DeLisi, graduate students publish “Who will kill again? The forensic value of 1st degree murder convictions”
Author: Amy Juhnke
Matt DeLisi, professor of sociology and two graduate students, Mark Ruelas and James Kruse, have published “Who will kill again? The forensic value of 1st degree murder convictions” in “Forensic Science International: Synergy.”
The article, published in February 2019, focuses on examining archival data for the association between prior first degree murder convictions and subsequent homicide offending.
Kruse, a first year master’s student interested in criminal justice and forensics, finds the topic of recidivism to be worth examining.
“Recidivism is a problem, and while the prevalence of homicide overall is low, it is still a very serious crime that needs to be investigated,” Kruse said.
The authors found a significant connection between prior convictions and subsequent homicide offending.
“We found that offenders with prior convictions for first degree murder were more likely to engage in various forms of subsequent homicide offending. Across models they exhibited 116% to 198% increased odds of subsequent murder,” Ruelas explained.
Following the results of the study, the authors note that further study on this topic is required.
“While there are a couple of different avenues that can be taken from here, one possibility would be to continue looking into criminal history in order to calculate risk of re-offending in violent cases,” Kruse said.
Read the article here.