Murder Victims 1 Running Head: Murder Victims by age, sex, and race

Exercise 2 Problem Definition Paper: Secondary Data Tables Shancie Elliott SOWK300-02 Ms. McArthur September 14, 2011

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Abstract Murder is defined as the deliberate killing of one human being by another under thought-out intentions. The arrangements of these offenses recorded are based only on police investigations in the United States. This paper presents murder victims by their age, sex, and race. The data tables complied for this essay showed the crime rates by states, the state of affairs and weapons that caused the deaths.

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1. Problem Identification Over a period of time there has been numerous murders in the United States of America. Due to these murders there have been effects on millions of people lives that could have been prevented. Murder and crimes exist everywhere and people need to be aware of this. All these murders were committed under certain circumstances with weapons. 2. Problem Description: Murder by definition is an act which had been previously planned and intended. If we talk about taking man's life on an impulse, we rather talk about killing in a state of affectation or momentary insanity which cannot be classified as a murder although consequences are the same. I believe almost every person comes across some situation in his life, when he or she could easily have the opportunity to kill someone. I know it sounds alarming, but it is reality. Where I live most of the murders are just simple killings which in fact hadn't been anticipated, but had happened through unfortunate situations, usually as a consequence of deteriorated partnerships or other family trouble, and even mistaken of shooting the wrong person. Sometimes unstable people execute more than one murder before they are detained. As for the real murders, they also happen off course. I should say 1 real murder out of 10 killings. Murder in the United States has taken a handful from within our nation each year increasing. My topic compares murder victims at large categorized by age, sex, and murder. Murder is an unlawful act of killing one human being by another with premeditation of the crime. Nearly 14,000 to 15,000 people die a year. Off that 14,000 majority being male and the minority being female. The relationship between age and crime is of importance because the quantity of deaths varies with how old you may be.

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The majority of murder victims range between 17 years of age to 29 years of age. The minority would be from infants to 12 year olds. The relationship between race and crime has always been of issue in the United States. Not only has record been taken of the individual involved in the crime but also the kind of crimes committed. The number among the races of white and black are very close but whites are faintly higher in murder victims. This table essentially shows murders amongst victims by their different age, sex, and race. Anger, confusion, mental illnesses in some cases, or money can initiate a murder. Under certain circumstances things that happen to be at large are thing like robbery, narcotic drugs, or gang killing. Under types of weapons that cause deaths things like guns, cutting instruments, and personal weapons are the majority. These are the sources and causes of death in the United States are a major problem. One way that we can stop murder is by trying to reduce crime. The best way to prevent crime is by stopping people from becoming criminals. Things like education and social programs help people in order to succeed and get ahead with criminal behavior crime ways raises when you have a population of different individuals living in desperate conditions. 3. Findings. a. Magnitude: Murder is an act of crime which is a big deal because it effects over millions of people in the United States. To many of us murder is just an act of taking anothers life but it is much more than that. Murder is done with intentions that involve malice aforethought which means a person has time to consider his or her actions when in the act of taking another human beings life. With this being said a person must be sane in order to commit murder, have no excuse to kill someone, and

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act intentionally. With serious crimes comes serious punishment in our country so people should take murder critically. People can be affected in many different ways when they become a victim of crime. Financially crime has put a big hole in the pockets of the United States increasing each year. When certain murders or crimes have been committed at times the United States loses nearly millions and billions of dollars. b. Scope: murder is a problem that has occurred in the United States for many years increasing with each year. Murder has effect on each state across the nation. Violent crime does not have a major effect on the society like property crime. Things that are to be considered violent crime is murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Things that are considered to be property crime are burglary, larceny or theft, and motor vehicle theft. District of Colombia population is effected by violent and property rime most. The state Maine is effected at the least by violent crime and the state of New Hampshire also being affected at the least but by property crime. c. Changes: Overtime murder in the United States has increased in a lot of areas but also has decreased in some areas. Overall murder has not been reduced. At a point in time murder was reduced when people were allowed to carry guns. Law enforcements, conviction rates, jail and prison population has increased depending on the type of murder convicted it varies whether or not it changed over time. For instance felonies like rape, robbery, burglary, narcotic drugs, arson, and theft have decreased over the years. Other felonies like gang violence, love triangles, prison violence, and shootings have increased over the years.

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d. Disparities: Differences in murder victims by age, sex, and race matter a lot. In 2008 about 78 percent of the murder victims were male and 21 percent were female. This shows how much young gentlemen are in violence and in danger. Most of the murders are convicted by males although males and females were both offenders; female murder offenders are more likely to kill males. Off that 100 percent of murder victims by race 48.3 percent were white, 47.7 percent were black and 4 percent was either other or unknown. Age also made a big difference amongst murder victims. The more active and young were mostly at risk. Between ages 17-29 were the majority of the murder victims and the race of this majority was black.

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4. Data Tables:

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References U.S Census Bureau, (2011). Murder victims- circumstances and weapons used or cause of death: 2000 to 2008 . (p. 197). District of Colombia: Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ U.S Census Bureau, (2011). Murder victims by age, sex, and race: 2008. (p. 197). District of Colombia: Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ U.S Census Bureau, (2011). Financial crimes: 2003 to 2009. (p. 211). District of Colombia: Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ U.S Census Bureau, (2011). Crime rates by state, 2007 and 2008, and by type 2008. (p. 195). District of Colombia: Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/