NCJ Number
199497
Date Published
August 2002
Length
99 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on the crime of homicide for California during 2001.
Abstract
This report compiled data from various databases maintained by the California Department of Justice. Demographic information about offenders arrested for homicide was collected along with information about the victim and the criminal justice system response. The report is broken into four parts: homicide crimes, homicide arrests, death penalty sentences, and peace officers killed in the line of duty. Highlights of the report include the fact that the homicide crime rate decreased 49.6 percent from 1992 through 2001, and increased 5 percent from 2000 to 2001. Since 1992, firearms have been responsible for the majority of homicides, killing more people than all other types of weapons combined. Seventy-two percent of homicide victims were killed by firearms in 2001. Over one-third of homicides were related to gang activity and about half of all homicides were cleared by either an arrest or by “exceptional means.” During the period 1992 to 2001, the homicide arrest rate decreased 53.2 percent, but the rate increased 6.5 percent from 2000 to 2001. At the close of 2001, 610 persons were under death sentence in California; 25 of whom were sentenced during 2001. Six peace officers were killed during 2001, totaling 63 peace officers killed in the line of duty since 1992. Appendices contain computational formulas and a glossary of terms.