Homicide in Chicago: A Nine-Year Study (1965-1973)

Patterns of violent crime have been typically characterized as both a changing and stable phenomenon.While police statistics indicate that the level of violent crime is increasing, many researchers have found that the nature of these crimes is fairly stable.For example, homicides are characterized as intraracial mostly between close acquaintances and committed by those who have essentially no criminal career. 1 While there is an element of stability in the pattern of homicide over time, the rapid increase in the number of homicides committed would lead one to suspect that there are changes in the nature of the crime as well.Over the nine year period from 1965 to 1973 the homicide rate in Chicago more than doubled: from 395 criminal homicides and a rate of 11.4 per 100,000 in 1965 to 854 homicides and it rate of 25.3 in 1973.This great increase in the rate of homicide is not unique to Chicago, and suggests that analysis of patterns of homicide over time might add a useful dimension to the data base provided by earlier studies.In 1971 a study was completed of patterns of homicide in Chicago from 1965 to 1970.2Thisstudy was primarily concerned with changes in rates of homicide for various age, sex, and race groups and changes in patterns of motive and gun use in homicide.This study has now been extended through 1973, allowing analysis of patterns of homicides over a nine year period.This paper will analyze changes in patterns of age, race, and sex distribution and motive and gun use for both victims and offenders.Rather than using rates to analyze these changes two new techniques are used: (1) demographically