Beyond the Social Production of Homicide Rates: Extending Social Disorganization Theory to Explain Homicide Case Outcomes Wendy C. Regoeczi and John P. Jarvis This paper examines the intersection of social disorganization at a community level with responses to crime. In contrast to other works examining the impact of social disorganization on the production of crime rates, we examine the role of social disorganization theory in responses to crime rates (i.e. the arrest and conviction of perpetrators of crime). In an effort to examine these dynam- ics, we use law enforcement data from Cleveland, Ohio to explore the role of social disorganization in the ability of police and the courts to respond to homicide cases. Such an examination suggests not only how far the law extends in community responses to homicide but also reveals an extension of social disorganization theory beyond its established role in explaining the pro- duction of crime rates. Keywords social disorganization; concentrated disadvantage; arrest; convic- tion; homicide Wendy C. Regoeczi is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Criminology Research Center at Cleveland State University. Her research focuses on homicide, including police investigation of homicides and methodological and statistical issues in studying lethal violence. She is coauthor (with Terance Miethe) of Rethinking Homicide: Exploring the Structure and Process Underlying Deadly Situations, published by Cambridge University Press. She serves as the current editor of the journal Homicide Studies. Dr. John Jarvis serves as the chief criminologist in the Behavioral Science Unit in the FBI. His work focuses on crime analysis, crime trend research, and the initiation and support of various research efforts by local, state, and Federal law enforcement. His recent criminological work involves examining validity and reliability of national crime statis- tics, analyses of serial crimes, and measuring and exploring police responses to homicide. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Virginia and has authored and co-authored numerous works in various journals and periodicals and currently chairs the Police Futures Working Group. Correspondence to: Wendy C. Regoeczi, Department of Sociology, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-2214, USA. E-mail: w.regoeczi@csuohio.edu JUSTICE QUARTERLY, 2013 Vol. 30, No. 6, 983–1014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2011.639793 Ó 2011 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Downloaded by [John Hazy] at 09:35 24 December 2013