Homicide Research Working Group: An Interdisciplinary and International Organization

HRWG Newsletter

Volume 5, Number 1 -- March 1998

HRWG to Meet in Ann Arbor, MI

Our annual workshop will be held at the University of Michigan and is sponsored by the ICPSR

June 10-13, 1998

Details in this newsletter

* * * * *

Check out our Web site

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/HRWG

The newsletter needs news!
Please send any items that you think members might find interesting to either editor.
Names and addresses are in the publisher's statement section of the newsletter.

Ann Arbor Workshop: Experimental Format

The annual HRWG Spring workshop will take on a slightly different format than that of previous years. In response to comments from past workshop participants, conference organizers Victoria Brewer and Kim Vogt have designed an experimental workshop format. The format, as seen in the preliminary agenda later on in the newsletter, emphasizes more discussion and fewer presentations.

There are a total of five formal sessions and one poster session at the Ann Arbor conference. Each formal session is organized around a particular conference theme and investigative question. Each panelist on the session is asked to address with their contribution, the same thematic question. In addition, each session provides ample time (over one hour) for discussion. The fifth session, in addition, is meant to tie in with all the earlier sessions.

This format should address concerns in recent years that the workshop was becoming more like a conference session and less like an opportunity to learn new techniques or debate practice and research issues. The experimental format, however, does mean that fewer HRWG members have the opportunity to present their research in the traditional presentation format. This is a concern for some members when funding for conferences is tied to paper presentation.

Conference session organizers are willing to entertain proposals from members who want to participate and address the session theme. Session organizers may be contacted directly. Given the limited number of opportunities, the poster session has been designed provide plenty of room for participants. A form for poster session presentation is included in the newsletter.

We hope that you will be able to join us in Ann Arbor. Vickie and I would like to thank Kaye Marz, Chris Dunn and their staff at ICPSR for all of the hard work on site planning. Included in the newsletter is information on travel and room accommodations. The entire program is coming along very well. Below are the session organizers and their contact information for members who want to send proposals.

Programming Coordinator:
Victoria Brewer, icc_veb@shsu.edu, 409-194-1662
Site Coordinator:
Kim Vogt, Kimberly_Vogt@uwlax.edu, 608-785-6770
Violence Surveillance Data:
Rebecca Block, bblock@icjia.org, 312-793-8550
Collaborations Among Academics, Practitioners and the Community:
Richard Block, RBLOCK@LUC.EDU, 773-508-3454
Crime Trends:
John Jarvis and Allan Abrahamse,
John: jpj5x@virginia.edu, 703-640-1354,
Alan: allanabr@rand.org, 310-393-0411 x6429
Prevention of Lethal and Non-lethal Violence:
Lois Mock, LOISM@OJP.USDOJ.GOV, 202-307-0693
Integration of Theory:
Lin Huff-Corzine, LCORZINE@PEGASUS.CC.UCF.EDU, 407-823-5059 x2227

Australian Institute of Criminology Establishes National Homicide Mentoring Program

by Merril Thompson, AIC

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) established a National Homicide Monitoring Program in 1990. With the cooperation of Australian state and territory police services, the Program collects data on 47 variables for each homicide coming to police attention in Australia. A total of 2,226 incidents were recorded for the period from 1st July 1989 until 30th June 1996, involving 2,415 victims and 2,652 perpetrators or suspects. Recent publications based on AIC homicide research include the following:

AIC Trends and Issues Series

No. 81: Murder-Suicide in Australia. 1998, Carlos Carcach and Peter Grabosky
No. 75: Firearms Homicide in Australia. 1997, Carlos Carcach and Peter Grabosky
No. 73: Youth as Victims and Offenders of Homicide. 1997, Carlos Carcach
No. 70: Firearm-related Violence in Australia. 1997, Satyanshu Mukherjee
No. 53. Children as Victims of Homicide. 1996, Heather Strang

These reports are available from the Australian Institute of Criminology, GPO Box 2944, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia, Tel: +61 2 6260 9256, Fax: +61 2 6260 9260, e-mail: aicpress@aic.gov.au

AIC Research and Public Policy Series

No. 13: Homicide in Australia 1986-1996, Marianne James and Carlos Carcach
No. 4: Violent Deaths and Firearms in Australia: Data and Trends, Satyanshu Mukherjee and Carlos Carcach

Available in the United States form Criminal Justice Press, PO Box 249, Monsey, NY 10952, Tel: 914 354-9139, Fax: 914 354-9139, e-mail: cjpress@j51.com

You can also visit their website at: http://www.aic.gov.au/

Reno Slated to Appear at Violence Intervention and Prevention Institute

The 2nd Biennial National Violence Intervention and Prevention Institute (V.I.P.) will be held July 9-11, 1998 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. United States Attorney General Janet Reno (invited) is just one of many nationally recognized professionals who will address the 1998 VIP Institute theme of working together for the prevention of violence within the context of youth and their families.

