IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mcn/rwpapr/51.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Weapons, Violence and the Perpetrator-Victim Nexus in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Kai Thaler

Abstract

Given the high levels of crime and violence in South Africa, there may be a temptation for citizens to arm themselves for protection. Using quantitative survey data from the Cape Area Panel Study and qualitative interviews with residents of high-violence neighborhoods, this paper examines the question of who carries weapons outside the home in Cape Town and what the effects of weapon carrying may be. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the significance of possible drivers of weapon carrying and the results are discussed in the South African social context. Weapon carrying is found to be associated with both assault perpetration and victimization, suggesting that it is part of a violent lifestyle in which weapon carriers are likely to use their weapons both offensively and defensively. Possible weapon-related policies for violence reduction are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Thaler, 2011. "Weapons, Violence and the Perpetrator-Victim Nexus in South Africa," Research Working Papers 51, MICROCON - A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict.
  • Handle: RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:51
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.microconflict.eu/publications/RWP51_KT.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2011
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Webster, D.W. & Gainer, P.S. & Champion, H.R., 1993. "Weapon carrying among inner-city junior high school students: Defensive behavior vs aggressive delinquency," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 83(11), pages 1604-1608.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Crifasi, Cassandra K. & Williams, Rebecca G. & Booty, Marisa D. & Owens-Young, Jessica L. & Webster, Daniel W. & Buggs, Shani A.L., 2022. "Community perspectives on gun violence and safety: The role of policing in Baltimore City," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Kai Thaler, 2010. "Weapons, Violence and Personal Security in Cape Town," HiCN Working Papers 85, Households in Conflict Network.
    3. DAVID McDOWALL, 1995. "Firearms and Self-Defense," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 539(1), pages 130-140, May.
    4. Cao, Liqun & Zhang, Yan & He, Ni, 2008. "Carrying weapons to school for protection: An analysis of the 2001 school crime supplement data," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 154-164, May.
    5. Smith, M. Dwayne, 1996. "Sources of firearm acquisition among a sample of inner-city youths: Research results and policy implications," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 361-367.
    6. Park, Nan S. & Lee, Beom S. & Sun, Fei & Vazsonyi, Alexander T. & Bolland, John M., 2010. "Pathways and predictors of antisocial behaviors in African American adolescents from poor neighborhoods," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 409-415, March.
    7. McCluskey, Cynthia Perez & McCluskey, John D. & Bynum, Timothy S., 2006. "Early onset offending and later violent and gun outcomes in a contemporary youth cohort," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 531-541.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John Spall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/idsusuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.