HOMICIDE AND PUBLICITY - A VIEW FROM THE DETERRENCE PERSPECTIVE

• NCJ Number: 42387
• Author(s): C TRILLING
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 365 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Annotation

THIS STUDY, WHICH TESTED THE THEORY THAT PUBLICIZING PUNISHMENT OF HOMICIDE EFFECTS ITS DIMINISHMENT, FOUND THAT NEITHER THE VARIABLES MEASURING REAL NOR REPORTED PUNISHMENT SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED DETERRENCE.

Abstract

THE DATA BASE FOR THE STUDY WAS A RANDOM SAMPLE OF HOMICIDE CASES DRAWN FROM A STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE OF UPSTATE NEW YORK COUNTIES. DISTRICT ATTORNEYS' FILES SERVED AS THE SOURCE FROM WHICH INFORMATION WAS INITIALLY COLLECTED. NEWSPAPERS REPRESENTING THE LOCAL COUNTIES WERE EMPLOYED AS THE SOURCE FROM WHICH PUBLICITY DATA WERE COLLECTED. IN EACH INSTANCE, THE PAPER WITH THE LARGEST DAILY CIRCULATION WAS SELECTED FOR THE DATA COLLECTION. THE DEPENDENT VARIABLES, THE HOMICIDE INDICES, WERE GENERATED FROM DATA COLLECTED FROM THE COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS FROM EACH OF THE SIXTEEN COUNTIES. SEPARATE HOMICIDE INDICES WERE GENERATED FOR MURDER, MANSLAUGHTER, AND CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE. IN ADDITION, A FOURTH INDEX WAS CONSTRUCTED WHICH COMBINED THE SEPARATE HOMICIDES INTO AN AGGREGATE HOMICIDE INDEX. AN INVERSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HOMICIDE INDICES AND THE AMOUNT OF PUBLICITY WAS INITIALLY OBSERVED; HOWEVER, WITH THE INCLUSION OF A VARIABLE WHICH RANKED THE COUNTIES BY POPULATION SIZE, THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS RELATIONSHIP BECAME NEGLIGIBLE. THE AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGES THIS STUDY TO BE A FIRST STEP AND SUGGESTIONS ARE OFFERRED FOR MORE DETAILED AND SOPHISTICATED RESEARCH....RCB