Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

As a means for analyzing categorical data, conjunctive analysis is an emerging analytic approach used in both exploratory and confirmatory research. This technique is applied in the current study to examine two important issues related to the use of firearms as a means of self-defense by crime victims. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, the current study uses conjunctive analysis (a) to examine the contextual factors associated with the use of a firearm by crime victims as a means of self-defense and (b) to identify the situational factors most closely associated with instances where the self-defensive use of a firearm is most and least effective. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research.

Youth gun violence is most often a group phenomenon yet most empirical examinations ignore this fact. Using interview data with 416 violent male offenders from two disadvantaged New York City neighborhoods, this paper examines the roles that the peer contexts play in explaining the nuanced patterns of respondent gun-related behaviors. We hypothesize that respondents who are comparatively more embedded in networks of peers who carry and use guns will also report greater involvement in serious gun violence. We found that guns were equated with self-protection and the most prevalent reason given for possession and carrying behaviors of peers. Belonging to a group of associates was also perceived to have protective value. Guns and armed peers played a role in heightened risk for lethal conflict. Peers are involved as co-offenders in the majority of gun events reported. We discuss the implications of our findings for violence intervention policy and future research.

General Social Survey (GSS) data are used in a multilevel analysis to examine the relationship between an individual's decision to own a handgun and his or her city's (a) homicide rate and (b) police strength level. The cities in which respondents lived were identified using special supplementary codes provided by the National Opinion Research Center so that information about surrounding cities could be attached to each GSS respondent. Logistic regression analyses indicate that the likelihood of handgun ownership is increased by higher local homicide rates. The effects are not mediated by the individual's own victimization experiences or fear of crime. Positive macro-level associations previously found between homicide rates and gun ownership levels may be indicative of homicide effects on handgun acquisition rather than the reverse. Larger city police forces discourage handgun ownership, supporting the idea that the provision of greater collective security reduces the felt need of the citizenry to provide their own protection.

An overwhelming proportion of intimate partner (IP) homicide perpetrators are under the influence of substances when the crime occurs, and alcohol consumption is a strong predictor of intimate terrorism of women. In IP homicide, female victims are twice as likely to die from a gunshot wound as from stabbing, strangling, or other methods; and firearm ownership is shown to increase the likelihood of IP homicide by a factor of 5.38. Compiled from publicly available data sources, the present study analyzes a database of all lethal events occurring in the U.S. from 1985 to 2004. Using a panel of counties and negative binomial regression, the influences of alcohol and firearms, controlling for other variables, on IP homicide and IP homicide by firearm are estimated. Alcohol consumption and firearm ownership increase both the incidence rates of IP homicide and IP homicide by firearm. However, highly restrictive firearms carry laws also increase the incidence of IP homicide. IP homicide is strongly influenced by alcohol and firearms availability, but some types of firearms carry laws might be counterproductive in decreasing the incidence of this crime.

This study investigates the impact of automatic firearm usage on the presence of multiple victims within a violent encounter. In addition, key situational and contextual variables from the criminal events perspective are controlled. Data were collected from the National Incident-Based Reporting System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine if automatic firearms, compared to semiautomatic firearms, increased the chance of multiple victims appearing within incidents of serious violence. Results indicate that automatic weapons increase the likelihood of multiple victimization, although various situational and contextual factors such as incident circumstance and victim—offender relationship increase these odds as well.

Extensive legal research confirmed a Standard Model of the Second Amendment: the Founders' intended to recognize and protect a preexisting individual right to own and use firearms for self-defense. Although most gun laws will remain constitutional, despite their irrelevance to crime control, the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller invalidated the nation's most restrictive law, which had banned the possession of handguns and had banned the use of any firearm for home protection. It remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will “incorporate” the Second Amendment in the Fourteenth Amendment so that it limits excessively restrictive state and local laws as well. Criminologically, Heller will probably lead to an increase in gun use against home invasions and a possible decrease of such invasions. Unfortunately, specific data about home invasions are not collected, so the results may be impossible to measure.

The decision by the United States Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 2008, together with the research of Professor and research scientist John Lott now opens a number of new discussions concerning handguns in the United States. Whereas Professor Lott maintains that allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns lowers crime rates. The Supreme Court has now established for the first time ever, that citizens may possess handguns and firearms for private use in their homes. Taken together, more questions have been created than answered.