353Do police-involved deaths increase homicide rates in the post-Ferguson Era? Evidence from 44 US cities

Background Starting in 2014, homicide rates increased in several US cities, reversing a two-decade downward trend. A number of commentators blamed the events of Ferguson, Missouri, where police killed Michael Brown, leading to protests and greater scrutiny of similar events in other cities. It is still unclear whether effect is causal and what the mechanism would be. Methods Using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting database, I derived 2011-2019 crime data from 44 US cities where protests followed a local police-involved death. The main outcome was homicide. Assaults are potentially similar as a conflict-resolution strategy, though reporting is more discretionary than homicides. Differences in effect between homicide and assault were used as a proxy for underreporting and an indicator legal cynicism. Effects were tested using interrupted time series and combined with meta-analyses. Meta-regressions were used to test the moderating effects of external investigations and sociodemographic factors. Results Homicides increased 26% (99% CI: 15%, 36%). Assaults also increased, though the effect was 15% lower than the homicides (-27%, -4%). No tested factor significantly effects. Conclusions Where police-involved deaths lead to protests, homicide rates increase. The findings support de-legitimisation of police as a causal mechanism, but not de-policing. Key messages Police-involved deaths can lead to increased homicides. Cities where police-community tensions are already high may be particularly vulnerable to homicide rate increases following police-involved deaths.

Mismatched Liberation Theory: A Comparative Method to Explain Increasing Female Crime Share in the United States

In this paper, I propose a new theory that ascribes the increasing female crime share to unequal emancipatory advancement between women’s ideological aspirations and institutional means in modern times. Accordingly, it is proposed that an incommensurate pace in progression inflicts gender-specific deprivation on women, which increases their share of crime. The theory is tested with Uniform Crime Reporting data from 1980 to 2017 across offense types. The findings indicate that mismatched liberation increases the female share of violent and property crimes, especially for adult cohorts and among samples after 1988 when women’s ends-means gap was found to be enlarged.

Using National Data to Inform Our Understanding of Family and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization: A Review of a Decade of Innovation

This review summarizes developments over the past decade in national data sources that can further our understanding of intimate partner and family violence. Particular attention is given to recent improvements in the National Crime Victimization Survey and Uniform Crime Reporting Program’s National Incident-Based Reporting System as well as to features of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. Over the past 10 years, these data sources have broadened their collection in areas such as victim demographics, disclosure and access to services. This information can support the research necessary to better respond to victims of intimate partner and family violence.

Mann-Kendall test for Monotonic Trend Analysis of Driving Under Intoxicated (DUI) Arrests in the United States: 1995-2013

Drinking under the Influence (DUI) remains to be a public health issue as there has still been a significant number of traffic deaths and injuries due to DUI. Despite the laws enacted and the impacts of DUI highly publicized, the high percentage of people still perceiving DUI as a major personal safety threat furthers the need to review the status of DUIs in this country. There are various agencies in this country that has gathered DUI data in one way or the other. However, making sense of these available information for policy planning purposes on a comprehensive manner remains to be a challenge. It is to this purpose that this study endeavors to review the trends on DUI utilizing existing data gathered by various agencies. Specifically, the objective is to determine whether there has been a statistically significant decrease in the number of DUI arrests from 1995 to 2013. Data on Driving under the Influence (DUI) arrests were drawn from information provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) from 1995 to 2013. The FBI’s UCR Program is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of more than 16,000 in 1995 and in 2013, 18,415 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), 1995). From 1995 to 2013, the average number of individuals arrested for DUI accounted for 10 percent (14,107,840) of the total arrests in the US. Results revealed during this period; the number of DUI arrests has decreased by 9 percent with an average yearly rate change of 1 percent. The highest increase of the DUI arrests during this period was observed in 1999 with 8 percent, while the highest decrease was observed in 2011 with 14 percent. The year that had the highest number of DUI arrests was in 1999 while the lowest was in 2013. The analysis also revealed that there was a decrease in the total number of DUI arrests from 1995 to 2013 as pointed out by the negative value of the computed Z (Z (S > 0) = -1.77, p = .076). However, there was no statistically significant trend as the normalized test statistic (Z) was less than the critical value (Zα/2 = 1.96) at the level of significance (0.05). The paper concludes that in order to gauge the effectiveness of prevention measures, there is a need to regularly monitor trends in alcohol-impaired driving. There are several approaches adopted by previous studies to examine these trends, which includes onsite surveys of drivers, examination of crash reports and driver’s records. However, developing an approach that utilizes existing sources of data would be the most efficient and effective in terms of time and monetary resources.

Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence in Canada: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Types of Incidents Reported to Police Services

During the past 50 years, there has been an increase in research and programming initiatives focusing on the issue of heterosexual intimate partner violence (Het-IPV). In comparison, less attention has been paid to same-sex intimate partner violence (SS-IPV). Furthermore, of the existing research, the majority focuses on SS-IPV incidents in the United States which, due to social and legal differences, cannot yield an accurate picture of SS-IPV in Canada. This descriptive study sought to understand the prevalence, characteristics, and types of SS-IPV and Het-IPV within a Canadian context, with an emphasis on understanding the differences and similarities of incidents reported to police services. It explores the influences of heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity on SS-IPV reporting and recognition. To assess this, data from Statistics Canada’s 2007–2011 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Surveys were utilized. Participation in this survey is mandatory for all police services and, therefore, the sample used contains over 99% of incidents of IPV reported in Canada during the 4-year period ( N = 346,565). The results indicate that 4% of incidents of intimate partner violence reported to the UCR involved people engaged in same-sex relationships. It demonstrates that SS-IPV incidents are similar to Het-IPV incidents in reported prevalence, and the findings also show that there are differences in the types of violations reported and several incident characteristics, including levels of victim injury, and the population density of the offense location. These findings can provide a foundation for future research and raise further questions about how SS-IPV is responded to by the criminal justice system after it has been reported to police services.

The Victim–Offender Relationship and Police Charging Decisions for Juvenile Delinquents

While research has established how victim–offender relationship (social distance) relates to police decision-making, comparatively little research has examined this relationship among juvenile delinquents. This article examines how the social relationship between victim and offender has a main and moderating relationship with police charging decisions among juvenile delinquents in Canada. Incidents recorded using the Uniform Crime Reporting Incident-Based Survey ( N = 130,090) are modeled using logistic regression to predict the odds of police laying a charge. Independent variables include nature of the victim–offender relationship as well as demographic, geographic, and offense-specific variables. Main effects models show that incidents involving current intimate partners are most likely to result in arrest, followed by incidents involving strangers. Importantly, stratified models suggest that social distance conditions how other legal and extralegal factors relate to police arrest decisions. Similar to the adult offending population, victim–offender relationship shapes the way criminal incidents are officially addressed in complex ways.

Canadian Prostitution Law

This chapter reviews the history of prostitution law in Canada. It begins with a review of relevant literature on the history and policy of the sex trade in Canada, along with current laws and their enforcement. It then discusses two sources of data available for use in prostitution research in Canada: the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, a data set that tracks crime and arrest information, and the Erotic Review (TER), a data set drawn from an online review website for sex professionals. These data sets are employed in descriptive analysis of the state of prostitution markets in Canada. The chapter also considers the challenges brought against Canadian prostitution law and concludes by suggesting potential research directions.