NCJ Number
146472
Date Published
1993
Length
108 pages
Annotation
This report presents California homicide statistics for 1992 and analyzes trends over the past 10 years.
Abstract
While the homicide rate in California decreased 0.8 percent from 1991 to 1992, the rate increased 19 percent between 1983 and 1992, and the number of gang-related homicides increased by about 400 percent during the same time period. Nearly 73 percent of homicide victims were killed with firearms. Approximately 70 percent of victims knew their murderers, and women were 11 times more likely than men to be married to their assailant. While the largest proportion of white victims was 40 years or older, the largest proportions of Hispanic and black victims were between the ages of 20 and 29 years. The black homicide rate was over nine times that of whites and 2.5 times than of Hispanics. Of the persons arrested for homicide for which 1992 dispositions were received, over 77 percent were convicted of homicide or some other offense. By the end of 1992, there were 345 death row inmates in California, 40 of whom were sentenced in 1992. During the period between 1983 and 1992, 56 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. 51 tables