Types Of Homicide Research Articles

Femicide and forensic pathology: Proposal for a shared medico-legal methodology

In a previous work, authors have proposed a medico-legal definition of femicide as the murder due to the failure to recognize the right of self-determination of women. The aim of this paper was to apply the proposed definition to a cohort of cases to characterise femicides and female homicides and assess whether femicides can be considered a distinct entity or not. A comparison between female and male homicides was performed to assess common and distinctive features. Femicides were identified and compared to the cohort of non-femicide female murder. Results were compared to those reported in published forensic studies.Significant associations between female and male homicides were found for sex and partner/ex-partner offender, sex and indoor homicide and sex and asphyxia as dynamic of death emerged. A higher prevalence of indoor homicides and asphyxiation and of partner relationships were documented in female homicides. Gunshot, blunt injuries and cut wounds are well represented in both types of homicides. Most affected sites are back and chest in male homicides, and head, breasts, pubis, and limbs in female homicides. When comparing femicides and female homicides, a positive association between strangulation as harmful mean and a negative one between femicides and indoor homicides were found.Male and female homicides can be considered as two distinct victimological phenomena. Focusing on femicide allows to establish injuries and circumstantial patterns, that could represent evidence of a specific murder. More studies with a standardized data collection are needed to corroborate the theory of this paper.

Overkilling: A specific type of homicide – Constructing the definition: Injuries and victim

Overkilling in the Forensic Medicine field is known as a specific type of homicide where the number of inflicted injuries greatly surpasses the number of fatal ones. Conducted research aimed to create a unified definition of the phenomenon and its classification criteria by analysing a vast majority of data concerning its various characteristics. From the population of homicide victims autopsied in the authors’ research facility a number of 167 cases were chosen consisting of both overkilling and other homicides. 70 cases were thoroughly analysed based on the completed court files, autopsy protocols and photographs. First part of the research concerned the facts regarding the injuries sustained and the victim’s characteristics. Conclusions of the statistical analysis allowed to characterize overkilling as a type of homicide where the number of injuries (sharp or blunt) is several times higher than the number of fatal injuries. Sharp force injuries predominate, and are often localized on the torso, neck and limbs, while blunt force injuries are localized mostly on the head. There is no significant dominance between the sexes of the victims, mostly they are in their 40-50′s. Victims with reduced abilities to resist predominated (mostly women), which is correlated with the position of their body (lying or sitting) at the begging of the incident. Also overkilling victims more often suffer from defensive injuries and post mortem trauma.

Homicide Trends and Types in 1920s-1930s Lithuania: Limitations of Official Statistics

