WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2007

Feds: 49% Of Murder Victims Are Black Men

Justice Department Says Most Are 17-29 Years Old, And Their Murder Rate Is Going Up

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(AP)  Nearly half of the nation's murder victims in 2005 were black, and the number of black men who were slain is on the rise.

A majority of the black murder victims were relatively young — between 17 and 29, the Justice Department said in a study released Thursday.

The department's Bureau of Justice Statistics report offers a snapshot of racial disparities among violent crime victims. Black people represented an estimated 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2005, the latest data available, but were the victims of 49 percent of all murders and 15 percent of rapes, assaults and other nonfatal violent crimes nationwide.

Most of the black murder victims — 93 percent — were killed by other black people, the study found. About 85 percent of white victims were slain by other white people.

National Urban League President Marc Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, said the data reflect a trend that cannot be reversed by law enforcement alone. It will require changes in public education and a revival of federal summer jobs programs for economically disadvantaged young people, he said.

"The mixture of illegal drugs, easy access to handguns and young men who feel locked out of economic opportunity is what these statistics reflect," Morial said.

An estimated 16,400 people were murdered in the United States in 2005, down from a peak of 21,400 a decade ago. Similarly, the number of black people slain dropped over the last 10 years, from 10,400 in 1995 to almost 8,000 in 2005.

But the murder rate among black men rose slightly between 2004 and 2005, continuing several years of dips and increases.

Two years ago, 6,783 black men were murdered, up from 6,342 in 2004, the study shows. The murder rate among white men also rose, but less dramatically: 5,850 were slain in 2005, compared with 5,769 the year before.

Murders of women, white and black, remained relatively unchanged between the two years.

Additionally, more than half of black murder victims — 51 percent — were in their late teens and twenties. Comparatively, just over a third — 37 percent — of white people murdered were between 17 and 29, the study shows.

The study did not take a detailed look at violent crime victims who are Hispanic or Latino, or other races. However, it concluded that violent crime victims were more often black than any other race except American Indians.

Among the study's other findings:

  • Never-married black people were more likely than all other blacks to be victims of violence.

  • Poorer black people were at a greater risk of violence than households with higher annual incomes.

  • Black people living in cities were more likely to be violent crime victims than people living in suburban or rural areas.


    © MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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    Add a Comment See all 42 Comments
    by three-o-six August 9, 2007 6:48 PM PDT
    I wonder if this is because large numbers of blacks are gang members????
    Reply to this comment
    by ralan40 August 9, 2007 6:54 PM PDT
    I think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton need to step in and rally against these racists-murderers who are victimizing the Black community. I mean, hey, if they could come to the aid of a lying crackhead/stripper/prostitute who faked an assault claim, Shouldn't they even want to be involved???
    I guess living hookers are more important than black murder victims to Al and Jesse.
    Reply to this comment
    by xzavierbrown August 9, 2007 7:01 PM PDT
    Posted by ralan40 at 06:54 PM : Aug 09, 2007
    + report abuse

    *****
    More attention should be placed on the group (the music industry and self professed black leaders) the desensitize the black community on violence. These so called group who tend to justify thier profits as "just how it is" in the black community tends to divert that forward progress and nailing it to the ground. These days, using the race card as an excuse for everything is poisonious.
    Reply to this comment
    by dowjones20k August 9, 2007 7:18 PM PDT
    I doubt very seriously that many of these thugs & criminals really care about what National Urban League President Marc Morial said ...

    "The mixture of illegal drugs, easy access to handguns and young men who feel locked out of economic opportunity is what these statistics reflect" ....

    Why do these folks continue to always blame something or someone for criminal behavior???

    Just admit that these thugs are evil criminals who need to be allowed to commit urban renewal ...

    Where the heck is Al & jesse ?



    Reply to this comment
    by lorinkundert August 9, 2007 7:24 PM PDT
    I guess society needs to rethink the liberal notion that spanking is wrong, If children grow up without learning about there being consequences for what they do, this is what you get.
    Reply to this comment
    by shanev137 August 9, 2007 7:38 PM PDT
    Why do blacks hate blacks so much?
    Reply to this comment
    by obiwan234 August 9, 2007 7:43 PM PDT
    Who is gonna spank them when their mothers fathers are cracked out or in jail.
    Reply to this comment
    by zorlacskates August 9, 2007 7:47 PM PDT
    yea, they just need to be spanked more. why do you have to introduce politics into this with some gay little comment about liberals? real insightful...
    Reply to this comment
    by one_american August 9, 2007 7:47 PM PDT
    "Most of the black murder victims %u2014 93 percent %u2014 were killed by other black people, the study found."


    Well now.

