TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring victim-offender relationships in homicide
T2 - The role of individual and event characteristics
AU - Decker, Scott H.
N1 - Funding Information:
An important dimension of homicides is the relationship between victims and offenders. Understanding variation in this relationship may help to explain the context and dynamics of homicide. Previous research characterized the relationship between victims and offenders as a dichotomy, either as strangers and nonstrangers or as primary and secondary relationships. Following Parker (1989), this paper presents an expanded classification that accounts for the diversity underlying such relationships. If variation exists across these groups, simple dichotomies mask important within-group differences. We attempt here to employ categories that correspond to major categories of relationships. We examine this classification scheme in light of the following characteristics important to understanding homicide: setting, motive, and individual attributes. Variables relevant to the setting of homicide * Data collection was made possible by the cooperation of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Department of Public Safety, City of St. Louis. We are indebted to both groups for their cooperation. The data collection was funded in part by grants from the Improved Research Quality Fund of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the Lutheran Charities Foundation. We are indebted to Steve Manley, Carolyn Phillips, Susan Tyrey-Jefferson, and Melissa Zensen for data collection.
PY - 1993/12
Y1 - 1993/12
N2 - A feature common to both macro-and micro-level analyses of homicide is the relationship between victims and offenders. Previous research generally conceptualized this relationship as a dichotomy--either primary and secondary or stranger and nonstranger. Such classifications, however, mask important variation in these subcategories. This paper employs a five-category description of the relationship between victims and offenders: strangers, acquaintances, friends, relatives, and those romantically linked. The relationship between this expanded typology and individual attributes, motives, and event characteristics are examined. Results show that motives and victim-offender relationships are related less strongly than previ. ous research would suggest. Despite this finding, other correlates generally confirm the findings of earlier research.
AB - A feature common to both macro-and micro-level analyses of homicide is the relationship between victims and offenders. Previous research generally conceptualized this relationship as a dichotomy--either primary and secondary or stranger and nonstranger. Such classifications, however, mask important variation in these subcategories. This paper employs a five-category description of the relationship between victims and offenders: strangers, acquaintances, friends, relatives, and those romantically linked. The relationship between this expanded typology and individual attributes, motives, and event characteristics are examined. Results show that motives and victim-offender relationships are related less strongly than previ. ous research would suggest. Despite this finding, other correlates generally confirm the findings of earlier research.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960798642&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79960798642&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07418829300092031
DO - 10.1080/07418829300092031
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79960798642
SN - 0741-8825
VL - 10
SP - 585
EP - 612
JO - Justice Quarterly
JF - Justice Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -