Male and Female Juvenile Homicide Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrests by Offender Age

Abstract

Most studies on juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) have used small samples and concentrated on male teenage offenders. No large scale research has analyzed victim, offender, and offense correlates among younger and older JHOs. Supplementary Homicide Research (SHR) data (1976-2007) are used to explore gender and age differences among JHOs. Male and female JHOs were divided into younger (below age 13) and older (age 13-17 years) groups. Gender differences previously found with respect to victim age, victim gender, victim offender relationship, weapon, and circumstance remained when the effect of offender age was controlled. The implications of these findings are discussed.