    That says it all, doesn't it?
    Reply to this comment
    by tbweb August 9, 2007 7:51 PM PDT
    I hate to burst everyones bubble, but the number one security threat to the United States is not al Qaeda or Islamic Terrorist, the number one threat is living among us, right under our nose, and its the Skin Head haters! Additionally these statistics on the Black Culture where 75% of Black families are single parent households prove the U.S. should get its own house in order before trying to export Democracy to Iraq or elsewhere. Building and fixing Bridges in Iraq while U.S. Bridges need fixing and building further highlights the fact that the U.S. needs to take care of its own home first rather than try and fix someone else's. Lets the saying goes, we have our own problems to deal with. Gut check and reality check!
    Reply to this comment
    by susanhelit August 9, 2007 7:53 PM PDT
    To me, it all comes down to this, "... and young men who feel locked out of economic opportunity is what these statistics reflect," Morial said." and illegal immigration. Once, a young man, even from an impoverished area with lousy schools, no particular education, could expect to still be able to get a job and pay his way through life. Hard work, to be sure, but you could get yourself a job that would (barely) pay the bills, you could see yourself working your way up, you could see that your parents and others in your community did this.

    Now, all those starter jobs, all those jobs that allowed anyone to get themselves a paycheck if they were willing to work hard - even if they had no education, no skills - they're going to illegals. These guys believe they have no hope of getting a job, getting any real work - and they're not all that far wrong. Because an employer would rather hire a cheap illegal who won't complain about unsafe working conditions, unpaid overtime, who he can always threaten with La Miagra, rather than a legal citizen.
    Reply to this comment
    by navyretired2 August 9, 2007 8:05 PM PDT
    "Why do blacks typically kill other blacks? Is it because they are black?
    Posted by badaxmofo at 07:50 PM : Aug 09, 2007"

    It's not so much a matter of "hate" crimes, it's a product of a dominant criminal system that plagues most of America's low-$$ areas, of which are normally heavily populated with blacks.

    Then you get situations like the murders in Newark hint at...self-oppressed blacks killing blacks that are evidently on the rise and prepared to surpass the limitations of their surroundings. I'm not saying this is exactly what happened in Newark, but it is known to happen in many gangs and depressed communities.

    That's the way I see it anyway...I just don't think this statistic represents racism or hate crimes as normally referred.
    Reply to this comment
    by maedean August 9, 2007 8:06 PM PDT
    Lets see how can we make something racial out of this.You know the blacks are wanting to scream poor us on this one. Poor poor little blacks kill each other. Must be because they come from slaves, hey that will work. Oh Jessie Jackson your slipping !!!!! How do you not see that more blacks are killing each other and there has got to be a sob story as to the reason why .
    Reply to this comment
    by tbweb August 9, 2007 8:09 PM PDT
    Then you get situations like the murders in Newark hint at...self-oppressed blacks killing blacks ...

    Posted by NavyRetired2 at 08:05 PM : Aug 09, 2007,,,

    Correction! I saw the murder suspects surrender to the Newark Mayor on TV today and the murderers were not Black, the gunmen were of the Hispanic Culture!
    Reply to this comment
    by name_verify August 9, 2007 8:11 PM PDT
    Barak is a magic negro.
    Reply to this comment
    by hawksprings August 9, 2007 8:46 PM PDT

    I think a biggest part of this statistic is the breakdown of the black family due to the father being gone out of the home.

    Why does this happen? Because of our wonderful welfare system which for 40 plus years has paid women to have babies without a dad being around to help raise them.

    This is part of the legacy of the "War on Poverty."

    ...
    Reply to this comment
    by keithle1 August 9, 2007 9:05 PM PDT
    "Most of the black murder victims %u2014 93 percent %u2014 were killed by other black people, the study found."

    Blacks killing blacks. The enemy of the black man is the black man. Anyone disagree?

    Guess you can't blame everything on white people.

    But illegal drugs aren't the problem. Neither are guns.
    Reply to this comment
    by emmac6 August 9, 2007 9:19 PM PDT
    This just goes to show that there is a lot of black on black violence, as well as a lot white on white violence when it comes to murder. It is all wrong. However, rape statistics are different--(CBS wanna bring those statistics to light?--Nope I didn't think so)--and reflect that white women are raped mostly by white men, but also black men 30% of the time. Black women tend to be raped by black men overwhelmingly and are raped by white men less than 1% according to the statistics I read.
    Reply to this comment
    by keithle1 August 9, 2007 9:55 PM PDT
    How do you get rid of the two big factors here:
    illegal drugs & guns? I don't see how you can.

    Impossible to stop the drug trade. We're never going to legalize the sale of cocaine, heroin,
    PCP, meth, etc.

