Child Homicide

Marc Riedel

Partly because of media coverage and partly because the intentional death of young victims resonates with a special kind of shock and sadness—particularly when young offenders act alone and kill friends, fellow students, or family members—much attention is given to homicides among children. (The term child homicides used here refers to both homicide victims and perpetrators under age eighteen.) The view that the number of child homicides has increased in recent years is not supported by the current FBI data. Indeed, the current data show a decline in such incidents that is not found in the data prior to 1990 (Schiraldi 1999). During the 1990s, according to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program of the FBI (1999), homicide rates declined. There was, however a much greater decline in homicide rates for adults (those eighteen and over) than for children. From a peak of 27.3 per 100,000 in 1991, the adult ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.