Homicides among Chicago families: 1870-1930

Abstract

There are at least two exciting aspects of the files available to the authors of this volume. One is the age and range of the data-the fact that these accounts of Chicago homicides cover a sixty-year period that starts in 1870.1 In addition, these historical accounts of deaths reported to the Chicago police contain a surprising amount of detail. Because of the amount of detail and number of cases available, we can focus on family homicides-homicides where the victim and offender are related by birth or marriage, by more or less permanent living arrangements, or by some apparent degree of emotional attachment combined with a desire or plan to create a family. One obvious question about these cases concerns the extent to which family homicides have changed over the sixty-one year period for which information is available. Another obvious question concerns the ways in which these earlier family homicides are different from or similar to contemporary accounts of family homicide. Any comparison of these accounts with contemporary studies will be complicated by the definitions of family homicides that are used. One contemporary approach to the use of very similar information focuses on intimate partner violence or violence by intimates. "Intimates" in these studies have generally referred to people who are husbands, wives, boyfriends, or girlfriends.2 Other family members are ignored in this focus on intimates. In part, this approach probably reflects a concern for male violence against women. Although the intimate partner studies include discussions of homicides committed by women, much of the emphasis in them is on the victimization of women. Another reason some researchers have limited the discus-