Detailed research on violence in Russia was nearly impossible until recently because the former Soviet government kept crime and mortality data secret and because Soviet ideology discouraged scientific studies of crime. Transparency has increased during the transition, however, allowing scholars not only to access official data but to undertake independent criminological studies. Taking advantage of a unique set of homicide narratives drawn from court and police records and statements by offenders and witnesses of homicides in the Udmurt Republic from 1989 to 1991 and in 1998, this article is one of the first of its kind to examine the homicide event in Russia. These data are employed to explore victim and offender characteristics, victim-offender relationships, weapon use, motive, time and location of events, and the role of alcohol. Although exploratory in nature, the descriptive results should provide observations on which to develop theory about interpersonal violence.
Anderson, R. N., Kochanek, K. D., & Murphy, S. L. (1997). Report of final mortality statistics, 1995. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
2.
Andreev, E., Scherbov, S., & Willekens, F. (1995). Sources of information on the population of Russia. Groningen, the Netherlands: University of Groningen Press.
3.
Andrienko, Y. (2001). Understanding the crime growth in Russia during the transition period: A criminometric approach. Ekonomicheskii Zhurnal Vyshei Shkoli Ekonomiki, 5, 194-220.
4.
Bobak, M., McKee, M., Rose, R., & Marmot, M. (1999). Alcohol consumption in a national sample of the Russian population. Addiction, 94, 857-866.
5.
Butler, W. E. (1992). Crime in the Soviet Union: Early glimpses of the true story. British Journal of Criminology, 32, 144-159.
6.
Carcach, C., & Conroy, R. (2001). Alcohol and homicide: A routine activities analysis. In P. Williams (Ed.), Alcohol, young persons, and violence (pp. 183-201). Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
7.
Chenet, L., Britton, A., Kalediene, R., & Petrauskiene, J. (2001). Daily variations in deaths in Lithuania: The possible contribution of binge drinking. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30, 743-748.
8.
Chervyakov, V. V., Shkolnikov, V. M., Pridemore, W. A., & McKee, M. (2002). The changing nature of murder in Russia. Social Science and Medicine, 55, 1713-1724.
9.
Copes, H., Kerley, K. R., & Carroll, A. (2002). Killed in the act: A descriptive analysis of crime-precipitated homicide. Homicide Studies, 6, 240-257.
10.
Decker, S. H. (1993). Exploring victim-offender relationships in homicide: The role of individual and event characteristics. Justice Quarterly, 10, 585-612.
11.
Decker, S. H. (1996). Deviant homicide: A new look at the role of motives and victim-offender relationships. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 33, 427-449.
12.
Fendrich, M., Mackesy-Amiti, M. E., Goldstein, P., Spunt, B., & Brownstein, H. (1995). Substance involvement among juvenile murderers: Comparisons with older offenders based on interviews with prison inmates. International Journal of Addictions, 30, 1363-1382.
13.
Finch, A. (2001). Homicide in contemporary Japan. British Journal of Criminology, 41, 219-235.
14.
Fox, J. A., & Zawitz, M. W. (2003). Homicide trends in the United States. Retrieved December 15, 2003, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm
15.
Gavrilova, N. S., Gavrilov, L. A., Semyonova, V. G., Evdokushkina, G. N., & Ivanova, A. E. (2005). Patterns of violent crime in Russia. In W. A. Pridemore (Ed.), Ruling Russia: Law, crime, and justice in a changing society (pp. 117-146). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
16.
Gavrilova, N. S., Semyonova, V. G., Evdokushkina, G. N., & Gavrilov, L. A. (2000). The response of violent mortality to economic crisis in Russia. Population Research and Policy Review, 19, 397-419.
17.
Goodman, R. A., Mercy, J. A., Loya, F., Rosenberg, M. L., Smith, J. C., Allen, N. H., et al. (1986). Alcohol use and interpersonal violence: Alcohol detected in homicide victims. American Journal of Public Health, 76, 144-149.
18.
Greenfeld, L. A. (1998). Alcohol and crime: An analysis of national data on the prevalence of alcohol involvement in crime. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
19.
Luckenbill, D. (1977). Criminal homicide as a situated transaction. Social Problems, 25, 176-186.
20.
MacAndrew, C., & Edgerton, R. B. (1969). Drunken comportment: A social explanation. Chicago: Aldine.
21.
Maxfield, M. (1989). Circumstances in supplementary homicide reports: Variety and validity. Criminology, 27, 671-695.
22.
McKee, M. (1999). Alcohol in Russia. Alcohol & Alcoholism, 34, 824-829.
