Social support and homicide: a cross-national test of an emerging criminological theory

The social support (also known as social altruism) perspective in criminological theory has emerged as a potentially important explanation of aggregate levels of crime. Recent studies have tested the theory's ability to predict levels of violent and property crimes at the city and state levels in the United States, yet a formal test of the theory using data from outside of the U.S. has yet to be conducted. Accordingly, this article draws on insights from social support theory in a cross-national context. Consistent with the core proposition of the theory, the analyses show that, net of statistical controls, the indicator of social support is inversely and significantly related to rates of violent crime (measured by homicides). The implications of these results for criminological theory development and for the construction of effective crime control policies are discussed.     

Structural correlates of female homicide: A cross-national analysis

The present study went beyond previous cross-national homicide research, which has largely focused on combined (male and female) rates of homicide offending, by using gender-disaggregated homicide arrest figures. The study included controls for the clearance rate and the percentage of homicides that were attempts, and included data for forty-eight countries across multiple levels of development. The author compared the effects of development/modernization and opportunity on female homicide rates to their effects on male homicide rates. Results indicated that, overall, structural predictors had very similar effects on male and female homicide rates. Both rates were lower in countries with a higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and neither male nor female homicide rates were related to urbanization. Countries with a higher number of people per household had a lower rate of both male and female homicide offending; however, this relationship only held when percent young was excluded from the model.     

The impact of population heterogeneity and income inequality on homicide rates: a cross-national assessment

The current research produces regression models with sample sizes from 127 to 131 by initially employing a data set of 170 nations. The current study finds that ethnic heterogeneity and linguistic heterogeneity lead to higher homicide rates. However, religious heterogeneity has no impact on homicide rates. The present article also tests an interaction effect between population heterogeneity and income inequality. Unlike J. R. Blau and Blau (1982) and Avision and Loring (1986) proposition, the interaction term is not related to national homicide rates. The current study also discusses the theoretical implications of those findings.     

Social support and homicide in transitional Russia

Like the United States, Russia is a large industrialized nation with high violence rates. Although its overall homicide rate is among the highest in the world, however, local rates of crime vary widely. Similarly, the level of social support provided by the state varies throughout Russia due to former Soviet policies, the differential pace of political and economic change, and the level of development. Relying upon recent criminological literature on social support theory, this study tested the hypotheses that areas with higher levels of social support will have lower homicide rates and that the effects of negative socioeconomic change on homicide rates will be moderated by levels of social support. Utilizing data from Russian regions (n = 78) and controlling for other structural covariates, negative binomial regression was employed to estimate the effects of social support on regional homicide rates. As expected, negative socioeconomic change was associated with higher homicide rates, but the results provided no support for direct or conditioning effects of social support on homicide. The findings are discussed in the context of Russia-specific conditions and of the meaning of these findings for recent research on social support and crime.     

Social capital and crime: A cross-national multilevel study

Numerous studies have repeatedly supported the negative influence of social capital upon crime rates. Although the relationship between social capital and crime is theoretically persuasive and empirically robust, only a handful of studies have looked into its cross-national variation. Furthermore, no research in social capital has yet applied a multilevel approach to take into account both macro- and micro-level determinants of crime. In an attempt to fill in this research gap, we conducted multilevel analyses of country-level and individual-level factors of criminal victimization. Following the lead of previous studies, it was hypothesized that social capital—estimated as generalized trust, social norms, and civic engagement—reduces criminal victimization, net of individual-level determinants, and other well-established country-level factors. The results revealed that while a higher level of social capital was found to reduce the likelihood of robbery victimization, no significant impact was observed on burglary victimization. With regard to the three dimensions of social capital, generalized trust and social norms exerted significant effects on robbery victimization in the expected direction.     

Understanding gender-specific intimate partner homicide: A theoretical and domestic service-oriented approach

Research on intimate partner homicide has increased in recent years, partially due to growing efforts to disaggregate homicides into meaningful categories but also because of a growing interest in policy responses toward domestic violence. Much of this research tends to focus on two perspectives—exposure reduction and the backlash/retaliation hypotheses—when explaining the link between intimate partner homicide and domestic violence resources. Support has been found for both approaches even though they offer contradictory predictions. This frustrating finding is further complicated by methodological issues, such as the inability to address the rare nature of these events, offer a wide range of domestic violence services and resources and control for structural characteristics of urban areas where violence is found. This issue is addressed by offering a systematic examination of male- and female-victim intimate partner homicide in 2000. The current study investigates both exposure reduction and backlash arguments, in addition to economic deprivation and a number of structural factors relevant to homicide rates. Results suggest that while these perspectives are relevant to intimate partner homicides, there are statistically significant differences across the gender-specific models once the corrected statistical test for coefficient equality is estimated.     

