U.S. gun homicides were concentrated among Black youth before, during and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, the United States experienced the largest annual increase in homicides since 1960. In a new study, researchers examined race and ethnicity disparities for gun homicide deaths between 2018 and 2022, before, during and after the start of the war. Covid-19 pandemic. They found that deaths from gun homicides were concentrated among black 15- to 24-year-olds in all years studied, suggesting that social and structural conditions contributed to these racial disparities.

The article, by researchers from the University of Miami and the University of Chicago, popped up in JAMA network opened as a research letter.

“Our findings have implications for prevention and intervention strategies to meet the needs of individuals most at risk,” said Alex R. Piquero, professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Miami, who co-authored the study . Piquero and his co-author, John K. Roman, director of the Center on Safety and Public Justice at the University of Chicago, are experts whose work is promoted by the NCJA Crime and Justice Research Alliance.

The spike in homicides in 2020 began in the first few months of the year and accelerated during the early months of the pandemic, emergency response measures, the police killing of George Floyd, and subsequent social protests. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the increase was largely due to firearm injuries: While total homicides rose 29%, firearm homicides rose 35%.

Using an online database from the CDC, the study found that the increase in violence was concentrated within certain demographic groups. Of the more than 19,000 gun homicide victims that year, 61% were Black individuals and in 2020 they suffered fourteen times the rate of gun homicides compared to white individuals. This racial disparity did not exist for other forms of violence. Finally, the largest increase in firearm homicide deaths was among black men between the ages of 10 and 44.

“Based on our research, we believe that strategies to mitigate this violence should involve police, community groups, educators and health care professionals,” Roman said.

Provided by Crime and Justice Research Alliance