Constrained Choice? The Role of Co-Offenders and Structural Context in the Decision to Escalate Interpersonal Violence

Over the past decade, research on human agency and choice has grown within the field of criminology. However, most of this research has focused on the initial decision to offend, with less of a focus on the choices made during an offense. The current study addresses this gap by focusing on the role of situational and structural context in decisions during instances of interpersonal violence. Using data about violent incidents from the 2016 National Incident Based Reporting System and the American Community Survey, we estimate hierarchical regression models to examine the impact of one situational factor (the presence of co-offenders) and one contextual factor (structural disadvantage) on victim injury. Findings reveal that co-offenders and disadvantage both independently and additively impact the extent of victim injury, suggesting that situational and contextual factors operate to constrain offender choices during an offense, by escalating (or de-escalating) instances of interpersonal violence.