NCJ Number
170377
Date Published
November 1997
Length
8 pages
Agencies
BJS
Publication Type
Survey
Annotation
This report presents statistics on juvenile homicide victimization and homicides committed by juveniles in 1996, as well as information on trends since 1976, based on the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports and corresponding population estimates from the United States Bureau of the Census.
Abstract
Tables display rates of homicide victimization and offending for various age, race, and gender groups and their combinations. The homicide victimization rates are adjusted for non-reporting agencies using the FBI's Crime Index as a benchmark. The offender data represent estimates using an imputation procedure to infer the characteristics of perpetrators in unsolved cases on attributes of the victim, place, and year. All four homicide tables reveal a decline in teen murder for 1996. The trend data also reveal that the rates of homicide have declined for the last three years. However, they remain at levels that are about twice as high as those of a decade ago. In addition, the UCR data reveal that the homicide rate in 1996 was as low as it had been for more than 2 decades. The long-term data also reveal major differences, most notably by age group. Since 1985, just prior to the emergence of crack cocaine, the rates of youth homicide have increased. In contrast, since 1980, the rate of homicide among age groups 25 and over has declined by approximately half. However, the expansion of the adolescent population in the next 10 years could produce an increase in the number of adolescent homicides. Society needs to determine whether these projections actually occur or whether they will encourage a renewed emphasis on prevention. Tables and figure
Date Created: December 28, 2009