Gender-specific homicide offending in rural areas

This analysis departs from prior macro-level homicide research by focusing on gender-specific homicide rates in rural areas, a completely neglected topic. Drawing on the resource deprivation and gender inequality perspectives, the authors analyze gender-disaggregated homicide offending rates in 1,678 rural counties. Negative binomial regression models provide evidence of the following: Gender-specific measures of unemployment and poverty and a measure of female-headed households exhibit no relationship with female homicide offending, whereas all three measures are associated with elevated levels of male homicide offending. Further, measures of both absolute and relative gender inequality have no association with female or male homicide offending in the rural context. Overall, female homicide offending in rural areas is strongly driven by levels of male offending, which are explained by many of the same factors typically cited in the literature on urban crime.