LEC 8 - Who offends Flashcards
Why use homocide data?
- MEASURABILITY Uniform definitions
- VALIDITY Generally recorded by police / criminal justice actors or public health
offices - CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS
- TEMPORAL ANALYSES
- CONCEPTUAL
What is the ice berg analogy? Liem
Homicide as the top of the iceberg, a predictor of general crime
What is verrko 1951, thought on why woman are less prominent in homicide data?
The woman lives in a somewhat different and more peaceful atmosphere than the man and the factors influencing her, also, are not nearly as subject to the changes as those affecting a man.
What is EHM?
The European Homicide Monitor (EHM) is a research project that provides a standardized framework for comparing homicide characteristics, patterns, and trends across different countries and regions in Europe¹. It was initiated as a three-year pilot project funded by the European Union from 2009 to 2011¹. The EHM collects data from various sources, including police records, criminal justice records, autopsy reports, and public domain information³.
The project initially focused on homicides in Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden, but it has since expanded to include additional countries and years¹. By offering a consistent methodology for analyzing homicides, the EHM aims to improve our understanding of violent crime and inform policy decisions to enhance public safety¹.
What are the key findings of the EHM
The European Homicide Monitor (EHM) has provided several key insights into homicide patterns and trends across Europe:
- Homicide Types: The most common types of homicides include familial homicides, homicides in the context of property crime, and male-to-male altercations⁴. Familial homicides often involve intimate partner violence or other domestic disputes.
- Data Quality and Feasibility: Combining data from different countries is feasible and results in high-quality datasets. This allows for targeted homicide prevention efforts, including those aimed at preventing femicide³.
- Geographical Variations: There are significant variations in homicide rates and types across different European countries. For example, the percentage of homicides related to property crime can be higher in some regions compared to others⁴.
- Policy Evaluation: The EHM dataset serves as a valuable resource for evaluating the effectiveness of homicide prevention policies³.
How can we explain variability between nations in homocide? (who offends?)
- Inequality
- Rule of law
- Drugs
- Alcohol
- Firearms
What is RoL Vicious Circle and Virtous Circle?
Nations that fail to establish strong security and justice systems, within a framework of respect for human rights, are more likely to suffer spirals of chronic violence and insecurity. Weak rule of law leads to impunity
and creates an environment in which criminals can operate more easily.
How does inequality contribute to homocide rates? UNODC
Inequality
●Countries with greater income inequality are more likely to have higher homicide rates than countries with less inequality. This connection explains almost 40% of the variation between countries.
●The link between inequality and homicide holds over time, meaning that increased levels of violence correlate with increased levels of inequality. This provides a potential explanation for the fact that economic growth in the Americas and Africa has been accompanied by rising homicide rates.
●If the benefits of economic growth are not evenly distributed, those who miss out may well decide to resort to violent and criminal activities.
●Economic growth that exacerbates income inequality drives criminal violence even more.
●Sociopolitical inequality, notably unequal access to resources, is known to be a root cause of violent behaviour. Marginalised people are more likely to become victims of violence, which makes their efforts to enjoy equal rights even more arduous.
●Unequal access to education and health services has also been found to be linked to higher levels of homicide, as have higher infant mortality rates.
●Insecure land tenure and access to land in the context of an inadequate legal framework that does not enforce individual property rights can create disputes and produce a high level of violence.
How does Rule of Law contribute to Homocide rates? UNODC?
Rule of Law
●There is a clear link between prevalence of the rule of law and levels of homicidal violence.
●Strengthening the rule of law and making criminal justice systems fairer and more effective can prevent violence by reducing recidivism, serving as a deterrent to violent behaviour, and promoting trust in public authorities and values that increase social cohesion.
●A high level of homicide can place an additional burden on criminal justice systems with already limited resources, and is one of the factors behind prison overcrowding, depending on specific national contexts.
●Measures that increase the efficiency of criminal justice systems – notably by improving access to legal aid, eliminating inhuman prison conditions, avoiding excessive and lengthy pre-trial detention, and reducing the degree of impunity of perpetrators – can bring down homicide rates. Conversely, a low homicide rate can help maintain effective and fair criminal justice institutions.
●Nations that fail to establish strong security and justice systems, within a framework of respect for human rights, are more likely to suffer spirals of chronic violence and insecurity. Weak rule of law leads to impunity and creates an environment in which criminals can operate more easily.
●Sustainable Development Goal 16 commits public authorities to improving the rule of law through measures such as widening access to legal aid, improving prison conditions, and reducing the number of wrongful convictions and the excessive use of pre-trial detention.
●Homicide cases that are not cleared up by the police, or that do not result in conviction of the perpetrator, fuel impunity. High levels of impunity may be a consequence of high rates of homicide, which stretch the capacity of overburdened law enforcement agencies and prevent them from investigating each case thoroughly.
What is Goldstein’s 1985 Tripartite Conceptual Framework
Tripartite Conceptual Framework, explains the relationship between drugs and violence through three distinct models:
**Direct: Psychopharmacological Model: (Ingestion)
**This model suggests that violence can result from the acute effects of drugs on the user’s brain. Certain substances can impair cognitive functions, reduce inhibitions, or provoke aggressive behavior, leading to violent acts1.
**Indirect: Economic-Compulsive Model:
**According to this model, violence occurs as a means to support drug addiction. Individuals may commit crimes, such as robbery or theft, to obtain money to purchase drugs. The economic necessity driven by addiction compels them to engage in violent behavior2.
**Systemic Model: Drug Trade Association
**This model focuses on the violence inherent in the drug distribution system. It includes conflicts between drug dealers, territorial disputes, enforcement of drug-related debts, and other forms of violence that are part of the illegal drug trade3.
How does alcohol relate to homicide? UNODC
- Goldstein Tripartite Model
- In the case of alcohol, the connection with antisocial behaviour and crime appears most clearly when consumption is measured in terms of heavy episodic drinking.
- In terms of absolute numbers, the role of alcohol in homicide cases appears to dwarf that of other substances. In particular, the frequency of heavy episodic drinking is a predictor of violent behaviour.
How do firearms relate to homicide? UNODC
Firearms are involved far more often in homicides in the Americas than in other parts of the world.
●Shooting has long been the most common cause of death in homicide cases worldwide. In 2017, slightly more than half of all homicides were carried out with firearms, whereas only one fifth involved sharp objects.
●In the Americas, firearms were involved in roughly three quarters of homicides in 2017, which accounted for more than one quarter of the homicides worldwide that year.
●Some countries with high proportions of firearm-related deaths tend to have high rates of homicide, which may indicate that firearms and high homicide levels are linked.
●Firearms are crucial enablers of high levels of homicide. Civilian possession of firearms is positively correlated with the homicide rate, even though it may become secondary to other factors of a socioeconomic nature, most notably income inequality.
●Stricter regulation of firearm ownership, along with efforts to reduce the number of illicitly held firearms, can help lower the rate of firearm-related homicide. However, a noticeable reduction in homicide can be obtained only if other factors are addressed at the same time.
●While restricting access to firearms may reduce the overall homicide rate, the impact on the overall rate may in fact be lower than on that of firearm-related homicide because perpetrators may start resorting to other methods.
