NCJ Number
173316
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: February 1998 Pages: 83-95
Date Published
1998
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Data from 26 industrialized countries were compared to understand the incidence of firearm-related and non-firearm- related homicide among children under 15 years of age.
Abstract
Comparisons were made between rates per 100,000 children for each country and for the United States and all other countries combined. Income data for each country were obtained from the World Bank, while information on firearm-related homicides were collected from each country. Age-specific rates of overall homicide and firearm-related homicide per 100,000 children were calculated for children 0 to 4 years, 5 to 14 years, and 0 to 14 years. It was found U.S. rates far exceeded those of other countries. The childhood homicide rate was 5 times higher in the United States than in the other countries (2.57 versus 0.51). The firearm-related homicide rate for children under 15 years of age was 16 times higher in the United States than in the other countries (0.94 versus 0.06), and the non-firearm-related homicide rate was 4 times higher (1.63 versus 0.45). Findings support the need for additional research to explain cross-national differences. 25 references, 5 notes, 1 table, and 1 figure