Supplementary Homicide Report Data Research Articles

Homicide Clearance Rates in the United States, 1976-2017: Examining Homicide Clearance Rates Relative to the Situational Circumstances in Which They Occur.

This study examines homicide clearance rates in the United States using the FBI's supplementary homicide reports data spanning from 1976 to 2017. The goal of this study is to examine the effects of circumstances in which homicides occurred on homicide clearance rates, and the effects of victim's race, age, and gender on homicide clearance rates. The analyses are based on 769,753 total homicide cases that were reported to the FBI. The actual data set includes information for 757,801 victims and 513,863 offenders total. The results of this study show that a typical profile of a homicide victim whose case is more likely to remain unsolved is that of a black male between the ages of 21 to 30 who is killed in a juvenile gang-related killing circumstance. By gender, this study shows that the clearance rate for homicide cases involving female victims is 8.4% higher than for male homicide victims.

Offspring-Perpetrated Familicide: Examining Family Homicides Involving Parents as Victims.

The majority of studies examining familicide involve the male head of the family killing his wife or intimate partner and children. Little research exists on familicide cases involving children killing one or both parents plus other family members (siblings, grandparents, etc.). This study used the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which currently contains arrest data for about 25% of the U.S. population, to examine familicide incidents perpetrated by adult and juvenile offenders over the 20-year period from 1991 to 2010. Fourteen cases of familicide involving two different family victim types were identified. None of these cases involved multiple offenders. Frequencies reported include victim, offender, and incident characteristics. The typical familicide offender was a White male approximately 26 years of age. Firearms predominated as murder weapons in these incidents; however, when a biological mother was one of the victims, offenders used more diverse methods. Only one case of familicide involved a female offender. Newspapers were searched to supplement available case information. Findings from this study were similar to cases identified by Liem and Reichelmann as "extended parricide cases" in their familicide study using Supplementary Homicide Report data. Study limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

Choice of Weapon or Weapon of Choice? Examining the Interactions between Victim Characteristics in Single‐victim Male Sexual Homicide Offenders

AbstractAs most studies report that the majority of sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) prefer to kill with their own hands, research has largely neglected to examine the choice of weapon by these offenders. The US Supplementary Homicide Reports show that although a large number of SHOs murder their victim using personal weapons (e.g. bare hands and manual or ligature strangulation), the majority use an alternative weapon (e.g. edged weapons, contact weapons, and firearms). The present study hypothesises that the choice of weapon is in part influenced by victim characteristics. To identify specific combinations and interactions between victim characteristics and the choice of a personal or edged weapon during the commission of a sexual homicide, a combination of exhaustive chi‐square automatic interaction detector and conjunctive analysis is used on a sample of 2,472 single‐victim male SHOs from a 36‐year period of Supplementary Homicide Report data (1976–2011). Findings show that SHOs choose their weapon according to some victim characteristics. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of police suspect prioritisation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Patricide and Steppatricide Victims and Offenders

Almost all of the literature on male parricide victims focuses on fathers killed with only little information available on stepparents killed. This study is the first to compare the victim, offender, and case correlates in incidents when fathers and stepfathers were killed. Supplementary Homicide Report data were used for the period 1976 to 2007 to investigate similarities and differences between the two male victim parricide types in the United States. Similarities between fathers and stepfathers included more than 80% of fathers and stepfathers were killed in single victim, single offender homicides. Their killers were adult sons and stepsons in more than 70% of the cases. Juvenile offenders were significantly less likely to be involved in the killings of fathers and stepfathers in more recent years. Significant differences emerged with respect to age and weapon use in the killings of fathers and stepfathers. Stepfathers and stepchildren, relative to fathers and their offspring, were significantly younger. Juvenile offenders were significantly more likely than their adult counterparts to use firearms to kill fathers (79% vs. 54%) and stepfathers (72% vs. 58%). Significant gender differences in weapons used to kill fathers were found among juvenile and adult offenders, with males more likely to use firearms than females. Reasons for the possible differences are discussed in the conclusion.

Matricide and Stepmatricide Victims and Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrest Data

Almost all of the clinical and empirical literature on female parricide victims focuses on mothers killed, with only little information available on stepmothers murdered. This study is the first to compare the victim, offender, and case correlates in incidents when mothers and stepmothers were killed. Supplementary Homicide Report Data for 1976-2007 were used to investigate similarities and differences between the two female victim types in the United States. Similarities between stepmothers and mothers included that more than 70% were White and killed in single victim, single offender incidents. Their killers were adult sons in between 67% and 87% of incidents. Several significant differences emerged with respect to age, involvement in multiple offender incidents, and weapon use. Stepmothers and their stepchildren, relative to mothers and their offspring, were significantly younger. Sixty-four percent of stepchildren, compared with 35% of biological children, were under age 25 at the time of their arrest for murder. A higher percentage of juveniles than adult killers was involved in multiple offender (MO) incidents involving mothers. Relative to their male counterparts, higher percentages of female juveniles were involved in MO incidents involving the deaths of mothers and stepmothers. A higher proportion of female adults, relative to their male counterparts, were involved in MO matricide incidents. Offenders who killed stepmothers, relative to those who killed mothers, were significantly more likely to use guns. Juvenile matricide offenders were significantly more likely to use firearms than their adult counterparts. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed in the conclusion.

