Victim-offender relationship in juvenile homicides by age of victim, 1980-2010

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Working for Youth Justice and Safety

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Violent Crime Victimization

Q:	How does the victim-offender relationship vary with victim age in homicide cases?
A:	Of the 58,850 juveniles murdered between 1980 and 2010, most victims under age 6 were killed by a family member (typically a parent), while family members were rarely involved in the killing of juveniles age 15-17.

Offender relationship to victim	Age of victim										Victim ages 0-17
Offender relationship to victim	0–17		0–5		6–11		12–14		15–17		Males		Females

Offender known	67	%	82	%	60	%	62	%	58	%	65	%	71	%
Total	100		100		100		100		100		100		100
Family	38		69		53		20		7		32		51
Acquaintance	46		28		31		59		66		50		40
Stranger	15		3		16		21		27		18		9
Offender unknown	33		18		40		38		42		35		29

Note: Detail may not total 100% due to rounding.

[ Excel file ]

Of juvenile murder victims ages 0–5, nearly 7 of every 10 (69%) were killed by a family member, compared to 7% of victims ages 15–17.
Conversely, 27% of juvenile murder victims ages 15–17 were killed by a stranger, compared to 3% of victims ages 0–5.
Female victims were far more likely than male victims to have been killed by a family member.
Since 1980, strangers were involved in at least 15% of the murders of juveniles. This figure is likely to be greater than 15% because strangers account for a disproportionate share of crimes in which the offender is unknown.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/victims/qa02302.asp?qaDate=2010. Released on July 31, 2012.

Adapted from Puzzanchera, C. and Kang, W. (2012). Easy Access to the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports: 1980-2010. Available on-line at: http://ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/.

Data Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation. Supplementary Homicide Reports for the years 1980–2010 [machine-readable data files]. Washington, D.C.: FBI.