This article calls into question the reliability of the official historical statistical sources of homicides in 1920s-1930s Lithuania and aims to evaluate the limitations of the mentioned sources. With this in mind, we will attempt to make some assumptions about homicide types and trends in interwar Lithuania. The Central Statistical Bureau had been publishing statistical data relevant to the investigation of homicides in Statistical Bulletins and the Statistical Yearbooks of Lithuania since 1924. These statistical sources in the homicide study were problematic due to an unclear data collection methodology, the use of different homicide terms, unrealistic definitions of urban and rural areas and changes in Lithuania’s territory and population. We cannot determine the exact rates of the 1930s homicides due to the change in the homicide terminology and its content. Between 1924-1931 the term violent deaths, except suicides, was used, and homicides were not singled out. The analysis also shows that until 1931 violent deaths included homicides and accidental deaths too. From 1932 to 1939 violent deaths were divided into 4 groups: suicide, homicide, accidents and other violence. The more detailed data of the 1930s have revealed that the most frequent victims of homicide were in the 15-29 and 29-44 age groups for men, while the 15-29 age group stands out for females. The most common method of killing was shooting. The police-published homicide statistics also reveal a problem of terminology. According to the Penal Statute of Lithuania, deprivation of life was distinguished into the crimes of homicide; infanticide; abortion; preparation to murder; attempted murder and persuasion and help to commit suicide. However, this terminology was only partially reflected in the police statistics, as between 1927-1930 the police used the term homicides and classified them into the ones committed: for-profit; during brawls; for other purposes. Infanticide was separated from homicides. Leaving out others, infanticide was the most common murder type in interwar Lithuania. Since 1931 the statistics of the police had been using the term of deprivation of life and distinguished it into the 7 types according to the motive: for-profit; during brawls; defending one’s own life or the lives of others; involuntary; infanticide; abortion and for other purposes. It did not include dead bodies found, suicides and accidental deaths. After analysing the 1931-1938 data on deprivation of life, excluding abortions, homicides would vary from 200 to 300 per year. When comparing all the deprivations of life with homicides by the cause of death, it can be concluded that these figures included preparation for murder and attempted murder as well as persuasion and help to commit suicide. Thus, due to the change in the terminology and the inclusion of attempted murders, the police statistics can be considered unreliable. Homicides are the most precisely quantitatively defined by the rates of causes of death, which in 1932-1938 Lithuania were relatively stable with an amplitude of 93-139 murders per year. On a basis of the analysis of the police statistical data, it is possible to identify at least 4 main types of homicides in interwar Lithuania: reproductive – infanticide and abortions, aggressive – killings during brawls, economic - for profit as well as unintentional homicides that happened during accidents.

The Elephant in the Room: Toward an Integrated, Feminist Analysis of Mass Murder.

This article argues for a new approach to making sense of mass murder, emphasizing the urgency of recognizing the proliferation and significance of misogyny and domestic violence among perpetrators of this type of homicide. It is vital that scholarship recognizes the political economy of neoliberal patriarchy and seeks to better understand how harmful subjectivity develops in this context. We propose a new multilevel framework for the analysis of mass murder and issue a call to action for a global program of independent qualitative research and activism to tackle its drivers, prevent further harm, and save lives.

How dark is the personality of murderers? Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism in homicide offenders

Dark personality traits describe amoral and antisocial behavioral dispositions and are often described by psychopathy (i.e., interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial characteristics), narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism. These traits are related to various socially detrimental behavioral outcomes, including criminal behavior and delinquency. Furthermore, psychopathy is frequently related to homicide, both in scientific and in popular literature; however, the empirical data on the link between psychopathy and other dark traits with homicide is still scarce. We examined self-reported psychopathy, Machiavellianism, sadism, and the indicators of criminal recidivism (number of offences, number of lawful sentences and penal recidivism) in a sample of male homicide offenders (N = 46), other violent offenders (N = 82), and non-violent offenders (N = 119). The results showed that homicide offenders have less pronounced psychopathy, sadism, and criminal recidivism compared to the other two groups – the differences were particularly evident in comparison to the group of non-homicide violent offenders. There were no statistically significant differences in Machiavellianism. Our data cast a doubt on the widely acknowledged link between psychopathy and murder. The findings can be explained largely by the fact that homicide is a heterogeneous criminal offence; while it is possible that psychopathy and other dark traits may be linked to some types of homicide, this link cannot be established for homicide in general.

Homicide drop in seven European countries: General or specific across countries and crime types?

This study examines homicide trends in seven European countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland – all of which manifested a substantial drop in homicide mortality between 1990 and 2016. By using data from the European Homicide Monitor, a coding scheme created to enable cross-country comparisons, combined with the national cause-of-death statistics, we explore generality versus specificity of the homicide drop. We examine changes in the demographic structure of victims and offenders and disaggregate homicides by different subtypes of lethal incidents, such as family-related homicides referring to conflicts between family members, and criminal milieu homicides occurring in the context of robberies, gang-related conflicts or organised crime. Results point to the generality of the drop: in most of the countries studied, the declining trend included all homicide types. The overall decline in homicide mortality was driven mostly by the decline in male victimisation and offending. In most of the countries, the gender distribution of victims and offenders changed only slightly during the study period, whereas the development of the distribution of homicide types manifested greater diversity. Our findings illustrate the benefits of disaggregated analyses in comparative homicide research.

