Expanded Homicide Data

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(From the Supplementary Homicide Report)

Data collection

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) provides information regarding the age, sex, and race of the murder victim and the offender; the type of weapon used in the murder; the relationship of the victim to the offender; and the circumstance surrounding the incident.  Data gleaned from these supplemental reports are provided in this section.
Justifiable homicide — Certain willful killings must be reported as justifiable, or excusable.  In the UCR Program, justifiable homicide is defined as and limited to:

• The killing of a felon by a peace officer in the line of duty.
• The killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen.

Because these killings are determined through law enforcement investigation to be justifiable, they are tabulated separately from murder and nonnegligent manslaughter.  Justifiable homicide information, which is collected by the FBI via the UCR Program’s SHRs, are included in this section and in Expanded Homicide Data Table 13, "Justifiable Homicide by Weapon, Law Enforcement, 2002-2006" and Expanded Homicide Data Table 14, "Justifiable Homicide by Weapon, Private Citizen, 2002-2006".

Overview

• In 2006, 78.9 percent of murder victims for whom gender was known were male.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 1.)
• Concerning murder victims for whom race was known, 50.2 percent were black, 47.1 percent were white, and the remaining victims were from other or unknown races.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 2.)
• In single victim/single offender incidents where the age of the offender was known, 93.8 percent of the victims were slain by adults (individuals 18 years of age or older).  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 4.)
• Data from single victim/single offender incidents showed that 93.2 percent of black victims were murdered by black offenders, and 82.9 percent of white victims were murdered by white offenders.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 5.)
• Homicide data for single victim/single offender incidents indicated that 92.0 percent of female victims were slain by male offenders. (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 5.)
• For murders where the gender of the offender was known, 90.9 percent were males.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 3.)
• For murders where the race of the offender was known, 54.8 percent were black, 42.8 percent were white, and 2.4 percent were other races.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 3.)
• Of the homicides for which the type of weapon was specified, firearms were used in 73.4 percent of the offenses.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 7.)  Of the identified firearms used, handguns comprised 88.4 percent.
• In incidents of murder where the relationships of murder victims and offenders were known, 21.6 percent of victims were slain by family members, 23.1 percent were murdered by strangers, and 55.3 percent were killed by someone with whom they were acquainted (neighbor, friend, boyfriend, etc.).  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 9.)
• In 2006, 32.2 percent of female victims were killed by their husbands or boyfriends.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Tables 2 and 9.)
• Concerning the circumstances surrounding murders, 26.1 percent of the victims were slain during arguments (including romantic triangles), and 16.3 percent were killed in conjunction with a felony (i.e., the victim was slain while being raped, robbed, etc.)  Circumstances were unknown for 34.8 percent of reported homicides.  (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 11.)
• Law enforcement reported 617 justifiable homicides in 2006.  Of those, law enforcement officers justifiably killed 376 individuals, and private citizens justifiably killed 241 individuals.

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September 2007