Sociology Faculty Publications

Previous Emergency Department Use Among Homicide Victims and Offenders: A Case-Control Study

Cameron S. Crandall et al. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:02:31 PST

We differentiate risk factors for future homicide victimization and offending, and we measure emergency department (ED) use among homicide victims, offenders, and controls. The design was a matched case-control study conducted in Bernalillo County, NM, and its university-affiliated health sciences center and hospital. All Bernalillo County homicide victims (N=124) and offenders (N=138) identified between January 1996 and December 2001 who were linked to university physician billing records and who had health care use during the 3 years before the homicide incident were included as cases. Randomly selected age-matched (±1 year) and sex-matched subjects with health care use within 3 years of their matched pair’s homicide were included as controls. Main outcome measures were the number and type of ED visits by cases and controls. Patients with ED visits for assault, firearm injuries, and substance abuse are at increased risk for homicide and often have an escalating number of visits leading up to the homicide event. ED-based identification and referral programs similar to those used for intimate partner violence

Emergency Department Utilization among Victims and Offenders Involved in Non-lethal Violence

Jerry Daday et al. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:02:30 PST

The medical literature has focused on violent victimization as a public health concern, examining its correlates and evaluating intervention models. However, the emphasis on victimization in this literature overlooks the strong ties between victimization and offending risks outlined in the criminological literature, which may unnecessarily limit the scope of public health efforts to influence violence in our communities. This study examines whether the similarities observed in the criminological literature are evident in a health care setting. More specifically, do victims and offenders exhibit similar health care utilization patterns? We address this question by comparing the emergency department utilization records, criminal histories, and demographic characteristics of a sample of victims and offenders involved in non-lethal violence in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA in 2001. Our results suggest that victims and offenders have similar emergency department utilization patterns, with most visits being for injury. Moreover, most victims seen in the emergency department have criminal records that, in many ways, mirror those of offenders. The results suggest that violence intervention programs in public health settings should target both victims and offenders and capitalize on the overlap across these populations in outlining the long term risks of criminal involvement and motivating individual level change.

Exploring Demographic, Structural, and Behavioral Overlap Among Homicide Offenders and Victims

Lisa M. Broidy et al. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:02:29 PST

Criminologists tend to focus their attention on the dynamics of offending, paying limited theoretical and empirical attention to the well-established relation between offending and victimization. However, a number of criminological theories predict similarities in the correlates and etiology of victimization and offending, suggesting substantial overlap across offender and victim populations. Empirical research confirms this overlap across offender and victim populations, at least among those involved in nonlethal incidents. This research explores whether similarities between offender and victim populations extends to homicide, using criminal justice, health care, and U.S. Census data linked to homicide offenders and victims in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, between 1996 and 2001. Findings indicate substantial overlap in the social contexts and risk behaviors of homicide offenders and victims. However, results also side with more recent suggestions that although many victims overlap with offender populations, there is also a group of victims that appears to be distinguishable from offender groups. These findings have important implications for both theory and intervention.

Individual, Neighborhood, and Situational Factors Associated with Violent Victimization and Offending

Jerry K. Daday et al. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:02:29 PST

The criminological literature presents substantial evidence that victims and offenders in violent crimes share demographic characteristics, engage in similar lifestyles and activities, and reside in socially disorganized neighborhoods. However, research has examined these relationships separately using either victimization or offending data, and prior studies have not examined these relationships by comparing victims and offenders within the same incidents. This limits the effect of examining whether these factors are associated with victimization and offending in similar or distinct ways. Using a law enforcement database of victims (n = 1,248) and offenders (n = 1,735) involved within the same aggravated battery incidents (n = 1,015) in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, this research explores whether victims and offenders involved in non-lethal violence share certain individual, neighborhood and situational characteristics. Results suggest that victims and offenders live in socially disorganized neighborhoods and engage in risky lifestyles and violent offending behaviors in similar proportions. These findings highlight the overlapping factors associated with victimization and offending in non-lethal violent personal crimes. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Technocratic Teamwork: Mitigating Polarization and Cultural Marginalization in an Engineering Firm

Jerry K. Daday et al. — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:46:11 PDT

Many corporations attempt to establish a unified corporate culture as a way of orienting employees toward corporate goals and objectives. However, a technocratic organizational structure has been found to exist in many high-tech corporations, which divides employees into an expert and non-expert sector based on differences in credentials and technical expertise. Because of this division, employees working within these two sectors experience differences in corporate rewards, worker autonomy, and creative freedoms. These factors have been found to lead to a polarized, divided, and discontented workforce. To understand how a technocratic structure influences and affects a dominant corporate culture and organizational efficacy, we conducted a qualitative study of a high-tech corporation named SYS, located in the Southwestern United States. We chose three occupational groups to participate in this study: engineers, technicians, and administrative assistants. The intent of this study was to determine how employees from these three occupational groups, who differ according to gender, education, and technical expertise, see and interpret the dominant culture within a technocratic organizational structure. The data from this study suggest that a strong and vibrant team-based organizational structure appears to mitigate the polarization that has been found to exist within many technocracies. The results obtained from this case study also suggest that despite differences between these occupational groups, a teaming environment appears to bridge significant differences between these occupational groups and to create a cohesive workforce.