How Developmental Timing of Loss Impacts Violence- and Anti-Snitching Attitudes among Homicide Survivors

• In Event: Gun Violence Victimization

Abstract

Gun violence leaves Black Americans disproportionately bereaved by violent loss, and they are overrepresented among “homicide survivors” who vicariously experience the loss of a loved one to homicide and survive the experience. We examine how developmental timing of gun homicide-related loss relates to pro-violence and snitching attitudes among homicide survivors.

We examine survey data from 657 street-identified Black men and women, ages 16 to 54, who have lost at least one friend (89.3%) or relative (78.5%) to gun homicide. 33.6% reported their first homicide loss occurred in childhood, 42.8% in adolescence, 26.7% in emerging adulthood, and 7.9% after the age of 25. Respondents live in Wilmington, Delaware and comprise a hard-to-reach subgroup that perceive criminal behavior as an adaptive response to structural inequality.

Findings suggest developmental timing of gun homicide-related loss is associated with pro-violence and snitching attitudes among survivors. Homicide-related loss in adulthood (ages 25+) was associated with less pro-violence attitudes than when loss occurred in childhood (ages 12 and younger) or adolescence (ages 13 to 17). Similarly, homicide-related loss in adulthood was associated with less anti-snitching attitudes than when loss occurred in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood.

Authors

• Brooklynn Hitchens, University of Maryland

• Brielle Savage, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Newark