Spatial analysis is statistically and substantively important for macrolevel criminological inquiry. Using county-level data for the decennial years in the 1960 to 1990 time period, we reexamine the impact of conventional structural covariates on homicide rates and explicitly model spatial effects. Important findings are: (1) homicide is strongly clustered in space; (2) this clustering cannot be completely explained by common measures of the structural similarity of neighboring counties; (3) noteworthy regional differences are observed in the effects of structural covariates on homicide rates; and (4) evidence consistent with a diffusion process for homicide is observed in the South throughout the 1960-1990 period.One of the more important developments in quantitative criminological research over the course of recent decades has been the application of *

This article investigates the association between past lynchings (1882 to 1930) and contemporary law enforcement responses to hate crimes in the United States. While prior research indicates a positive correlation between past levels of lynching and current social control practices against minority groups, we posit an inverse relationship for facets of social control that are protective of minorities. Specifically, we hypothesize that contemporary hate crime policing and prosecution will be less vigorous where lynching was more prevalent prior to 1930. Analyses show that levels of past lynching are associated with three outcome variables germane to hate crime policing and prosecution, but the effect of lynching is partly contingent on the presence of a minority group threat. That is, past lynching combined with a sizeable black population largely suppresses (1) police compliance with federal hate crime law, (2) police reports of hate crimes that target blacks, and in some analyses (3) the likelihood of prosecuting a hate crime case. Our findings have implications for research on law and intergroup conflict, historical continuity in the exercise of state social control, and theories that emphasize minority group threat.

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This article assesses the influence of the legacy of lynching on homicide levels within the contemporary South. Drawing upon literature relating to the brutalizing effects of capital punishment and “self-help” in the absence of access to formal law, this study hypothesizes that a measure of the frequency of lynching in the past will exhibit positive effects on contemporary homicide levels for the overall population and for race-specific populations (white and black offending). The results of negative binomial regression analyses of counties and county-clusters in the South are generally consistent with expectations. The measure of lynching exhibits consistently positive effects on overall homicide levels and levels of black offending in models with controls for other theoretically relevant covariates. For whites, the effect of lynching emerges for a particular type of homicide: interracial homicides that evolve out of interpersonal conflicts. At a general level, our findings underscore the relevance of the historical context for understanding variation in contemporary levels of homicide.

Granovetter's theory on the strength of weak ties motivates hypotheses on the difusive nature of suicidal thoughts in the friendship networks of adolescents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the effects of friends-of-friends attempting suicide on the suicidal thoughts of respondents are estimated. A focus on friends-of-friends permits a test of the weak-ties thesis because respondents are indirectly linked to friends-of-friends by "open ties" that are both structurally weak and used as bridges. Results for "at-risk" respondents--or those with certain behaviors, statuses, and experiences that create psychological predispositions to suicide-are consistent with Granovetter's theory and thus reveal the "dark side" of the strength of weak ties as at-risk respondents are more likely to seriously think about committing suicide when a friend-of-a-friend attempts suicide, controlling for past suicidal thoughts by the respondent and attempts by friends, family, and students in the respondent's school, among other control factors. Barriers to diffusion are also considered.