The Institute features training intensive sessions where participants have concentrated opportunities for skill building. They will experience intervention and prevention strategies which are already working,build a wide array of skills to incorporate into their own area of service, and develop partnership approaches for addressing violence in our society. The conference fee is $175 per person (by 5/4/98), or ($1,000 for a team of eight). Professional development credit is available. The convention will be held at the Radisson Hotel and La Crosse Conference Center. Visit the Institute's website at http://www.uwlax.edu/vip/, or contact 608-785-6506, for more information.

Violence Among Middle School and High School Students:
Analysis and Implications for Prevention

a Research In Brief from NIJ by Dan Lockwood

In October 1997, NIJ published the RIB # 166363. The brief is based on research the HRWG saw emerge and develop at several intensive workshops. The abstract follows. Please contact NIJ for a copy of the RIB.

Violent incidents among at-risk middle school and high school students often escalate from seemingly trivial events. The major focus of this RIB is on such factors as the relationship among the antagonists; the sequence of events in the confrontation, including the opening moves and the goals and justifications cited by the students. The information was drawn from in-depth interviews with 110 students who attend public schools in which the level of violence is high.

ASC Division On Women and Crime Announces
1998 Student Paper Competition

The Division on Women and Crime announces its 1998 Student Paper Competition, which is intended to encourage excellent student writing on matters of feminist scholarship, gender issues or about women as offenders, victims or professionals.

The Division invites all eligible students to submit papers in accordance with the following guidelines:

Eligibility: Any student currently enrolled at the undergraduate or graduate level at the time of the submission is eligible to enter.

Paper Specifications: Papers must be about or related to feminist scholarship, gender issues or women as offender, victims, or professionals. Papers must be no longer than 7,500 words (30 pages) with an acceptable reference formate such as APA or MLA. Papers must contain an abstract of 100 words, be typed double-spaced, and submitted on 8" x 11" inch paper. Three copies of the paper must be submitted along with verification of current student status. Papers by multiple authors are acceptable as long as all authors are students.

Judging: The committee will judge papers based on significance of the topic, conceptualization, and clarity of the writing.

Award: The winner will be presented with a $500 cash award at the Division on Women and Crime annual meeting at ASC. In cases where there are multiple winners, the award will be divided among the recipients. The winner(s) will be notified in writing by the committee prior to the annual meeting. The Committee reserves the right to give two awards or no award, if deemed necessary.

Deadline: Three copies of the paper must be received by the contact person for the Award Committee no later than August 31, 1998.

The contact person mailing address is: Division on Women and Crime Student Paper Competition, c/o Dr. Jana Jasinski, Department of Sociology, Campus Box 25, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260-0025

Canadian Firearms Centre

The Firearms Research Unit, Canadian Firearms Centre (Department Of Justice Canada) has recently made their firearms research reports available on the World Wide Web. In addition to the reports, statistical tables, research summaries and other materials can also be found at this site. The site is located at http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/index.html.

Request for ASC Violence Panels

by Dwayne Smith

I'm serving as a division chair for the American Society of Criminology meetings, and have been assigned the topic "Violence Studies." I'd like to invite proposals for panels having to do with some aspect of homicide. Information for submitting a panel proposal is contained in the information packet that you received from ASC. The deadline for proposals is March 31, 1998.

