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This study aims to contribute to understanding urban spatial and temporal patterns of social disorganization and homicide rates in São Paulo, Brazil (2000–2015). Using exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial panel regression techniques, we describe spatial-temporal patterns of homicide rates and assess to what extent social disorganization can explain between-district variation in homicide trajectories. The results showed some variation in the pattern of homicide decline across districts, and less disorganized communities experienced earlier, more linear declines. However, we found no evidence to suggest that changes in social disorganization are associated with differences in the decline in homicide rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between structural characteristics and homicide trajectories in South Korean neighborhoods utilizing the systemic model of social disorganization theory as an analytical lens. Group-based trajectory modeling of Korean homicide data across 229 municipal-level sub-national regions between 2008 and 2013 yielded three groups: high-decrease, moderate, and low-stable. The odds of belonging to the high and moderate groups compared to the low-stable group were significantly increased for communities with a higher-level divorce rate and residential instability rate. Social control was significant in the high-decrease group compared to the low-stable group, but had no mediating effect on this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the relationship between land use, measured as percent zoning designation per square kilometer in a census tract, and homicide counts in Portland, Oregon, while controlling for other neighborhood characteristics. Negative binomial models are implemented to account for the overdispersed homicide count indicator. Results suggest that some land use variables—specifically, mixed-use residential (positive association) and single-family residential (negative association)—have significant predictive value for homicide counts beyond neighborhood characteristics and socioeconomic variables deemed important by criminological theory and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent upturn in U.S. homicide rates may have resulted from increases in the number of serious violent incidents, growth in the percentage involving firearms, or increases in lethality. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) suggest that the national homicide increase was not driven by increases in serious violence or the proportion of these crimes involving firearms, but may be related to a longer-term increase in lethality. In St. Louis, the increase was concentrated in communities that previously had the highest violence rates, but changes in the structural conditions and population composition were unrelated to the upsurge in homicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has established economic disadvantage as one of the strongest, most robust predictors of urban violence, the conditions under which this relation holds need further elaboration. This study examines the disadvantage-violence link across age-specific transitional periods from adolescence to adulthood and provides theoretical arguments for why the strength of this relation should decline with age. Using 90 of the largest cities in the United States, the present study analyzes the impact of economic disadvantage and other urban conditions (residential instability, family disruption, and population heterogeneity) on age-specific homicide counts from 1984 to 2006. The analytical strategy incorporates temporal trends by using negative binomial fixed-effects regression models. The results reveal a consistent decline from adolescence to adulthood in the strength of the estimated effects of economic disadvantage, residential instability, and family disruption on homicide trends. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for future research and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socioeconomic conditions of communities in which young South Africans live may be an important contributor to the high levels of violence in the country. Informed by social disorganization theory, this study examined the relationship between neighborhood sociostructural context and adolescent (15-19 years) homicide victimization in Johannesburg (2001-2009). The results revealed that neighborhood-concentrated disadvantage and measures of family structure were significantly related to levels of male and female adolescent homicide. The study underscores the importance of neighborhood structure in understanding adolescent homicide, particularly in Johannesburg, and can inform interventions that target high-risk communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is a race-specific analysis of homicide victimization risk in the United States. It contributes to the literature by examining risk factors at multiple levels using data from the National Health Interview Survey, National Death Index, and Census. The direct association between community resource deprivation and victimization is racially invariant. For Blacks, however, low income increases victimization risk and this association is exacerbated in disadvantaged communities, whereas income tends to have a protective effect across levels of aggregate resource deprivation among Whites. This suggests racial variance in how community characteristics moderate the association between family income and homicide victimization risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research revisits prior work by Neapolitan (2005) on the quality and use of race-specific homicide data. Neapolitan reported that correlations between Black homicide offending rates based on arrest data and rates based on data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) for samples of large U.S. cities are only moderately strong. He proposed that, given these findings, the respective rates cannot be regarded as valid indicators of the same concept. We extend Neapolitan’s research by estimating regression models to determine the extent to which conclusions about the structural covariates of Black homicide offending rates differ depending on the specific measure of the dependent variable. In addition, we have computed three different Black homicide offending rates with the SHR data: (1) A rate based on single victim/single offender incidents; (2) a rate based on all offenders of known race; and (3) a rate based on the number of Black offenders when the race of offender has been imputed. Our analyses reveal that, consistent with Neapolitan’s findings, the correlations between the Black offending rate based on the arrest data and the various SHR-based rates are only moderately strong. In the regression analyses, explained variance is comparatively low in the model with the Black offending rate based on arrest data. However, the regression coefficients do not diverge much across models. Overall, our results suggest that empirical findings and substantive conclusions about city-level covariates of Black offending rates might be less sensitive to the selection of data source than is often assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study contributes to the body of research examining why city-level violence rates peaked in 1993. Taking homicide data from that year, we introduce an indicator for active street gangs along with indicators derived from common structural explanations of homicide rates. We assess whether gang presence is empirically associated with homicide variation across 154 U.S. central cities. Consistent with conceptual claims, correlational evidence demonstrates that active gangs were a significant source of homicides across this sample of cities. As a secondary concern, we assess structural conditions that were likely to predict gang formation within cities during the crime peak. