Business structure,ethnic shifts in labor markets,and violence: The link between company size,local labor markets,and non-Latino homicide

Combining several schools of thought, including the civic engagement thesis, we extend current research by linking three things at the county level; firm size, the ethnic composition of labor markets, and violent crime. Our results suggest that larger businesses (based on the average number of persons employed) are more likely to have an external orientation and long recruitment reach, and this is linked to ethnic shifts in labor markets toward Latino workers. Such shifts are in turn associated with high rates of homicide among non-Latinos. Through indirect effects modeling, we find that increases in Black homicide are linked to rises in concentrated poverty, while increases in White homicide are linked to changes in unemployment. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

Locus of control and the direction of lethal violence: Cross national analysis,research note

Previous work has suggested that economic development affects the direction of lethal violence through a civilizing process wherein there is a shift from an internal to an external locus of control. However, data were not available to measure locus of control. The present work assesses the relationship between a measure of control and the direction of lethal violence or SHR (suicide rate/(suicide + homicide rates)). Data representing 53 nations are merged from the world values survey and the world health organization. The results of a multiple regression analysis show that locus of control is unrelated to the direction of violence. While development fosters internal locus of control, the link between development and direction of violence is not explained by locus of control.     

The immigration–crime relationship: Evidence across US metropolitan areas

Despite popular commentary claiming a link between immigration and crime, empirical research exploring this relationship is sparse. Especially missing from the literature on immigration and crime is a consideration of how immigration affects rates of crime at the macro-level. Although individual-level studies of immigrant criminality and victimization tend to demonstrate that immigrants typically engage in less crime than their native-born counterparts, the effect of immigration on aggregate criminal offending is less clear. In this research, we attempt to address this weakness in the literature by examining the effects of aspects of immigration on crime rates in metropolitan areas. We combine 2000 US Census data and 2000 Uniform Crime Report data to explore how the foreign-born population influences criminal offending across a sample of metropolitan areas. After controlling for a host of demographic and economic characteristics, we find that immigration does not increase crime rates, and some aspects of immigration lessen crime in metropolitan areas.     

Juvenile life without the possibility of parole: Constitutional but complicated

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Miller v. Alabama found that juvenile life without the possibility of parole sentences for homicide crimes was unconstitutional if mandated by state law. Thus, allowing this sentence only after an individualized decision determines the sanction proportional given the circumstances of the offense and mitigating factors. This decision, for a number of reasons, does not go far enough in protecting those youthful offenders afflicted with maltreatment victimizations, mental health problems, and/or learning disabilities — all potential links for some adolescents to serious offending and potentially homicide. While the Supreme Court has not protected these youthful offenders from a potential life sentence, there are early interventions and preventative programming that can help decrease serious adolescent offending behaviors. So while many states will, post Miller, allow this life imprisonment sentence, it is only just, in light of the extensive difficulties for many of these adolescents, that their future allows at least the possibility of a parole hearing.     

Differential mortality risks from violent causes for foreign- and native-born residents of the USA

This paper examines the differences in adult violent causes (homicide, suicide, vehicle accidents, and otheraccidents) for mortality risks between the Americanforeign- and native-born adult populations, whileconsidering the length of time lived in the USA and the influences of other socio-demographic characteristics. Data came from the National Health InterviewSurvey-National Death Index linked file for the years1989--1995. Cox proportional hazards modelsestimate the association between nativity, length ofstay, and mortality risk for each violent cause. Theresults show that foreign-born persons differ in their risks of violent death vis-á-vis the native-bornpopulation by the amount of the time they have livedin the USA. In particular, recent immigrants (lessthan 15 years) display higher risks fromhomicide, lower risks from suicide, and lower risksfrom other accidents (not vehicle) than thenative-born individuals. This pattern is differentfor longer-term immigrants (15 or more years) whohave, for the most part, similar risks from othercauses of violent death compared to native-bornresidents. The findings suggest that there arecompositional differences between immigrants by length of stay and that the process of acculturation mayinclude the amplification or diminution of risks ofvarious causes of violent death.     

