Homicides in New York City, 1797-1999 [And Various Historical Comparison Sites]

There has been little research on United States homicide rates from a long-term perspective, primarily because there has been no consistent data series on a particular place preceding the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which began its first full year in 1931. To fill this research gap, this project created a data series on homicides per capita for New York City that spans two centuries. The goal was to create a site-specific, individual-based data series that could be used to examine major social shifts related to homicide, such as mass immigration, urban growth, war, demographic changes, and changes in laws. Data were also gathered on various other sites, particularly in England, to allow for comparisons on important issues, such as the post-World War II wave of violence. The basic approach to the data collection was to obtain the best possible estimate of annual counts and the most complete information on individual homicides. The annual count data (Parts 1 and 3) were derived from multiple sources, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports and Supplementary Homicide Reports, as well as other official counts from the New York City Police Department and the City Inspector in the early 19th century. The data include a combined count of murder and manslaughter because charge bargaining often blurs this legal distinction. The individual-level data (Part 2) were drawn from coroners' indictments held by the New York City Municipal Archives, and from daily newspapers. Duplication was avoided by keeping a record for each victim. The estimation technique known as "capture-recapture" was used to estimate homicides not listed in either source. Part 1 variables include counts of New York City homicides, arrests, and convictions, as well as the homicide rate, race or ethnicity and gender of victims, type of weapon used, and source of data. Part 2 includes the date of the murder, the age, sex, and race of the offender and victim, and whether the case led to an arrest, trial, conviction, execution, or pardon. Part 3 contains annual homicide counts and rates for various comparison sites including Liverpool, London, Kent, Canada, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco.

关于美国谋杀率的长期研究甚少，这主要归因于在统一犯罪报告（UCR）开始的第一年（1931年）之前，并未形成关于特定地点的持续数据系列。为填补这一研究空白，本项目构建了一个涵盖两个世纪的新 York City 人均谋杀案件数据系列。旨在创建一个特定地点、基于个体的数据系列，以便考察与谋杀相关的重大社会变迁，例如大规模移民、城市扩张、战争、人口结构变化以及法律变革。此外，还收集了其他地点的数据，尤其是在英格兰，以便就诸如二战后暴力浪潮等重要议题进行比较研究。数据收集的基本方法在于获取年度案件数的最佳估计值以及个体谋杀案件的最详尽信息。年度案件数数据（第一部分和第三部分）来源于多个渠道，包括联邦调查局（FBI）的统一犯罪报告和补充谋杀报告，以及其他官方统计数据，如纽约市警察局和19世纪初的市政检察官的数据。数据包括谋杀和误杀的合并计数，因为指控协商往往模糊了这一法律区别。个体层面的数据（第二部分）来源于纽约市市政档案馆持有的验尸官起诉书以及日报。为了避免重复计数，每起案件的受害者都有记录。对于未列在任一来源中的谋杀案件，采用了“捕获-再捕获”的估算技术。第一部分的变量包括纽约市谋杀案件、逮捕和定罪的数量，以及谋杀率、受害者的种族或民族和性别、所使用的武器类型和数据来源。第二部分包括谋杀日期、犯罪者的年龄、性别和种族，以及案件是否导致逮捕、审判、定罪、处决或赦免。第三部分包含包括利物浦、伦敦、肯特、加拿大、巴尔的摩、洛杉矶、西雅图和旧金山在内的比较地点的年度谋杀案件数和谋杀率。