La. ranks 6th in Black homicide victimization

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

The Violence Policy Center released a new study that ranked Louisiana sixth in the nation in Black homicide victimization.

The study, titled “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2011 Homicide Data,” indicated that Louisiana’s per capita homicide rate for African Americans was 25.30 per 100,000. This is nearly one and a half times the national rate for African Americans (17.51 per 100,000) and more than five times the overall homicide victimization rate nationwide (4.44 per 100,000).

The analysis was based on unpublished data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Supplementary Homicide Report. In 2011, Louisiana had 375 black homicide victims; 328 of these were male and 47 were female. Overwhelmingly, guns were the weapons of choice in these murders; 330 (90%) of these victims were killed with guns; 94 percent of that number were killed with handguns. Nationwide, 82 percent of Black homicide victims were killed with guns. 77 percent of these were killed with handguns.

“Guns are the number one homicide tool in this country, but in Louisiana, the role they play is really eye-opening,” said Josh Sugarmann, co-author of the study and the executive director of the Violence Policy Center. “Gun violence is a public health crisis that touches all Americans, but the impact on African Americans is especially devastating…The role of guns, especially handguns, is something we believe must be addressed.”

In cases where the circumstances of the murder could be identified, 63 percent were not related to the commission of any felony. Of these crimes, 88 percent involved arguments between the victim and the offender. These statistics refute a common misconception that murder victims are often engaged in an illegal activity that makes them more susceptible to homicide.

“What we see is a willingness time and again to dismiss homicides among Blacks in America as either a result of criminal activity or gang violence,” Sugarmann said. “But it’s really more a result of arguments, not criminal activity.”

Three hundred twenty-eight of the state’s Black homicide victims were male; 47 were female; 33 victims (9%) were under 18 years of age; six victims (2%) were 65 years of age or older. The average age was 29 years old.

In situations where the offender’s relationship to the victim was identified, 81 percent of Louisiana’s Black homicide victims were killed by someone they knew.

The goal of the study was to raise awareness in the general public about the homicide rates for African Americans and inform policy makers of the seriousness of the problem.

“We don’t want this to become normal, something people learn to live with, something that can be ignored,” Sugarmann said. “This report should be a wake-up call for our elected officials to address the disproportionately high homicide victimization rate among Black men and women. The longer we wait to act, the more lives will be lost.”

According to the study, the only five states to have higher African-American homicide rates than Louisiana were Nebraska, Mis­souri, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. This is the eighth year the VPC has released the study.

This article originally published in the January 27, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.