Title: Homicide Fact: Age Matters | Psychology Today
Headings: Homicide Fact: Age Matters
Scott A. Bonn Ph.D.
Homicide Fact: Age Matters
Murder is an act of the young.

Content: Sadly, even young children are at risk, and homicide is a major cause of death among infants and toddlers. Homicide is the third leading cause of death of all persons under the age of five, and it is the leading cause of infant deaths due to injury. More than eighty percent of infant homicides are considered to be the result of fatal child abuse. In most of these deaths, the perpetrator is a primary caretaker of the child—that is, a parent, stepparent or domestic partner of a parent. The most common method of infant homicide is a tiny victim being beaten with fists or kicked to death. The age pattern for homicide offenders follows a pattern similar to homicide victims—that is, homicide offending rates decrease with age. According to the UCR data, the average age of homicide offenders fell from 29.6 years in 1980 to 26.4 years in 1994, and then increased to 28.8 years in 2008. From 1980 to 2008, young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four consistently had the highest offending rate of all age groups. This rate nearly doubled from 1985 to 1993, as it climbed from 22.1 to 43.1 offenders per 100,000 persons. Since 1993, the rate for eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds has declined to 24.6 homicide offenders per 100,000 persons in 2008.