Title: Homicide Fact: Race Matters | Psychology Today
Headings: Homicide Fact: Race Matters
Scott A. Bonn Ph.D.
Homicide Fact: Race Matters
Murder is an intra-racial crime

Content: The rate has fluctuated since then, increasing to 28.4 offenders per 100,000 persons in 2006 before falling again to 24.7 offenders per 100,000 persons in 2008. In 2008, the off ending rate for blacks was 24.7 offenders per 100,000 persons compared to the rate for whites of 3.4 offenders per 100,000 persons. To summarize the data on homicide and race, and offer perspective, the UCR reveals that both the offending rate and victimization rate for blacks are six times greater than the same rates for whites. Moreover, this pattern is not new. The staggering racial disparity in homicide rates is due to the fact that blacks are so grossly over represented among both victims and offenders. Once again, it bears repeating that homicide is overwhelmingly an intra-racial crime. According to the statistical data, the most likely victim and perpetrator of murder in the U.S. is a young, black male, approximately twenty-one years of age. Thus, incredibly, the same individual could be either the victim or the offender in the most likely murder scenario. In other research, I examine the public’s intense fascination with notorious and deadly serial killers, including David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”) and Dennis Rader (“Bind, Torture, Kill”) with whom I personally corresponded, in Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers .