The Social Causes of American Indian Homicide as Revealed by the Life Experiences of Thirty Offenders

OF ALL THE MINORITIES in the United States, according to government statistics on income, employment, and housing, the American Indian is the poorest of the poor. Life in their social world can be brutal, often cut short by violent death. Homicide represents this violent death in an extreme form. A recent analysis of racial/ethnic homicide rates revealed that although the black population's national homicide rate (33 per 100,000 population) was much higher than both whites (4.6 per 100,000 population) and American Indians (9.6 per 100,000 population), the American Indian rate was double that of whites (Bachman 1991). Further, when reservation county rates are examined, the severity of the problem is illuminated. Some counties maintain American Indian homicide rates close to or more