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The number of juveniles murdered in 2004 was near the 25-year low Each Crime in the United States report presents estimates of the number of crimes reported to law enforcement agencies. A large number of most crimes are never reported to law enforcement. Murder, however, is one crime that is nearly always reported. An estimated 16,140 murders were reported to law enforcement agencies in 2004, or 5.5 murders for every 100,000 U.S. residents. The murder rate in the U.S. was essentially constant between 1999 (the year with the fewest murders in the last three decades) and 2004. Prior to 1999, the last year in which the U.S. murder rate was under 6.0 was 1966. Of all murder victims in 2004, 90% (or 14,550 victims) were 18 years of age or older. The other 1,590 murder victims were under age 18 (i.e., juveniles). The number of juveniles murdered in 2004 was slightly above the 2003 figure (1,570). However, prior to 2003, the only other year in the 25-year period between 1980 and 2004 in which fewer than 1,600 juveniles were murdered was 1984. The 2004 figure is 45% below the peak year of 1993, when an estimated 2,880 juveniles were murdered in the U.S. During this same period, the estimated number of adults murdered fell 33%. Of all juveniles murdered in 2004, 38% were under age 5, 68% were male, and 51% were white. Compared with older juvenile murder victims, victims under age 13 in 2004 were more likely to be female (47% vs. 17%) and less likely to be black (39% vs. 53%). In 2004, 66% of all murder victims were killed with a firearm. Adults were more likely to be killed with a firearm (69%) than were juveniles (48%). However, the involvement of a firearm depended greatly on the age of the juvenile victim. In 2004, 14% of murdered juveniles under age 13 were killed with a firearm, compared with 79% of murdered juveniles age 13 or older. The most common method of murdering children under age 5 was by physical assault: in 48% of these murders, the offenders only weapons were their hands and/or feet, compared with only 4% of juvenile victims age 13 or older and 5% of adult victims. In 2004, knives or other cutting instruments were used in 9% of juvenile murders and 14% of adult murders.
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