HOMICIDE TRENDS IN ATLANTA

In recent years in Atlanta, homicide has been the most common cause of death in males 20–40 years of age. To study homicide trends in this city we analyzed data for 591 resident victims of criminal homicide in two time perid. 1961–1962 and 1971–1972. Large increases occurred in the homicide rates for both black and white residents. In both races, these rate increases could be accounted for almost entirely by homicides involving firearms Homicide rates for black and whites in 1971–1972 were highest in census tracts with low indices of socioeconomic status; this association was found only for homicides in which the victim and assailant were relatives or acquaintances. There was little geographic overlap between areas with high rates of homicide in the home and high numbers of homicides in public. Using population-based rates facilitates comparisons of homicide occurrence between time periods and/or places.     

Imperium in Imperio and the Political Origins of the American Labor Conspiracy Doctrine

Many political essayists and judges writing in the early republic sought to circumscribe actions deemed oppressive and otherwise interfering with civil liberty. Associations seeking to advance a set of narrow interests at the expense of the public posed a threat to civil liberty. The way that threat was interpreted in the specific case of labor associations is the subject of this article. It was not the economic power of such entities that gave rise to indictments. Rather the political significance of "private confederacies" acting as an "imperium in imperio" was cited as the key threat to the new political order. Thus, Judge Levy in granting legitimacy to the American labor conspiracy laws did not cite common law precedent but his concern that "a new legislature consisting of journeymen shoemakers" would usurp the legitimate power "of our state legislatures."