U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention October 2001 Homicides of A Message From OJJDP Children and Youth Homicides are always tragic, but our sympathies are heightened when the victim is a young child or adolescent. David Finkelhor and Richard Ormrod Thus, the deaths of juveniles raise understandable public concerns. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is committed to Unfortunately, research statistics sel- improving the justice system’s response to crimes against children. OJJDP recognizes dom claim the broad audience of the that children are at increased risk for crime victimization. Not only are children the vic- morning newspaper or the evening news. This Bulletin, part of OJJDP’s tims of many of the same crimes that victimize adults, they are subject to other crimes, Crimes Against Children Series, like child abuse and neglect, that are specific to childhood. The impact of these crimes draws on FBI and other data to pro- on young victims can be devastating, and the violent or sexual victimization of children vide a statistical portrait of juvenile can often lead to an intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse. The purpose of homicide victimization. OJJDP’s Crimes Against Children Series is to improve and expand the Nation’s efforts Homicide is the only major cause of to better serve child victims by presenting the latest information about child victimization, childhood deaths that has increased over the past three decades. In 1999, including analyses of crime victimization statistics, studies of child victims and their spe- some 1,800 juveniles, or 3 per cial needs, and descriptions of programs and approaches that address these needs. 100,000 of the U.S. juvenile popula- tion, were homicide victims—a rate Murders of children and youth, the ulti- Reports (SHRs), which are part of the substantially higher than those of mate form of juvenile victimization, have Bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting Pro- other developed countries. At the received a great deal of deserved publicity gram; however, it also relies on a variety same time, murders of juveniles are in recent years.1 Yet, while images of Polly of other studies and statistical sources. infrequent in many areas of our Klaas and student victims at Columbine country. In 1997, 85 percent of Highlights of the findings presented in this High School are vivid in the public’s mind, U.S. counties had no homicides of Bulletin include the following: statistics on juvenile murder victims are juveniles. not. Substantial misunderstandings exist ◆ In 1999, about 1,800 juveniles (a rate of The Bulletin offers detailed informa- about the magnitude of and trends in juve- 2.6 per 100,000) were victims of homi- tion about overall patterns and victim nile homicide and the types of children at cide in the United States. This rate is age groups. Specific types of juvenile risk of becoming victims of different types substantially higher than that of any homicide victimization are discussed of homicide. other developed country. in further detail, including maltreat- This Bulletin gives a brief statistical por- ◆ Homicides of juveniles in the United ment homicides, abduction homi- trait of various facets of child and youth States are unevenly distributed, both cides, and school homicides. homicide victimization in the United geographically and demographically. Finally, initiatives designed to prevent States. It draws heavily on homicide Rates are substantially higher for homicides of children and youth data from the Federal Bureau of Investi- African American juveniles and for (juveniles) are explored. Given the gation’s (FBI’s) Supplementary Homicide juveniles in certain jurisdictions. Yet, unacceptable rate of such crimes, 85 percent of all U.S. counties had no much remains to be done. homicides of juveniles in 1997. 1 Strictly speaking, murder and homicide are not iden- ◆ Homicides of young children (age 5 and tical; however, in this Bulletin the terms are some- times used interchangeably to improve readability. younger), children in middle childhood (ages 6 to 11), and teenagers (ages 12 causes of childhood mortality, accounting urban areas than in rural and smaller to 17)2 differ on a number of dimen- for 1 out of 23 deaths of children and youth urban areas. In 1997, 85 percent of all U.S. sions, suggesting that they should be younger than 18 (U.S. Census Bureau, counties did not have a single homicide of analyzed separately. 