NCJ Number
153842
Date Published
1994
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Information is provided on the characteristics of taxicab- driver homicides in the United States and Canada between 1980 and 1994.
Abstract
Most of the information is from press accounts of the homicides of taxicab drivers. Additional information is from police and coroner reports, court documents, attorneys, and interviews. The analysis focuses on 581 murders of taxicab drivers in the United States and 25 such murders in Canada. The statistical tables show a pattern in taxicab driver homicides. Over 80 percent of the homicides occurred at night, and two- thirds of the deaths were from gunshots to the head. The motive was usually robbery. Two-thirds of the assailants were teenagers, and most of the assaults occurred inside the cab. In discussing the limitations of the report, the author notes that it is not a complete list of taxicab-driver homicides for any year, especially for 1994, nor is it a complete list for any State or Province. It may include all or most taxi-driver homicides in recent years in the following locales: the City and County of San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto, Houston, and the Tampa Bay area. The material was drawn from whatever sources were available and is thus a "sample of convenience." Considering that taxicab drivers have the highest rate of occupational homicide of any occupation in the United States, more extensive research is needed.