Violent Crime Victimization

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

Printer-friendly

Q:	How does the victim-offender relationship vary with victim age in homicide cases?
A:	Of the 52,300 juveniles murdered between 1980 and 2006, most victims under age 6 were killed by a parent, while parents were rarely involved in the killing of juveniles age 15-17.

Victim-offender relationship in juvenile homicides by age of victim, 1980-2006

Offender relationship to victim	Age of victim										Victim ages 0-17
Offender relationship to victim	0–17		0–5		6–11		12–14		15–17		Males		Females

Offender known	74	%	88	%	81	%	71	%	62	%	71	%	80	%
Total	100		100		100		100		100		100		100
Parent/stepparent	32		62		41		11		3		26		42
Other family member	7		7		15		11		5		6		10
Acquaintance	46		28		30		57		66		50		39
Stranger	15		3		14		20		26		18		9
Offender unknown	26		12		19		29		38		29		20

Note: Detail may not total 100% due to rounding.

[ Excel file ]

Of juvenile murder victims ages 0–5, 6 of every 10 (62%) were killed by a parent, compared to 3% of victims ages 15–17.
Conversely, 26% of juvenile murder victims ages 15–17 were killed by a stranger, compared to 3% of victims ages 0–5.
Female victims were far more likely than male victims to have been killed by a family member.
Over the 27-year period, strangers were involved in at least 15% of the murders of juveniles. This figure is likely to be greater than 15% because strangers account for a disproportionate share of crimes in which the offender is unknown.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/victims/qa02302.asp?qaDate=2006. Released on October 24, 2008.

Adapted from Puzzanchera, C. and Kang, W. (2008). Easy Access to the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports: 1980-2006. Available on-line at: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/.

Data Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation. Supplementary Homicide Reports for the years 1980–2006 [machine-readable data files]. Washington, D.C.: FBI.