Black Homicide Victimization in the United States, An Analysis of 2022 Homicide Data

By Terra Wiens 

  The devastation homicide inflicts on Black teens and adults is an ongoing national crisis, yet it is all too often ignored outside of affected communities. This study examines the issue of Black homicide victimization by analyzing 2022 WISQARS mortality data1 from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This analysis offers national and state data, ranks the states by their Black homicide victimization rates, and offers additional information on the 10 states with the highest rates. Previous versions of this report used exclusively FBI SHR data to describe Black homicide victimization. In January of 2021, the FBI changed the way crime data are collected in the United States, which negatively impacted the reliability of such data from some states. As a result of the incomplete nature of state-by-state SHR crime data for 2022, using this data for ranking the states is not possible. In order to continue examining state-specific Black homicide victimization rates and offering state rankings, this report utilizes CDC WISQARS data to describe victim demographics and weapons used at both the national level and the state level for the 10 states with the highest Black homicide victimization rates. To offer further detail on Black homicide victimization in the United States, FBI SHR data are used to describe the victim and offender relationship and homicide circumstances at the national level. The Violence Policy Center hopes that at some point in the near future FBI crime data will once again be sufficiently robust to allow for a more complete analysis of the data.  

Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center  2024. 24p.