Mental Disorders and Intimate Partner Femicide: Clinical Characteristics in Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Femicide and Male-to-Male Homicide.

Intimate partner violence against women is a global and persistent public health issue. An extreme manifestation of this problem is intimate partner femicide (IPF), the killing of a woman by a male partner. While declining trends of homicide rates have been observed over decades, rates of femicide and IPF have remained stable. Yet, IPF as a phenomenon has until recently been fairly invisible in Europe, why research from the European countries on rates and characteristics of IPF has been relatively scarce. One area of research, particularly in need of further scrutiny, is to what degree perpetrators of IPF suffer from mental health conditions, and what the clinical features are. The objective of present study was to add to the existing literature by investigating prevalence and types of mental disorders in perpetrators of IPF, and to compare with male-to-male homicide (MMH) perpetrators. Our aim was also to examine life-time contact with psychiatric services, and, with missed opportunities in mind, contacts shortly preceding the homicide. With a retrospective design, this population-based study includes all solved cases of male-perpetrated homicides against intimate female partners (IPF) and other males (MMH) committed in Sweden between January 2007 and December 2009. Primary and secondary psychiatric diagnoses based on ICD, version 8, 9 or 10 from psychiatric inpatient as well as outpatient care have been retrieved. In order to identify mental disorders in perpetrators during commission of the homicidal offense, we also retrieved diagnoses from forensic psychiatric evaluations. Our results demonstrate that approximately one-third of the perpetrators, irrespective of homicide type, had been diagnosed with a mental disorder (excluding substance related disorders) at some point in life. Diagnosis of substance related disorders from psychiatric care was significantly more common in MMH perpetrators (37%) compared to IPF perpetrators (15%). Similarly low rates of major mental disorder were found in both groups (11%) when aggregating life-time diagnoses and diagnoses during commission of the crime. However, homicide-suicide in connection to the offense was relatively common in IPF perpetrators (20%). Thus, our study supports the notion that previous suicide attempts and suicide ideation are important indicators for predicting and possibly preventing IPF.

Shooting down the price: Evidence from Mafia homicides and housing prices

AbstractIn this paper, we estimate the effect of the homicides by the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia, on housing prices in Naples. The study develops on a unique panel data set at the administrative district level for the period 2002–2018 of geo‐localized homicides involving innocent victims (denoted as IVH), which are treated as exogenous shocks that negatively affect housing demand. We find that the occurrence of such homicides causes a decrease in housing prices in the range of 2.5–3.8 percentage points. This effect decreases with the distance from an IVH and over time. These results are robust to the utilization of different econometric specifications and to the considerations of possible confounding factors such as other types of Camorra homicides.

Asphyxia homicides in Denmark 1992-2016.

In this retrospective study , we present the findings in 250 homicides by asphyxia in Denmark in a 25-year period, with a particular focus on the autopsy findings in strangulation. Our intention is for the results to be used in future death investigations, where difficulties in interpretation of findings in potential asphyxial deaths arise. Asphyxia homicides showed a strong bias with respect to sex, age, and homicide type. The frequent female victim was typically an adult, whereas the rarer male victim was most often a child. Female offenders most often killed their children, and male offenders most often killed their female partner. Generally, most asphyxia homicides took place in a domestic setting. Manual strangulation and ligature strangulation were the most common mechanisms of asphyxia homicides (81.6%). A lack of petechial hemorrhages, especially in the conjunctiva, was rare in homicidal strangulation, but there were exceptions, especially when there was postmortem decomposition, making it impossible to verify them. Most victims of strangulation had skin lesions in the face (including the jawline) or on the neck, with accompanying hemorrhages in muscle and connective tissue, but the findings could be subtle or compounded by decomposition. Fractures of the laryngo-hyoid complex were common in strangulation, particularly in manual strangulation (chi-sq = 4.0993, df = 1, P < 0.05) and were clearly related to the age of the victim (chi-sq = 82.193, df = 4, P < 0.001). In children and young adults dying from homicidal strangulation, a lack of fractures is to be expected, while a lack of fractures is unusual, but not entirely unexpected, for adults and aged people.

