and had a higher rate than the older age groups. Blacks had a rate 2.1 times higher than whites, and the overall female-to-male rate ratio was 1.2. Firearms were used against 63% of male and 35% of female homicide victims. Twenty-eight percent of female victims were beaten or strangled and females were over 10 times more likely than males to be strangled. The risk for homicide among active duty males was less than for males in the general population. Conversely, active duty females were at an increased risk for homicide in comparison to both males in the military and females in the general population.

Adolescent↗