NCJ Number
186138
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: 2000 Pages: 41-55
Editor(s)
Kauko Aromaa
Date Published
2000
Length
15 pages
Annotation
To test the hypothesis that criminal activity may explain a significant share of lethal violence in the United States, the authors created a uniform victim-level data file of information on methods and situational contexts of homicide cases in Finland and the United States.
Abstract
U.S. data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports were merged with comparable Finnish data from a study sponsored by the National Research Institute of Legal Policy and based on the police filing system for recording crime. In support of the hypothesis, it was found homicides that occurred in the context of another crime were much more prevalent in the United States than in Finland. The difference accounted for 35 percent of the overall gap in the homicide rate between the two countries. Moreover, the effect of the criminal context could not be reduced to the instrument effect, that is, the fact that handguns are much more prevalent in the United States. In light of the findings, the authors indicate it would be premature, in terms of both theory and public policy, to treat lethal violence as a problem entirely independent of other crime. 22 references, 1 table, and 4 figures