Homicide and corpse dismemberment: A study of one case

Homicide may be an isolated impulsive act arising from a situation or based on a previous conception, which is premeditation. Despite its nature or motivations, homicide remains a wrongful criminal act at all times and in all places. Several studies conducted in Western countries on this topic have highlighted the overriding concern of the criminal, which includes concealing the criminal offence in most cases.In Africa, apart from cases of infanticide, the discovery of the body of a homicide victim in a public place is a relatively common phenomenon, particularly if it involves mutilation.The body was examined; it was a young adult African female whose corpse was wrapped in a plastic bag. The autopsy established that the section or cutting planes were preferably lodged in the large joints.Death was caused by mechanical asphyxia. The focus of this case lies in the atypical nature of this type of postmortem manipulation in the West African context.The unusual nature of this type of homicide illustrates and underscores some reality in our development context.

Debauched, Desperate, Deranged: Women Who Killed, London 1674–1913 by Carolyn A. Conley

Conley draws from the rich resources of The Old Bailey Proceedings Online, 1674–1913 (ed. Tim Hitchcock et al.) to present an overview of the prosecution of women for homicide over a span of centuries. Conley begins with the premise that “changes in the types of homicides for which women were prosecuted as well as the official responses and media coverage of these crimes reflect, parallel, and occasionally challenge social, legal, and cultural changes in women’s status, opportunities, and stereotypes” (1). Working from contemporary publications that summarized proceedings at London’s central criminal court and their reports on1,408 women charged with involvement in criminal homicides, Conley argues that women who killed went from being depicted as wicked but fully morally and legally responsible agents to being portrayed most often as vulnerable victims of physiological factors beyond their control. In chapters that divide the material into four temporal blocks—1674–1753, 1754–1833, 1834–1873, and 1874–1913—Conley traces declines over time in the prosecution of women for homicides outside the home and for the killings of infants and of children. She detects more consistency in the rate of prosecution of women for spousal killings, but the emergence of far more sympathetic responses from juries and judges as time passed. Verdicts of insanity became ever-more common.The book purports to offer both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the phenomena involved in the incidence, prosecution, and punishment of women’s homicides. Much of the book consists of short summaries of accounts drawn from the published Proceedings, sometimes enriched with supplementary contemporary publications. A particularly effective passage, for example, looks at how the published description of a woman involved in a killing—Deborah Churchill, executed in 1708—changed from agent of evil in 1714 to victim of passion in 1779. The utility of the quantitative analysis is weakened, however, by the failure to provide raw numbers in all but a few cases. After stating that the data set includes 1,408 women, Conley thereafter provides only percentages and rates, which do not allow readers easily to assess the size or significance of changes or researchers to draw comparisons with the phenomena that she identifies. She writes, for example, that from 1874 to 1893, 69 percent of mothers who killed legitimate children were deemed insane, whereas only 22 percent of women who killed illegitimate children received the same verdict—interesting perhaps, but without raw numbers, just how interesting remains unknown. The nagging suspicion is that the raw numbers behind these percentages must be exceedingly small.Conley’s decision to include women charged as accessories is defensible, but, again, without raw numbers to allow some disaggregation, comparisons across time and place become more difficult. It might mislead unwary readers, too. Conley’s observation early in the book about eighteenth-century women charged for killings with swords resonates differently when she later explains that in all or most of these sword-wielding episodes, the woman was a bystander. Readers might benefit from a more detailed description of the source base and its changes during the period studied (for example, the Proceedings became an “official” publication only after 1778). Reminders that what is being counted and described are not the actual court records but summaries of the trials mediated by print (and then by digitization) might also be useful.The book conveys much of interest, but it is likely to be of limited utility to specialists. It has greater value as an engaging introduction to the riches of the Old Bailey Proceedings and to the history of women’s homicidal violence. Even for specialists, however, the reminder that both the incidence and prosecution of homicides changed over time in ways inflected by cultural and social gender norms might be salutary.

