Homicides in Chicago 1

Running Head: Homicides in Chicago

Samuel R. Morris

Homicides in Chicago, 1965 - 1995

SOWK 300

Tuskegee University

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

 Homicides in Chicago 2

Hypothesis: My first hypothesis for this paper is that drug related crimes or motives can

influence the time of the year or month that they are committed. The independent variable for

this project is drug related motives – or DRUGRELA – and the dependent variable is month of

occurrence of incident – or INJMONTH. Under the independent variable, the values that I used

were no information, selling or drug business, argument over possession, use, quality, or use of

drug, getting money for drugs or drugs for personal use, and other drug involvement. Under the

dependent variables, the values that I used were Spring, Summer, Fall/Autumn, and Winter. For

this project, my control variable will first time offender’s sex – or OFN1SEX.

Under my control variable, the values that I used were male, female and missing or

offender unknown. I used my control variable to establish my second hypothesis for this project

– my multivariate hypothesis. My second hypothesis is depending on one’s sex, drug related

crimes or motives can influence when they are committed. The control variable will affect the

first hypothesis in a significant way because men and women operate differently. It will be very

interesting to see how these variables respond to the recorded data.

Rationale: When looking at the history of America, drugs have always played a significant role

in our country. They have affected lives of both children and adults in numerous ways. For

some, it has affected their jobs and livelihood, while for others it has provided a way of life.

Nevertheless, when offenders are caught for using or selling drugs, it affects not only the

offender but the community as well – and this why I decided to look at both when and why

people use and buy drugs.

This project is very interesting because it is looking at the drug behavior within the

Chicago area. Chicago is very noted for its high markings in homicide incidents and some are

due to drug related matters. Moreover, using the variables – both independent and dependent –
 Homicides in Chicago 3

in my research gives me a better perspective as to what I am looking for. I do believe that drug

related activity varies on the time of year that is and by sex as well. I believe that I will see more

male offenders than female offenders in my research. I am not sure as to how my bivariate

analysis will play out, but I am very interested in seeing the results at the end.

Results:

Bivariate Table

Table 1
Drug Motive by Month of Occurrence of Incident of R (%)
______________________________________________________________________________
R’s Month of Occurrence of Incident
______________________________________________________________________________
Drug Motive Spring Summer Fall/Autumn Winter Total

No information 99.2% 99.6% 99.3% 99.4% 99.4%

Selling or Drug .0% .0% .5% .3% .2%

Business

Argument over .0% .0% .0% .3% .1%

possession, etc.

Getting money for .0% .2% .0% .0% .1%

drugs/personal use

Other drug .8% .2% .2% .0% .2%

involvement

Totals 100 100 100 100 100

(N) (118) (493) (416) (316) (1343)

______________________________________________________________________________
Source: Homicides in Chicago, 1965-1995
 Homicides in Chicago 4

Multivariate Table

Table 2
Drug Motive by Month of Occurrence of Incident of R (%)
Controlling for R’s Race (%)
______________________________________________________________________________
R’s Month of Occurrence of Incident
______________________________________________________________________________
Drug Motive Spring Summer Fall/Autumn Winter Total
______________________________________________________________________________
Male Respondents
No information 98.9% 99.5% 99.1% 99.2% 99.2%

Selling or Drug .0% .0% .6% .4% .3%

Business

Argument over .0% .0% .0% .4% .1%

possession, etc.

Getting money for .0% .3% .0% .0% .1%

drug/personal use

Other drug 1.1% .3% .0% .0% .1%

involvement

Totals 100 100 100 100 100

(N) (92) (390) (329) (255) (1066)

______________________________________________________________________________
Female Respondents
No information 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Selling or Drug 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Business

Argument over 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
possession, etc.

Getting money for 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

drug/personal use

Other drug 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
involvement

Totals 100 100 100 100 100

(N) (19) (86) (72) (55) (232)

_______________________________________________________________________________
Source: Homicides in Chicago, 1965-1995
 Homicides in Chicago 5

Discussion: Drugs are never an easy thing and when mixed with crimes, drugs can be very

dangerous. When I originally started this project, I expected to see certain results; however, the

results that came up shocked me. My bivariate hypothesis was proven correct – the type of drug

motive can influence the time when the crime is committed. Moreover, my multivariate

hypothesis was also proven incorrect – depending on the sex of the offender, drug related crimes

could influence when they are committed. Nevertheless, my results gathered from the data

stilled shocked me.

