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Homicide in Convenience Stores (From Trends, Risks, and Interventions in Lethal Violence: Proceedings of the Third Annual Spring Symposium of the Homicide Research Working Group, P 209-215, 1995, Carolyn Block and Richard Block, eds.)

NCJ Number
159905
Author(s)
R J Erickson
Date Published
1995
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses results from a recent survey of homicides committed at or in convenience stores.
Abstract
Of the 609 responding companies, 58 reported total of 79 homicides and 72 rapes in 1989 and 1990. These companies represented 32,985 sites across the country. The survey covered victim and perpetrator characteristics, conditions of the crime, environmental factors, precipitating factors, and store characteristics. The findings showed that 12 percent of the victims were customers, while the rest were convenience store employees. The victims were two-thirds female, between the ages of 18 and 69, and from all ethnic groups. All of the perpetrators were male; the average age was 25, compared with the victims' average age of 39. Forty-eight percent of assailants were black, 38 percent were white, and 13 percent were Hispanic. There was more than one perpetrator in 46 percent of these cases. The paper compares these findings to those on convenience store rape. 1 table and 13 references