For Release: Wednesday, April 26, 2023
94 Percent of Black Homicide Victims in Missouri were Killed with Guns
Washington, DC — Missouri has the highest Black homicide victimization rate in the nation with a rate of 50.98 per 100,000—more than twice the national Black homicide victimization rate and eight and a half times the overall homicide rate nationwide—according to a new analysis by the Violence Policy Center (VPC).
In addition to national data, the annual study, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2020 Homicide Data, also ranks the states according to their Black homicide victimization rates. It is based on unpublished data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR). The study details homicide rates for 2020, the most recent year for which comprehensive national data is available. This is the 17th year the Violence Policy Center has released the study. To see past editions of the study, click here.
“The consistent, disproportionate impact of homicide on Black men, women, boys, and girls is a national shame. Guns are almost always the weapon used, and the ripple effects of each death ravage families, friends, and whole communities. Each year we release this information to help support violence prevention advocates and organizations working on the local level while continuing to educate and engage policymakers and the public on the need to address this national crisis,” state VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann.
This is the 14th year in a row that Missouri has either ranked first or second in the nation for Black homicide victimization. From 2014 to 2020, Missouri ranked first in the nation in Black homicide victimization. From 2014 to 2020, the Black homicide victimization rate in Missouri increased by 46 percent. Missouri’s Black homicide victimization rates in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 are the six highest rates in the 17-year history of this study.
For MISSOURI, the study finds that in 2020:
• Of the 396 Black homicide victims, 340 were male and 56 were female.
• Twenty-nine Black homicide victims (7 percent) were less than 18 years old and 7 victims (2 percent) were 65 years of age or older. The average age was 31 years old.
• When the weapon used could be identified, 94 percent of the Black homicide victims (360 out of 383) were killed with guns. Of these, 58 percent (208 victims) were killed with handguns.
• For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 73 percent of Black homicide victims (77 out of 105) were killed by someone they knew. Twenty-eight were killed by strangers.
• For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 81 percent (133 out of 165) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 65 percent (87 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender.
The 10 states with the highest Black homicide victimization rates in 2020 were:
For the entire UNITED STATES, the study finds that in 2020:
• There were 9,753 Black homicide victims in the United States that year. Black Americans represented 14 percent of the U.S. population, yet accounted for 53 percent of all homicide victims.
• For homicides in which the weapon used could be identified, 89 percent of Black victims (8,285 out of 9,297) were shot and killed with guns. Of these, 58 percent (4,776 victims) were killed with handguns.
• On average, more than 26 Black Americans died each day from homicide, of these, 22 were known to have died from gun homicides.
• The Black homicide victimization rate in the United States was nearly four times the overall national victimization rate and seven times the white homicide victimization rate. In 2020, the black homicide victimization rate was 23.41 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall national homicide victimization rate was 6.03 per 100,000. For whites, the national homicide victimization rate was 3.24 per 100,000.
• Eighty-six percent of Black homicide victims were male (8,398 of 9,753) and 14 percent were female (1,352 of 9,753). The sex of three victims was unknown.
• The Black male homicide victimization rate in the United States was more than four times the overall male victimization rate and more than eight times the white male homicide victimization rate. In 2020, the homicide victimization rate for Black male victims was 41.92 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall rate for male homicide victims was 9.83 per 100,000 and the rate for white male homicide victims was 4.84 per 100,000.
• The Black female homicide victimization rate in the United States was more than twice the overall female victimization rate and nearly four times the white female homicide victimization rate. In 2020, the homicide victimization rate for Black female victims was 6.25 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall rate for female homicide victims was 2.32 per 100,000 and the rate for white female homicide victims was 1.66 per 100,000.
• For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 76 percent of Black victims (2,734 out of 3,585) were killed by someone they knew. The number of victims killed by strangers was 851.
• For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 78 percent (3,837 out of 4,939) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 49 percent (1,868 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender.
In addition, individuals living in communities where violence is prevalent are at higher risk for a broad range of negative health and behavior outcomes. An increased understanding of how trauma resulting from community violence influences development, health, and behavior can lead to improvements in the way many social services are delivered as well as policy changes at the local and federal levels (see the July 2017 VPC study The Relationship Between Community Violence and Trauma: How Violence Affects Learning, Health, and Behavior). At the same time, the firearms industry, looking to expand beyond its shrinking base of white male gun owners, has launched an organized marketing campaign focusing on Black, Latino, and Asian Americans. If successful, such efforts can only increase gun death and injury in these communities (see the 2021 Violence Policy Center studies How the Firearms Industry and NRA Market Guns to Communities of Color and How the Firearms Industry Markets Guns to Asian Americans).
The rate of Black homicide victimization is calculated by dividing the number of Black homicide victims by the Black population and multiplying the result by 100,000. This is the standard and accepted method of comparing fatal levels of gun violence.
The full study is available at http://vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide23.pdf.
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The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the VPC on Twitter and Facebook.