23.
Meier, R. F., Kennedy, L. W., & Sacco, V. F. (2001). Crime and the criminal event perspective. In R. F. Meier, L. W. Kennedy, & V. F. Sacco (Eds.), The process and structure of crime: Criminal events and crime analysis (pp. 1-27). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
24.
Messner, S. F., Deane, G., & Beaulieu, M. (2002). A log-multiplicative association model for allocating homicides with unknown victim-offending relationships. Criminology, 40, 457-479.
25.
Messner, S., & Tardiff, K. (1985). The social ecology of urban homicide: An application of the “routine activities” approach. Criminology, 23, 241-267.
26.
Monkkonen, E. H. (1999). New York City offender ages: How variable over time?Homicide Studies, 3, 256-270.
27.
Nemtsov, A. V. (1998). Alcohol-related harm and alcohol consumption in Moscow before, during and after a major anti-alcohol campaign. Addiction, 93, 1501-1510.
28.
Norstrom, T. (1998). Effects on criminal violence of different beverage types and private and public drinking. Addiction, 93, 689-700.
29.
Pampel, F. C., & Williams, K. R. (2000). Intimacy and homicide: Compensating for missing data in the SHR. Criminology, 38, 661-680.
30.
Paoli, L. (2002). The development of an illegal drug market: Drug consumption and trade in post-Soviet Russia. British Journal of Criminology, 42, 1-19.
31.
Pernanen, K. (1991). Alcohol in human violence. New York: Guilford.
32.
Planty, M. (2002). Third-party involvement in violent crime, 1993-1999 (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, NCJ 189100). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
33.
Pridemore, W. A. (2002). Vodka and violence: Alcohol consumption and homicide rates in Russia. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 1921-1930.
34.
Pridemore, W. A. (2003). Demographic, temporal, and spatial patterns of homicide rates in Russia. European Sociological Review, 19, 41-59.
35.
Pridemore, W. A. (2004). Weekend effects on binge drinking and homicide mortality: Preliminary evidence for the social connection between alcohol and violence in Russia. Addiction, 99, 1034-1041.
36.
Pridemore, W. A., & Kim, S. W. (2004, November). The effects of socioeconomic change on crime and violence in a transitional society. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Nashville, TN.
37.
Razvodovsky, Y. E. (2003). Association between distilled spirits consumption and violent mortality rate. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 10, 235-250.
38.
Regoeczi, W. C., & Miethe, T. D. (2003). Taking on the unknown: A qualitative comparative analysis of unknown relationship homicides. Homicide Studies, 7, 211-234.
39.
Russian Ministry of Health. (2001). Smertnost’ naseleniia Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2000 god [Population mortality of the Russian Federation, 2000]. Moscow, Russia: Author.
40.
Russian Ministry of the Interior. (1996). Prestupnost’ i pravonarusheniya, 1991-1995. Statisticheskii sbornik [Crime and offenses, 1991-1995. Statistical collection]. Moscow, Russia: Author.
41.
Shelley, L. (1990). Policing Soviet society: The evolution of state control. Law and Social Inquiry, 15, 479-520.
42.
Shkolnikov, V. M., & Chervyakov, V. V. (2000). Policies for the control of the transition’s mortality crisis. Moscow, Russia: United Nations Development Programme.
43.
Shkolnikov, V., & Meslé, F. (1996). The Russian epidemiological crisis as mirrored by mortality trends. In J. DaVanzo (Ed.), Russia’s demographic “crisis” (pp. 113-162). Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
44.
Silverman, R., & Kennedy, L. (1987). Relational distance and homicide: The role of the stranger. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 78, 272-308.
45.
Smit, P. R., Bijleveld, C. C. J. H., & Van Der Zee, S. (2001). Homicide in the Netherlands: An exploratory study of the 1998 cases. Homicide Studies, 5, 293-310.
46.
Smith, M. D., & Parker, R. N. (1980). Type of homicide and variation in regional rates. Social Forces, 59, 136-147.
47.
Snyder, H., & Sickmund, M. (1999). Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 national report. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
48.
Wells, S., & Graham, K. (2003). Aggression involving alcohol: Relationship to drinking patterns and social context. Addiction, 98, 33-42.
49.
Wells, W. (2002). The nature and circumstances of defensive gun use: A content analysis of interpersonal conflict situations involving criminal offenders. Justice Quarterly, 19, 127-157.
50.
Williams, J. L., & Rodeheaver, D. G. (2000). Violent crime in Russia and the U.S.: 1990-1996. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 24, 139-158.