Based on my results, most drug related crimes are committed within the summer months

(99.6%) and least within the spring months (99.2%). But what shocked me the most about these

findings is that most of the recorded data fell under the “No information” label. Moreover, the

data also showed that there are more female respondents (100%) than male respondents (99.2%)

who commit crimes during these times. Just like my bivariate findings, these findings were all

recorded under the “No Information” label – and this was interesting to me!

After observing, the data provided from the results, I have several conclusions as well as

recommendations for this project. I can conclude that there is an inefficient way of collecting

information from offenders – especially first time offenders as in this case. Maybe the evidence

is not clear enough in order to establish a clear motive for the police. Because of this, I

recommend that the police establish better methods of gaining information about their offenders.

This may be hard because offenders do tend to lie. Nevertheless, this project helped proved that

there is much work needed in order to improve both police gathering information and crime rates

within Chicago.
 Homicides in Chicago 6

Appendix

Crosstabs
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Drug Motive * Month of Occurence of Incident * Gender of First Offender Crosstabulation

Gender of First Offender Month of Occurence of Incident

Summ Fall/Autu
Spring er mn Winter Total

Male Drug No Information Count 91 388 326 253 1058

Motive % within Month of 98.9% 99.5% 99.1% 99.2% 99.2%
Occurence of
Incident

Selling or Drug Count 0 0 2 1 3

Business % within Month of .0% .0% .6% .4% .3%
Occurence of
Incident

Argument over Count 0 0 0 1 1

possession, use, % within Month of .0% .0% .0% .4% .1%
quality, cost of Occurence of
drug Incident

Getting money for Count 0 1 0 0 1

drugs or drugs for % within Month of .0% .3% .0% .0% .1%
personal use Occurence of
Incident

Other Drug Count 1 1 1 0 3

involvement % within Month of 1.1% .3% .3% .0% .3%
Occurence of
Incident

Total Count 92 390 329 255 1066

% within Month of 100.0 100.0 100.0% 100.0 100.0

Occurence of % % % %
Incident
Female Drug No Information Count 19 86 72 55 232
Motive % within Month of 100.0 100.0 100.0% 100.0 100.0
Occurence of % % % %
Incident
Total Count 19 86 72 55 232
% within Month of 100.0 100.0 100.0% 100.0 100.0
Occurence of % % % %
Incident
Missing or Drug No Information Count 7 17 15 6 45
 Homicides in Chicago 8

offender unknown Motive % within Month of 100.0 100.0 100.0% 100.0 100.0
Occurence of % % % %
Incident

Total Count 7 17 15 6 45

% within Month of 100.0 100.0 100.0% 100.0 100.0

Occurence of % % % %
Incident
 Homicides in Chicago 9

Syntax File

DATASET ACTIVATE DataSet1.

RECODE INJMONTH (1=4) (2=4) (3=1) (4=1) (5=1) (6=2) (7=2) (8=2) (9=3) (10=3) (11=3)
(12=4) INTO
INJMONTH2.
EXECUTE.

RECODE INJMONTH DRUGRELA (0=0) (1=1) (2=2) (3=3) (4 thru 5=4) INTO INJMONTH2
DRUGRELA2.
VARIABLE LABELS DRUGRELA2 'Drug Motive'.
EXECUTE.

CROSSTABS
/TABLES=DRUGRELA2 BY INJMONTH2
/FORMAT=AVALUE TABLES
/STATISTICS=CHISQ GAMMA
/CELLS=COUNT COLUMN
/COUNT ROUND CELL.

CROSSTABS
/TABLES=DRUGRELA2 BY INJMONTH2 BY OFN1SEX
/FORMAT=AVALUE TABLES
/STATISTICS=CHISQ GAMMA
/CELLS=COUNT COLUMN
/COUNT ROUND CELL.
 Homicides in Chicago 10

Codebook

Independent Variable: DRUGRELA

Label: Drug Motive

0 = No Information
1 = Selling or Drug Business
2 = Argument over possession, use, quality, or use of drug
3 = Getting money for drugs or drugs for personal use
4 = Other drug involvement

Dependent Variable: INJMONTH

Label: Month of Occurrence of incident

1 = Spring
2 = Summer
3 = Fall/Autumn
4 = Winter

Control Variable: OFN1SEX

Label: Gender of First Offender

1 = Male
2 = Female
3 = Missing or offender unknown