HRWG Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 2, September 2001

Co-Editors: Viviana Weekes-Shackelford and Todd K. Shackelford

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A PUBLICATION OF THE HOMICIDE RESEARCH WORKING GROUP

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

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American Society of Criminology (2001)

Reported by Roland Chilton
Chair, 2001 Midyear Meeting at ASC

When the Homicide Research Working Group meets at the ASC 2001 meeting in Atlanta, one of the themes will be "Homicide Past and Present: The Utility of Historical Data as We Consider Contemporary Crime." The Midyear Program Committee (Candice Batton, Roland Chilton, John Jarvis, Thomas Petee, and Greg Weaver) has asked Leigh Bienen, Douglas Eckberg, and Gary LaFree to speak about their historical data sets they have examined, and to tell us why and how the analyses of historical data are useful as we attempt to understand contemporary levels and types of homicide.

• Leigh Bienen will participate through a video-conference connection from Chicago. In her Chicago Historical Data Project, she has taken an interesting approach by sending data to a set of criminologists, journalists, and legal scholars and asking them to examine and discuss some aspect of homicides report for Chicago from 1870-1930. She will talk about products and results of this effort as reflected in a conference and a symposium issue of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Greg Weaver will make this presentation if the connection fails.

• Gary LeFree has been asked to talk about what he thinks the historical data he has examined tells us about recent homicide levels and trends and about the utility of historical data in general.

• Douglas Eckberg at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina will talk about the re-release of H. V. Redfield's 1880 study of Homicide, North and South. He will discuss firearms, data quality, and other aspects of historical studies of homicide

Other HRWG members who have participated in the Bienen project or worked with other historical data sets are expected to raise questions and to comment on featured presentations. This panel discussion is scheduled for Thursday, November 8, 2001, at 1:00 in the Magnolia room. Roland Chilton will chair the session.

HRWG 2001 Summer Meeting

Reported by John Jarvis

The 2001 Meetings of the Homicide Research Working Group were held in Orlando, Florida, June 22-25, 2001. The theme for these meetings was "New Directions in Homicide Research." A Pre-Conference Workshop on applications of the FBI NIBRS data was held on June 21.

The meeting opened with an evening session on Fatality Review Teams, and was followed by a social hour for meeting participants to become acquainted or reacquainted.

The following two days involved a full slate of panels and discussions. These included such diverse topics as homicide trends, firearms and homicide, data collection and measurement of homicide, challenges of preventing intimate partner homicide and domestic violence, homicide and violence throughout the life-course, and study of homicides among under-researched groups.

One of the many highlights of the meetings was a poster session with over 20 different research and service posters pertaining to the study and prevention of homicide and violence. Finally, on Monday, the 25th a forensic anthropologist led a team of workshop participants on a field trip to recover "pig parts" and to learn some of the challenges of forensic work in death investigations.

The "Pig Dig"

Homicide Studies: Transfer of Editors

Reported by Dwayne Smith

At the HRWG meetings in June, Tom Petee and Jay Corzine were announced as the new co-editors of Homicide Studies. Tom will edit the journal at Auburn for the next three years, and then it will shift to Jay at the University of Central Florida for another three years. The formal transfer of materials took place in late July. Manuscripts and all other correspondence regarding the journal should now be sent to:

Thomas A. Petee
Editor, Homicide Studies
Department of Sociology
7030 Haley Center
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849-5209

Dwayne Smith, the journal's first editor, was honored with a reception at the home of Jay Corzine and Lin Huff-Corzine during the HRWG meetings. He will remain with the journal as an Associate Editor, and will prepare decisions for all manuscripts that are currently under review.

Special thanks to Dwayne Smith for his hard work and dedication to making Homicide Studies a success.

HRWG 2001 Business Meeting Summary

Reported by Grey Weaver, HRWG Secretary

A number of important topics were discussed at business meetings held during the Orlando conference. Brief discussions of changing the name of the group ended following an anonymous comment of "over my dead body." The possibility of implementing a five-year plan for selecting meeting sites was explored as well. Future possible locations were identified during discussion following the report of the Site Selection Committee, including:

The 2002 annual meeting will be held in St. Louis in June. Also, the idea of holding a meeting outside the United States is being explored. The Site Selection Committee will develop a list of procedures to determine the feasibility of a particular location based on concerns of access, capacity and suitability of facilities, and cost.

A publisher for the 2000 Proceedings is yet to be determined but, if the FBI and NIJ is not possible, the use of Omnipress will be explored. Future editions of the Proceedings may be available for sale in order to recover publication costs. In a related matter, the group should be able to process membership renewals by credit card in the near future. Candice Batton, Treasurer, is exploring this option.

