Assessing the interaction between offender and victim criminal lifestyles & homicide type

Jesenia M. Pizarro, Kristen M. Zgoba, Wesley G. Jennings

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined the interaction between homicide victim and offender criminal lifestyles and the situational characteristics of homicides that occurred in the city of Newark, New Jersey from 1997 through 2007. Three research questions were explored: (1) what are the lifestyles exhibited by homicide victims and offenders; (2) are there different types of homicide actors (i.e., victim and/or offender) based on their criminal lifestyle; (3) do varying homicide actor (i.e., victim and/or offender) types influence the characteristics of homicide incidents? Methods: Five hundred and thirteen homicide incidents was used to answer the three research questions. Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster and Logistic Regression Analyses were employed to answer the research questions. Findings: The findings showed that criminal lifestyles were indeed very common among homicide victims and offenders, and that they resemble each other. The findings also showed that there were two types of homicide victims and offenders, and that these types influenced the etiology of homicide incidents. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that researchers and practitioners should take into account the criminal lifestyles of potential victims and offenders when tailoring homicide prevention strategies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)367-377
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Criminal Justice
Volume39
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2011
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Applied Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Law

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Assessing the interaction between offender and victim criminal lifestyles & homicide type'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this