HOMICIDE
In 2003, 16,503 people were murdered in the United States, a 2 percent
increase over the previous year.68
Seventy-eight percent of murder
victims in 2003 were male, and 22 percent were female.69
Sixty-seven
percent of all murders in 2003 involved firearms. Knives were used in 13 percent
of murders and personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.) in 7
percent.70
Of known victim-offender relationships in 2003, acquaintances
made up 41 percent; strangers and family members each comprised 13
percent.71
In 2003, twenty-one percent of murder victims were killed by
their spouse or intimate partner.* Seventy-nine percent of those victims
were women.72
In 2003, seven percent of all murder victims were robbed
prior to being killed, and 1.3 percent of all female murder victims were raped
prior to being killed.73
Nationwide, more women are murdered with firearms (54
percent) than with any other type of weapon. Knives account for 19 percent
of all female murders, bodily force 15 percent, and murder by blunt object 7
percent. Of the women murdered with firearms, 73 percent were killed with
handguns.74
68 Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2004). Crime in the United
States, 2003. Washington, DC: FBI, U.S. Department of Justice.
Online: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_03/pdf/03sec2.pdf.
69 Ibid.
70
Ibid.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Violence Policy
Center. (2004). When Men Murder Women: Analysis of the 2003 Homicide
Data. Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center. Online: http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2004.pdf.
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