Supplemental data were submitted for 12,658 murders, demonstrating that 88 percent of murder victims in 1999 were aged 18 years or older and 76 percent were male. Data based on a total of 14,112 murder offenders showed that 90 percent of the assailants were male, and 90 percent were 18 years of age or older. Murder victims were slain by people they knew in 48 percent of the incidents. Husbands or boyfriends were the offenders in 32 percent of the murders in which females were victims. Wives or girlfriends were the offenders in 3 percent of the incidents in which males were killed.
Data indicate that murder is most often intraracial.
Ninety-four percent of black murder victims were slain by black offenders in 1999. Eighty-five percent of white victims were slain by white offenders. Firearm use in murder incidents increased from 6 out of every 10 in 1998 to 7 out of 10 in 1999. Forcible Rape Representing the seventh year of decline, the estimated total of 89,107 forcible rapes reported to law enforcement during 1999 was the lowest total since 1985. The 1999 rape rate 64 out of every 100,000 females was 5 percent lower that the previous year's rate.