Gun Homicide Research: What We Know and Where We Need to Go

Guns are used in the majority of homicides in the United States, making the problem of homicide largely a problem of gun violence. This article presents three types of gun homicide (mass shootings, intimate partner homicide, and community gun violence), and briefly discusses the state of knowledge on their risk factors and promising interventions. Future directions for research are presented, focusing on examining differential implementation and impacts of interventions by racialized groups and communities, as well as interrogating conventional approaches and methodologies.

Examining differences between mass, multiple, and single-victim homicides to inform prevention: findings from the National Violent Death Reporting System

BackgroundMulti-victim homicides are a persistent public health problem confronting the United States. Previous research shows that homicide rates in the U.S. are approximately seven times higher than those of other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that are 25 times higher; 31% of public mass shootings in the world also occur in the U.S.. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the characteristics of mass, multiple, and single homicides to help identify prevention points that may lead to a reduction in different types of homicides.MethodsWe used all available years (2003–2017) and U.S. states/jurisdictions (35 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) included in CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), a public health surveillance system which combines death certificate, coroner/medical examiner, and law enforcement reports into victim- and incident-level data on violent deaths. NVDRS includes up to 600 standard variables per incident; further information on types of mental illness among suspected perpetrators and incident resolution was qualitatively coded from case narratives. Data regarding number of persons nonfatally shot within incidents were cross-validated when possible with several other resources, including government reports and the Gun Violence Archive. Mass homicides (4+ victims), multiple homicides (2-3 victims) and single homicides were analyzed to assess group differences using Chi-square tests with Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc comparisons.ResultsMass homicides more often had female, child, and non-Hispanic white victims than other homicide types. Compared with victims of other homicide types, victims of mass homicides were more often killed by strangers or someone else they did not know well, or by family members. More than a third were related to intimate partner violence. Approximately one-third of mass homicide perpetrators had suicidal thoughts/behaviors noted in the time leading up to the incident. Multi-victim homicides were more often perpetrated with semi-automatic firearms than single homicides. When accounting for nonfatally shot victims, over 4 times as many incidents could have resulted in mass homicide.ConclusionsThese findings underscore the important interconnections among multiple forms of violence. Primary prevention strategies addressing shared risk and protective factors are key to reducing these incidents.

Post-homicidal behaviors of intrafamilial crime authors in France: An archival study

IntroductionConfessions in criminal cases range between 42 and 57%, all crimes considered. However, there is no data specifically on confessions regarding intrafamilial homicides, despite the fact that this subtype of homicide accounts for 30–40% of all homicides. ObjectiveThe purpose of the present research aims to establish the links between the sociodemographic characteristics of the perpetrators of intrafamilial murder, and their behavior and interaction with the criminal justice system after that they committed the crime (e.g., self-denunciation and confession). MethodAll cases of domestic homicide over a period of eleven years and judged in a single court of assize were analyzed (N=44). Data regarding the type of homicide (conjugal, parricide, filicide, familicide), the sociodemographic profile of the perpetrator (sex, age, family situation, occupation, educational level) and their behaviour pre-, during- and post- the homicide were collected and analyzed. ResultsThe common intrafamilial murderer is a 36years old man belonging to a disadvantaged socio-professional group, mostly without judicial antecedent. Moreover, confession rate is above 98% (including 41% spontaneous denunciations by the perpetrators themselves). Discussion and conclusionThis research supports earlier work on the profiles of family crime perpetrators. However, perpetrators of intrafamilial homicides confess more often than perpetrators of all other types of homicide. The results are discussed in terms of cognitive and emotional mechanisms. Suggestions for the use of such insights by investigative services are proposed.

