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Similarities in Homicide Trends in the United States and Canada: Guns, Crack, or Simple Demographics?

NCJ Number
197652
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 348-359
Author(s)
Jane B. Sprott; Carla Cesaroni
Date Published
November 2002
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Decreases in homicide rates in the United States and Canada are compared and examined in this article.
Abstract
Comparing and examining decreasing homicide rates in the United States and Canada is the focus of this article. After arguing that Canada has a much lower homicide rate than does the United States, the authors argue that homicide trends are similar in both countries. Focusing on similar decreasing homicide rate trends between the United States and Canada in the last 10 years, this article used Canadian homicide data from 1974 to 1999 in order to investigate the role of changing demographics in contributing to homicide rate changes. Analyzing data provided by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, Special Homicide Reports the authors examined trends in age-specific rates and homicide predictions, and found that as the proportion of individuals in the high-crime age group of 15- to 30- years-old decreased, so did the homicide rate. Contending that homicide trends in Canada appeared to pattern homicide trends in the United States, the authors argue that while it seems plausible that theories explaining declining homicide rates would be equally credible in both countries, only demographic changes explained declining homicide rates in both the United States and in Canada. Therefore, the authors conclude that only theories that explain demographic changes as a reason for declining homicide rates should be used equally in both countries. Figures, table, notes, and references

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