John A. Humphrey

Women’s vulnerability to sexual assault from adolescence to young adulthood

PURPOSE To study the vulnerability to sexual assault among undergraduate women. METHODS The respondents were demographically representative of undergraduate women in state-supported universities in the United States. Participants (N = 1569) were surveyed using the Sexual Experiences Survey at the beginning and end of their 1st year and at the end of each of the next 3 years of their undergraduate career. Survival analysis was used to determine the risk of initial victimization during specific time intervals from the age of 14 years through the collegiate years as a function of prior victimization. Odds analyses were used to analyze the main and interactive effects of victimization at prior time periods on the probability of victimization at subsequent time periods. RESULTS Victimization before the age of 14 years almost doubled the risk of later adolescent victimization (1.8). Furthermore, for those with and without childhood victimization, the risk of an initial sexual assault after the age of 14 years occurred most often in late adolescence, and declined each year thereafter (aged 18-22 years). Sexual victimization among university women was highest for those who had been first assaulted in early adolescence (4.6 times nonvictims). Detailed analyses revealed that the more severe the adolescent experience the greater the risk of collegiate revictimization. Adolescent victims of rape or attempted rape, in particular, were 4.4 times more likely to be as seriously assaulted during their 1st year of college. CONCLUSION A linear path model is suggested. Childhood victimization increased the risk of adolescent victimization, which in turn significantly affected the likelihood of revictimization among college women.

Stressful Life Events and Criminal Homicide.

Stressful life events experienced by a 50 percent random sample of criminal homicide offenders (270) and a 30 percent random sample of nonviolent felonious property offenders (194) incarcerated in North Carolina over a two-year period are analyzed. Dohrenwend et al. Psychiatric Epidemiological Research Interview (PERI) was expanded to include occurrences in childhood and was used to assess the extent of stressful life events. These events were divided into loss and nonloss items; and whether the event occurred in the early life of the offender (past event) or in closer proximity to the crime (recent event). Murderers were divided into primary offenders, those whose victims were family members or close friends; and nonprimary offenders, those who killed strangers or mere acquaintances. The findings show that criminal homicide offenders experienced stressful life events in greater number and more consistently than did nonviolent felons. Further, primary homicide offenders tended to suffer more stressful life events involving loss, although nonprimary offenders experienced more nonloss stress events.

Race, Sex, and Criminal Homicide Offender-Victim Relationships

To understand violence it is necessary to focus on the chain of interactions between aggressor and victim, on the sequence that begins when two people encounter each other and which ends when one harms, or even destroys, the other. Hans Toch (1969: 6)

Homicide and Suicide Among the Cherokee and Lubee Indians of North Carolina

The Cherokee and Lumbee, the two major Indian populations in North Carolina, have exhibited similarities in patterns of homicide and suicide. Both Indian populations have higher rates of homicidal than of suicidal death. Yet in 1972-73, the Lumbee homicide rates was considerably higher than that for the Cherokee, but the Cherokees suicide rate exceeded that for the Lumbee. During 1974-1976, the Cherokee manifested excessively high rates of violent death, with suicide increasing faster than homicide. The Lumbee homicide rate declined during this period, while the suicide rate increased. Lumbee violence patterns indicate a slight dissipation of cultural traits that predispose them to aggressive behaviour and the concomitant emergence of a trend toward self- destructive behaviour. The rise in Cherokee suicide rate may be consistent with the harmony Ethic of some tribe members, but the sharp increase in homicide may reflect the erosion of the traditional non-violent ethic among the band as a whole.

FATAL INDIAN VIOLENCE IN NORTH CAROLINA1

This paper reports variations in homicide and suicide rates for the two major Indian populations of North Carolina-the Cherokee and the Lumbee. The socio-cultural variations among counties housing the Cherokee population are discussed as well as variations within the Cherokee population itself. In addition, socio-cultural profiles of the Lumbee counties and Lumbee Indian groups are analyzed. Both social structural and cultural explanations of violent behavior are examined. On the basis of these analyses, the authors conclude that differences in cultural patterns between the Cherokee and Lumbee most adequately account for the extent and direction of individual forms of violence. There are two Indian populations in North Carolina, the Eastern Cherokee and the Lumbee. While they both identify themselves as Indians and are both in the southeastern cultural area, they appear to be dissimilar on a number of characteristics. An important difference is found in the homicide and suicide rates for the two groups.

