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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: This research reconsiders the Southern culture of honor thesis by considering the important role that group offending plays in the production of Southern firearm violence. More specifically, we argue that, because honor and reputation are socially situated values, they are most salient in the presence of others (i.e., co-offenders).
METHOD: We merged incident-level data from 1,881,802 violent incidents in the National Incident-Based Reporting System for 2015-2016 with contextual data from the American Community Survey and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for 1,679 counties within 38 states. We conducted multilevel models examining the relationship between co-offending group size, the presence of a firearm, regional context, and serious injury among assault offenses.
RESULTS: Findings reveal that firearms are more likely to be present as the number of offenders increases and more likely to be present in the Confederate South than in other regions. Further, the risk of serious injury increases as group size increases and is greater when a firearm is present. Finally, and most importantly, regional context moderates the influence of co-offending group size and the presence of a firearm on serious injury. Specifically, incidents committed by larger groups, with firearms, in the Confederate South result in particularly high rates of serious injury.
CONCLUSIONS: Given the way firearms and group size interact to influence violence in the Confederate South, we suggest that research on Southern violence would benefit from a reorientation that considers the important theoretical role that bystanders and accomplices might play within a culture of honor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
Language: en |