Crime Trends in Southern and Nonsouthern Cities: A Twenty-Year Perspective

Jacobson, Alvin L.

doi:10.2307/2576090

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…But when percentage of poverty is excluded (Table 3), southern cities have significantly higher homicide rates for 1960, but not for 1970. These findings are to be expected because of the closer relation between poverty and region for 1960 (r =.807) than for the latter decade (1970, r =.563), which showed both a narrowing of the gap in general economic devel opment and a reduction in the homicide differential between the South and other regions of the country (Hackney, 1969;Jacobson, 1975). Unfortunately, it is not possible to examine the effect of region on homicides controlling for both poverty and income inequality for 1950 due to the lack of an adequate index of the former type of deprivation.…”

Section: Results For the Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Poverty, Inequality, and City Homicide Rates

1984

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Messner's recent investigation of homicide and relative and absolute economic deprivation is replicated here, but cities rather than SMSA's and three years (1950, 1960, 1970) rather than one (1970) are considered. Because of tremendous intra‐unit variation for SMSAs with respect to homicides and sociodemographic characteristics (an important variation that is masked when data are aggregated on a SMSA level), cities are a preferable unit of analysis in cross‐sectional investigations of homicide. Where M e s m found a significant negative relationship between percentage of poverty (absolute deprivation) and homicides, I consistently find the opposite pattern as predicted. In both studies, however, there is only a slight and nonsignificant relationship between relative economic deprivation (income inequality) and homicides. Unlike Messner, however, I do not consider this finding surprising. At best, there is only a weak theoretical linkage between homicide and relative economic deprivation. Accordingly, the results of this investigation for both absolute and relative deprivation are neither “perplexing” nor do they warrant the “serious reconsideration of the linkages between poverty, inequality and the homicide rate” that Messner (1982: 112) calls for.

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Section: Results For the Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Poverty, Inequality, and City Homicide Rates

1984

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“…While evidence at one point in time is not sufficient t o establish the process of value transmission, the violence-related items analyzed in this paper fail to uncover the existence of a "regional culture of violence" at one historical moment. These data d o not support Gastil's thesis at the microlevel and, when coupled with a further lack of microlevel support (Erlanger, 1975) and the shrinking crime rate differential between the South and the rest of the country (Jacobson, 1975). suggest that the depiction of thc South as a "regional culture of violence" is anachronistic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Fortunately, there is one such study at our disposal. Jacobson (1975) analyzes various urban crime rates using five points in time extending from 1951 to 1970. He finds a continuously diminishing difference between Southern and non-Southern crime rates over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Index of Southernness Revisited

Doerner

1978

Criminology

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A study by Gastil concludes that the Southern area of the United States constitutes a regional subculture of violence. Loftin and Hill (1974) empirically challenge Gastil's findings at the ecological level of analysis. This study adds a further dimension to that line of research by examining violence‐related items from a national survey at the individual level of analysis. Results fail to confirm the existence of a divergent value system among Southerners today. It is suggested that if a “regional culture of violence” once existed, it has vanished over the years.

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“…This finding may be explained, in part, by the declining influence of regional location on subcultural values concerning the use of violence to settle interpersonal disputes. Jacobson (1975) reports, upon the analysis of crime trends from 1951 to 1970 for a sample of U.S. cities, that there has been a convergence, over time, in southern and non-southern homicide rates. He interprets this finding in terms of the continuing dissipation of regional differences in the approval of violence.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Macro Social Analysis of the Change in Robbery and Homicide Rates: Controlling for Static and Dynamic Effects

Chamlin

1989

Sociological Focus

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Crime Trends in Southern and Nonsouthern Cities: A Twenty-Year Perspective

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Poverty, Inequality, and City Homicide Rates

Poverty, Inequality, and City Homicide Rates

The Index of Southernness Revisited

A Macro Social Analysis of the Change in Robbery and Homicide Rates: Controlling for Static and Dynamic Effects

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