Over time, statistics show substantial changes in criminal homicide. For black victims and offenders, rates increased to 1972 and then declined to 1978. For white victims and offenders, rates increased over time, with white offender rates doubling between 1968 and 1978. While blacks were more often victims and offenders than whites, there was a convergence in rates over the 11-year period. In 1978, blacks were the most frequent criminal homicide victims and offenders. Rates for black female offenders and victims we are similar to those for white males, although black females were more frequently victims than white males. The highest rate of homicide for black victims and offenders was between the ages of 25 and 29, while for whites it was between the ages of 20 to 24. Almost half of the black victims were friends or acquaintances of the offender, while whites were more frequently involved in homicides where the offender was unknown (15.9 percent as compared to 10.1 percent). A comparison of FBI data with Memphis police data suggests that homicides involving strangers may be underreported to the FBI. In any case, intraracial homicide is by far the most common for homicides involving both families/acquaintances and strangers. Stranger homicides represent a major category of interracial homicides. Memphis data indicate that over 25 percent of stranger homicides involve black offenders and white victims. Four data tables and six references are included.