Patterns of Homicide among Children

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The goal of this article by Goetting was to describe the social and demographic characteristics and circumstances surrounding a sample of Detroit children arrested for homicide. METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental method was employed for this study. All 55 arrestees for homicide, under the age of 15 years, in Detroit, MI constituted the sample. The time frame was from 1977 and 1984. The collection of data took place in 1985 in the offices of the Homicide Section of the Detroit Police Department and the Deputy Chief of the Wayne County Juvenile Court. Data were collected from police- and court-recorded information regarding each case. Such information included investigators' reports, interrogation records, witness statements, and case histories. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Similar proportions of the children arrested for homicide were found to be Black (85.5%) as compared to adult arrestees (89.1%). A lower percentage of victims were black, however; 68.8% of the children's victims were black compared to 81.9% of the adult victims. The children arrestees were disproportionately male (98.2%); the victims were disproportionately male as well (83.3%). The author stated that the homicides perpetrated by children may involve males to a greater extent than do other homicides. Black males made up a greater percentage of the child arrestees than adult arrestees (81.8% versus 73.8%). White males made up 12.7% of the child arrestees (14.9% of adult); black females made up 1.8% of the children (9.6% of adults), and white girls were not represented at all (1.4% of adults). Of the children's victims, 60.4% were black males; 20.8% were white males; 8.3% were black females, and 6.3% were white females. The age range of the youths was 3 to 14 with a mean of 12.7 and a standard deviation of 2.1 years. The victims' ages ranged from 1 to 94 years with a mean of 22.7 and a standard deviation of 24.8 years.44% lived with their mothers and 4% lived with their fathers in single-parented homes. 12% lived with other relatives. 6% lived with a parent and the parent's lover, and 2% lived with their own lovers. 1 (2%) was a runaway from a child care institution. 22% lived with both original parents. Instability was found in the home in that two-thirds of the 31 subjects for which information was gathered on residential guardianship had changed homes at least once, some up to 4 or more times. 59.45 of the 32 subjects for whom the data were available had no prior offenses to the homicide. 11 children had both original parents living together married. 3 had the father dead. 15 sets of parents were separated or divorced, and 8 children had unmarried parents. Most of the parents of the children were from the South, 76.2% of the fathers and 48% of the mothers. The study population was found to be characterized by large families with relatively low educational and occupational resources. Mothers had an average of 4 children. About half the parents had completed high school. Less than half of the guardians of the children were employed. 44.8% of the children were on public assistance. 28.8% of the children killed strangers; 26.9% were killed each by friends and acquaintances, and 17.3% killed relatives. 14.5% of the homicidal incidents occurred between offender and victim that lived together at the time. 76.3% of the cases were intraracial with 63.5% of those being black on black and the remaining being white on white. In all instances of interracial killing, black children killed whites. 83.6% of the total were intrasexual killings. There were no female on male homicides in this sample. 67% of the homicidal relationships involved victims older than the killers. 56.5% of the homicides were interpersonal acts of passion, 21.7% were instrumental to the commission of another crime, and 21.7% were judged by the researcher to be accidents. A somewhat smaller proportion of the children than the general population of homicide offenders used firearms in their homicides. 58.3% of the children used firearms. 18.8% were stabbings and beatings, and 2.1% were burnings. 45.9% were done while the child was carrying the weapon outside the home. Most of the homicides involved single victims and one offender (77%). The remainder involved more than one killer. 16% of the incidents were considered victim-precipitated, low in contrast to studies of the general population of offenders. The children were more likely to kill in a private residence than the general population. 69% of the homicidal acts were committed in a home. Children, in general, were found to follow the patterns of adults in homicide except for those noted above. 13 deaths were found as a result of gun play. AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS: The author stated that there was evidence to support gun control policies. Further elaboration was not offered. EVALUATION: This work does some preliminary work in describing how the homicidal child might look and what might influence him or her. However, and as the author points out, these findings cannot be taken as generalizable. Besides simple observed correlations not being subjected to probability statistics, the author takes the sample from Detroit. At her admission, Detroit is disproportionately black and not representative of the country. More research is needed with generalizable samples to see if some of her observations hold. Additionally, we need more sophisticated data analysis to pinpoint factors which are associated with child homicide. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) 1970s 1980s Michigan Homicide Causes Homicide Offender Child Homicide Child Violence Child Offender Victim Offender Relations Demographic Factors Offender Characteristics Juvenile Homicide Juvenile Offender Juvenile Violence Violence Causes African American Offender African American Violence African American Male African American Child African American Juvenile African American Female Juvenile Female Juvenile Male Child Male Child Female Female Offender Female Violence Male Offender Male Violence Caucasian Violence Caucasian Male Caucasian Juvenile Caucasian Child Caucasian Offender Caucasian Female Gender Differences Racial Differences Family Relations Family Environment Language: en