NCJ Number
166440
Date Published
1997
Length
23 pages
Annotation
The shootings of 108 victims by 136 suspects or offenders in Wilmington, Del. in 1996 were analyzed with respect to victim and offender characteristics and the relationship of drugs to the shootings.
Abstract
Results revealed that 23 percent of the victims were not in the State's criminal justice information system. Eighty-one percent of the victims were black males, 9 percent were black females, 7 percent were white males, 2 percent were Asian American males, and 1 percent were Asian American females. The majority of victims and known suspects were black males under age 25. The sex and race of both the victim and suspect and victim were known in 80 cases. Seventy-one percent of these cases involved black males as both the suspect and victim, and 9 percent involved black male suspects and black female victims. Juveniles shot other juveniles in 33 percent and shot victims between ages 18 and 25 in 39 percent of the cases in which ages were known. Suspects in the older age groups of 36-45 and over 45 shot victims from their own age groups. More than 30 percent of the cases were determined by the Wilmington police to be drug-related or possibly drug-related. Forty-four percent of the victims and 49 percent of the suspects had a drug arrest history in Delaware. Nearly half the offenders have been arrested; 22 percent of the cases have no suspects. Tables and appended table and maps