Using Mortality Data to Refine Our Understanding of Homicide Patterns in Select Postcommunist Countries

• NCJ Number: 221606
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 117-135
• Author(s): Janet P. Stamatel
• Date Published: February 2008
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study compared homicide rates across 10 East-Central European countries over 15 years to assess patterns and trend during the post-Communist transformations.

Abstract

The results showed that homicide rates in East-Central Europe during the Communist period were higher than in Western Europe and were increasing even before the fall of Communism in 1989. Post-Communist homicide trends increased in all the countries, but there was considerable variation in the magnitude, timing, and duration of the rising trends across countries. Homicide rates in East-Central Europe tended to be higher than the average in Western Europe, although not necessarily higher than individual Western European countries or the United States. Homicide rates were increasing before the end of Communism in 1989. Because there may be some ambiguities in how homicide data were coded during this period and because the data for this time were only available for a small number of countries, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the extent of variation in homicide rates within the region. In the post-Communist period, homicide rates increased rather dramatically in all countries during the first half of the1990s, but have since declined. Homicide rates in Albania and Macedonia have not stabilized as much as they have in other East-Central European countries, most likely because of ongoing political instability and ethnic conflict in those countries. The demographic characteristics of victims in East-Central European countries are more likely to be middle-aged than young adults, although Albania is an exception to this pattern. Although women are less likely than men to be victims of homicide, females at both ends of the age continuum are more vulnerable to homicide victimization than women of other ages. Mortality data were collected from the World Health Organization on 10 countries during the period after World War II until 1990. The 10 countries included: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Suggestions for further empirical research are provided. Tables, figures, notes, references