Amy Reckdenwald

Understanding the change in male and female intimate partner homicide over time: a policy- and theory-relevant investigation

Research on intimate partner homicide has increased along with public awareness and policy responses toward domestic violence. The current study addresses the decline in gender-specific intimate partner homicides during a time marked by significant transformations in domestic violence legislation, including the enactment of the 1994 Violence Against Women’s Act. In an attempt to account for changes in intimate partner homicide during this time period, we examine the exposure reducing potential of domesticity, domestic violence resources, and females’ economic status, while also acknowledging their possible backlash/retaliation effects when accounting for inequalities in the economic statuses of males and females. By incorporating a pooled time-series design to model change, our research reveals changes between 1990 and 2000 in key theoretical predictors of domesticity, domestic violence resources, and economic deprivation significantly influence the trends in male-victim intimate partner homicide, but not female-victim intimate partner homicide for a large sample of 178 urban cities.

Prescription Drug Misuse and Gender

In recent years, prescription drug misuse has become a serious public health issue. A number of studies in this area have identified females to be at an increased risk for prescription drug misuse during adolescence. Guided by Agnews general strain theory, the current research examined the relationship between prescription drug misuse and gender during adolescence. We used data from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a sample representative of the non-institutionalized population of the United States. Logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between gender, prescription drug misuse, strain, and depression. The findings indicated that females were at an increased for prescription drug misuse. We also found support for general strain theory, as strain and depression were significantly related to prescription drug misuse. In addition, we found evidence that strain was gendered in that elements of general strain theory accounted for the relationship between prescription drug misuse and gender.

Nonfatal Strangulation as Part of Domestic Violence: A Review of Research:

This article reviews recent scholarship around the issue of nonfatal strangulation in cases of domestic violence. In the mid-1990s, the San Diego City Attorney’s Office began a systematic study of attempted strangulation among 300 domestic violence cases, becoming one of the first systematic research studies to specifically examine the prevalence of attempted strangulation as a form of injury associated with ongoing domestic violence. Prior to this time, most of the research into strangulation was conducted postmortem, and little was known about the injuries and signs of attempted strangulation among surviving victims. This article reviews the research that has since been conducted around strangulation in domestic violence cases, highlighting topics that are more or less developed in the areas of criminology, forensic science, law, and medicine, and makes recommendations for future research and practice.

Gender Equality, Place, and Female-Victim Intimate Partner Homicide: A County-Level Analysis in North Carolina

Assessments of the relationship between gender equality and gendered homicide have led to the development of two primary literatures: the first exploring backlash and amelioration effects, and the second examining the influence of exposure reduction. In addition, a third body of research has examined differences in intimate partner homicide (IPH) between rural and non-rural places. The current study contributes to these three literatures by exploring the relationship between gender equality and female-victim IPH in the context of backlash, amelioration, and exposure reduction while considering the influence of rurality. Results indicate the relevance of rurality to research on the relationship between gender equality and female-victim IPH.

Improving identification of strangulation injuries in domestic violence: pilot data from a researcher-practitioner collaboration

Efforts to partner researchers and practitioners have the potential to significantly improve both research and response to non-fatal strangulation within the context of domestic violence. Non-fatal strangulation is far more common than most formal data suggest and is a highly gendered form of domestic assault often used to control or intimidate a partner; however, depending on how the assault takes place, it can leave little obvious physical evidence to an untrained investigator. The present study estimates the occurrence of strangulation cases and possible strangulation cases that may not be explicitly classified as such in official police reports due to inadequacies in law enforcement training. We offer a description of these types of cases as they compare with domestic violence police reports from non-strangulation cases. Results highlight the gendered nature of strangulation as well as the importance of practitioners and researchers critically reflecting on issues within the criminal justice system in an effort to redress inadequacies, hold offenders accountable, and save lives.

Alcohol Use in Emerging Adulthood: Can Moffitt's Developmental Theory Help Us Understand Binge Drinking among College Students?.

ABSTRACT It is well-known that college students are at an increased risk for alcohol use and binge drinking compared to their same-age peers who are not in college. We use Moffitts developmental taxonomy, specifically, her discussion of adolescence-limited offending, to contextualize this finding regarding this minor form of deviance. We also incorporate Arnetts notion of emerging adulthood to argue that the maturity gap, as described by Moffitt, can extend beyond adolescence. The current research used data from Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 4,264). We examined differences in sample characteristics between respondents who were currently enrolled in college full-time and those who were not. We also estimated several logistic regression models to determine how full-time college status and two measures of maturity were correlated with weekly binge drinking. We found that respondents who were full-time college students had an increased risk for binge drinking and were also less mature than their peers. Further analyses indicated that full-time college students were at an increased risk for binge drinking because they lacked maturity and the lack of adult roles that characterize the college years gives students more freedom to binge drink. These results supported both Moffitts explanation of adolescence-limited offending and Arnetts notion of emerging adults.

Place, Injury Patterns, and Female-Victim Intimate Partner Homicide

Research demonstrates place matters in the study of intimate partner violence (IPV) and intimate partner homicide (IPH) with rural women experiencing more severe IPV and a higher risk of IPH. In addition, research points to variations in injury patterns with intimates characterized by more wounds and facial injuries. Little is known whether injury for female IPH victims differs across place; however, research suggests that abuse is a product of a larger social context. Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, results indicate that some variations exist based on degree of urbanicity of the county in which the IPH occurred.

Health Care Professionals, Rurality, and Intimate Femicide

Research demonstrates that disparities exist in access to quality rural health care. With studies showing that intimate partner violence is more severe and homicide is more prevalent in rural areas, scholars have begun to turn to the inaccessibility of health care in these areas as an explanation. The current study sets out to further this limited body of literature by examining the importance of rurality on the relationship between the availability of health care professionals and intimate femicide at the county level. Results indicate that rurality moderates the relationship between the availability of health care professionals and intimate femicide; however, results are not as predicted.

Identification of nonfatal strangulation by 911 dispatchers: suggestions for advances toward evidence-based prosecution

Research highlights the need for systematic law enforcement training on nonfatal strangulation in domestic violence situations to improve evidence-based prosecution of these violent felonies. However, most of this research focuses on the role of police officers in the safety response. Although often overlooked, this research examines the role of 911 dispatchers, who are many times the first person the victim calls for assistance. This study examines official domestic violence records, gathered through a partnership with a County Sheriff’s agency, to determine whether domestic violence strangulation is being adequately identified and documented by first responders. This research highlights the need for considering 911 dispatchers as having a potentially critical role in a comprehensive response to domestic violence strangulation from initial screening to eventual prosecution.

Injury Patterns for Homicide Followed by Suicide by the Relationship Between Victims and Offenders

The connection between the victim–offender relationship and injury patterns has been established in the lethal violence literature; however, this association has not been explored in the study of homicide followed by the perpetrator’s suicide. Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), we address this research gap by examining violence inflicted on 1,718 homicide–suicide victims that occurred between 2003 and 2013. Results show some support for variation in injury across intimacy and relationship status while considering victim and offender characteristics; however, results were not as predicted. Avenues for future research are discussed.