About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

25 J. Contemp. Crim. Just. 4 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/jccj25 and id is 1 raw text is: Editorial Comment FCiia utc Volume 25 Nuimber 1 February 2009) 4-5 Research on Firearms and 009 Sage Violent Crime hosted at http:,,/iiliine.sag-epub.com W hen originally conceptualized, this issue of the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice was intended to focus on the rather broad topic of lethal violence. As former coeditors of the journal Homicide Studies, we were approached by Chris Eskridge with the idea of putting together an issue of this journal that would represent the scope of interests within the Homicide Research Working Group, of which we are both long-time members. However, as we proceeded with the planning for this issue, it became very clear that the role of firearms in violent encounters in the United States was very difficult to separate from the larger focus of lethal violence. To put it simply, firearms have became a common thread in much of the recent research on homicide, whether the focus is on the proportion of firearm-related homicides or on issues of gun ownership and self-defense in the deterrence of violence. As a result, this issue slowly evolved from a focus on the more general issue of lethal violence to one on firearms and lethal violence. This issue is composed of five research articles on firearms and violence and three essays on the 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which struck down a gun control law banning handguns in the District of Columbia. The research contributions represent a wide variety of topics, data sources, and method- ological techniques. In the first article, Hart and Miethe use National Crime Victimi- zation Survey data to examine the circumstances in which firearms are used by crime victims in self-defense. Their findings demonstrate the significant role that context plays in when and how effectively guns are used in self-defense situations. In the second article, Wilkinson looks at the significance of peer influence in youth gun violence. Using qualitative data from life history interviews of young male offenders in New York City, her results suggest that offenders who are more deeply embedded in networks of peers who carry and use weapons are themselves more likely to be involved in serious gun violence. Kovandzic and Kleck use General Social Survey data to investigate the relationship among homicide rate, size of the police force, and an individual's decision to own a handgun for larger cities in the United States. Their multilevel models show that handgun ownership is at least in part a response to the local homicide rate and not necessarily to the respondent's fear of crime or prior victimization. Libby and Wright examine the impact of automatic firearms on the number of victims in violent incidents occurring in the United States. Using National Incident Based Reporting System data, their findings indicate that the use of an automatic firearm in a violent encounter 4

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most