IS THERE A SEASON FOR HOMICIDE?

A "thermic law" postulating a relationship between violent crime and hot weather or southern climates is one of the oldest propositions in criminology. On the question of homicide and seasonality, modern research produces contradictory findings—some studies support a seasonal pattern of homicide but others reject such a pattern. A review of studies on the seasonality of homicide and an analysis of Uniform Crime Reports data and data on homicide in Baltimore from 1974 to 1984 are undertaken in order to resolve the issue. The contradictory results are not explained by differences in definitions nor by differences in data or methodology; nor are they explained on the bases of regional differences or an urban bias present in most studies. The nature of the question asked, however, is critical to the results obtained. The conclusion reached is that there is no season to homicide. The months of December, July, and August are significantly more likely to be among the months in which homicide is high for any given year, but the number of homicides during those months may not be significantly higher than in other months.     

存在一种法律移植的逻辑吗?

在某种程度上,本章意欲成为一个评论,即对新近某些比较法学家所提倡的重新定位比较法与法律社会学之间关系的评论。在新近讨论A．沃森关于比较法中研究法律移植命题的重要性时,W．伊瓦尔德将其作为前提与出发点。在本章的前半部分,笔者打算批判伊瓦尔德观点所存在的问题,这种问题以沃森的著作为基础,涉及的是比较法与法律社会学之间的关     

CROSS-NATIONAL VARIATION IN HOMICIDES: IS RACE A FACTOR?

J. P. Rushton has done research indicating that predominantly black nations have higher rates of violent crime than predominantly white nations, which have higher rates than predominantly Asian nations. He attributes these differences to constitutional, inheritable factors on which the races vary. This article discusses the numerous problems with Rushton's use of international crime data and analysis, foremost of which are his use of one-way analysis of variance and lack of consideration of other causes of variation. Regression analysis-including dummy race variables and other relevant explanatory variables-indicates no significant association between race and cross-national homicide rates, the best and probably only valid indicator of cross-national variation in violent crime. This is the case whether reanalyzing Rush-ton's data or analyzing properly adjusted, inspected, and selected homicide rates.