斗杀伤的承袭析造：以唐律与现行刑法为节点

唐律斗杀伤的规定影响深远,现行刑法中的聚众斗殴罪对其承袭甚多。在主观故意之内都区分斗、故,且在特定条件下斗转为故。作为行为犯,外观形态都是对向而存的彼此殴打身体的行为。在用刃或持械的情况下都规定了加重法定刑,且根据发生地点的不同适用刑罚亦轻重有别。在单方形成共同犯罪时,都根据各行为人在斗殴中的地位和作用划分主从,以罚当其罪。斗殴过程中一般都不认定正当防卫,在严格条件下有限承认其存在。     

Murder in the City

Abstract

This study investigates the prevalence of homicide as an urban phenomenon. It analyzes data available for the City of Chicago, Illinois. In the year 2003, Chicago led the nation in homicides. Police there attribute it to a deadly combination of street gangs, guns, and drugs. Such an approach is far too simplistic. An effort is made with this study to identify determinants of patterns of murders that persisted for more than a decade in Chicago, despite the decrease in violent crime across the nation and eventually Chicago. African American males were an exceedingly disproportional number of the victims and the offenders. This study finds two distinct types of homicide patterns, one involving recidivism in the criminal justice system and the other no prior exposure.     

Predicting bias homicide across victim groups: A county-level analysis

Outside several notable exceptions, few studies have examined variations in bias crime occurrences across American communities, and how community-level factors may differentially shape violent and non-violent bias crimes across victim groups. Drawing from ecological theories of crime, this study asks, (1) what are the structural predictors of the likelihood of bias homicide occurrences? and (2) how do structural predictors differ across bias victim groups? To answer these questions, data on bias homicide are derived from the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) for the years 1990 through 2014 and paired with socio- structural variables from the United States Census Bureau. Results are discussed relative to the goals of understanding where fatal bias crimes are more likely to occur as a means of informing law enforcement and policymakers interested in preventing and responding to this specific form of crime.     

American crime drops: Investigating the breaks,dips and drops in temporal homicide

ObjectivesWhile a great deal of attention has been given to the 1990s crime drop, less is known about the more recent decline in homicide rates that occurred in several large U.S. cities. This paper aims to explore whether these represent two distinct drops via statistical evidence of structural breaks in longitudinal homicide trends and explore potentially differing explanations for the two declines. Methods: Using homicide data on a large sample of U.S. cities from 1990 to 2011, we test for structural breaks in temporal homicide rates. Combining census data and a time series approach, we also examine the role structural features, demographic shifts, and crime control strategies played in the changes in homicide rates over time. Results: Statistical evidence demonstrates two structural breaks in homicide trends, with one trend reflecting the 1990s crime drop (1994–2002) and another trend capturing a second decline (2007–2011). Time series analysis confirms previous research findings about the contributions of structural conditions (e.g., disadvantage) and crime control strategies (e.g., police force size) to the crime drop of the 1990s, but these factors cannot account for the more recent drop with the exception of police presence. Conclusions: Although both structural conditions and crime control strategies are critical to the longitudinal trends in homicide rates over the entire span from 1990 to 2011, different factors account for these two distinct temporal trends.     

Heterogeneity in the rise and decline of city-level homicide rates, 1976-2005: A latent trajectory analysis

This study applies latent trajectory methods to the analysis of temporal changes in homicide rates among large US cities across recent decades. Specifically, annual homicide rates for 157 large US cities are analyzed for the 30 years from 1976 to 2005. We address the fundamental questions: Did all of cities experience similar levels and patterns of rise and decline in homicide rates over these three decades? Or is there hidden or unobserved heterogeneity with respect to these temporal patterns, thus leading to the identification of more homogeneous groupings of the cities? And if latent homogeneous groupings surface, is membership due to specific structural characteristics found within those cities? Evidence is found for the existence of four latent homicide rate trajectories. After identifying and classifying the cities into these four groups, multivariate statistical techniques are used to determine which social and economic characteristics are significant predictors of these distinct homicide trends. Criminal justice measures are also included as controls. It is found that larger cities located in the South with higher levels of resource deprivation/concentrated poverty, higher income inequality, higher percentages of the adult male population that are divorced, higher unemployment rates, higher percentages of youth, higher percentages of the population who are Hispanic and higher numbers of police per capita are more likely to be in a higher than a lower homicide trajectory group. Higher percentages of the population enrolled in colleges and universities and locations in states with higher incarceration rates are characteristics of cities associated with membership in a lower homicide trajectory group.