Determinants of regional homicide mortality patterns in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract{tc \l1 "Abstract} The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the shift toward rule of law and a free market economy have resulted in severe shocks to Russian society and its institutions, including the economy, the family, education, and health. These conditions have been accompanied by a dramatic increase in interpersonal violence. One positive benefit of this transition has been a slowly widening transparency that has increased the availability and validity of social, economic, and vital statistics data for scientific research. In this study, these newly available Russian data are employed to estimate the cross-sectional effects of social structural characteristics on the spatial distribution of homicide rates among the 89 Russian regions. The results reveal that poverty and other elements of social disorganization are significantly associated with homicide victimization rates, as are levels of alcohol consumption, and that the low homicide rates in the Northern Caucasus and the high rates in the regions east of the Ural mountains do not appear to be explained solely by the structural features examined here