The Distribution of Sex and Age Among Victims of Homicide

Abstract

Lester (1982) examined the distribution of suicides by sex and age for the countries of the world and found very different patterns. Females completed suicide at a relatively higher rate in Asian countries. The peak age for suicide was over 75 in almost all nations (except for females alone in the poorest countries where the peak was in those aged 15-24). The present study explores the distribution of victims of homicide by sex and age, since preliminary indications indicated interesting trends. For the sex ratio, Verkko (1951) hypothesized that the ratio of the male to female homicide rates would be higher in countries with the higher homicide rates, that is, the presence of a very high homicide rate in a country is primarily accounted for by a very high male homicide rate. For the age distribution of homicide victims, it appeared that in some countries young adults were killed at the highest rates, whereas in many other countries, babies in the first year of life were most at risk for homicide. This promised to be an interesting focus for the study.