{"title":"Triggering Violence? The Impact of Firearms on the Nature and Lethality of Violent Encounters: A European Perspective","authors":"Katharina Krüsselmann","doi":"10.1177/10439862241249632","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Firearms are used in around 25% of homicides in Europe. More so than other weapons commonly used in violent encounters, firearms have the ability to inflict lethal injuries. Yet, theoretical approaches to understanding the impact of firearms on the prevalence, lethality, and nature of violent encounters are scarce and have been developed almost exclusively within and for the context of the United States, where the levels of firearm violence and firearm availability are much higher than in Europe, limiting their applicability to the European context. To address this issue, European empirical data are reviewed in this paper to critically assess the few existing theoretical approaches focusing on the use of firearms in lethal and non-lethal violence. Based on the obtained findings, future directions for empirical research, as well as suggestions for new conceptualizations of firearm violence in Europe are presented.","PeriodicalId":47370,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241249632","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Firearms are used in around 25% of homicides in Europe. More so than other weapons commonly used in violent encounters, firearms have the ability to inflict lethal injuries. Yet, theoretical approaches to understanding the impact of firearms on the prevalence, lethality, and nature of violent encounters are scarce and have been developed almost exclusively within and for the context of the United States, where the levels of firearm violence and firearm availability are much higher than in Europe, limiting their applicability to the European context. To address this issue, European empirical data are reviewed in this paper to critically assess the few existing theoretical approaches focusing on the use of firearms in lethal and non-lethal violence. Based on the obtained findings, future directions for empirical research, as well as suggestions for new conceptualizations of firearm violence in Europe are presented.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice presents single-themed special issues that focus on a critical issue in contemporary criminal justice in order to provide a cogent, thorough, and timely exploration of the topic. Subjects include such concerns as organized crime, community policings, gangs, white-collar crime, and excessive police force.