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VIOLENCE
The following document is from MMWR
, December 07, 1990 / 39(48);869-873 (last
modified: Oct. 28 2000,12:08pm)
Topics in Minority Health Homicide Among Young Black Males
-- United States, 1978-1987
In 1987, homicide was the 12th leading cause of death in the
United States and a leading cause of premature mortality (i.e., years of
potential life lost before age 65). Homicide affects all age, race, and sex
groups and is the leading cause of death for young black males (15-24 years of
age) (1). Both the 1990 and Year 2000 Health Objectives for the Nation target
a reduction in the homicide rate among this population (2,3). This report uses
mortality statistics from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
to characterize homicides* among young black males for 1978-1987.
From 1978 though 1987, 20,315 young black males died as a
result of homicide, for an average annual rate of 73.1 per 100,000. In 1987,
homicides accounted for 42% of deaths among young black males, and the
homicide rate for this group was 84.6 per 100,000--the highest rate of the
decade and 40% higher than in 1984. From 1978 through 1987,
firearms** accounted for 15,781 (78%) homicides among young black males.
Yearly fluctuations in total homicides corresponded closely with the pattern
for homicides committed with firearms (Figure 1). From 1984 through 1987, the
non firearm homicide rate for young black males increased 7% (from 14.4 to
15.4 per 100,000), and the firearm homicide rate increased by 50% (from 46.2
to 69.3 per 100,000). Overall, firearm-related homicides accounted for 96% of
the increase in the homicide rate for young black males from 1984 through
1987.
The percent increase in homicide rates from 1984 through
1987 was greater for adolescent black males aged 15-19 years (55% (from 38.5
to 59.6 per 100,000)) than for those aged 20-24 years (33% (from 83.3 to 111.1
per 100,000)). For adolescent black males, both the homicide rate and the
proportion of homicides committed with firearms were highest in 1987 (59.6 per
100,000 and 83%, respectively). In 1987, 34% of deaths among adolescent black
males were homicides committed with a firearm.
From 1978 through 1987, annual homicide rates for young
black males were four to five times higher than for young black females, five
to eight times higher than for young white males, and 16-22 times higher than
for young white females (Figure 2). Since 1984, the disparity between homicide
rates for young black males and other racial/sex groups increased
substantially; for example, a comparison of 1984 with 1987 indicates that the
ratio of homicide rates for black males to those for white males increased
38%, from 5.6 to 7.7 (Table 1).
In 1987, of the 23 states with a population of young black
males sufficient to enable stable estimates for homicide rates (4), 14 had a
homicide rate for this group that exceeded the 1990 health objective of less
than 60 per 100,000 (Figure 3). Rates exceeded 100 per 100,000 in California,
Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and the District of Columbia.*** In
addition, from 1984 to 1987, the homicide rate for young black males increased
22% in Missouri, 40% in the District of Columbia, 64% in New York, 68% in
Florida, 71% in California, and 76% in Michigan. Reported by: Intentional
Injuries Section, Epidemiology Br, Div of Injury Control, Center for
Environmental Health and Injury Control, CDC.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: The disproportionate impact of homicide
among young black males was recognized in the 1990 health objective that
targeted a reduction in the homicide rate for this group to less than 60 per
100,000 (2). Although homicides declined among young black males during the
early 1980s, from 1984 through 1987, the homicide rate for this group
increased sharply. Based on data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
Uniform Crime Reporting System through June 1990, homicide rates have
continued to increase since 1987**** (5).
This report identified four disturbing features in the
epidemiology of homicide in young black males. First, firearm-associated
homicides accounted for greater than 80% of deaths and greater than 95% of the
recent large increase. Second, the increase since 1984 was especially marked
among adolescent black males. Third, the already large disparity in homicide
rates between black males and other racial/sex groups has widened. Fourth,
certain areas had the highest rates, accounted for most cases, and had
considerable recent increases in homicide rates. For example, the six areas
with homicide rates greater than 100 per 100,000 persons contained 29% of the
young black male population but accounted for 51% of all homicide-attributable
deaths in this group in 1987. If these six areas had attained the 1990 health
objective for homicide rates for young black males, the homicide rate for this
population in 1987 would have decreased 31%.
Homicide among young black males and other groups can result
from behaviors such as domestic violence, child abuse, rape, and physical
fighting among acquaintances. Despite a common perception that victims of
homicide are usually killed by unknown assailants during robberies or
drug-related crimes, more than half of all homicide victims are killed by
persons known to them. Factors identified as potentially important
contributors to homicide include immediate access to firearms, alcohol and
substance abuse, drug trafficking, poverty, racial discrimination, and
cultural acceptance of violent behavior (6-8).
