Lancet

Murder rate for U.S. Black women 6 times that of White women

February 14, 2024

Black women in the U.S. are six times more likely, on average, to be murdered than White women, according to a new cross-sectional, nationwide study conducted by researchers from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health.

The Midwest had the greatest disparities among all U.S. regions; there, Black women were over seven times more likely to be murdered than White women.

The findings suggest an urgent need to address homicide inequities among Black and White women in the U.S., including among other initiatives, enacting federal legislation to reduce gun access.

• Researchers examined a cross-sectional time series of homicide death rates, by race, from the CDC and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research system.
• They included data for women aged 25-44 years between 1999 and 2020 in the 30 states with enough homicides—more than nine in any year—to include in the study.
• Homicide death was classified using underlying cause and multiple cause of death codes; mortality rates were calculated per 100,000 based on U.S. Census Bureau population sizes.
• Homicide methods were classified as firearm, cutting or piercing, and other.
• In 2020, the homicide rate among Black women was 11.6 per 100,000, compared with 3 per 100,000 among White women. This inequity has persisted over time and is virtually unchanged since 1999.
• Homicide inequities vary across U.S. states; in 11 states, racial inequities have increased since 1999.
• The racial inequity was greatest in Wisconsin, where from 2019 to 2020, Black women ages 25 to 44 years were 20 times more likely to die by homicide than White women.
• Homicide by firearm is increasing in frequency; women in the U.S. had 2.44 (95% CI 2.14-2.78) times the odds of homicide involving firearms in 2019-20 compared with 1999-2003.
• Firearm homicide deaths are disproportionately concentrated among Black women in every region in the U.S., but particularly in the Northeast and Midwest.
• In addition to enacting federal legislation to reduce gun access, authors urge policy makers to address long-standing structural factors that underpin elevated gun violence by implementing sustainable wealth-building opportunities; developing desegregated, mixed income and affordable housing; and increasing green spaces in communities where Black women largely reside.

Source:

Waller BY, et al. (2024, February 8). Lancet. Racial inequities in homicide rates and homicide methods among Black and White women aged 25-44 years in the USA, 1999-2020: a cross-sectional time series study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38342127/