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Firearms in the Homicides and Suicides of Youths (From Nature of Homicide: Trends and Changes - Proceedings of the 1996 Meeting of the Homicide Research Working Group, Santa Monica, California, P 52-56, 1996, Pamela K Lattimore and Cynthia A Nahabedian, eds. - See NCJ-166149)

NCJ Number
168572
Author(s)
J Chen
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Differences between homicide and suicide rates over time were compared for white males, white females, black males, and black females between 10 and 19 years of age.
Abstract
The 1990 rate of firearm-related deaths for young people between 15 and 19 years of age was twice the rate in the 1950's, and firearm-related homicide rates were twice as high. In 1990, homicide claimed more than 50 percent of all deaths among black males between 15 and 19 years of age. Increasingly more juveniles were killed by firearms over time, especially males. Firearm- related homicide rates among juveniles were twice as high in 1990 as those in the 1920's and were three times as high as those in the 1950's. In 1990, suicide rates for white males reached an historical high, especially for white males between 10 and 19 years of age. The 1990 suicide rate was almost four times higher than the suicide rate in the 1950's for young people between 15 and 19 years of age. Almost 70 percent of suicides in this age group were firearm-related. 8 figures