4233.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - 2:30 PM

Abstract #8338

Women's Changing Lifestyles and Domestic Homicide Risk

Victoria E. Brewer, PhD, College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2296, 409-294-1662, icc_veb@shsu.edu

Though the overall proportion of female homicide victims killed by intimate partners or other family members is larger than the proportion of male victims killed by such offenders, there is wide variation across major U.S. cities. As part of a larger project funded by the National Consortium on Violence Research, this study looks at how women's changing lifestyles -- as represented by family, economic and institutional arrangements of neighborhoods -- have influenced their rates of lethal victimization by family members and by strangers. This issue is examined within and among five regionally and racially/ethnically diverse cities -- namely, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Among the five cities, approximately 2,800 women were homicide victims during the period of this investigation, 1985-1994. After presenting the research findings, public policy implications will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: 1) describe women's representation over time as victims of lethal violence within and outside their homes; 2) pinpoint the influence of specific social-structural characteristics of neighborhoods upon women's risk of lethal violence from primary and non-primary sources; 3) identify at least three policy implications of these findings

Keywords: Homicide, Women

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA