Ebook: Juvenile Homicides : A Social Disorganization Perspective

Laurikkala studies youth homicides between 1965 and 1995 in Chicago. She considers variables relating to the offender, victim, setting, and precursors to the homicide by race and gender. Her results indicate that youth homicides involved increases in lethal gang altercations, particularly among Latinos, and an increased use of automatic weapons. Young females had very little impact on homicide rates in Chicago. The findings point to several measures of social disorganization that could aid in the prediction of youth homicides, albeit varying across groups. Overall, the results support social disorganization theory and also underscore the relevancy of data disaggregation by gender and race/ethnicity.