NCJ Number
222856
Journal
Criminology Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 133-154
Date Published
February 2008
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study provides the first test of the poverty-homicide hypothesis at the cross-national level, applying a proxy for poverty (infant mortality), which is commonly used in noncriminological cross-national research, and controlling for several common covariates, including inequality.
Abstract
The study found a significant positive association between a nation's level of poverty and its homicide rate. The findings also suggest that researchers and policymakers should reassess the popular belief in the inequality-homicide link drawn in previous studies, since this association disappeared when poverty was included in the model. Forty-six nations were included in the study. The dependent variable measured the nation's homicide victimization rate, expressed as the number of homicides per 100,000 residents. The definition of "homicide" was the same as that used by the World Health Organization's (WHO’s) International Classification of Disease codes ("Homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other person"). The number of homicides was obtained from WHO's Statistical Information System. For all but three countries, the nation's population size was obtained from the same source. Since a single direct measure of poverty was not available for most nations, infant mortality was used as a proxy for poverty. This is commonly used in noncriminological cross-national analyses because of its many advantages as an indicator of deprivation. The five control variables commonly used in cross-national studies of social structure and homicide are: inequality, gross domestic product per capita, proportion of the nation's population living in urban areas in the year 2000, proportion of the nation's population that is male and 15-29 years old, and education. 2 tables and 38 references