Homicide in children under ten years old in México: A 20-year study.

Background: In a society, children are the most vulnerable members of the population. Violence experienced in Mexico during the last decade has also affected children under ten years of age. Objective: Analyze the trend of homicides in children under ten years from 1998 to 2017.Methods: A longitudinal study of homicides in children under ten years of age was conducted in Mexico from 1998 to 2017. Several analytic techniques were applied to study the mortality tendency during the study period in this population.Results: 5,188 homicides occurred in children under ten years during the study period, 57% were in boys and 70% were in children under five years of age. Hanging and strangulation were the most common types of homicides for girls under one year of age. The home was the most frequently reported place of occurrence. Children between 5-10 years old were 3.1 times more likely to die from a firearm injury than those under 0-5 years old. It was also found that minors who resided in the Northern region of the country had a 2.7 times higher risk of firearm mortality compared to those who resided in the central region.Conclusions: It is important to implement protective measures, especially for those under one year, along with the need to create multi sectorial interventions that ensure protective environments for children. Moreover, observatory programs could be used to improve the quality of administrative records for decision-making.

Unravelling the Homicide Drop: Disaggregating a 25-Year Homicide Trend in the Netherlands

The Western homicide drop is a known fact, but the reasons behind the drop have so far mainly focused on macro explanations. In this study, we argue that to understand the homicide drop, it is necessary to first explore whether the drop is general or specific. We do this by examining the subtypes of homicide together with perpetrator and victim demographic characteristics. This study seeks to describe the nature and scope of homicidal violence in the period 1992–2016 in the Netherlands, disaggregating by subtype of homicide, and perpetrator and victim gender constellation and age. In doing so, we make use of the Dutch Homicide Monitor. Findings show that the Dutch homicide drop is significantly related to homicides resulting from disputes and robberies and intimate partner homicides. The gender constellation and age distribution in all homicide types are further explored. This study highlights the importance of disaggregating data by subtype in unravelling the homicide drop.

Sex worker homicides and sexual homicides: A comparative study of offender, victim, and offense characteristics.

Sex workers are commonly claimed to be at heightened risk of fatal victimization. Although prior research indicates that the dynamics of sex worker homicides resemble sexual homicides more than nonsexual homicides, little is known about how these types of homicides compare in terms of offending patterns. This study considers a sample of 2,851 single-victim, single-offender homicide cases extracted from a 37-year (1976-2012) US Supplementary Homicide Reports database, and compares the offender, victim, and offender characteristics of 243 sex worker homicides (189 males and 54 females) with those of 2608 sexual homicides (2474 males and 134 females). The findings suggest that the offender, victim, and offense characteristics of general, male-offender, and female-offender sex worker homicides are essentially different from the characteristics of sexual homicides. Logistic regressions further indicate that most offender, victim, and offense characteristics on the occurrence of general and male-offender sex worker homicides were significantly associated with the perpetration of general and male-offender sex worker homicides, with reference to sexual homicides. These findings offer insights relevant to the prioritization of criminal investigative practices.

Gunshot homicides in Denmark 1992-2016.