Because research and evaluation efforts have not yet
demonstrated effective programmatic approaches to prevent homicide, priority
areas for research and intervention should target 1) the causes for the recent
rise in homicide among young black males; 2) prevention of firearm-related
morbidity and mortality; 3) improved understanding of the role of alcohol,
drugs, and drug trafficking in homicide; 4) prevention of violent, aggressive
behavior; and 5) identification of modifiable risk factors for homicide among
urban youths of lower socioeconomic status.
Compared with other injury-control priorities, public health
efforts to prevent homicide among young black males and other persons in
high-risk groups have only recently been implemented. In 1987, only two (0.6%)
of 325 injury-prevention programs based in state health departments focused on
homicide (9). Since 1986, only one (0.2%) of 552 award-winning community-based
health promotion projects specifically has included homicide (CDC, unpublished
data). Proposed interventions to reduce homicides include drug- and
alcohol-abuse prevention, firearm control, interventions directed at the
effects of television violence, school-based interventions, and public
education (6). Such projects should be carefully designed and rigorously
evaluated so that successful programs can be replicated.
At the national level, 30 of the year 2000 health objectives
target a reduction in the incidence of homicide and violent behaviors among
young black males and persons in other high-risk groups (3). At the local
level, communities with high homicide rates can develop and implement projects
using established principles of health promotion (10). These include the
formation of coalitions of community leaders and organizations and reviews of
local data concerning homicides and violent behaviors. Local health agencies
should consider developing homicide-prevention programs and collaborate with
social services, the criminal justice system, and other community services in
the planning, implementation, and evaluation of community projects.
Coordinated efforts among multiple agencies are likely to be important
components of national efforts to reduce homicide rates for young black males
and other persons.
References
-
CDC. Homicide surveillance, high-risk racial and ethnic
groups--blacks and Hispanics, 1970-1983. Washington DC: US Department of
Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1983.
-
Public Health Service. Promoting health/preventing
disease: objectives for the nation. Washington, DC: US Department of
Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1980.
-
Public Health Service. Healthy people 2000: national
health promotion and disease prevention objectives. Washington, DC: US
Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1990.
-
Fingerhut LA, Kleinman JC. International and interstate
comparisons of homicide among young males. JAMA 1990;263:3292-5.
-
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Press release.
Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
October 21, 1990.
-
National Committee for Injury Prevention and Control.
Injury prevention: meeting the challenge--a report of the National
Committee for Injury Prevention and Control. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1989.
-
University of California at Los Angeles/CDC. The
epidemiology of homicide in the city of Los Angeles, 1970-79. Atlanta: US
Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, CDC, 1985.
-
Goldstein PJ, Brownstein HH, Ryan PJ, Bellucci PA. Crack
and homicide in New York City, 1988: a conceptually based event analysis.
Contemporary Drug Problems 1989;(Winter):651-86.
-
Childhood Injury Prevention Resource Center. Injury
prevention programs in state health departments, a national survey.
Boston: Harvard School of Public Health, 1988.
-
Green LW, Kreuter MW. Health promotion planning: an
educational and environmental approach. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield
Publishing (in press). *International Classification of Diseases, eighth
(ICD-8) and ninth (ICD-9) revisions, rubrics E960-E969. ** Firearm-related
homicides are defined as ICD-8 and ICD-9 rubric E965. Although this rubric
includes deaths from explosives, such deaths account for less than 0.1% of
total homicides from firearms and explosives. ***Florida, 119.7; Missouri,
130.5; New York, 135.3; the District of Columbia, 135.8; California,
153.9; and Michigan, 231.6. ****Recently released mortality statistics
from NCHS indicate that the homicide rate for young black males increased
19% from 1987 to 1988.
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Allabh Ed. Note: The above report about violence in
minorities covers the period from 1978 trough 1987. There is no reason to believe the
figures cited above have changed that much. Three years ago in the
Journal of NMA ( Vol. 89, No.10) Carl C. Bell from Chicago, Illinois, wrote an
article titled Community Violence: Causes, Prevention, And
Intervention. Also a biostatical fact sheet published in 1997 by the
American Heart Association ranged violence as the fourth leading cause of
death among black males, after cardiovascular diseases including congenital
heart defects, cancer and accidents. Which led us to believe that the problem is current and
needs to be dealt with.
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