Citation

Hewitt JD. J. Crim. Justice 1988; 16(1): 25-33.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(88)90033-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In 1958, Wolfgang published his seminal work examining criminal homicide cases that occured in Philadelphia between 1948 and 1952. This work was the beginning of an extensive body of literature focusing on the victim-offender relationship in homicides. Wolfgang and subsequent researchers consistently found that homicides tended to be intra-racial, intra-gender, and occuring overwhelmingly between relatives and friends. However, this body of literature was based largely on data from large cities with very heterogeneous populations and therefore may not be generalizable to smaller American communities. The current research examined all homicides in Delaware County (Muncie, Indiana) that resulted in a conviction for the years 1960 through 1984. Although the demographic characteristics of victims and offenders and their relationships appear consistent with those found in larger cities, noticeable changes were found to have occured over the twenty-five year period.