The majority of homicides in the world are caused by firearms and a good understanding of gunshot wounds is important for the forensic pathologist. We have analyzed all 315 homicides by gunshots in Denmark during 1992-2016 with focus on information relevant to forensic pathologists. Of the 1417 homicides in Denmark in 1992-2016, 315 (22.2%) had gunshot trauma as the primary homicide method. During 1992-2016, there has been a significant decrease in the number of gunshot homicides overall, of homicides committed with hunting weapons, and of domestic gunshot homicides. Most victims (70.5%) and offenders (93.7% of homicides with known offenders) were males. Male victims were significantly younger than female victims. Most victims were killed with handguns (43.8%) or shotguns (41.0%). Compared to all other weapons, the victims killed with shotguns had fewer entry wounds, a higher New Injury Severity Score (NISS), and a higher proportion of contact/close-range entry wounds. The head (58.1%) and thorax (46.7%) were often injured, with injuries to the head being more common in contact/close-range entry wounds. The results show that gunshot injuries in homicides are different from suicides and accidents and clearly are affected by the homicide type, the sex of the victim, and the weapon used and that these entities are intertwined. Our findings provide an evidence-based foundation for use in death investigations and for policy development in the area of interpersonal violence.

Public cooperation and the police: Do calls-for-service increase after homicides?

Calls-for-service represent the most basic form of public cooperation with the police. How cooperation varies as a function of instances of police activity remains an open question. The great situational diversity of police activity in the field, matching the situational diversity of crime and disorder, makes it challenging to estimate causal effects. Here we use homicides as an indicator for the occurrence of a standardized set of highly visible, socially-intensive, acute police investigative activities and examine whether police calls-for-service change in response. We adopt a place-based difference-in-differences approach that controls for local fixed affects and common temporal trends. Estimates of the model using data from Los Angeles in 2019 shows that calls-for-service increase significantly in the week following a homicide. The effect pertains to both violent crime and quality of life calls for service. Partitioning the data by race-ethnicity shows that calls-for-service increase most when the homicide victim is Black. Partitioning the data by race-ethnicity and type of homicide shows that some types of calls are suppressed when the homicide is gang-related. The results point to opportunities for police to build trust in the immediate aftermath of homicides, when the public is reaching out for greater assistance.

Caught in the crossfire: 37 Years of firearm violence afflicting America's youth.

Publicly available firearm data are difficult to access. Trauma registry data are excellent at documenting patterns of firearm-related injury. Law enforcement data excel at capturing national violence trends to include both circumstances and firearm involvement. The goal of this study was to use publicly available law enforcement data from all 50 states to better define patterns of firearm-related homicides in the young. All homicides in individuals 25 years or younger in the United States over a 37-year period ending in 2016 were analyzed: infant, 1 year or younger; child, 1 to 9 years old; adolescent, 10 to 19 years old; and young adult, 20 to 25 years old. Primary data files were obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and comprised the database. Data analyzed included homicide type, situation, circumstance, month, firearm type, and demographics. Rates of all homicides and firearm-related homicides per 1 million population and the proportion of firearm-related homicides (out of all homicides) were stratified by year and compared over time using simple linear regression. A total of 171,113 incidents of firearm-related homicide were analyzed (69% of 246,437 total homicides): 5,313 infants, 2,332 children, 59,777 adolescents, and 103,691 young adults. Most (88%) were male and Black (59%) with a median age of 20 years. Firearm-related homicides peaked during the summer months of June, July, and August (median, 1,156 per year; p = 0.0032). Rates of all homicides (89 to 53 per 1 million population) and firearm-related homicides (56 to 41 per 1 million population) decreased significantly from 1980 to 2016 (β = -1.12, p < 0.0001 and β = -0.57, p = 0.0039, respectively). However, linear regression analysis identified a significant increase in the proportion of firearm-related homicides (out of all homicides) from 63% in 1980 to 76% in 2016 (β = 0.33, p < 0.0001). For those 25 years or younger, the proportion of firearm-related homicides has steadily and significantly increased over the past 37 years, with 3 of 4 homicides firearm related in the modern era. Despite focused efforts, reductions in the rate of firearm-related homicides still lag behind those for all other methods of homicide by nearly 50%. That is, while the young are less likely to die from homicide, for those unfortunate victims, it is more likely to be due to a firearm. This increasing role of firearms in youth homicides underscores the desperate need to better direct prevention efforts and firearm policy if we hope to further reduce firearm-related deaths in the young. Epidemiological study, level III.