Juvenile homicide: A growing national problem

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article by Cornell was to determine if there are differences between juvenile homicide and adult homicide and to examine the offense characteristics associated with the increase in juvenile homicides. METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental design was employed for this study. Secondary analysis of the FBI Supplemental Homicide Reports for 1984 and 1991 was used. The research examined the offense characteristics of 2,400 juvenile homicide offenders from the Homicide Reports. The study reported that the information from these reports includes demographic information on victim and offender, the relationship between victim and offender, and additional circumstantial information about the incident. The total data sets included arrest data for 32,526 homicides for the chosen years combined. The data were gathered from the 50 states and Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Guam. Juveniles were classified as ages 10 to 17. The study performed two sets of analysis. The first set compared 1,668 juveniles and 11,012 adults arrested homicides for 1991. The analysis was concerned with the following variables: number of victims; the presence of accomplices; the sex, race, and ethnicity of the offender; the offender's weapon; the relationship between the offender and victim; and the circumstances (e.g., crime, argument) of the offense. The study placed all of the homicides into two categories, crime-related (robbery, rape, burglary, etc.) or conflict-related (dispute or argument with the victim). The second part of the analysis focused on juvenile homicides. The study compared the homicides of 1984 to 1991 using the same variables from the first section of the analysis. The analyses used Chi-square statistics and a contingency coefficient (C) which measures the size of the effect and the strength of the significance findings. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: The study found that there was a statistically significant association between juvenile status and presence of an accomplice (p AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS: The author suggested that this study shows the need to examine the role of the handgun in juvenile crime. He noted six circumstances where handguns may increase juvenile homicide: (1) criminal youth may move from low-risk stealing to higher-risk behavior such as armed robbery, (2) peer groups or gangs participate in an "arms race" resulting in shooting, (3) youth accomplices may carry guns for adult criminals, (4) youth who are abused may retaliate, (5) "playground arguments" can become violent, and (6) emotionally disturbed youth may use guns they find in their homes. The author argued that many juvenile homicides are not planned and handguns just serve to escalate conflicts. The author noted several limitations with this study. First, it was noted that the actual number of homicides is not equal to the number of arrests. The author suggested that these data not be mistaken for the entire number of homicides. Secondly, it was demonstrated that the effect sizes are difficult to interpret and even small effects can be important. The author stated that these results support further research on the differences between adult and juvenile homicide. He recommended that future studies examine whether the increase in juvenile homicide is a precursor to an overall increase of crime for these juveniles as they approach the high-risk ages. (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) 1980s 1990s Juvenile Homicide Juvenile Violence Juvenile Offender Homicide Offender Offender Characteristics Comparative Analysis Adult Homicide Adult Offender Adult Violence Age Differences Offense Characteristics 03-05