Citation

Baller RD, Messner SF, Anselin L, Dean G. Homicide Stud. 2002; 6(3): 211-227.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1088767902006003003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The authors extend the work of Wiersema, Loftin and McDowall (2000) by assessing theinterchangeability of Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) and National Center forHealth Statistics (NCHS) homicide rates in the context of spatial analysis. Conclusionsdrawn from spatial analyses may be affected by the choice of data source if theunderrecording of homicide tends to cluster in geographic space more strongly in onedata source than the other. Such a situation could alter indications of homicide rate clusteringand substantive conclusions drawn from multivariate spatial regression models.Results indicate that although these data sources are interchangeable for urban counties,spatial effects and the effects of social structural factors vary by data source for ruralcounties.