British Journal of Criminology 51(5)

Poverty Matters: A Reassessment of the Inequality–Homicide Relationship in Cross-National Studies
William Alex Pridemore

Dozens of cross-national studies of homicide have been published. Virtually all have reported an association between inequality and homicide, leading scholars to draw strong conclusions about this relationship. Unfortunately, each of these studies failed to control for poverty, even though poverty is the most consistent predictor of area homicide rates in the US empirical literature and a main confounder of the inequality–homicide association. The cross-national findings are also incongruent with US studies, which have yielded inconsistent results for the inequality–homicide association. In the present study, I replicated two prior studies in which a significant inequality–homicide association was found. After the original results were replicated, models that included a measure of poverty were estimated to see whether its inclusion had an impact on the inequality–homicide association. When effects for poverty and inequality were estimated in the same model, there was a positive and significant poverty–homicide association, while the inequality–homicide association disappeared in two of three models. These findings were consistent across different samples, data years, measures of inequality, dependent variables (overall and sex-specific homicide rates) and estimation procedures. The new results are congruent with what we know about poverty, inequality and homicide from the US empirical literature and suggest that the strong conclusions drawn about the inequality–homicide association may need to be reassessed, as the association may be a spurious result of model misspecification.

‘The Best Drivers in the World’: Drink-Driving and Risk Assessment
Lars Fynbo and Margaretha Järvinen

The paper analyses risk behaviour as described by a group of convicted drink-drivers. Risk assessment is seen as a part of a complicated process reflecting moral values in specific socio-cultural settings and within a specific framework of time. The respondents’ retrospective accounts of their drink-driving are interpreted as part of moral identity negotiations, focusing on four dimensions: drink-driving as non-voluntary behaviour, drink-driving as strategic behaviour, drink-driving and control, and drink-driving and ‘normalcy’. Central to these negotiations is the fact that many respondents come from social environments (be that friend groups or workmate groups) where drink-driving is common and that they therefore do not regard—or did not regard—drink-driving as deviant behaviour.

The Specific Deterrent Effect of Higher Fines on Drink-Driving Offenders
Don Weatherburn and Steve Moffatt

Fines are an extremely common sanction in most Western countries and, in some countries, have become an important source of government revenue. Despite this, the deterrent effectiveness of high fines has received little research attention. This article reports the results of a two-stage least-squares analysis of the specific deterrent effect of high fines on drink-driving offenders in NSW, Australia, in which judicial severity served as the instrumental variable. Despite substantial variation in the fines imposed by magistrates on drink-drivers, no significant deterrent effect from higher fines was found. Various explanations for the failure to observe a deterrent effect are discussed.

A Soundtrack to (illegal) Entrepreneurship: Pirated CD/DVD Selling in a Greek Provincial City
Georgios A. Antonopoulos, Dick Hobbs, and Rob Hornsby

This paper—by using the pirated CD/DVD market in a provincial city in Greece as a case study—will attempt to show how alien conspiracy theory has permeated the understanding of ‘organized crime’ and how the concept serves to enforce racism and, in particular, the treatment of diasporic communities. The paper will then proceed to interrogate the concept in the context of the local operation of this market in tandem with various legitimate interests and how, despite the exhortations of powerful commercial forces, it is tolerated.

Homicide Through A Different Lens
Patrice K. Morris and Adam Graycar

Homicide rates vary across modern societies, yet most scholarly works on homicide are based on studies in developed countries, although, in less developed countries, homicide rates are higher. Homicide is multidimensional and its related social causes and prevalence differ across cultures. In low-homicide countries, most homicides occur as a result of either criminal activity or personal relationship difficulties. This paper highlights that, in one developing country—Jamaica—a different pattern is more common. High homicide rates are connected with partisan politics and neighbourhood social organization. The argument is that neighbourhood social and political factors drive high homicide rates in urban Jamaica.

Exploring the Impact of Arson-Reduction Strategies: Panel Data Evidence from England
Rhys Andrews

In 2001, the UK government funded the introduction of a series of targeted situational preventive schemes and multi-agency partnerships to reduce deliberate fire-setting in vehicles. This paper explores the impact of these alternative arson-reduction strategies on vehicle arson in the areas served by fire authorities in England utilizing panel data for an eight-year period (1999–2006). The statistical results suggest that both forms of intervention have been successful in reducing vehicle arson, and that higher input intensity is also responsible for better outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Escaping the Family Tradition: A Multi-Generation Study of Occupational Status and Criminal Behaviour
Anke A.T. Ramakers, Catrien Bijleveld, and Stijn Ruiter

This paper investigates the intersection of two types of reproduction over generations: the transmission of offending and of occupational status. According to Farrington's (2002) risk factor mechanism, the effect of parental offending on offspring offending should decrease when the intergenerational transmission of occupational status is taken into account. To test this mechanism, we use a longitudinal prospective multi-generation research design, containing data from the Netherlands on offending and occupational status during the twentieth century. Results show that a substantial part of the intergenerational association in offending is indeed mediated by risk factors such as low occupational status and, especially, low educational attainment.

British Journal of Criminology, September 2011: Volume 51, Issue 5