NCJ Number
156320
Journal
Journal of the American Medical Association Volume: 273 Issue: 22 Dated: (June 14, 1995) Pages: 1755-1758
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Characteristics of homicides are analyzed.
Abstract
This article presents the results of a study designed to replicate, or not replicate as the case may be, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the findings of a 1984 retrospective study of 222 intraracial domestic homicides in Atlanta, Georgia, conducted by the author. The data for this study were 349 intraracial domestic homicides perpetrated against residents of Orleans Parish in 1979, 1982, 1985, and 1986. For both studies, domestic homicides are defined as homicides committed by a relative of the victim or by an acquaintance of the same race. The Atlanta study had concluded that, when one uses rates of household crowding as an index of socioeconomic status, Atlanta blacks were no more likely to commit domestic homicide than were whites in comparable socioeconomic circumstances. Results of the New Orleans study indicate that the findings of the Atlanta study are replicated in this study. In both cities, six-fold differences in black and white rates of intraracial domestic homicide are entirely accounted for by differences in socioeconomic status between the respective black and white populations. There are no significant residual differences requiring cultural explanations. Tables, references