As part of our special Year in Review series, we parse out data related to this year’s homicides. The numbers in this story are pulled from Homicide Watch DC’s database unless otherwise noted. For more detailed information, use the sorting features on our victims and suspects databases or explore our map.
In 2011:
There were 108 murder victims in 105 separate incidents. 3 incidents involved multiple fatalities.
80 percent of the victims were from DC.
14 percent were from Maryland.
6 percent were from an unknown part of DC, had no fixed address, or it was not reported where they were from.
Of those who were DC residents, 40 percent were from Northeast DC, 30 percent were from Northwest DC and 29 percent were from Southeast DC. There were no victims from Southwest DC.
Of all homicide victims, 87 percent were black. 2 percent were Hispanic and 1.8 percent were white. The races of eight victims were not reported.
12 victims were female; 96 were male.
More than half of all homicide victims were under the age of thirty. 41 percent were 20-29 years old. 15 percent were 19 or younger.
Three people aged 65 or older were killed.
The youngest homicide victim was 15 years old. The oldest was 92 years old.
The deadliest ages were 20 and 22.
16 victims had contact with DYRS or CSS. 9 suspects were, at some point, in DYRS custody before the homicide they are alleged to have committed. (These numbers are courtesy of DC Councilman Jim Graham)
68 percent of all victims were declared dead at a hospital; 31 percent were declared dead at the scene of the homicide.
Shootings accounted for 71 percent of homicides this year (77 shootings). Stabbings accounted for 19 percent (21 stabbings). Blunt force trauma accounted for 6 percent (7 assaults). There was one case of vehicular assault.
13 homicides, 12 percent of all homicides, are attributed to domestic violence. (This number is courtesy of DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and DC SAFE)
9 domestic violence homicide victims were male; 4 were female. 6 of the homicides were intimate partner violence. 2 were sibling violence. 4 are other or unknown domestic relationships.
70 people were arrested for homicides that occurred in 2011. At least one arrest was announced in 55 of the 105 homicide cases. 8 cases in 2011 involve more than one suspect. No arrests have been announced in 53 cases, or 49 percent of all homicides in 2011.
46 suspects were under the age of 30 at the time of their arrest. 8 were under the age of 18. The age represented with the most suspects was 19.
60 suspects are male and 10 are female.
Of the 70 people arrested for homicides that occurred in 2011, 5 have not yet had preliminary hearings. 33 people are awaiting action by the Grand Jury on murder charges against them. 17 people have been indicted by the Grand Jury and their cases are pending trial. 9 people pleaded guilty; 2 of them have been sentenced.
A note about Homicide Watch DC’s data collection: We use publicly available documents and sources every day to build the most complete public database of homicide information in DC. Our sources include MPD press releases, obituaries and court and jail records.
Find data visualizations of these statistics here.
