Opiate Deaths and Homicides: Is there a Statistical Connection?

• In Event: Opioid Use: Correlates, Consequences, and Control

Abstract

Urban centers across our nation are experiencing significant levels of violence resulting in criminal homicide and the challenges presented by illicit drug use, especially opiates. This paper builds on earlier work by these authors, examining homicide rates in Memphis, Tennessee. This study re-examines the initial research on homicides and brings forward an examination of deaths due to the illicit use of opiates in the City in an attempt to determine if there is any statistical correlation between destitute to homicides and opiates overdose, when examining among other factors of age, gender, race.

Authors

• Daniel Adrian Doss, University of West Alabama

• Ashley McElreath Lindsley, Southern Illinois University

• David Hughes McElreath, University of Mississippi

• Leisa Stuart McElreath, Mississippi Crime Stoppers Board

• Ashley Wellman, University of Central Missouri

• Robert Nations, Shelby County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Department