Deadly Violence in the Heartland: Comparing Homicide Patterns in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Counties

• NCJ Number: 208653
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2005 Pages: 55-80
• Author(s): Ralph A. Weisheit; L. Edward Wells
• Date Published: February 2005
• Length: 26 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this article was presented at the American Society of Criminology's Annual Meeting on November 7, 2001, in Atlanta, GA.

Annotation

This exploratory study used the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports data on homicide and the FBI's Supplemental Homicide Reports, merged with data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, to examine predictors of nonmetropolitan and metropolitan homicide rates.

Abstract

Six computed indexes were used in this analysis: a racial composition index, an economic resources index, a cultural capital index, a housing instability index, a population instability index, and a family disorganization index. For the purposes of aggregate comparisons among the predictive models of homicide rates, two versions of the rural-urban classification were analyzed. The first was a simple metropolitan-nonmetropolitan dichotomy similar to that used in prior homicide studies. The second was a four-level continuum that used one Economic Research Service (ERS) metro category, but divided the nonmetropolitan counties into three categories based on the size of the largest city in the county. Using the four categories derived from ERS urban-rural continuum codes, it was possible to consider rural-urban differences in the variables contained in the Supplementary Homicide Report. Regarding homicide incidents, the findings show differences between metropolitan counties and the various levels of nonmetropolitan counties for every category of variable: victim attributes, offender attributes, victim-offender relationships, and circumstances of the event. The ability of county population characteristics to predict county homicide rates is very good for urban areas, but declines precipitously and linearly in increasingly rural counties. These findings suggest that policies or interventions designed to respond to urban homicide events may have little impact in rural areas, because the content and underlying dynamics of rural homicides are measurably different. 3 tables, 37 references, and appended supplementary data