NCJ Number
178350
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: March 1999 Pages: 1-21
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Qualitative comparative analysis was used to analyze data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports of the Uniform Crime Reporting program to determine whether instrumental and expressive homicides were similar or unique in their social contact in terms of combinations of offender, victim, and situational characteristics.
Abstract
The research used a data on all single-victim, single-offender homicides for 1990-94, providing that no data on relevant variables were missing. Results revealed that instrumental and expressive homicides had both common and unique social contexts, but the vast majority of homicide incidents involved combinations of individual and situational factors that were common in both general types of homicides. Wide variability also existed in the prevalence of unique and common components among subtypes of instrumental homicides, including rape, prostitution, and robbery murders, and expressive homicides, including lovers' triangles, brawls, and arguments. Findings indicated that contrary to prevailing assumptions, instrumental and expressive homicides typically share the same particular combinations of offender, victim, and situational characteristics. Findings also indicated that the quantitative comparative analysis approach has enormous potential for studying crime across a variety of contexts. Tables, figures, and 44 references (Author abstract modified)