Citation

Hanke PJ, Gundlach JH. J. Crim. Justice 1995; 23(4): 313-323.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(95)00022-I

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the effect of racial differences in access to emergency transportation and subsequent medical care of assault victims on the chance that the victim would die and the assailant subsequently would be charged with homicide. Examination of female homicide offender records in Alabama from the 1930s to 1985 found a relationship between the race of the offender and the time of death of the victim. These findings suggest that racial differences in access to emergency transportation and subsequent medical care of her victim increased the chances that an African American assailant subsequently would be charged with homicide 24 percent more often than her Caucasian counterpart. Because of limitations in the first data set, the analysis was extended to homicide victims reported in the 1988 United States Mortality Detail Files. Analysis of the national victim data replicates the Alabama inmate findings. Extending the analysis by residence replicates the results for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residences. Extending the analysis by cause of homicide finds the same difference among victims by gun, a larger difference among victims by cutting and piercing, and a smaller difference among victims by all other causes. Racial inequities in the administration of justice traditionally have focused on detecting bias in the administration of justice. These findings suggest that racial inequities in the delivery of medical care are responsible for a substantial portion of the racial differences in both victims and convictions for homicide.