title: Solo and Multi-Offenders Who Commit Stranger Kidnapping: An Assessment of Factors That Correlate With Violent Events.
abstract: Research has demonstrated that co-offending dyads and groups often use more violence than individual offenders. Despite the attention given to co-offending by the research community, kidnapping remains understudied. Stranger kidnappings are more likely than non-stranger kidnappings to involve the use of a weapon. Public fear of stranger kidnapping warrants further examination of this specific crime, including differences between those committed by solo and multi-offender groups. The current study uses National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data to assess differences in use of violence among 4,912 stranger kidnappings by solo offenders and multi-offender groups using cross-tabulations, ordinal regression, and logistic regression. The results indicate that violent factors are significantly more common in multi-offender incidents, and that multi-offender groups have fewer arrests than solo offenders. The implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1 Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: 1 Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Vandiver
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D000067074:Peer Influence; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: multi-offender groups; solo offenders; stranger kidnapping; violent crimes