Homicide, Sex Role Differences and Role Relationships.

This study, based upon Palmers theory of role unreciprocity and other directed violence, investigates similarities and differences between male and female homicide offenders, as well as between murderers and non-aggressive property offenders. Role unreciprocity refers to blockage an individual experiences in the performance of social roles. Two hypotheses are tested: (1) as individuals lives tend to be characterized by situations of high unreciprocity, the likelihood of homicide increases; and (2) both male and female homicide offenders tend to experience similar degrees of unreciprocity. The findings support the first hypothesis and provide qualified support for the second hypothesis. High degrees of role unreciprocity are positively associated with female homicides in the childhood, marital and parental roles, while similarly high degrees of unreciprocity are positively associated with male homicide in roles of student and employee. Palmers theoretical formulation is given empirical support and specification.

The Effects of Race, Gender, and Marital Status on Suicides among Young Adults, Middle-Aged Adults, and Older Adults.

Investigations of suicide tend to focus on adolescents, young adults, and elderly adults. Little is known about suicide in midlife or about the timing of suicide across the life course. Analyses of the effects of marital status, race, and gender on the timing of suicide across three adult life stages are provided: young adult (ages 25 through 39); midlife (ages 40 through 59); and older adult (ages 60 and above). All officially recorded suicides twenty-five years of age or older (N = 3,187) in North Carolina (1980 through 1984) are studied. Logistic modeling shows distinct structural effects on the occurrence of suicide in midlife compared to the life stages immediately preceding and following it. Greater attention to the crises of women in midlife appears warranted.

Murder of the Elderly: An Analysis of Increased Vulnerability

The vulnerability of older persons to murder is investigated. Data on all homicide victims sixty years of age or older in North Carolina during two time frames, 1972–1973 and 1976–1977, form the basis for the analysis. Available evidence for the U.S. indicates that the elderly are considerably less prone to criminal victimization than are younger persons. This is particularly the case for aggravated assault. Dussich and Eichman have posited that the relative low visibility of the elderly, due to social isolation and lack of mobility, make them less vulnerable to crimes against the person [1]. However this study finds that: 1) in the U.S. murder among the aged is rising faster than any other age group, 2) in North Carolina the sole rise in homicide is among the elderly, and 3) sharpest increases are noted among older black women, white women and white men. An exception to this trend are black men, previously the highest risk group of older adults, who showed a decline in homicide victimization.

Religious participation, Southern University women, and abstinence

Analyses of the influence of religion on deviant behavior have produced conflicting results. Religious participation is found to inhibit individual deviance either in: (1) religious, normatively clear, environments (Stark, Kent, and Doyle, 1982); or (2) secular, normatively ambiguous, contexts (Tittle and Welch, 1983). We argue that publicly supported universities are secular environments characterized by normative ambiguity with regard to alcohol and other drug use. The findings show that southern university women who attend religious services regularly are significantly more likely to abstain and less likely to be dual users of intoxicants than are occasional religious participants. Racial differences in the effect of religious observance on drinking and marijuana use are also found. Support and specification are provided for the Tittle and Welch (1983) contingency model.

Women who are Murdered: An Analysis of 912 Consecutive Victims

This study analyzes all female homicide victims (912) in the State of North Carolina during the five year period 1972 through 1976. Verkkos static and dynamic laws of the relationship between sex and homicide victimization are investigated. The static law states that in places where homicide rates are high, female victimization tends to be low. The dynamic law holds that increases or decreases in the frequency of homicide primarily affects the male population. The findings do not support either of Verkkos laws. The sex ratio of homicide victims in North Carolina, a state with an above average homicide rate, is lower than that for the U.S. in general. The rate of victimization for both females and males has declined about the same percentage over the five years studied. Further analysis of individual characteristics of the victims and circumstances which surrounded the death scene itself are provided. Comparisons are made between female homicide victims and their male counterparts. Profiles of typical and atypical female homicides are drawn. The trends in homicide victimization over the five years under analysis are discussed.