Homicide in America

Homicide in America

According to Eric Monkkonen, professor of history and policy studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, homicide in the United States has not changed much in two hundred years, and that it remains a crime committed mostly by men in the heat of passion, "to asset manliness, power or territory" (Woo pp). Monkkonen, an expert on the singular characteristics of murder in American, claims that violence is endemic to American culture (Woo pp). For example, spanning two centuries, the murder rate in New York was more than five times higher than London's murder rate, even after discarding murders with guns (Woo pp). Moreover, there seems to be a historical disinclination in America to prosecute murderers, in fact, during the first three decades of the 19th century, leniency was the rule in New York, with most murderers going unpunished, however, during the same period, London executed four times as many offenders (Woo pp).

Monkkonen also found that, contrary to conventional thinking that wars breeds violence at home when men return to combat, the homicide actually ebbs, perhaps partly because returning soldiers were sickened by gunplay, and also, such as those returning from World War II, they wanted to start families and a new life (Woo pp). His studies also showed that economic neediness does not automatically cause a spike in homicide rate (Woo pp). Monkkonen states that during some of New York City's most miserable periods, including the Depression, murder rates were at their lowest (Woo pp). His studies also revealed that murder was, overall, a problem of men, and that they must learn to shrug off insults and to appreciate that killing is not synonymous to manliness (Woo pp). At a national level, no other crime is measured as accurately and precisely than homicide, not only because of its severity, but because experts consider it to be a fairly reliable barometer of violent crime (Fox pp).

According to a 2000 update from the United States Department of Justice, homicide rates recently declined to levels last seen in the late 1960's (Fox pp).

In 1950, the nation's homicide rate was 4.6 per 100,000 population, then it doubled from the mid-1960's to the late 1970's (Fox pp). It peaked in 1980 at 10.2 and then fell to 7.9 in 1985, only to rise again in the late 1980's and early 1990's to another peak of 9.8 in 1991 (Fox pp). After 1991, the homicide rate decline sharply, and in recent years the decline has slowed (Fox pp). The murder rate in 2000 was 5.5 in the United States, compared to 5.7 in 1999 (Fox pp).

For teens and young adults, homicide victimization rates exploded in the late 1980's, then fell dramatically after 1993, and during the same period, rates for older people declined also (Fox pp). From 1999 to 2000, rates for adults, ages 25-34, increased only slightly while rates for all other age groups declined slightly, reflecting a reversal from the early 1990's rates of homicide rates for teens (Fox pp). Yet, despite the moderation since 1993, the levels of gun homicides by teens and young adults remain well above those of the mid-1980's (Fox pp). Statistics also reveal that males are most often the victims and the perpetrators in homicides (Fox pp). In fact, males were ten times more likely than females to commit murder, and both male and female offenders were more likely to target male rather than female victims (Fox pp).

Other findings in the report reveals that African-Americans were six times more likely to be homicide victims and seven times more likely than whites to commit homicides in 2000 (Fox pp). Eighty-six percent of white murder victims were killed by whites, and ninety-four percent of black victims were killed by African-Americans (Fox pp). Among homicides in which the victim was killed by an acquaintance, one in ten were interracial, whereas when the killer is a stranger, three in ten were interracial (Fox pp). There were dramatic increases in both homicide victimization and offending rates among young African-American males during the late 1980's and 1990's, before recent declines in both categories (Fox pp). From 1999 to 2000, older teens, young adults, and older adults from all race and gender groups were no longer experiencing double digit declines in homicide rates, however the rates for older African-American males and older teen and young adult African-American females increased slightly, with offending rates displaying similar patterns (Fox pp).

The number of infanticides, victims under the age of five, has grown roughly in proportion to the number of young children in the population, with the majority of perpetrators being a parent (Fox pp). The number of homicides of people 65 years of age and older has been decreasing, however, among all age groups, the elderly have the highest percentage of homicides that occur during the commission of a felony (Fox pp). There has been a decline in homicide of intimates, particularly among male victims, while the number of white females killed by intimates rose during the mid-1980's and declined after 1993 (Fox pp). Beginning in 1998, the number of white women killed by intimates has increased, but has not reached the earlier levels (Fox pp). The number of intimate homicides for all race and gender groups declined over the same period: African-American males killed by intimates dropped 77%, white males by 54%, and African-American females by 53% (Fox pp). From 1976 to 2000, the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty has declined, due "mostly because of the decline in law enforcement officers killed with hand guns" (Fox pp). Moreover, fewer homicides involve multiple offenders, and fewer involve multiple victims (Fox pp).

The mix of circumstances surrounding homicides has changes over the last twenty years, and although the number of homicides resulting from arguments has declined, arguments remain the most frequently cited circumstance (Fox pp). Furthermore, the homicide victimization rates in cities with a population of one million or more have declined to the lowest level during the study period (Fox pp). During the late 1990's, the rates of homicide for cities in all groups of 250,000 or more population were about the same (Fox pp). However, most of the swings in the prevalence of homicide during the past two decades occurred in cities of 100,000 or more and in suburbs, while small cities and rural areas experienced very little change in homicide prevalence (Fox pp). Compared to the national average, homicide rates, particularly those involving guns, were higher in the South and lower in New England, the Mountain region, and the West North Central region of the United States (Fox pp). The number of homicides cleared by arrest of the perpetrator declined until recently: 63% of all homicides were cleared in 2000 compared to 79% in1976 (Fox pp).

According to "Surveillance for Homicide Among Intimate Partners: United States, 1981-1998" found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, a substantial percentage of all homicides in the United States are committed by intimate partners of the victims (Paulozzi pp). Among females, approximately one in three homicides are intimate partner homicides, IPHs (Paulozzi pp). The risk for death from IPH among males was 0.62 times the risk among females, however, the rate among African-American males was 1.16 time the rate among black females (Paulozzi pp). Among racial groups, rates among African-Americans were highest, and the rates among Asian or Pacific Islanders were lowest (Paulozzi pp). Rates were highest among 20- to 49-year-old females and 30- to 59-year-old males (Paulozzi pp). During the 1981-1998 study period, rates among white females decreased 23%, and rates among white males decreased 61.9%, while rates among African-American females decreased 47.6% and rates among black males decreased 76.4% (Paulozzi pp). The highest rates occurred in the southern and western states among both white and African-American females (Paulozzi pp). Approximately fifty percent of intimate partner homicides were committed by legal spouses and 33% by boyfriends or girlfriends for both male and female victims (Paulozzi pp). Surprisingly, intimate partner homicides were less than expected during the months of January, October, and November (Paulozzi pp).

Total homicide rates fluctuated during the 1981-1998 period, however, intimate partner homicide rates decreased steadily during this time frame, and among certain sub-populations, the decrease has been substantial (Paulozzi pp).

These decreases are temporally associated with the introduction of social programs and legal measures to curb intimate partner violence, but a causal relationship has not been established (Paulozzi pp). Moreover, no confirmed explanation exists for the greater decrease in rates among males compared with rates among females (Paulozzi pp). The differences in intimate partner homicide rates by race indicate that economic, social, and cultural factors are involved (Paulozzi pp). It was also found that community population size and state demonstrates that regional sociocultural differences might be involved, while access to firearms might be a key factor in both male and female intimate partner homicides (Paulozzi pp).

Homicide is among the six leading causes of death for persons one to forty-four years of age and accounts for approximately 18,000 deaths annually in the United States (Paulozzi pp). The majority of these homicides are committed by persons known to the victim, an estimated one in three homicides of females is committed by current or former spouses or boyfriends, while among male homicide victims, five percent are killed by intimate partners (Paulozzi pp).