A convergence approach to the analysis of political corruption: A cross-national study

A convergence approach to the analysis of country-level political corruptionis proposed based on Cohen and Felson's routine activities theory of crimeand Ades and Di Tells's tripartite analysis of corruption. It argues thatalthough structural incentives, risky policies, and the lack of effectiveinstitutional guardians independently contribute to the causation ofcorruption, their convergence in time and space creates opportunities forwidespread and systematic corruption. Structural incentives are stableeconomic and cultural conditions and include economic hardships,particularism, and history of political unaccountability. Risky policiesencompass monopolistic and interventionist practices by the government inthe production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.Institutional guardians refer to the judiciary, the press, opposition partiesand the civil society that monitor officials' behavior. Data from 99countries and territories are used to evaluate hypotheses derived from thetheory. Findings lend strong support to the proposed formal propositions.It is also suggested that useful schemes for corruption diagnosis and reformcan be developed from the theory.     

Aggression homicide and rejection homicide: a communicative classification of homicide

Based on a 10-year sample of homicides (n = 50), the hypothesis was tested that it is possible to differentiate between aggression and rejection homicide. The aggression homicide results from the offender/victim relationship, which is no longer accepted for some reason. In contrast, in the rejection homicide the offender radically strives for a goal which can only be reached if the victim is eliminated. Based on forensic-psychiatric expert opinions (n = 50), the case analyses yielded 31 aggression homicides and 18 rejection homicides, one case could not be classified. Aggression homicides differed significantly from the rejection homicides with regard to their main motives. Hate in quarrel (n = 8), violent occupation of the victim (n = 7), delusions (n = 5), revenge (n = 3), self-defence (n = 2), and jealousy (n = 1) characterized the aggression homicides, whereas rejection homicides were dominated by economic motives (n = 14). Two offenders intended to get rid of the victim and one offender wanted to rescue a third person. From a forensic-psychiatric point of view, the pertinent statistical data (social data, diagnosis, criminal responsibility) are reported and the significance of the differentiation between aggression homicide and rejection homicide for medico-legal or criminological case profiling and for the prognosis of the risk potential is discussed.     

Minority threat and punishment: A cross-national analysis

There has been considerable recent interest in understanding how changes within the racial and ethnic landscape contribute to both the increased segregation of minority populations and their punishment. The minority group-threat hypothesis proposes that punishment is one outcome of the regulation of groups that are racially, culturally, or ethnically different. This study examined the relationship between population heterogeneity and the use of punishment, measured in terms of abolition of the death penalty and imprisonment rates in 140 nations. Controlling for modernization, political repression, violent crime, and economic stress, the findings indicate that population heterogeneity was positively associated with imprisonment. Likewise, lesser diversity was associated with the abolition of capital punishment. Our results suggest that definitions of minority threat be expanded to include indicators of language and religion as well as race and ethnicity.     

Social support and inmate rule violations: A multilevel analysis

Social support theory is important in explaining inmate behavior within prison but has been largely ignored in the research. Using multilevel analysis, the study examined the effect of social support on inmate misconduct measured by disciplinary infractions in the 1997 Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities in the United Slates. Findings indicate that several social support variables at both the inmate level and prison level affect inmate rule violations per month.     

Democracy and political corruption: A cross-national comparison

Past research on democracy and politicalcorruption produced mixed results becauseof differences in sampling and analyticalmethods. Moreover, an important shortcominghas been researchers' focus on detectinglinear effects alone. In the current study,I statistically controlled for potentiallyconfounding economic factors and usedhierarchical polynomial regression toevaluate the form of thedemocracy-corruption relationship. Resultsshowed that a cubic function best fittedthe data. Despite eruptions of corruptionamong intermediate democracies, theconsolidation of advanced democraticinstitutions eventually reduced corruption.Ultimately, the initial politicalconditions and the final democraticachievements determined the magnitude ofpolitical corruption in a country.     

Erotomania, triangulation, and homicide

A case of homicide by a 29-year-old male with erotomanic delusional disorder and various personality disorders is reported. Following a month of pursuit of a female stranger with whom he had briefly conversed in a local bar, he assaulted an automotive plant where she worked, delusionally believing that she was at imminent risk and needed to be rescued. One plant manager was killed and two police officers were wounded. The case illustrates the phenomenon of triangulation, where rage toward the rejecting object is displaced onto a third party, which is then perceived as impeding access to the victim and may be at risk for violent assault.     

