State's Youth Homicide Rate Increases, Even in Sonoma

Four young people were victims of homicides in Sonoma County in 2011, a statistic that makes the county's youth homicide rate substantially lower than the state average, a study released Wednesday reported.

But there were no youth homicides here in 2010, meaning a state-wide trend upward holds true in Sonoma County as well.

"Lost Youth: A County-by-County Analysis of 2011 California Homicide Victims Ages 10 to 24,” is an annual study by the Violence Policy Center that analyzes unpublished California Department of Justice Supplementary Homicide Report  data.

In 2011, 631 youths and young adults were killed in California.

Overall, the youth homicide rate in the state is declining, from 31.24 per 100,000 in 2009 to 16.96 per 100,000 in 2011, the study reported.

Four youths were the victims of homicides in Sonoma County in 2011, making the county's homicide rate 4.24 per 100,000 youths. That was a sharp increase compared to 2010 and 2009, the two other years analyzed by the "Lost Youth" study.

Sonoma's youth homicide rate ranks 21st out of 35 counties included in the study in 2011. California counties without a population of at least 25,000 youth and young adults between the ages of 10 to 24 were omitted.

Throughout the state, firearms—usually handguns—are the weapon of choice in the homicides of youth and young adults, according to the study.

• Of the 625 homicides for which the murder weapon could be identified, 83 percent of victims died by gunfire. Of these, 73 percent were killed with handguns.
• There were 70 victims (11 percent) killed with knives or other cutting instruments, 11 victims (2 percent) killed by a blunt object, and 8 victims (1 percent) killed by bodily force.

The study also shows that there are vast demographic disparities: in California, young African-Americans are more than 18 times more likely to be murdered than young whites; young Hispanics are more than four times more likely to be murdered than young whites.

• 91 percent of homicide victims ages 10-24 in 2011 were male and 9 percent were female.
• 55 percent were Hispanic, 32 percent black, 8 percent white, 5 percent Asian, and less than one percent were “other.”

The victim-to-offender relationship was identified in just over half of the 631 homicides. In those cases, one-third of victims were killed by someone they knew and more than half were murdered by a stranger. Another 15 percent were gang-motivated slayings.

Across the state, San Joaquin County has the most severe youth violence mortality rate, with 35 homicide victims ages 10 to 24, a rate 21.29 per 100,000.

More young people were killed in other, more populous counties, though. Los Angeles County experienced 207 homicide deaths for this age group and, in Northern California, Alameda County was the most violent, with 50 youth killed in homicides, according to the study.

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