NCJ Number
179042
Journal
Journal of Crime & Justice Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: 1999 Pages: 95-112
Editor(s)
J. Mitchell Miller
Date Published
1999
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined the weapons used by offenders against homicide victims in Kansas over a 13-year period (1980-92).
Abstract
Data from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation were used to test 17 hypotheses regarding homicides in Kansas over the study period. The hypotheses were derived from a literature review. The weapons used for homicides were divided into two categories: firearms and nonfirearms. The firearms category was subdivided into handguns, rifles, shotguns, and other guns. The nonfirearms category was subdivided into knife/cutting instruments, blunt objects, personal weapons, poisons, explosives, fires, narcotics/drugs, drownings, strangulations, asphyxiations, and other types of weapons. The study examined the following variables: the ages of the offenders and the weapons used, the ages of the victims and the weapons used by the offenders, the ages of the victims and ages of the offenders, the gender of the offenders, the weapons used by the offenders, the gender of the victims and the weapons used by the offenders, the race of the offenders and weapons used by the offenders, and the race of the victims and weapons used by the offenders. Sixteen of the 17 hypotheses were supported by the data. A sample of the findings shows that people 34 years old and younger had a higher homicide victimization rate than people over the age of 34; the 25- to 34-year-old group had the highest murder victimization rate; a majority of victims were white; firearms were the primary weapon used by the homicide offenders against victims; the handgun was the primary firearm used to commit murder; the knife/cutting instrument and the personal weapon were generally the second and third most frequent weapon used. 14 notes and 23 references