A number of issues were discussed by the By-Laws Committee. The committee will make recommendations to the Steering Committee, and these will then be distributed to members for approval. Finally, various committee positions were acknowledged. Thanks to Candice Batton for compiling the following list.

2001 HRWG OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS

OFFICERS
Convener - Derral Cheatwood (derralc@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu)
Co-Convener - Kaye Marz (kaye@icpsr.umich.edu)
Secretary - Greg Weaver (weavegs@mail.auburn.edu)
Treasurer - Candice Batton (cbatton@mail.unomaha.edu)
Network Coor. - Jana Jasinski (jjasinsk@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu)

Standing Committee Chairs
Program Committee - Rick Rosenfeld (richard_rosenfeld@umsl.edu)
Organizational Liaison Committee - Dick Block (rblock@luc.edu)
Publications Committee - Kaye Marz (kaye@icpsr.umich.edu)
Nominations and Elections Committee - Becky Block (bblock@icjia.state.il.us)
Networking Committee - Jana Jasinski (jjasinsk@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu)

Ad Hoc Committee Chairs
2001 Midyear Meeting at ASC Committee - Roland Chilton (chilton@soc.umass.edu)
Site Selection Committee - Victoria Titterington (icc_vbt@shsu.edu) and Bill Edison
Bylaws Revision Committee - Anne Lee
Speakers Bureau Committee - Jim Black (jblack5@utk.edu)
2001 Proceedings Committee - Dwayne Smith (mdsmith@chuma1.cas.usf.edu)
Brochure Committee - Dallas Drake (dallas.drake@mindspring.com)
Newsletter Committee - Viviana Weekes-Shackelford (vwee9812@fau.edu) and Todd Shackelford (tshackel@fau.edu)
T-Shirt and Accessories Committee - Linda Langford (llangford@edc.org)
2002 Local Arrangements (riedel@siu.edu)
Awards - Becky Block (bblock@icjia.state.il.us)

Join a Committee

Work in this organization is done by members who volunteer their time. If you have not already signed up for a committee, please consider serving in any role your interest and expertise might lead you to. If you are interested or need further information, please contact the chair of the committee.

Derral Cheatwood

Report of the Site Selection Committee for July 2002

Reported by Vickie Titterington and Bill Edison

Cities designated (or under consideration) for future meetings:

• 2002, St. Louis: Now confirmed with Rick Rosenfeld (he and Scott Decker will be responsible for local arrangements). Tentative meeting dates: June 7-10.

• 2003, Sacramento: Laura Lund and Roger Trent as local arrangements coordinators

• 2004-2005, Cities under consideration: Minneapolis, Brooklyn, Baltimore, San Antonio, Kansas City, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Quantico

• 2006, Nashville: Gary Jensen to be local arrangements coordinator

With the assistance of Frans Koenraadt and Dick Block, we are going to explore a meeting in the Netherlands. Ideas so far are:

• Hold the meeting in January (2003 or 2004), in addition to the annual June workshop

• Market the meeting heavily to HRGW's international member

• Consider a theme of "comparative homicide research," including how homicide is studied in various countries...with a "best practices" focus

We welcome your suggestions! Please send them to Vickie Titterington, icc_vbt@shsu.edu

Report of the Proceedings Subcommittee

Reported by Paul Blackman

We are still awaiting word from the FBI as to whether they will publish the Proceedings for the 2000 meeting, as they did for 1999. That decision is expected by mid-August. By that time, the editing will be completed. The editing took longer than it should have. No submission conformed fully to the instructions for presenters and some submissions showed minimal effort to conform. We hope that by the end of August we will have a publisher and date by which publication might be expected.

Dwayne Smith (chair) and I will be editing the Proceedings for the 2001 meeting. Guidelines for submission for the Proceedings will be similar to those for 2000, but a specific set of instructions cannot be developed until we know who the publisher will be. Specific guidelines, including a deadline, will then be sent to presenters at the 2001 meeting.

HRWG Dinner at ASC, 2001 Meeting

Reported by Candice Batton

The HRWG Midyear Meeting Committee is planning a dinner for HRWG members, their significant others, and others interested in homicide research. Dinner will follow the mid-year meeting of HRWG at the 2001 ASC meetings in Atlanta, GA. The mid-year meeting is scheduled for 1-4PM in the Magnolia room of the Marriott Marquis on Thursday, November 8. Details regarding time and place of the dinner, menu, cost, and how to sign up will be posted on the HRWG listserv in October. If you do not subscribe to the listserv, but would like to sign up for the dinner or need more information, please contact me. Hope to see you there!

Minnesota Gay Homicide Study

Researchers at the Minnesota Gay Homicide Study, an independent nonprofit research agency, are working to construct a dataset of homosexual homicide cases in Minnesota since 1969. HRWG members Dallas Drake and Joe Shulka are leading this project.

To date, research on homosexual homicides has focused on only two categories: Hate-crime and intimate partner homicide. Drake is attempting to create a new parent category of homicide based on the demographic category of same-sex sexual identity and/or same-sex sexual behavior. Similar to how race or gender is conceptualized as a demographic, same-sex incidents are being identified and placed in this dataset.

Minnesota is not the hotbed of homicide research. Only about 90-120 homicides occur in the state annually. But, that's exactly why Minnesota is such a good place for this type of project, because the research sample is extremely manageable. Using a cohesive geographic area and identifying all of the known cases will allow prevalence rates to be calculated. For instance, the dataset would make it possible to determine victimization rates and allow comparison of homosexual victimization to heterosexual victimization. Previous studies of both hate-crime and intimate partner homicide represent potentially biased samples due to reliance on passive reporting of the crime incidents. This study seeks to actively identify all of the known cases. Eventually, the full dataset will be available to researchers.

Several benefits can be identified for such a study. Perhaps most importantly, this knowledge will be useful to police investigators whom, with absence of a solid motive in a case, might be able to recognize whether a homicide is consistent or inconsistent with a homosexual incident. For researchers, lacking precise demographic categories makes it difficult to compare and analyze data. This is especially true with intimate partner homicide. Hate-crime cannot be compared to heterosexual homicides since the dichotomous category for heterosexual is homosexual, not hate-crime. Same-sex homicides can also help rule out questions of gender when analyzing aggregate data.

The greatest barrier to developing this dataset lies in defining specific individual concepts. Sexual orientation is merely orientation towards a sexual identity. A person's sexual identify can change over time as personal perceptions and interpretations of one's attraction change. Human sexuality is much more complex that once thought. Our understanding of sexual identity can include many dimensions including fantasies, thoughts, and behaviors. Sexual behavior is a distinct category of sexuality. People do not always behave in accordance with their sexual identity. This leads to problems in the researcher's interpretation of the meaning of that behavior. All of these issues need further study.

Concerns about the validity of case inclusion have led, in part, to this research design. By removing the question of motive, one of the most debatable features of a homicide, hopefully bias can be reduced. This research is funded by grant from the Gill Foundation, Grotto Foundation, and Philanthrofund Foundation. To request a copy of that paper, or to pose questions or concerns about this research, contact Dallas Drake.

Achievements and Announcements

Awards Received

• James Sobol, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, received the 2001 Excellence in Scholarship Award from Hilbert College. The award recognizes outstanding achievement by faculty who have brought recognition and honor to Hilbert through individual achievement.

• Todd K. Shackelford, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, received the 2001 Early Career Achievement Award of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences. This award recognizes outstanding early career research productivity in the area of individual differences.

New Book Release

• Andrew Karmen, New York Murder Mystery: The True Story Behind the Crime Crash of the 1990's. New York University Press. For more information, contact Andrew Karmen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Safe Horizon

• Please email Avianca Marie Hansen, Senior Director of Homicide Programs, Safe Horizon, if you are interested in receiving materials on Avianca's presentation at the 2001 HRWG meeting. Avianca's presentation was on providing services to survivors of homicide victims in New York City.

Alcohol Related Crimes and Fatalities

• I am about to begin a project on alcohol related fatalities, encompassing such problems as ER treated overdoses, combinations of alcohol with dangerous drugs, driving-related deaths, and assaults related to alcohol use. The intervention focus is juveniles and young adults. First, can someone point me to some good recent public health or medical literature--preferably journal articles? Second, What are some jurisdictions that have promising or exemplary alcohol-related intervention programs that target juveniles and young adults, with the objective of reducing violence and injuries? Contact Cliff Karchmer, Police Executive Research Forum, Washington, DC, for comments or suggestions.

HRWG Member in Federal Prison

• HRWG member, Vanessa Levrier-Leggett, is currently in federal prison. Apparently, the charges against her are related to her refusal to violate a research subject's confidentiality. For those of you who may not know Vanessa, she presented papers at the 1999 meetings in Quantico on "Parricidal Familicide," and at the Chicago HRWG meetings on "Prescription for Murder: Homicide and Suicide among Psychopharmacologically Treated Juveniles." She also is the co-editor of the 1999 and 2000 Proceedings, with Paul Blackman. She was unable to attend the 2001 meetings.

The HRWG Listserv

If you are not a member of the HRWG listserv, or if you have changed email addresses and no longer receive messages from the listserv, please refer to the printed newsletter for instructions on how to subscribe.

From The HRWG Newsletter Editors

We would like to thank the many people who contributed time and effort into developing this issue. The level of enthusiasm and timely response was impressive. We encourage your continued support. We extend an invitation to those who did not contribute for your support (it's not too late!). Please feel free to contact us with ideas or suggestions for future editions.