1998). More children 0–4 years of age in a juvenile, while five highly urban coun- ◆ Most homicides of young children are the United States now die from homicide ties (Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Los Angeles, committed by family members through than from infectious diseases or cancer, CA; New York, NY; and Philadelphia, PA) beatings or suffocation. Although vic- and homicide claims the lives of more accounted for one-fourth of all such vic- tims include approximately equal num- teenagers in the United States than any timizations nationwide (Snyder and Sick- bers of boys and girls, offenders in- cause other than accidents (U.S. Census mund, 1999). Bureau, 1998). Since 1993, however, homi- clude a disproportionate number of Geographic areas can be differentiated not cides of juveniles have joined the down- women. Homicides of young children only by the rate at which juveniles are the ward trend in homicides of adults that may be seriously undercounted. victims of homicide but also by the per- began in 1991 (figure 1). ◆ Middle childhood is a time when a centage of all homicides in the area that child’s homicide risk is relatively low. Juvenile homicide is one of the most un- involve a juvenile victim (see figure 3). Homicides of children in middle child- evenly distributed forms of child victim- Thus, in some States with a low rate of hood show a mixed pattern. Some ization. Certain groups and localities ex- juvenile victim homicides, such as New result from child maltreatment and perience the overwhelming brunt of the Hampshire and some other New England others from the use of firearms. Some problem. States, juveniles actually constitute an are sexually motivated, and some are above-average percentage (more than Minority children and youth are dispropor- 20 percent) of all homicide victims in the committed as part of multiple-victim tionately affected. For example, 52 percent family homicides. State. However, in other low-rate States, of juvenile victims of homicide are non- such as West Virginia, juveniles represent ◆ Homicides of teenagers, most of which white (Snyder and Finnegan, 1998). Even less than 10 percent of all homicide vic- involve male victims killed by male of- after a recent decline, the overall rate of tims. The grim combination of a high rate fenders using firearms, rose dramatical- victimization for black juveniles (9.1 per of juvenile victim homicides and a high ly in the late 1980s and early 1990s but 100,000) in 1997 dwarfed the rate for white have declined sharply since 1993. juveniles (1.8 per 100,000) (figure 2). The victimization rate for Hispanic juveniles in 3 Homicide rates for Hispanic youth are based on data three States where data are available was from Arizona, California, and Texas—States that regu- Overall Patterns also quite high in 1997 (5.0 per 100,000).3 larly report information on victim ethnicity (this item Overall, the statistics on murders of juve- is optional for the SHRs). Because of this limited re- niles in the United States are grim and The uneven distribution is also geographic. porting, the rates should not be considered nationally alarming. According to FBI data, 1,789 Some States have no juvenile homicides, representative. Furthermore, the location of the three persons under 18 were victims of homi- and some have rates that are twice the reporting States suggests the data are more likely to national average (table 1). Homicides of be typical of juvenile victims of Mexican-American cide in 1999 (Fox and Zawitz, 2001). That background than of those of other Hispanic origin. number—equal to a rate of 2.6 per 100,000 juveniles are much more common in large juveniles or more than 5 juveniles per day—makes the United States first among developed countries in homicides of juve- Figure 1: Homicide Rates for Juvenile and Adult Victims, 1980–97 niles (Krug, Dahlberg, and Powell, 1996). In fact, the U.S. rate is 5 times higher than 14 the rate of the other 25 developed coun- tries combined and nearly double the rate 12 of the country with the next highest rate. Adult victims (over 17 years) The rate at which juveniles are murdered 10 in the United States is related to the Na- tion’s high overall homicide rate: 5.7 8 per 100,000 in 1999, 3 times higher than the overall rate of any other developed 6 country (Fox and Zawitz, 2001). 4 Homicide is the only major cause of Juvenile victims (0 to 17 years) childhood death that has increased in 2 incidence during the past 30 years. While Rate per 100,000 Persons deaths of children resulting from acci- 0 dents, congenital defects, and infectious ’80 ’81 ’82 ’83 ’84 ’85 ’86 ’87 ’88 ’89 ’90 ’91 ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 diseases were falling, homicides of chil- dren were increasing. Homicide is now Year ranked second or third, depending on the specific age group, among the 3 leading Note: Rates were calculated by the Crimes against Children Research Center. Source: Snyder and Finnegan, 1998. 2 See discussion of victim age groups on page 3. 2 Victim Age Groups Figure 2: Juvenile Victim Homicide Rates, by Victim Race and Ethnicity, 1990–97 Teenagers The murder of teenagers has received sub- 16 stantial publicity in recent years, in part because of the rising number of teenage 14 victims between 1984 and 1993.