On urban homicide: A statistical analysis

A statistical analysis is made of homicide rates in the 50 largest American cities for four different years. It is shown that differences in recent murder growth among the cities can largely be explained as typical random fluctuations about a common trend. It is also found that the changing age profile of the American people explains no more than ten percent of the increase in homicide since 1964. Several mathematical models for future homicide growth are proposed from the analysis, and under each the probability of death by murder and corresponding drop in life expectancy are estimated for individuals born now in each of the 50 cities.     

Social support, spiritual program, and addiction recovery

This study compared personal and emotional modifications of inmates who were recovering addicts and who participated in one of two year-long therapeutic intervention programs, one including social support and experiential spiritual program components (Narcotics Anonymous, NA, meetings and the 12-step course), the other including primarily social support (NA meetings only, without the 12-step program). The hypothesis was that supplementing social support programs with a concrete spiritual program would result in more positive personal and emotional changes. The results seem to support the hypothesis: Inmates participating in the 12-step program demonstrated a higher sense of coherence and meaning in life and a gradual reduction in the intensity of negative emotions (anxiety, depression, and hostility) than those participating in NA meetings without the 12-step program. The research findings demonstrate the importance of the 12-step program as part of a rehabilitation process for drug addicts.     

Reducing homicide: A review of the possibilities

This paper explores the potential for reducing homicide, with a particular focus on the United Kingdom. It draws upon data from the Homicide Index, international research on homicide, and the general crime reduction literature. Homicide is highly diverse in its characteristics, causes and dynamics, so effective strategies to reduce it are likely to require tailoring to specific forms. The paper focuses upon four important categories: domestic (partner) homicide; the killing of infants; alcohol-related homicide; and homicide involving guns and knives. Attention is also paid briefly to issues around dangerous offenders and mental disorder, and to homicide victimisation in relation to specific occupations.This paper was written in 2001 and accepted for publication by Crime Law and Social Change in 2002. Some minor updating has been undertaken by the authors, but due to the delay some sections will inevitably not refer to the most recent research. An earlier version of the paper was published online by the Home Office in 2003.     

Stalking,homicide, and catathymic process: a case study

Despite the proliferation of research on various aspects of stalking, there has been relatively little study of stalkers who commit homicide. In this article, a man who stalked and killed a casual acquaintance is reported. He developed an idea to kill her that, at first, seemed ego-alien and unreal but eventually became fixed and was accompanied by a mounting inner pressure to act. The concept of catathymic process--a change in thinking whereby the offender comes to believe that he can resolve his inner conflict by committing an act of extreme violence against someone to whom he feels emotionally bonded--is of particular help in understanding this case, as well as similar cases of stalking that culminate in homicide.     

Victim-offender race and support for capital punishment: A factorial design approach

Existing research suggests that juries are more likely to condemn murderers to death when offenders are black victims are white. It remains to be seen, however, whether these decisions reflect broader racial prejudices in society that are imported into the jury room. If they do, then insuring equity in capital sentencing may be beyond reach. Accordingly, this study uses factorial design methodology to examine whether members of the general public are more supportive of capital punishment when asked to rate a vignette describing a murder involving a white victim and black offender as opposed to other victim-offender racial combinations. Our analyses suggest that the race of the offender, but not the victim, has a significant influence on support for capital punishment. Thus, procedural safeguards alone may be unable to eliminate racial bias in capital sentencing.     

Celebrity stalking, homicide, and suicide: a psychological autopsy

Despite the high-profile nature of many celebrity stalking cases, little is known about the offenders and even less is known about those who kill their celebrity victims. The case of an obsessed fan who attempted to kill a rock star and then committed suicide is presented. By analyzing his detailed diary, both insight into the motivational dynamics of this type of stalker and delineation of several warning signs, which help differentiate an enthusiastic fan from one who harbors a potentially dangerous obsession, is gained.     

Temporal regularities in homicide: Cycles,seasons, and autoregression

It has long been assumed that there exists a relationship between crime (including homicide) and season. After discussing three analytic approaches to this problem (looking for seasonality, a general autoregressive process, and cycles), we review the literature and show that confusing and conflicting findings have been reported about the temporal regularities of homicide. Employing monthly data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports (1976–1989), we find evidence for seasonality, autoregression, and cyclicality of homicide. Our modeling approaches clarify the previous conflicting research; implications for theory and future research are discussed.The data utilized in this study were made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. The data originally were collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Neither the collector of the original data nor the Consortium bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. The authors contributed equally to this article.