Most murders of juveniles ages 12–17 involved firearms

Although the annual number of nonfirearm murders of juveniles remained fairly steady between 1980 and 1993 (averaging 1,040), the number of juveniles murdered by firearms increased 133% (from 750 in 1980 to 1,750 in 1993). The proportion of murders of juveniles that involved a firearm increased from 41% to 61% between 1980 and 1993. From 1993 to 2000, the number of juveniles murdered with a firearm decreased from 1,750 to 760 (nearly equal to the number in 1980), while the number of nonfirearm murders decreased from 1,130 to 850 (a 21-year low). As a result, by 2000, less than half (47%) of all juvenile homicides involved firearms.⁵

Of all juveniles murdered with firearms between 1980 and 2000, 86% were ages 12–17. During this period, 76% of the murder victims in the 12–17 age group were killed with firearms, and 15% were murdered with a knife or blunt object. Within the 12–17 age group, the proportion of murders involving firearms increased from 60% in 1980 to 85% in 1994, then dropped to 78% by 2000.

The proportion of murders involving firearms increased for males and females and for blacks and whites in the 12–17 age group between 1980 and 1993. This increase was followed by a large decrease between 1993 and 2000 for females and for whites, but not for males or blacks in this age group.

The relatively high proportions of murders of juveniles ages 12–17 involving firearms in 2000 are due in part to the steady decline in the number of nonfirearm murders, which decreased 55% between 1980 and 2000. This change was in large part because of decreases in the numbers of murders of juveniles ages 12–17 involving knives or blunt objects—between 1980 and 2000, these murders decreased by 66%.

The large increase in murder rates for juvenile victims between 1984 and 1993 was almost entirely in firearm murders

• By 2000, the firearm murder rate for juvenile victims was within 23% of its 21-year low in 1984. The steady decline in the nonfirearm murder rate for juvenile victims brought it to a 21-year low in 2000.

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.]

Between 1980 and 2000, firearms were most likely to be used in the murders of victims in their late teens and early twenties

• Between 1980 and 2000, the murder victims most likely to be killed with a firearm were those age 17—79% of the murders of 17-year-olds involved a firearm.
  
  
• More than 70% of the murders of victims in each age group from 14 to 27 were committed with a firearm.
  
  
• Firearms were used in more than half of the murders of victims ages 12–61.
  
  
• Less than 4% of murder victims younger than age 1 were killed with a firearm.

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.]

⁵ Percentages based on unrounded numbers.

Trends in the Murder of Juveniles: 1980–2000	OJJDP Bulletin • September 2004