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reviews the contributions of social disorganization, cultural, and strain perspectives to criminological understanding of the relationship between immigration and crime. In efforts to draw parallels between the theories and strands of scholarship on immigration, various hypotheses are outlined to encourage expansion of knowledge on immigration and crime, theoretical extension, revision, and perhaps integration as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of the many contributions of Land, McCall, and Cohen's landmark study was the confirmation of a long-held view in criminology--that deprivation raises homicide. Yet recent literature finds that although Latino immigrant communities are often poor, paradoxically they have low levels of crime. Unfortunately, this seemingly contradictory evidence is based on studies of long-established, well-organized, traditional immigrant communities where Spanish is a modal form of communication. However, recent Latino migrants opted for new destinations that are unprotected by a shell of common culture and language, making Latinos in these areas more vulnerable to serious violence. In acknowledging these critical differences between old and new Latino communities, we observe four interrelated findings: (a) The widely held view that Latinos generally live in safe places is true only for those in traditional destinations; (b) Latinos in new destinations are murdered at an exceedingly high rate; (c)This elevated risk is linked to English nonfluency among Latinos in new destinations only; and (d) In these areas, linguistic isolation increases homicide not just directly but indirectly as well by first increasing Latino economic deprivation. Thus, once differences in place are considered, there is no "paradox" about Latino immigration and crime. Our results uphold the benchmark assessment of Land, McCall and Cohen, that deprivation is linked to homicide--even in Latino communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers commonly include a measure of the level of divorce among the standard covariates in macro-level studies of homicide, justifying this practice with reference to social disorganization theory. We review the underlying logic for a divorce/homicide relationship, distinguishing between a "cultural/normative conflict" variant advanced by the classical Chicago School theorists and a "structural/control" variant associated with the neosocial disorganization perspective. We suggest that the cultural/normative conflict variant implies that the effects of divorce will become attenuated over time, whereas the structural/control variant implies stability in effects. We then assess the degree to which the effects of levels of divorce on homicide rates have changed with panel data for a sample of large U.S. cities during the period 1960-2000. The results of seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) analyses reveal considerable stability in the effects of a measure of divorce on homicide rates, especially if the divorce measure is combined with a "sibling" measure of family disorganization—the percentage of children not living with two parents. Our analyses suggest that the commonly observed positive effect of measures of divorce on homicide rates over recent decades is most plausibly interpreted with reference to the "structural/control" arguments associated with the neosocial disorganization perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With few exceptions, recent investigations have found levels of criminal involvement to be lower among immigrants than among the native born. We extend this line of research by examining arrest data for native-born citizens, citizens born outside the United States, naturalized citizens, and noncitizens in Orange County (Orlando), Florida, for homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Arrest rates for noncitizens are generally lower than those for the native born and similar to those of naturalized and foreign-born citizens, but their sexual assault rate is the highest of the four groups. The concentration of immigrants has no significant impact on arrest rates for native- and foreign-born citizens at the census-tract level. Additional research is necessary to more fully understand the linkage between immigration and crime, but mounting evidence that the new immigrants to not contribute to elevated crime levels in urban areas should be an important component of policy discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on lethal violence has generally been directed at White and African American populations, with few studies addressing this issue among American Indians. Interestingly, national data indicate that American Indians have one of the highest homicide rates among racial groups. In an effort to identify the etiological underpinnings of this violence, the current study examines whether variation in county-level American Indian homicide rates can be explained by social disorganization theory. Specifically, the authors investigate the impact of economic deprivation, ethnic heterogeneity, mobility, and family disruption on homicide levels among American Indian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses multivariate econometric and time series analysis techniques to examine historical trends in the felonious killing of law enforcement officers in the United States from 1947 to 1998. Of particular interest is the extent to which the correlates of police murder rates are characterized by historical specificity. We also focus on the ability of economic deprivation, deterrence, and social disorganization theories to explain trends in police murder rates across time. The findings of this study indicate (a) that police murder rates in the United States are characterized by distinct historical periods (1947 to 1971, 1972 to 1998) in which the structural correlates of police murder vary and (b) that both economic deprivation and deterrence theories are relevant for understanding trends in police murder although the effects of the latter are historically specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study extends the understanding of the structural determinants of African American killings by analyzing the impact of key socioeconomic and demographic factors on disaggregated Black homicide rates in St. Louis neighborhoods. The findings reveal that (a) there is significant variation within Black homicides in terms of motive, victim and offender characteristics, victim-offender relationship, and type of death; (b) concentrated disadvantage is significantly associated with some but not all types of Black killings; and (c) residential instability is not significantly related to most Black killings but has a small negative effect on gang homicide. The findings reinforce the necessity of disaggregating homicide rates to understand the race-violence relationship. The theoretical, methodological, and policy implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study departs from previous prior macrolevel research on homicide--which has targeted either total homicide rates or male homicide offending rates--by (a) disaggregating the homicide crime rate across U.S. cities by gender and age, (b) examining the effects of structural disadvantage variables on the homicide offending rates of adult women and juvenile girls, and (c) comparing the effects of the structural variables on females' homicide rates with those for adult males and juvenile males. Among adults, the authors find that structural disadvantage robustly affects female as well as male rates; whereas, among juveniles, the effects are large on adolescent male rates but much smaller on female juvenile rates (i.e., their rates are only weakly influenced by structural disadvantage). Apparently, the contexts for homicide among juvenile females are less shaped by adverse economic conditions and conditions of social disorganization than is the case among the other age-sex subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]