    We have so many guns in the USA thanks to the NRA et al, it's far too late to do anything about it now.

    This is never going to end. It'll always be a part of inner-city life.

    How much crime is related to the drug trade & drug addiction? People stealing to support their habit, prostitution, etc.
    Reply to this comment
    by dylanxxv August 9, 2007 10:29 PM PDT
    So what? Let them kill each other off...
    Reply to this comment
    by dylanxxv August 9, 2007 10:32 PM PDT
    Better dead than stinking up prisons...
    Reply to this comment
    by jeepmanjr August 9, 2007 10:36 PM PDT
    I'll bet a good majority of the other half was Mexican!!
    Reply to this comment
    by incog-nito August 9, 2007 10:43 PM PDT
    Articles like this one tend to bring out a lot of pontificating, know-it-all a$$holes.
    Reply to this comment
    by fiteit1 August 9, 2007 10:54 PM PDT
    There are jobs everywhere if you want to work. Too many people, black, white whatever races are lazy. It is easier to pull a trigger or pull a knife than work and earn what you want.

    I believe in cutting off appendages when caught taking something that isn't yours, that is if the victim doesn%u2019t get to you first. If the victim catches you that%u2019s up to them.
    Reply to this comment
    by navyretired2 August 9, 2007 11:04 PM PDT
    "Posted by fiteit1 at 10:54 PM : Aug 09, 2007"

    I'm down with eye-for-an-eye!

    Somebody gets caught killing somebody and convicted, the minimum penalty should be death by the state/government, with the families of the victim having an option to flip the switch!
    Reply to this comment
    by oakishpines August 9, 2007 11:09 PM PDT
    ' biding time each wish true, one findsself dreaming now then heree there of a wish no come true or of suffereing or of mortality '


    ' i reach out with hand and touch, as easy i reach out w/ hand and touch things outside grasp, i touch them with hand in my mind, or tail or wing, i dont' build machines, i choose to be in multiple spaces at once, and in allspace in between, and none of it as well at the same time '

    ' which came first eternity or the earth '

    ' can't get something from nothing, but you're destined to get nothing from something .000...1% of the time '

    ' most eternity is like roses, one may carve folk to bits, yet they live on forever, forever shifting shapes and spaces and times and dimensions and much more '

    ' folk spend more than enough each day to feed the world and more than enough to tax it: yet each day it gets taxed and no day it gets fed, yet though half have no money each day, only .0002857% starve to death each day, and they would eat if fold would stop meditating: 'theres no such thing as a free lunch' while nearly all the lunches in the world are free ... most farms are subsidized public and private, as are most hospitals and schools, even in the u.s.a. that pays for little outside war '
    Reply to this comment
    by jester188 August 9, 2007 11:20 PM PDT
    NavyRetired2... you represent nothing more but a continuation of the problem... and eye-for-an-eye...

    it makes you no better then those who kill...

    your statement clearly does nothing more than express your enjoyment to watch even those who commit sin to die at your hand...

    murder is nothing more than the sign of a weak man... making you weak
    Reply to this comment
    by gunownerdan August 10, 2007 12:29 AM PDT
    A large percentage of violent crime is caused by the WAR ON DRUGS.
    Prohibition kills. Always has, always will.
    Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
    www.leap.cc
    Reply to this comment
    by dylanxxv August 10, 2007 12:56 AM PDT
    pontificating? Is that anything like *** I N G?
    Reply to this comment
    by brianbwb-2009 August 10, 2007 1:19 AM PDT
    Posted by fiteit1,

    No, there are not jobs everywhere, your saying there are does not make them exist.

    I cite Labor Dept. statistic that indicate a six month average job search time for the minimum wage jobs, and longer for better paying ones. Can you survive without food for for six months? Do you support a family? Do you think they can go six months without, waiting for you to get a McJob? What would you do if your hypothetical child was hungry, and there were no legal options no getting some food to her/him, and public assistance has been turned into a joke, because those who gutted it have your "they are just lazy" BS mantra?
    Reply to this comment
    by nellowstone August 10, 2007 1:20 AM PDT
    The day humans tamed fire, they started smoking the plants around them. People want to get high. So let them. The US govt uses the drug laws as a club to bludgen the american people. Especially black people. The National Institute of Health says white people are more likley to use drugs than black people, just ask George Bush or Bill Clinton. So why are our prisons filled with minority drug users? These laws are enforced in a racially biased manner. If you want to hit the gangs (bloods, crips, ms-13, the Taliban) where it hurts, legalize drugs. The people who say drugs are bad, sound to me like the people who used to say world is flat. Why are drugs bad? Beacause some drug using holy roller says they are! The drug laws were written by drug using politicians, enforced by drug using police officers, to pander to drug using religious fanatics. The founding fathers of our country were free to, and did ingest any substance they saw fit, including powerful narcotics like morphine and cocaine. They would spinning in their graves to know our govt has unleashed an army to round up millions of citizens and keep them imprisoned in a gulag that would make Joe Stalin jealous. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of cops who could be looking for violent felons are out looking to see whose getting high. Everyday we let out murderers/rapists/child molesters to make room for drug users who happen to black and hispanic. We need to take the country back, people.
    Reply to this comment
    by brianbwb-2009 August 10, 2007 1:23 AM PDT
    Posted by fiteit1,

