The social ecology of homicide: A modified lifestyle/routine activities perspective

Objective To assess if violent deaths were associated with pay days in Guatemala. Design Interrupted time series analysis. Setting Guatemalan national autopsy databases. Participants Daily violence-related autopsy data for 22 418 decedents from 2009 to 2012. Data were provided by the Guatemalan National Institute of Forensic Sciences. Multiple pay-day lags and other important days such as holidays were tested. Outcome measures Absolute and relative estimates of excess violent deaths on pay days and holidays. Results The occurrence of violent deaths was not associated with pay days. However, a significant association was observed for national holidays, and this association was more pronounced when national holidays and pay days occurred simultaneously. This effect was observed mainly in males, who constituted the vast majority of violent deaths in Guatemala. An estimated 112 (coefficient=3.12; 95% CI 2.15 to 4.08; p<0.01) more male violent deaths occurred on holidays than were expected. An estimated 121 (coefficient=4.64; 95% CI 3.41 to 5.88; p<0.01) more male violent deaths than expected occurred on holidays that coincided with the first 2 days following a pay day. Conclusions Men in Guatemala experience violent deaths at an elevated rate when pay days coincide with national holidays. Efforts to be better prepared for violence during national holidays and to prevent violent deaths by rescheduling pay days when these days co-occur with national holidays should be considered.

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“…Homicide, a prime example of violence, has been previously studied using routine activity theory. 19–22 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Homicide, a prime example of violence, has been previously studied using routine activity theory. [19][20][21][22] In Guatemala, all three elements of routine activities theory are active around pay days. There are motivated offenders due to poor socioeconomic conditions as well as an active and organised criminal infrastructure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between pay day and violent death in Guatemala: a time series analysis

et al. 2016

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“…4,[6][7][8] Homicide, the prime example of criminal violence, has been studied using routine activity theory in several research efforts. [9][10][11][12] Suicide, while not criminal, is also a violent act that may be better understood through the use of routine activity theory. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no application of routine activity theory to the study of suicide.…”

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confidence: 99%

Firearm Homicide and Firearm Suicide: Opposite but Equal

2004

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SYNOPSISObjective. Homicide and suicide are intentional acts of violence that disproportionately involve firearms. Much more effort has been devoted to the ecological study of homicide; methods that have been developed to better understand and subsequently prevent homicide may be applicable to suicide. The purpose of the present study was to compare the occurrence of firearm homicide and firearm suicide using routine activity theory as a framework for analysis.Methods. Detailed mortality data pertaining to decedents, their neighborhoods, and use of firearms were collected from 1994 to 1998 for the counties containing and surrounding three small to medium-sized U.S. cities. Data from a total of 468 neighborhoods that collectively experienced 1,025 intentional deaths from firearms (396 firearm homicides and 629 firearm suicides) were analyzed.Results. Firearm homicide was consistently associated with outof-home, nighttime activity in neighborhoods where many people were likely to be coming and going. In an opposite-but-equal fashion, firearm suicide was consistently associated with in-home, daytime activity in out-of-the-way neighborhoods.Conclusions. Firearm homicide and firearm suicide were found to be consistently associated with markers of routine activity in all three cities, albeit in an opposite-but-equal manner. Because firearm suicides very often occur as lonely events in lonely neighborhoods, they may go under-noticed relative to firearm homicides. More awareness and additional public health studies of firearm suicide, in tandem with firearm homicide, should be pursued to better identify individuals and neighborhoods that are at greatest risk of experiencing each event.PHOTO: EARL DOTTER

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“…This lifestyle/routine activity theory has been widely explored in studying the differential risks of victimization in the United States and other Western countries ( Andromachi et al 2004 ;Bernburg and Thorlindsson 2001 ;Cass 2007 ;Cohen et al 1981 ;Debra 1993 ;Forde and Kennedy 1997 ;Jackson et al 2006 ;Kanan and Pruitt 2002 ;Kennedy and Forde 1990 a ;1990 b ;Massey and McKean 1985 ;Miethe et al 1987 ;Mustaine and Tewksbury 1998 ;1999;Osgood et al 1996 ;Spano and Nagy 2005 ;Tewksbury and Mustaine 2001 ).…”

Section: Theory and Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Robbery of Motorcycle Taxi Drivers (Dake Zai) in China: A Lifestyle/Routine Activity Perspective and Beyond

Xu¹

2009

British Journal of Criminology

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Using offi cial police records, interviews with motorcycle taxi drivers and the participant observation of their working activities in Tianzhi city, China, this paper examines how and why a dimension of social stratifi cationhousehold registration ( hukou )is related to the risk of robbery victimization and attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of applying lifestyle/routine activity theory to contemporary urban China. It discloses that migrant motorcycle taxi drivers are highly overrepresented in robbery victimization. Their night-time working practices enhance their chances of being robbed by both increasing exposure to likely offenders and reducing the presence of capable guardians. The study further explores how a structural factormotorcycle ban policyshapes different routine activities between migrant and resident motorcycle taxi drivers and, by extension, differential risks of robbery victimization. The paper concludes by pointing out the importance of locating lifestyle/routine activities in a larger Chinese macro-social structural context. The outcome is one of the very fi rst ethnographic analyses of crime conducted in situ in China.

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The social ecology of homicide: A modified lifestyle/routine activities perspective

Cited by 11 publications

References 4 publications

The relationship between pay day and violent death in Guatemala: a time series analysis

The relationship between pay day and violent death in Guatemala: a time series analysis

Firearm Homicide and Firearm Suicide: Opposite but Equal

The Robbery of Motorcycle Taxi Drivers (Dake Zai) in China: A Lifestyle/Routine Activity Perspective and Beyond

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