We extend a special thanks to Dick and Becky Block, Jay Corzine, Tom Petee, Jana Jasinski, Vickie Titterington, and Chris Rache for their wonderful comments and suggestions for this issue. We also thank the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University for sponsoring the printing and mailing of the newsletter.

Foundations of HRWG

Adapted from the HRWG website

The Homicide Research Working Group is not a typical professional organization. Chris Rasche, one of the founding members, has called it a "scholarly tribe." HRWG members represent many countries, with almost a fifth of the membership from outside the United States. Members are about evenly split between academics and practitioners. Their disciplines include criminology, medicine, nursing, public policy, social work, criminal justice, public health, psychology, sociology, law, geography, epidemiology, demography, and biology.

"Work" is the operative word. HRWG members are interested in working together to discover the best ways to measure and reduce rates of lethal violence. If there is a scholarly disagreement about a methodological issue, HRWG members would rather roll their sleeves up and work together to solve the problem, than argue back and forth in periodicals. To provide support for this kind of problem-solving, the HRWG organizes workshop sessions at professional meetings, maintains a newsletter, a journal, and an active listserv, and holds an intensive three- or four-day meeting once a year.

Although the HRWG is interdisciplinary, and not affiliated with any particular professional organization, it was sheltered at birth by the American Society of Criminology (ASC). At the 1991 ASC meeting, Richard Block organized two key sessions. In the first, a plenary session on "The Wolfgang Tradition in Homicide Research and the Agenda for the Future," scholars confronted the current status of homicide research and made recommendations for the future. The second session was destined to have the greater impact. Called "Workshop on Theory and Method of Current Homicide Research: The Need for a Comparative Working Group," it was the first ASC session to be designed as a workshop dedicated to discussing "coordination of research, problems encountered, solutions, theoretical developments and common or contradictory findings." In preparation for what would become the HRWG's charter meeting, Becky and Dick Block contacted people currently doing homicide research and compiled a mailing list of these researchers for distribution at the session, collected "homicide research and data questionnaires" from people involved in current projects, and asked eight people to each present a brief summary of one of the primary issues facing homicide research.

A crowd of over 70 people attended this charter session. Participants entered enthusiastically into the discussion, and snapped up copies of the mailing list and the sets of completed questionnaires that were distributed. They voted to form an informally-organized HRWG, to continue their dialogue at an inaugural intensive meeting the following June, to accept the kind invitation of Victoria Schneider of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) of the University of Michigan to sponsor the meeting in Ann Arbor, and to continue to have workgroup sessions at the ASC and at the annual meetings of other organizations. The 29 people attending the Ann Arbor meeting in June 1992 not only shared ideas and discussed the intricacies of homicide datasets, but gave HRWG a more formal structure.

The HRWG has held a meeting every year since 1992, as well as workshops at a variety of organizational meetings. The places and sponsors of the intensive annual meetings have been symbolic of the group's interdisciplinary focus. The Ann Arbor meeting, sponsored by the ICPSR's National Archive of Criminal Justice Data and the National Institute of Justice, represents the group's roots in data and measurement. Our second meeting, at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and the third, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control at Emory University in Atlanta, exemplify two disciplines fundamental to understanding homicide - public safety and public health. In 1995, the group's international focus was symbolized by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, which sponsored the Workshop in Ottawa. In 1996, the role of private research organizations and of community-level intervention program was recognized when the RAND Corporation sponsored the meeting in Santa Monica, California. Our sixth meeting in June 1997, was sponsored by the Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and was held in Sheppardstown, West Virginia. The seventh meeting brought the members back to Ann Arbor in June 1998 when the meeting was again sponsored by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. The eighth meeting in June 1999 involved another repeat in meeting location as HRWG members returned to Quantico, Virginia, when the FBI Academy once again hosted the annual meeting at their training facility. Our nineth intensive meeting in June 2000, was sponsored by Loyola University Chicago and the tenth meeting in June 2001 was hosted by the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

The possibility of creating a journal of Homicide Studies was first mentioned at the charter meeting in 1991. Although most members liked the idea, no one was ready to do the work to develop it. At the 1994 HRWG session at the ASC, however, Dwayne Smith of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte not only suggested that we begin a journal dedicated to the founding goals of HRWG, but also volunteered to look into the possibility. The creation of Homicide Studies and its publication by Sage was largely the result of his effort and perseverance.

HRWG Membership Information

To renew your HRWG membership or join for the first time, you need to complete a Membership Form. You can complete the form online and then print it. Please mail your completed Membership Form and $50(US) to Candice Batton, the HRWG Treasurer, at the address on the form. Dues can be paid by check or credit card.

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