    As for cutting off appendages, that is not a bad idea, but for advocating a remedy from Islam, you risk being branded a "terrorist" by people just like yourself, knee-jerk fake conservatives.

    You know your boy Bush's hands would be first to go...
    Reply to this comment
    by nskduke August 10, 2007 1:38 AM PDT
    Racist punks!
    Reply to this comment
    by yamuttya August 10, 2007 2:05 AM PDT
    Oh yeah,
    and the weather's nice today......duuuhhhh
    Reply to this comment
    by yamuttya August 10, 2007 2:11 AM PDT
    Bottom line...
    everybody gets off on making money, being successful and enjoying life.
    Except,
    Crazy blacks get off on drugs, killing and stupidity ( Michael Vick = Michael Dick )
    So,
    WHAT ELSE IS NEW ???????

    Sorry, this is not racist,
    THIS IS REALITY,

    Deal with it.....
    Reply to this comment
    by luigi999-2009 August 10, 2007 3:26 AM PDT
    Gee, what a surprise. And blacks want respect? Give me a break.
    Reply to this comment
    by tbweb August 10, 2007 9:09 AM PDT
    Many excel at throwing stones and criticizing but their brains completely shut down when you ask them to offer a solution! When they attempt to offer a solution its usually something racist or sarcastic! Where I come from we have a rule, you're not allowed to trash anything unless you can offer something better in its place, not a bad rule to follow!
    Reply to this comment
    by gunownerdan August 10, 2007 9:21 AM PDT
    Legalize and regulate marijuana(America's #1 cash crop) and watch violent crime go way down.
    Drug gangs and drug dealers would need to find another way to make billions of dollars!
    www.leap.cc
    www.mpp.org
    Reply to this comment
    by yamuttya August 10, 2007 10:19 AM PDT
    Many excel at throwing stones and criticizing but their brains completely shut down when you ask them to offer a solution! When they attempt to offer a solution its usually something racist or sarcastic! Where I come from we have a rule, you're not allowed to trash anything unless you can offer something better in its place, not a bad rule to follow!
    Posted by tbweb at 09:09 AM : Aug

    I agree,
    here it is :
    go to school,
    get a job,
    pay your taxes,
    support your community,
    be a good citizen.
    Period.

    Any questions ??
    Reply to this comment
    by mrs_love August 10, 2007 12:17 PM PDT
    It is ashamed that most of you are taking EVERY black person and putting them into the "Bad Person/Non-Human" bag. What happened to being judged individually. Oops I forgot, that notion never had a chance. It is unfortunate that CBS did not (and most likely will never) give the stats on Black America achieving in this country. Yes folks, Black Americans are doing other things beside being outlaws. Look at your neighbors, your insurance brokers, your lawyers, doctors and store clerks. But don't tell me. They are animals too because they don't look like you.
    Reply to this comment
    by yamuttya August 10, 2007 7:09 PM PDT
    EVERY black person and putting them into the "Bad Person/Non-Human" bag.
    Mrs LOVE

    Crazy blacks get off on drugs
    Yamuttya

    Dont say I include all blacks because I dont.
    There are lots of great people who are black.
    Unfortunately, O.J. is very typical.
    The CRAZY BLACKS.
    Give him all the money, fame and respect in the world and what do you get?
    A low life coward psycho murderer.
    ( Michael Vick and hundreds of others , ditto )

    Black America has two choices.....
    1/ continue to hide it's head in the sand in denial and excuses we've all heard a million times , or....
    2/ Take responsibility.
    Grow up.
    Get your act together.

    Choose one.
    Reply to this comment
    by my2centss August 11, 2007 9:32 AM PDT
    Sadly, this trend will only get worse. If you look at this country. In areas where there is little unemployment, the crime rates are low, for all races. As we continue to outsource, raise tuition for college, and replace blue collar jobs with illegals, the hope for everyone will start looking bleak. Then it will not only be limited to the black community, that is only where it starts, not ends.
    Reply to this comment
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