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Youth with access to illicit handguns have an enhanced proclivity to engage in armed criminal violence and self-harm. While theft has been identified as a pathway for youth to gain access to handguns, little is known about whether and to what extent stolen guns represent a viable channel toward putting youth and others at risk. To evaluate this, several data sources and methods are used to evaluate whether handgun thefts occurring within proximity to a school predict self-reported ease of handgun acquisition among young people. Multilevel results fail to show any relationship between the availability of stolen handguns, measured in three different ways, and middle and high school youths' self-reported access to handguns. Microlevel characteristics are predictive of gun access among youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several have claimed that the overreliance on benzodiazepines for many approved and off-label uses poses substantial human and social consequences comparable to those observed with the opioid epidemic. In light of these problems, alternatives are required to properly manage patients. Numerous states now permit the use of medical cannabis to treat conditions, such as chronic pain, that were traditionally treated with benzodiazepines, opioids, or both. As patients and physicians seek alternative treatments, little is known about whether the presence of cannabis laws helps to alleviate the burdens caused by these more traditional medications owing to the displacement of benzodiazepines and/or opioids toward cannabis. Methods: Using data from multiple years of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2017, 2018, 2019), the effect of Medical Marijuana Laws (MMLs) on benzodiazepine and/or opioid use and misuse is examined while controlling for a variety of demographic characteristics. Supplemental analysis also is performed including the 2020 and 2021 survey years. Results: MMLs did not affect lone, legitimate benzodiazepine usage, but lower use of opioids and combinations of benzodiazepines and opioids was observed. MMLs appear to help attenuate benzodiazepine and/or opioid misuse to a substantial degree. Additional results suggest that the presence of an MML was related to annual, varying decreases in the use and misuse of benzodiazepines, opioids, and their combination across the years of data evaluated. Conclusions: MMLs may serve to attenuate the consequences of benzodiazepine, opioid, and their combined use and/or misuse to varying degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminal violence frequently increases within jurisdictions following the implementation of self-defense laws. One explanation for this finding is a firearm amplification effect, whereby criminal offenders increasingly use firearms as a direct response to the amplified threat engendered by citizens. Using longitudinal data drawn from the National Incident-Based Reporting System for 95 cities situated in 15 states, we investigate whether the passing of a stand your ground or castle doctrine law amplifies the likelihood of gun use by criminal offenders. Results from a panel analysis show a marked rise in gun use among criminal offenders following the imposition of both types of self-defense laws. These findings furnish empirical support for the firearm amplification thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although temperature aggression theory maintains that a high temperature engenders more aggressive behavior by irritating individuals, routine activity theory asserts that violent crime increases as temperature rises because of enhanced interaction among the public in outdoor settings. We investigate the effect of maximum daily temperature on whether crime victims are physically injured during the commission of an outdoor criminal offense in Cleveland, Ohio. We focus on violent crimes occurring outdoors because most U.S. households have central air-conditioning or room air conditioners. Two autoregressive integrative moving average (ARIMA) analyses provide support for routine activity theory because although maximum daily temperature has a strong positive effect on the frequency of violent crimes occurring outdoors, it has little influence on the physical injury of crime victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the execution of offenders under the age of 18 at the time of their criminal offense was unconstitutional. Although many welcomed this decision, some individuals still remain concerned that the elimination of the specter of capital punishment will inevitably increase homicidal behavior among juveniles by reducing the prospect of deterrence. Using monthly data from the Supplemental Homicide Reports and a multiple time-series research design, the authors investigate the impact of the "Roper v. Simmons" decision on homicides perpetrated by juveniles in the 20 states affected by the law. Maximum likelihood results reveal that the repeal of the juvenile death penalty has had no effect on juvenile homicidal behavior. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables and 5 notes.)

It is proffered rather frequently that co-offending is the dominate form of criminal offending among juveniles because of the enhanced salience of peer pressure during adolescence, and that this enhanced propensity to co-offend is pivotal for understanding the age-crime curve. Using National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data for 2002, the authors conduct an analysis of 466,311 criminal arrests drawn from seven states. Their findings indicate that co-offending patterns by age are not noteworthy in elucidating why participation in illegal activities rises in adolescence, peaks in early adulthood, and then declines thereafter. Once co-offending is differentiated from solo offending, with solo offending representing the bulk of criminal activity among all age groups, including juveniles, a curvilinear relationship remains between age and solo-offending and between age and co-offending. These nonlinear associations are not conditioned by an offender's sex, race, or by offense type. The authors also analyzed co-offending crimes reported to police. In many types of crimes, offenders and victims come into contact, thus allowing for the estimation of the perpetrator's age notwithstanding whether an arrest was made. The findings generated in this supplemental analysis are similar to those produced using the arrest data. The results of this study have consequential theoretical implications not only because they cast doubt on the assertion that differences in co-offending levels between juveniles and adults account for the age-crime curve, but they also contravene the widely held belief that most juvenile offenses are perpetrated in the company of others rather than by individuals acting alone. Based on the new data reported here it appears that group offending is merely incidental in circumstance and thus of little etiological significance. (Contains 9 figures and 9 notes.)

