The Killers and Their Victims Higgins O’Brien Spring 2012

Homicide Rates Murder in the United States peaked in 1991 at a rate of 9.8 per 100,000 This declined by 50% throughout the 90's and continued into the year 2000 Even after the drops, the U.S. has one of the highest homicide rates among industrialized countries

Homicide Rates In 2008 Per 100,000 Honduras Venezuela South Africa Russia United States Canada France Sweden Japan

Why High Rates of Homicide? Some believe it's due to lax gun laws and the availability of firearms -about 250 million guns in U.S. Some believe it's due to America's obsession with violence (Revolution, Wild West) Social controls have become weaker -family -community -schools -religion

Race Differences in Homicide White violent offenders have similar numbers to black violent offenders But when looking at population, black violent offenders are overrepresented -White offenders 3.4 per 100,000 -Black offenders 25.7 per 100,000 This could be due to socioeconomic factors Hate crimes receive much focus from the media, but are relatively rare -Whites overwhelmingly kill whites (83%) -Blacks overwhelmingly kill blacks (93%)

Gender Differences in Homicide 90.5% of offenders are male 77.4% of victims are male *So not only do most men kill men, female murders usually kill men Men more likely to use a firearm Women more likely to use poison or arson Despite media portrayals, a male killing a female stranger is very rare

Age Differences in Homicide Despite media portrayal, only about 10% of murderers/victims are under 18 years old When juveniles do commit violence, it is usually in a group year old make up about 40% of offenders The elderly have the highest levels of fear of violence, yet have the lowest risk of victimization

Differences By Location Homicides Cities 67.3% Suburban 23.5% Rural 9.2% Cities fluctuate in homicide rates, but remain relatively consistent year to year Extreme cases can produce spikes in homicide rates (Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina) *It should be noted that the FBI decided not to count the thousands killed on Sept. 11 in statistical data.

Homicide Rate By State (2009) Per 100,000 Louisiana New Mexico Maryland Florida Texas California New York Montana Massachusetts Wyoming Maine Utah New Hampshire

Regional Differences Northeast- 14% Midwest- 19.9% South- 43.8% West 22.3% *The south has a distinctly higher homicide rate

Breaking the Mold Despite patterns in murder victimization and offending, there will always be exceptions to the rule Statistics do not predict the future, they can only show probability Making sense of bizarre and seemingly random crime is difficult. School shooting and serial killers are challenges for the future.