Matters of Life and Death: Situation, Place, and Lethality of Firearm Violence

• In Event: Patterns of Firearms Violence Across Four Cities

Abstract

Two perspectives have been used to conceptualize the relationship between homicide violence and aggravated assault violence. Referencing advances in medical care as an important contributor to reductions in homicide, Harris and colleagues (2002) recommend folding homicide into a larger subset of potentially lethal criminal behaviors. This “lethality perspective” suggests that etiologies of homicides and serious aggravated assaults are conceptually similar and that differences in outcomes may be a result of access to medicine or differences in injury severity. In contrast, some homicide studies have used the “criminal events perspective,” which suggests that the situational and relational factors (victim-offender relationship and interaction, timing, and location considerations) surrounding an aggravated assault determine whether or not it will become lethal. Drawing from both perspectives, we explore the lethal and non-lethal outcomes of firearm violence in a metropolitan city. In particular, we are interested in how injury and medical care considerations may mediate the relationship between situational characteristics of a gun violence event and the outcome. Furthermore, we know that these these dynamics are embedded within neighborhoods. Our analyses will examine the extent to which fatal outcomes are dependent on place.

Authors

• Kristina Thompson Garrity, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Beth Huebner, University of Missouri - St. Louis