1 / 11

The Killers and Their Victims

Explore the trends and factors influencing homicide rates in the United States, including regional differences, race and gender disparities, and societal influences. Discover the complexities and exceptions within this data.

scurley
Download Presentation

The Killers and Their Victims

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Killers and Their Victims Higgins O’Brien Spring 2012

  2. 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

  3. 60.9 47.2 36.5 14.2 5.2 1.7 1.4 0.9 0.5 Homicide Rates In 2008Per 100,000 Honduras Venezuela South Africa Russia United States Canada France Sweden Japan

  4. 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

  5. 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%)

  6. 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

  7. 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 • 18-24 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

  8. 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.

  9. 11.8 8.7 7.7 5.5 5.4 5.3 4.0 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.0 1.3 0.8 Homicide Rate By State (2009)Per 100,000 Louisiana New Mexico Maryland Florida Texas California New York Montana Massachusetts Wyoming Maine Utah New Hampshire

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

  11. 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.

More Related