Relationships of US youth homicide victims and their offenders, 1976-1999.
BACKGROUND
Homicide is the second leading cause of death in children aged 0 to 19 years. Tailoring violence prevention programs to high-risk individuals requires understanding victim-offender relationships.


OBJECTIVE
To elucidate differences in the relationships between homicide victims aged 0 to 19 years and their offenders.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study using the Uniform Crime Reports: Supplemental Homicide Reports, 1976-1999.


METHODS
The Supplemental Homicide Reports contain incident-level information about criminal homicides, including location and victim and offender characteristics. National coverage is approximately 92%; 70 258 victims were studied.


METHODS
Differences in the relationships of homicide victims and offenders based on sex, age, population of homicide location, and weapon.


RESULTS
Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are reported. Using strangers as the referent group, murdered girls were 3.6 (95% CI, 3.4-3.9) times more likely to have been killed by family members and 21.3 (95% CI, 18.5-24.4) times more likely to have been killed by intimate partners than murdered boys. Victims younger than 10 years were 33 (95% CI, 30.4-36.1) times more likely than victims older than 10 years to have been killed by a family member and 2.4 (95% CI, 2.2-2.6) times more likely to have been killed by someone else known to them. Stranger homicides occurred in areas with approximately 145 000 more residents (P<.01). Handguns were more likely to be used during homicides committed by strangers (P<.01). These associations remained after adjusting for potential confounders.


CONCLUSIONS
Future violence prevention programs may have more effect when targeted to specific sex and age groups. Elucidation of the origins of sex differences, focus on evidence-based child abuse prevention efforts, and enforcement of current gun control laws may help reduce the number of homicides among children.
Moskowitz
Harry
H
Division of General Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. harry@refuahhealthcenter.com
Laraque
Danielle
D
Doucette
John T
JT
Shelov
Eric
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors