BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

clear image
Home  |  About Us  |  Contact Us  |  Help  |  A-Z Topic List
 
 
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
clear image
Home | Crime Type | Violent Crime | Homicide
Homicide
On This Page
About this Topic

Homicide, as defined here, includes murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, which is the willful killing of one human being by another. These data are based solely on police investigation, as opposed to the determination of a court, medical examiner, coroner, jury, or other judicial body. The general analyses excluded deaths caused by negligence, suicide, or accident; justifiable homicides; and attempts to murder. Justifiable homicides based on the reports of law enforcement agencies are analyzed separately. Deaths from the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 are not included in any of the analyses, although they are available on the data file in which the analyses are based.

 

Back to Top
Publications & Products


The Nation's Two Measures of Homicide Summarizes the United States' two national data collection systems related to homicide: the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Fatal Injury Reports.
  PDF (578K) | ASCII file (21K)

Homicide in the U.S. Known to Law Enforcement, 2011 Presents data on homicide trends from 1992 to 2011.
  PDF (2M) | ASCII file (48K) | CSV Spreadsheets (Zip format 20K)
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 Presents findings from data on homicides that occurred in the United States from 1980 through 2008. It also includes overall homicide rates for 2009 and 2010.
  Press Release | PDF (1M) | ASCII file (48K) | Spreadsheets (Zip format 76K)
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 HOMICIDES FALL TO LOWEST RATE IN FOUR DECADES
  Press Release
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Homicide Trends in the United States: 2002 Update Outlines the primary findings from the updated section of the BJS website about homicide patterns and trends since 1976.
  PDF (337K) | ASCII file (34K)
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Homicide Trends in the United States: 2000 Update This BJS Crime Data Brief outlines the primary findings from the updated section of the BJS website about homicide patterns and trends since 1976.
  PDF (329K) | ASCII file (10K) | Codebooks and Datasets
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Homicide Trends in the United States: 1998 Update This BJS Crime Data Brief outlines the primary findings of and new additions to the section of the BJS website about homicide patterns and trends since 1976.
  PDF (80K) | ASCII file (9K) | Codebooks and Datasets
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Homicide Trends in the United States "Nation's largest cities lead the way as homicides fall to lowest rate in three decades"
  Press Release | More information about this release

Back to Top
Terms & Definitions

Violence, crimes of Rape, sexual assault, personal robbery or assault. This category includes both attempted and completed crimes. It does not include purse snatching and pocket picking. Murder is not measured by the NCVS because of an inability to question the victim. Completed violence - The sum of all completed rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, and assaults. See individual crime types for definition of completed crimes. Attempted/threatened violence - The unsuccessful attempt of rape, sexual assault, personal robbery or assault. Includes attempted attacks or sexual assaults by means of verbal threats. See individual crime types for definition of attempted crimes.
 
Back to Top