Race, Sex, and Criminal Homicide Offender-Victim Relationships (From Homicide Among Black Americans, P 57-67, 1986, Darnell F Hawkins, ed. - See NCJ-105234)

• NCJ Number: 105238
• Author(s): J A Humphrey; S Palmer
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: University Press of America
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data on all homicide offenders incarcerated in North Carolina during 1972, 1976, and 1977, along with information on their victims, was used to compare the demographic characteristics of black and white victim-offender relationships.

Abstract

Data were obtained on 985 homicide offenders and 943 homicide victims. Of the offenders, 61.4 percent were black; 35.5 percent were white; and 3 percent were American Indian. Both black male and female offenders were more likely to victimize friends and less likely to victimize family members than were whites. Black males and females were more likely to be murdered by friends, and whites were more likely to be killed by a stranger. When either a black or white male killed another male, there tended to be a nonprimary relationship between the offender and victim, and when either a black or white male killed a female, she was most likely his wife. Females killed by black males tended to be friends, and white males were more likely to kill females who were strangers. Black murderesses were more likely to kill a male than were white murderesses, and black murderesses were only slightly less likely to kill a male friend than to kill their husbands. White murderesses overwhelmingly murdered their husbands. Interracial homicide predominated for both whites and blacks. Interracial murders tended to involve nonprimary relations between the offender and victim. 3 tables and 22 references.