Advisory Committee Chair
Shelley McGrath
Advisory Committee Members
John H Copes
Adrienne Milner
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2015
Degree Name by School
Master of Science (MS) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
The United States has the highest rates of homicide among industrialized nations. The analysis of variations in the homicide rate lends itself to interpretation through various theoretical frameworks, one of which is social disorganization. Social disorganization is commonly used as a means to discuss crime in the context of neighborhoods and communities. The argument of social disorganization is that criminal activity is curbed by collective efficacy. That collective efficacy is affected by structural variables such as poverty, residential stability, and heterogeneity. The question then became whether social disorganization could be utilized for county-level analysis. The results showed that social disorganization was partly supported through significant relationships between homicide rates and counties with African-American residency, though this was less so when other variables were taken into consideration. Overall, social disorganization could not be used as an effective means of analysis for discussing homicide in the context of social disorganization.
Recommended Citation
Grayer, Julien, "County-level homicide in the united states: An analysis from a social disorganization perspective" (2015). All ETDs from UAB. 1789.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/1789