DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04115.v1
title: Rural and Urban Trends in Family and Intimate Partner Homicide in the United States, 1980-1999
title: Version 1

description: This research project examined rural and urban trends in
family and intimate partner homicide for the 20-year period from 1980
through 1999. The construct of place served as a backdrop against
which changes in trends in family/partner homicide were tracked, and
against which various independent measures that purportedly explain
variation in the rates were tested. The project merged data from
several sources. The offender data file from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) series for
1980 through 1999 was the primary data source. Data for arrests for
violent crime, drug, and alcohol-related offenses were obtained from
the FBI Report A Arrest File. Population, population density, and race
(and racial segregation) data from the decennial U.S. Census for 1980,
1990, and 2000 were also obtained. Data on hospitals, educational
attainment, unemployment, and per capita income were obtained from the
2002 Area Resource File (ARF). The total number of proprietors (farm
and non-farm) in the United States by state and county for each year
were provided by the Regional Economic Profiles data. The project's
population and proximity indicator used four categories: metropolitan,
nonmetropolitan populations adjacent to a metropolitan area,
nonmetropolitan populations not adjacent to a metropolitan area, and
rural. Data include homicide rates for 1980 through 1999 for intimate
partner homicide, family homicide, all other homicide, and all
homicide. Additional variables are included as measures of community
socioeconomic distress, such as residential overcrowding, isolation,
traditionalist views of women and family, lack of access to health
care, and substance abuse. Five-year averages are included for each of
the rates and measures listed above.
description: Research has shown that family and intimate
 partner murders differ from other types of murders in several
 ways. However, the difference between family and intimate partner and
 stranger/acquaintance murders as a function of place, specifically the
 degree of urbanicity or rurality, remained to be explored. This
 research project examined rural and urban trends in family and
 intimate partner homicide for the 20-year period from 1980 through
 1999. The construct of place served as a backdrop against which
 changes in trends in family/partner homicide were tracked, and against
 which various independent measures that purportedly explain variation
 in the rates were tested. "Place" was operationalized by population
 and proximity to a metropolitan area. The overall research questions
 were: (1) How do the rates of family and intimate partner murder
 differ by place -- specifically, by a place's population size and
 proximity to a metropolitan area? and (2) What are the independent
 measures that explain the differences in rates by place, and how do
 those measures affect changes over time? Finding some support for the
 hypothesis that family and intimate partner murders are more prevalent
 in rural than urban communities, an additional question emerged: (3)
 Did any of these factors worsen over time in rural communities within
the time period of interest?
description: For this study, intimate partners were defined as
 current and former spouses (including common-law) and current and
 former boyfriends and girlfriends (including same-sex relationships).
 Family members were defined as parents, siblings, aunts/uncles,
 stepparents and stepchildren, in-laws, and "other" family. The project
 merged data from several sources. The offender data file from the
 Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report
 (SHR) series for 1980 through 1999 was the primary data source. These
 agency-level data contain details about murders and non-negligent
 homicide in the United States, including information about the
 geographic location and, when known, the relationship between the
 victim and the perpetrator. Data were weighted to adjust for missing
 homicide records in the SHR data (as compared to data from the FBI's
 Offenses Known and Clearances by Arrest series) and for missing
 victim-offender relationship information. Data for arrests for violent
 crime (rape, robbery, and assault) and drug- and alcohol-related
 offenses were obtained from the agency-level FBI Report A Arrest
 File. Population, population density, and race (and racial
 segregation) data from the decennial United States Census for 1980,
 1990, and 2000 were interpolated for intercensal years. United States
 Census population data were used to calculate all population-based
 rates: per 100,000 age 15 and over for intimate partner homicide, and
 per 100,000 for all ages for all other homicide types. Data on
 hospitals, educational attainment (persons 25 or older with 12 or more
 years of education), unemployment, and per capita income were obtained
 from the 2002 Area Resource File (ARF). The total number of
 proprietors (farm and non-farm) in the United States by state and
 county for each year were provided by the Regional Economic Profiles
 data. The project's population and proximity indicator collapsed the
 10-point rural-urban continuum codes (Beale codes) into four
 categories: metropolitan, nonmetropolitan populations adjacent to a
 metropolitan area, nonmetropolitan populations not adjacent to a
 metropolitan area, and rural. The Law Enforcement Agency Identifiers
 Crosswalk file was used to match the FBI data with the other public
 use data by matching FBI agency codes with Federal Information
 Processing Standard (FIPS) codes. Data were aggregated in five-year
 averages to account for potential instabilities in the annual rates,
particularly for the low-population counties.
description: Data include homicide rates for 1980 through 1999
 for intimate partner homicide, family homicide, all other homicide,
 and all homicide. Variables measuring community socioeconomic distress
 include annual percent total population change, annual percent
 population change of individuals ages 18-34, percent poverty, percent
 unemployment, per capita income (in 1982-1984 dollars), annual percent
 change in number of establishments, arrests per 100,000 for violent
 crime other than murder and non-negligent homicide (forcible rape,
 robbery, or assault), racial segregation (as a dissimilarity index),
 and percent nonwhite. Additionally, residential overcrowding was
 measured by persons per housing unit, isolation by persons per square
 mile, traditionalist views of women and family by the percentage of
 adults with 12 or more years of education, lack of access to health
 care by the number of hospitals per 100,000 population, and substance
 abuse by arrests per 100,000 population for alcohol-related offenses
 (drunk driving, liquor law offenses, and public drunkenness), and
 arrests per 100,000 population for drug-related offenses. Five-year
 averages are included for each of the rates and measures listed
above.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Not applicable.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Rural and Urban Trends in Family and Intimate Partner Homicide in the United States, 1980-1999
description: All counties in the United States from 1980 to 1999. Smallest Geographic Unit: county
description: Users are encouraged to refer to Appendix A: Technical
Appendix in the project's final report for detailed information on
data sources, imputation procedures, rate calculations, and analysis
procedures.