AMERICAN HOMICIDE RANDOLPH ROTH American Homicide THE BELKNAP PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England 2009 Copyright©2009bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Roth,Randolph,1951– Americanhomicide/RandolphRoth. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-674-03520-1(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Homicide—UnitedStates—History. I.Title. HV6524.R682009 364.1520973—dc22 2009016830 ToAllison, thememoryofWilliamSlothrop, andGod’ssecondsheep Contents ListofFigures ix Preface xi Introduction 1 1 “CuttingeOneAnothersThroates”: HomicideinEarlyModernEuropeandAmerica 27 2 “AllHangingTogether”: TheDeclineofHomicideintheColonialPeriod 61 3 FamilyandIntimateHomicideintheFirstTwoCenturies 108 4 “ASenseofTheirRights”: HomicideintheAgeofRevolution 145 5 TheEmergenceofRegionalDifferences: HomicideinthePostrevolutionaryPeriod 180 6 TheRiseinFamilyandIntimate HomicideintheNineteenthCentury 250 7 “AllIsConfusion,ExcitementandDistrust”: AmericaBecomesaHomicidalNation 297 8 TheModernPatternIsSet:Homicidefromthe EndofReconstructiontoWorldWarI 386 9 TheProblemEndures: HomicidefromWorldWarItothePresent 435 Conclusion:CanAmerica’sHomicideProblemBeSolved? 469 Sources 477 Methods 489 Notes 497 References 588 Acknowledgments 641 Index 644 Figures I.1 Homicideratesinaffluentdemocracies,1900–2006 4 I.2 Homicideratesinaffluentdemocracies,1950–1990 5 I.3 HomicideratesintheUnitedStates,1937–1941 6 I.4 Estimatedworldhomiciderates,late1900s 7 1.1 HomicideindictmentratesandrealwagesinEngland, 1549–1800 29 1.2 Unrelated-adulthomicideratesinNewEnglandandNew Netherlands,1630–1797 38 1.3 Unrelated-adulthomicideratesinVirginiaandMaryland, 1607–1800 39 2.1 TrendsincountynamesintheUnitedStates,1634–1919 78 2.2 HomicideratesinNewFrance,NorthCarolina,and Pennsylvania,1650–1800 91 2.3 Unrelated-adulthomicideratesinNewEnglandbyrace, 1677–1797 95 4.1 HomiciderateinplantationcountiesinGeorgia,1790– 1900 162 4.2 Unrelated-adulthomicideratesinruralOhio,1798–1900 163 5.1 Unrelated-adulthomiciderateinNewHampshireand Vermont,1775–1900 184 5.2 Unrelated-adulthomicideratesinruralIllinois,1820–1900 184 5.3 UrbanhomicideratesinthenorthernUnitedStates,1797– 1900 185