Juvenile Involvement in Fratricide and Sororicide: An Empirical Analysis of 32 Years of U.S. Arrest Data

Despite the interest in juvenile homicide offenders, few studies have systematically examined their involvement in incidents involving specific victims. This study focused on one victim type, the killings of siblings. To date, siblicide research has been based primarily on case studies. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were used to systematically investigate offender, victim, and incident characteristics associated with fratricides and sororicides committed by juvenile homicide offenders in single victim, single offender incidents over a 32-year period (1976–2007), as recorded in the Supplementary Homicide Report data base. Juvenile sororicide offenders, relative to juvenile fratricide offenders, were significantly more likely to be female and to kill younger victims. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings in terms of past research, their implications for intervention and prevention, and directions for future research.

Weapons Used by Juveniles and Adult Offenders in U.S. Parricide Cases

In recent decades, attention has focused on juveniles who kill their parents. Research has indicated that increases in juvenile homicide have been associated with the availability of firearms, but little is known about the weapons juveniles use to kill their parents and whether their weapon usage is different from that of adult children who kill their parents. This article uses Supplementary Homicide Report data for the 24-year period 1976 to 1999 to investigate weapons selected by parricide offenders to kill biological mothers and fathers. Significant differences were found in the weapons used in matricide and patricide incidents and in the weapons selected by juvenile and adult offenders. A comparison with an earlier study by Heide revealed that weapon usage in parricide events is stable. Differences found in both studies between weapons used to kill parents and offender age are consistent with a physical strength hypothesis proposed by Heide in 1993.

A Comparative Analysis of Media Reports of U.S. Parricide Cases With Officially Reported National Crime Data and the Psychiatric and Psychological Literature

This article is a content analysis of 150 unique cases of children killing parents in the United States as reported in the electronic news media. The accuracy of online coverage of U.S. parricide incidents is assessed using two types of resources: officially reported national statistics on known parricidal incidents and the psychological and psychiatric literature on matricide and patricide. Comparisons of news accounts of media-reported U.S. parricide cases with Supplementary Homicide Report data indicate that electronic media coverage of parricide cases focused on the more sensational and unusual parricides. Analyses of these media accounts by offender age found 13 significant differences between juvenile and adult offenders. Ten of these 13 differences related to motive and Heide's parricide offender types (severely abused, severely mentally ill, and dangerously antisocial) and were consistent with the mental health-related literature in this area. The limitations and directions for future research are discussed at length.

Decline in Homicide Victimization and the Changing Share of Homicide Victimization in Rural Areas During the 1990s: A Research Note

From approximately 1993 to 2000, the overall homicide rate in the USA declined dramatically. This decline reflected not only a drop in the rate of homicide itself, but also a substantial decline in the raw volume of homicide in terms of the number of people being killed. Our analysis of Supplementary Homicide Report data provides evidence that the decline in the raw volume of homicide in the USA during the second half of the 1990s was mostly driven by decreasing numbers of homicide victims in large cities and suburban areas. Two consequences of this are that the proportional share of homicide occurring in rural areas increased, and that the ratio of the volume of homicide in rural areas to large cities also increased. The implications of these changes for public perceptions of crime and the relative risk of victimization in rural areas are discussed.

Twenty Years of Rural and Urban Trends in Family and Intimate Partner Homicide

Descriptive analyses of the 1980 to 1999 FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data show that rates of family and intimate partner murder increased with rurality. Population-based rates for murders in general were higher in the most rural counties than in the most urban, but family and especially intimate partner murders were affected by population and proximity to a metropolitan area. For the entire 20-year period, rates for family and intimate partner murders declined regardless of place, whereas rates of intimate partner murders increased only with rurality. Possible explanatory variables are discussed and steps for future research are suggested.

A Graphical Approach to Analyzing Relationships between Offenders and Victims Using

Statistical graphics are powerful tools for analyzing data. They are designed to display data in ways that communicate hidden information. They expose relationships that otherwise might not be recognized. Unfortunately, graphical displays of data are rarely published in social science journals. Without pictures of the data, readers lose the insights that graphical displays provide. The purposes of this article are twofold: (a) to use statistical graphics to analyze relationships between homicide offenders and victims in the United States using Supplementary Homicide Report data on race, age, and weapon used; and (b) to encourage a more visual approach to research by demonstrating the advantages of using graphical methods for data analysis.

GENDER, INTIMACY, AND LETHAL VIOLENCE:

Only a few studies have disaggregated homicide rates by relationship type or gender, with little investigation of homicide trends in adult marital and other intimate relationships. The current study documents patterns of homicide between opposite gender relational partners for the twelve years of 1976 through 1987 based on Supplementary Homicide Report Data, comparing rates between couples in marital and nonmarital relationships. Analyses reveal that the homicide rate for married couples declined somewhat during this period, although the drop in the rate of wives killing husbands was greater than the drop in the rate of husbands killing wives. However, homicides involving unmarried couples followed a very different pattern. Whereas the lethal victimization rate for men in unmarried relationships varied unsystematically over time from 1976 through 1987, the rate of unmarried women being killed by their male partners increased significantly. Findings demonstrate the importance of disaggregating homicide data by gender and relationship type so that crucial differences can be detected.