Murder rates for victims younger than age 2 were greater for males than females and blacks than whites
Juveniles younger than age 2 accounted for 20% (8,830) of the juvenile murder victims between 1980 and 2000, although they made up only 11% of the juvenile population. Victimization was somewhat more prevalent among males (54%) than females (46%).
During the 1980s, the average murder rate for males younger than age 2 was similar to that for young females (5.4 and 5.0, respectively). Increases in the rates for young males and females during the 1980s and 1990s (20% and 14%, respectively) maintained this similarity in murder rates; the average rates in the 1990s were 6.5 for males younger than age 2 and 5.6 for young females.4
During the 1980s, the murder rate for blacks younger than age 2 was nearly four times that for whites (13.7 versus 3.6). Similar increases in the rates for blacks and whites between the 1980s and 1990s (19% and 15%, respectively) maintained this disparity in murder rates for young black (16.3) and white (4.2) children in the 1990s.
Between 1980 and 2000, murder rates were about equal for boys and girls until they reached their teenage years
- Variations in the substantially smaller victimization rate for white
juveniles are masked when placed on a graph displaying the corresponding
black rate. So that readers can see the relative variations within
the white and black rates, the white rates are presented separately
using a magnified scale on the y axis.
- Between 1980 and 2000, black males were four times as likely to
be murdered as white males up to age 12. After age 12, the murder rate
for black males increased faster than that for white males. By age
17, black males were eight times as likely to be murdered as white
males.
- Over the same period, the murder rate for black female juveniles
averaged 3.5 times that for white female juveniles.
- Both black females and white females were more likely to be murdered
before their first
birthday than at any other time in their juvenile years.
Data source: Analysis of the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports for the years 1980–2000 [machine-readable data files] and population data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. [See data source note for detail.]
4 Large yearly fluctuations necessitated comparisons of multiyear periods.
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