Race- and Gender-Disaggregated Homicide Offending Rates: Differences and Similarities by Victim-Offender Relations Across Cities

• NCJ Number: 213021
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 3-32
• Author(s): Dana L. Haynie; David P. Armstrong
• Date Published: February 2006
• Length: 30 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether the circumstances underlying high rates of urban homicide in the United States are similar or different by race and gender, as well as whether city characteristics as predictors of violence vary by victim-offender relationship.

Abstract

Consistent with expectations, the study found differences in the relative importance of predictors of homicide across race and gender. Residential mobility was positively associated with Black female rates of intimate partner and family homicide. Among Whites, on the other hand, residential mobility was associated with White female rates of family homicide but not with rates of intimate partner homicide. This difference may be explained by the fact that in Black neighborhoods, residential instability leads to a greater mistrust of police, resulting in less reliance on law enforcement to police domestic violence situations that occur in the home. Similar to previous studies, the current study found that gender equality was negatively linked with White rates of intimate partner and family homicide but not with Black rates. This racial difference in the importance of gender equality may be due to the lower level of gender inequality between Black men and women compared to gender inequality in relationships between White men and women. As expected, the female intimate partner victimization rate was positively associated with Black female rates of intimate partner homicide. Data were obtained from the 1990 U.S. census and the 1987 to 1993 Supplementary Homicide Reports. The latter contains information on the race and gender of the offender as well as the offender's relationship to the victim. The dependent variables were race, gender, and victim-offender relationship in homicide offenses. The four victim-offender relationships considered were intimate partner, nonintimate family, acquaintance, and stranger. The dependent variables were socioeconomic disadvantage, residential mobility, equality, and percentage of youth by race and gender. 3 tables, 21 notes, and 130 references