Title: 'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides : NPR
Headings: 'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides
'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides
Comparing States
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Content: Mark Hoekstra, Texas A&M University
Credit: Alyson Hurt, Adam Cole & David Schultz/NPR
Hoekstra recently decided to analyze national crime statistics to see what happens in states that pass stand your ground laws. He found the laws are having a measurable effect on the homicide rate. "Our study finds that, that homicides go up by 7 to 9 percent in states that pass the laws, relative to states that didn't pass the laws over the same time period," he says. As to whether the laws reduce crime — by creating a deterrence for criminals — he says, "we find no evidence of any deterrence effect over that same time period." Hoekstra obtained this result by comparing the homicide rate in states before and after they passed the laws. He also compared states with the laws to states without the laws. "We find that there are 500 to 700 more homicides per year across the 23 states as a result of the laws," he said. There are about 14,000 homicides annually in the United States as a whole. The fact that more people are being killed doesn't automatically mean the law isn't working.