The state of California passed the Smoke-Free Workplace Act on January 1, 1995. This legislation effectively banned indoor smoking in all public and private workplaces including restaurants. Many restaurant owners, especially owners of restaurants that served alcohol, opposed the ban for fear that their businesses would be affected adversely because of the loss of patrons who smoked. Using an interrupted times-series autoregressive integrative moving average study design, the authors assess the effect of California's indoor smoking ban on revenue rates for all restaurants, for non-alcohol-serving restaurants, and for alcohol-serving restaurants. Results showed that revenues for alcohol-serving restaurants dropped by about 4% immediately following the establishment of the indoor smoking ban. However, this reduction was temporary because revenues for alcohol-serving restaurants quickly returned to normal levels. Findings also revealed that the indoor smoking ban had little observable impact on the revenue rate for restaurants overall and for nonalcohol-serving restaurants. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

Social scientists remain unsure as to whether divorce acts to alleviate domestic violence or whether ex-spouses become the targets of the displaced violence. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Census, this study investigates the relationship between the divorce rate and the domestic crime rate. The study contributes to the literature by distinguishing between spouse and ex-spouse victimization and by using a comprehensive measure of domestic crime. Results show a strong positive effect of the divorce rate on spouse and ex-spouse victimization. The length of time a married couple must be separated prior to finalizing a divorce was also found to amplify the spouse victimization rate. This finding suggests that mandatory separation periods may need to be eliminated or shortened in length to help attenuate crime between married couples seeking a divorce. Overall, these results support the view that divorce acts to shift domestic strife to ex-spouses. (Contains 7 notes and 4 tables.)

Self-help theory posits that a negative perception of police engenders firearm violence rather than simply amplifying individuals' ownership of firearms for self-defense. A racially diverse police force may help decrease firearm use among Black citizens because marginalized groups in society often view a governmental institution as legitimate and impartial when the racial composition of the institution mirrors the population it represents. Analyses using multilevel data show that as the racial diversity of a city's police department increases, Black criminal offenders are much less likely to use a firearm in an aggravated assault and in a violent crime. These findings buttress the claim that the institutional legitimacy of a police agency can be enhanced by descriptive racial representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study advances the literature by examining the effect of carbon monoxide emissions on the degree of physical violence exhibited by a criminal offender during the commission of a criminal offense. A multilevel analysis is conducted to probe the relationship between carbon monoxide levels and whether a criminal offender physically injures his or her victim. The offender-level data are drawn from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and represent 139,709 single offender/single victim crime incidents for 109 cities in 22 states during 2015. Carbon monoxide concentration and city-level contextual control variables are drawn from other sources. Results show that while carbon monoxide emissions have little effect on the overall level of physical violence displayed by a criminal offender, both the offender's race and sex moderate the relationship between air pollution and victim injury. As carbon monoxide levels rise in a city, both black and male offenders are more likely to injure their victims physically. We theorize that black and male offenders are more vulnerable to the violence-inducing effects of air pollution because of pronounced racial and sex differences in carbon monoxide exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proffered rather frequently that co-offending is the dominate form of criminal offending among juveniles because of the enhanced salience of peer pressure during adolescence, and that this enhanced propensity to co-offend is pivotal for understanding the age-crime curve. Using National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data for 2002, the authors conduct an analysis of 466,311 criminal arrests drawn from seven states. Their findings indicate that co-offending patterns by age are not noteworthy in elucidating why participation in illegal activities rises in adolescence, peaks in early adulthood, and then declines thereafter. Once co-offending is differentiated from solo offending, with solo offending representing the bulk of criminal activity among all age groups, including juveniles, a curvilinear relationship remains between age and solo-offending and between age and co-offending. These nonlinear associations are not conditioned by an offender's sex, race, or by offense type. The authors also analyzed co-offending crimes reported to police. In many types of crimes, offenders and victims come into contact, thus allowing for the estimation of the perpetrator's age notwithstanding whether an arrest was made. The findings generated in this supplemental analysis are similar to those produced using the arrest data. The results of this study have consequential theoretical implications not only because they cast doubt on the assertion that differences in co-offending levels between juveniles and adults account for the age-crime curve, but they also contravene the widely held belief that most juvenile offenses are perpetrated in the company of others rather than by individuals acting alone. Based on the new data reported here it appears that group offending is merely incidental in circumstance and thus of little etiological significance. Keywords: co-offending; age-crime curve; National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

The relative merits of the public demand, racial threat and economic inequality theses in explaining private police size are evaluated, using data drawn from 195 metropolitan areas, to assess the impact of the serious crime rate, the relative sizes of the Black and Hispanic populations and the Gini index on private police size. It is found that racial threat and economic inequality are more central to understanding private police size than the serious crime rate.