A Comparison of Homicides in Two Cities

Abstract

This study is a partial replication of the definitive analysis by Wolfgang1 of criminal homicides in Philadelphia during 1948-1952. The cases analyzed in the present paper were collected for use in a comparative study of homicide, aggravated assault, suicide, and attempted suicide.2 In view of the similarities of the data-securing approach to that of Wolfgang, it was decided to compare some of the findings in a Southern city with comparable ones in Philadelphia. Wolfgang studied all of the criminal homicide cases occurring in Philadelphia during the years 1948 through 1952. There were 588 victims and 621 offenders. His book is crammed full of tables, maps, references, literature reviews, and scholarly discussions, and it is not possible to summarize it adequately here. Neither is it possible to replicate his entire study without creating another book. The present study seeks to confirm some of Wolfgang's more general findings. In brief, Wolfgang studied all criminal homicides, using files of the Homicide Squad of the Philadelphia Police Department. He stated that police files were the most inclusive, in that they include the unsolved cases, those in which the offender committed suicide, etc. Homicide series collected from coroners' reports, court records, or prison commitments are progressively more selective (though they may be superior to police files in other respects). Wolfgang distinguishes clearly between homicide generally and criminal homicide, as well as between criminal homicide and the narrower category of murder. He points out that many studies fail to distinguish between these and between offender and victim; crime reports statistics generally refer to offenders, whereas mortality statistics refer to victims (the latter usually include non-criminal homicide too).