If you'd like to discuss a panel proposal, please call me at 704/547-2362 or e-mail me at DSMITH@EMAIL.UNCC.EDU. If you have a specific panel already planned, the form included with the information packet can be completed and mailed to Dwyne Smith, Department of Sociology, UNC Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223-0001

NIJ: Homicide Trends Examined in Eight Cities
PR Newswire Wednesday, December 10, 1997

WASHINGTON - Researchers found that social, economic, demographic and environmental factors play key roles in the homicide rate in eight U.S. cities, according to a report released by the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The study, Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities: Trends, Context, and Policy Implications, examines these influences on homicide rates in Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, New Orleans, Richmond, Tampa and Washington, D.C. "In the eight cities studied, we see an increasing rate of homicide among young black males, increasing gun violence resulting in homicide, and a strong statistical correlation between crack cocaine use and victimization," said NIJ Director Jeremy Travis. The data were gathered in the summer of 1996 for the period 1985-1994. The eight cities were chosen because they exhibited increasing, decreasing or stable homicide trends. The report's findings cannot be generalized to other cities or the entire country.

For further details visit NCJRS's web page at: http://www.ncjrs.org.

Female Homicide Victims in New York City 1990-1994

by Susan A. Wilt, DrPH

A report on female homicide victims in New York city by Susan A. Wilt, Susan M. Illman and Maia BrodyField, was published in the Fall of 1997. It is a descriptive overview of findings from the New York City Department of Health's Study of Medical Examiner records detailing the circumstances of all adult femicides in New York City during the first half of this decade. For each of the 1159 homicide victims, we reviewed autopsy, toxicologic, serology, ballistics, crime scene, crime follow-up, police and medical examiner investigative reports as well as witness interviews and various court documents when available.

This summary is intended to provide a general picture of adult femicide in New York City: demographics of victim and perpetrator as well as the circumstances of each homicide including motive, modality and brutality, drug involvement, geography, victim relationship to perpetrator and perpetrator suicide. The New York City Department of Health's Injury Prevention Program plans to continue this work annually in tandem with our ongoing assault injury surveillance system established in nearly two dozen New York City Hospitals.

We are also taking a closer look this year at the victims of intimate partner and family femicides through a retrospective study designed to gain a better understanding of the manner and frequency with which women attempted to access help through the hospital, judicial and law enforcement systems before their deaths. Perpetrators' criminal history and mental health records will be examined as well.

For further information, please contact: NYC Department of Health, Injury Prevention Program, 2 Lafayette Street, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10007, (212) 676-2140.

Family Violence in America:
Breaking the Cycle for Children Who Witness

Recommendations from the 1997 IACP Summit
excerpts from the executive overview

Much is already being done to prevent domestic violence, to shelter and support its victims, and to ensure the safety and positive development of children and youth who witness it. Nevertheless, much remains to be accomplished.

In April of 1997, the International Association of Chiefs of Police convened a body of influential policy makers and practitioners to appraise the state of current policy and practice and to develop innovative strategies to help communities break the intergenerational cycle of family violence. Participants brought wide-ranging knowledge and perspectives on current policies, practices, and resource requirements to the Summit.

Two categories of recommendations emerged from the Summit. The first set of 31 recommendations focus on capacity building, the second set of 12 focuses on prevention and intervention recommendations.

Capacity building recommendations included:

Restructure of criminal justice, social, community, education, and health service systems to intensify collaborative planning and policy making.
Clarify and unify statutes, written policies and protocols to facilitate intervention on behalf of children who witness.
Augment management and staff training for all law enforcement and social service system providers.
Improve performance measurement and outcome evaluation of programs designed to intervene on behalf of children.

Prevention and intervention recommendations included:

Strengthen the family through an array of programs, available to all, that includes such promising approaches as home visitations for new parents and parenting and family skills.
Create prevention initiatives that are community-based, coordinated across agencies and settings, and sustained over time.
Prepare children and youth to deal with violence and solve conflicts constructively, through school-based conflict resolution and life skills education.

For a copy of the full report, contact the International Association of Chiefs of Police, 515 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2357, phone: 703-836-6767.

Information available for Next Meeting

The Preliminary Agenda, Registration Form, Poster Session Participation Form, and Hotel and Transportation information for the June 1998 meeting are available through the June 1998 Meeting link of this website

Publisher's Statement

This newsletter is published bi-annually by the Homicide Research Working Group. We carry no advertising but gladly accept both private and commercial underwriting. This issue was edited by Kim Vogt at the Univ. of Wisconsin- La Crosse, Dept. of Sociology, 435 North Hall, La Crosse, WI 54601, and Victoria Brewer at Sam Houston State University, Criminal Justice Center, Huntsville, TX 77341.

THIS ISSUE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER, SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY, HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS.

Sam Houston State's support is greatly appreciated!

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