Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

increase, with little hope that the trend would alter. Nevertheless, consistentwith historical trends, throughout the entire decade of the 1990s, crime, aswell as murder, decreased continuously.1.9.3 Age PatternsThe age patterns for homicide in America have been fairly steady over theyears. Very few children commit homicide but, contrary to popular belief,homicide committed by children has always occurred. For example, in 2000there was one homicide committed by a child under age 4, two homicidescommitted by children ages 5 to 8, and 13 homicides committed by childrenages 9 to 12. As adolescence begins, the homicide rate picks up considerably.Children ages 13 to 16 committed 415 homicides, adolescents (17 to 19 years)committed 1651 homicides, and young adults (20 to 24 years old) committed2571 homicides. After age 35, homicide rates decline, but there were still 85murders committed by offenders over age 75. Murder victims are also aboutthe same age as the offenders. In 2000, 217 infants under one year old werekilled; 279 victims ages 1 to 4; 84 ages 5 to 8; 61 ages 9 to 12; and 367 ages13 to 16. The vast majority of victims are 17 to 44 years old. After aroundage 44, the ages of victims also decline proportionately.1.9.4 Additional FindingsA review of the UCR’s supplemental homicide data confirms some generallysuspected findings. Firearms, especially handguns, were the weapon ofchoice in 65% of murders in 2000. Knives were used in about 13% ofmurders and personal weapons (such as hands, fists, or feet), blunt objects(clubs, hammers), and other dangerous weapons (poisons, explosives) inthe remainder. Since most homicides occur when people are close to eachother and likely to get into arguments, most murders occur during thesummer and the (holiday) month of December (Chertwood, 1988). Additionally,the homicide rate is highest on Saturday evenings or early Sundaymornings (Hagan, 1994), possibly reflecting not only interpersonal contactbut use of alcohol as well. In fact, Wolfgang (1958) first established thatabout half of all offenders, as well as victims, were under the influence ofalcohol at the time of the homicide.It has long been suspected, even since premodern times, that there is arelationship between lunar cycles and homicide. Police officers and hospitalemergency room personnel have consistently reported an increase in interpersonalviolence during a full moon. One study (Lieber, 1978) did, in fact,seem to show a correlation between the moon and homicide rates. It hasbeen theorized that since the human body is about 80% water, the moon’sinfluence is similar to the impact it has on tides.