Data on demographic characteristics and causes of death were coded for approximately 4,500 homicide victims, based on original death certificates for approximately 284,500 persons who died in Bexar County between 1935 and 1984. Homicide accounted for about 1.6 percent of all deaths during the study period. Homicide rates among males in San Antonio were 1.6 times to more than 3 times higher than those among the general male population. These excesses were attributed to high rates among Mexican-origin and black males. Rates for white males in San Antonio were lower than those among the general white male population. As a percentage of all male homicides, those among Mexican-Americans increased from about 50 percent during 1935-1944 to 67 percent during 1975-1984. Their share of the male population over this time increased from 34 to 43 percent of all males. Temporal trends in homicide rates in Bexar County tended to be similar to those in the United States. The percent distribution of homicides by age by means of assault did not differ appreciably among ethnic groups or over time. In all ethnic groups, firearms accounted for the most homicide deaths. Within the white population, men between 35 and 44 years of age had the highest firearm death rates between 1935 and 1964, while Hispanic and black males between 25 and 34 years of age experienced the highest firearm death rates among San Antonio's minorities. An analysis of the geographic distribution of homicide in San Antonio revealed predictable concentrations in areas where predominantly minorities lived. An appendix contains maps of homicide victims in San Antonio during the 1935-1984 period. 9 references, 3 tables, 1 graph, and 3 maps
Historical Geographical Study of Lethal Violence in San Antonio (From Nature of Homicide: Trends and Changes - Proceedings of the 1996 Meeting of the Homicide Research Working Group, Santa Monica, California, P 126-139, 1996, Pamela K Lattimore and Cynthia A Nahabedian, eds. - See NCJ-166149)
NCJ Number
168581
Date Published
1996
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Mexican-American homicide rates in San Antonio, Texas, were examined in terms of their geographical and historical contexts using homicide mortality data on deaths in Bexar County during the 1935-1984 period.
Abstract