This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lord, W. D. Articles by Weeks, H. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Comparative Patterns in Life Course Victimization: Competition, Social Rivalry, and Predatory Tactics in Child Homicide in the United States

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Monique C. Boudreaux

University of California Los Angeles

John P. Jarvis

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Jerry Waldvogel

Clemson University

Hal Weeks

Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Culturally sanctioned child homicide practices and criminally motivated acts of childmurder result in thousands of juvenile deaths each year. Whereas research elucidating thecauses and mechanisms underlying child abuse and neglect has gained national recognitionand prominence, studies specifically addressing child homicide have historicallybeen scant. Recently, however, comprehensive empirical studies have facilitated theexamination of child homicide as a successional, life course process of victimization.Although homicidal deaths occur in children of all ages, risks and dynamics are not uniform.Child homicide incidence is generally bimodal, peaking in early childhood and lateadolescence, periods characterized by intense competition and social rivalry. Analogouspatterns of conspecific lethality have also been noted in many nonhuman primates andother social vertebrates. Although not mitigating human responsibility, descriptive comparativeanalyses of the behavioral changes inherent in juvenile growth and development,childhood socialization, and social competition can provide valuable insights intothe proximate and ultimate causation of child homicide.

Key Words: social rivalry • child homicide • life course victimization

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. C. Boudreaux and W. D. Lord Combating Child Homicide: Preventive Policing for the New Millennium J Interpers Violence, April 1, 2005; 20(4): 380 - 387. [Abstract] [PDF]