Governance and Regional Variation of Homicide Rates
- 10 June 2015
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
- Vol. 61 (1), 25-45
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x15587278
Abstract
Criminological theories of cross-national studies of homicide have underestimated the effects of quality governance of liberal democracy and region. Data sets from several sources are combined and a comprehensive model of homicide is proposed. Results of the spatial regression model, which controls for the effect of spatial autocorrelation, show that quality governance, human development, economic inequality, and ethnic heterogeneity are statistically significant in predicting homicide. In addition, regions of Latin America and non-Muslim Sub-Saharan Africa have significantly higher rates of homicides ceteris paribus while the effects of East Asian countries and Islamic societies are not statistically significant. These findings are consistent with the expectation of the new modernization and regional theories.Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- THE PLACE OF CONTEXT: A THEORY AND STRATEGY FOR CRIMINOLOGY'S HARD PROBLEMSCriminology, 2013
- POVERTY, INFANT MORTALITY, AND HOMICIDE RATES IN CROSS‐NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: ASSESSMENTS OF CRITERION AND CONSTRUCT VALIDITY*Criminology, 2010
- Social Change and Anomie: A Cross-National StudySocial Forces, 2010
- A METHODOLOGICAL ADDITION TO THE CROSS‐NATIONAL EMPIRICAL LITERATURE ON SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND HOMICIDE: A FIRST TEST OF THE POVERTY‐HOMICIDE THESIS*Criminology, 2008
- Political Institutions, Minorities, and Punishment: A Pooled Cross-National Analysis of Imprisonment RatesSocial Forces, 2003
- The theory of human development: A cross‐cultural analysisEuropean Journal of Political Research, 2003
- Modernization, age structure, and regional context: A cross‐national study of crimeSociological Spectrum, 1992
- Competing Perspectives on Cross-National Crime: An Evaluation of Theory and EvidenceThe Sociological Quarterly, 1988
- Southern Exposure: Deciphering the South's Influence on Homicide RatesSocial Forces, 1986
- Societal Development, Social Equality, and Homicide: A Cross-National Test of a Durkheimian ModelSocial Forces, 1982