Social structure and dynamics of violence: social determinants of intentional homicides in Brazilian micro-regions

Abstract

Macrosociological theories of criminal violence predict that the rate of violent crimes, especially intentional homicide, increases in response to social structures and processes that strengthen violent motivations or weaken social controls on violence. To test these hypotheses, we used several bivariate and multivariate regression models with panel data and variables constructed with demographic and mortality data, according to theoretical relevance, to verify whether the use of psychoactive substances, access to firearms, sociodemographic structures (population growth and density and proportion of young men), and the prevalence of socioeconomic exclusion increased the rate of intentional homicides in Brazilian microregions between 1996 and 2019. Most of the results significantly support the hypotheses. But the most powerful factor was the previous year’s homicide rate. This reveals an endogenous feedback tendency of violence in the short and medium terms, which can lead to the accumulation of the effects of the structural factors of intentional homicides.

Keywords:
Homicide; Violence; Social determinants; Sociodemographic factors; Regression analysis