Medical Resources and National Homicide Rates

A Cross‐National Assessment

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6192805
AutoresDon Soo Chon (0000-0002-8825-400X, Keiser University, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume34
Fascículo1
Páginas97-118
Data de publicação2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0192-4036 • E-ISSN: 2157-6475
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01924036.2010.9678819
OpenAlexW2031479337
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas58

Violence is a continuum, and homicide is only one possible consequence. Timely and adequate medical care saves the lives of the victims of violence. Thus, good medical resources are related to low homicide rates in a nation. The current study expands a medical perspective on homicide rates to a cross‐national study. This present study employs a regression analysis by using the data on homicide rates and medical resources for 170 nations. The results of the analysis indicate that high infant mortality rates, low health expenditure per capita, and high death rates from road traffic accidents are associated with high homicide rates. The findings suggest that medical resources partially explain the variation of international homicide rates. A group of scholars attempt to test the connection between medical resources and homicide rates (Cooney, 2003; Doerner, 1983, 1988; Doerner and Speir, 1986; Giacopassi and Sparger, 1992; Harris, et al., 2002, Long‐Onnen and Cheatwood, 1992). However, the preceding investigations, grounded on the medical thesis, receive weak and inconsistent empirical support. Also, those studies are limited to one geographical area of the United States. The variations of both homicide rates and levels of medical resources may be greater among nations than among different geographical areas in a nation. The purpose of the present study is to extend the existing medical care perspective on homicide to explain differential distribution of homicide rates across nations. Thus, the current research is one of the earliest endeavors to apply a medical proposition on homicide to a cross‐national inquiry. Another advantage of this study is its use of a comparatively large homicide data set for 170 nations. In addition, the present analysis includes extensive medical and structural variables. The number of candidate variables initially introduced in the study is nineteen. Notes Author's Note: I would like to thank Professor William G. Doerner and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Contact information: Dr. Don Soo Chon, Assistant Professor, Keiser University, Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, 1700 Halstead Boulevard, Tallahasssee, FL. 32309. Telephone:(850)906–9494. Fax: (850)906–9497. E‐mail: [email protected]

Criminology · Environmental health · Geography · Homicide · Medical emergency · Norwegian · Per capita · Poison control · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Demography · Health and Conflict Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine · Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies