MEMORANDUM September 16, 2013

To: Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Attention: Dan Swanson
From: William J. Krouse, Specialist in Domestic Security and Crime Policy, 7-2225
Matt Deaton, Presidential Management Fellow, 7-1122
Subject: Supplementary Homicide Report Data on Black and White Inter-Racial Justifiable
Homicides in Comparison (2001-2010)

Per your request, this memorandum provides a national, statistical baseline with which to assess whether
inter-racial justifiable homicides—particularly White-on-Black justifiable homicides—might have
increased during the decade (2001-2010). Recent studies have suggested that differences in the
percentages of homicide cases that are classified as justifiable homicides for incidents where a Black
offender kills a White victim compared to where a White offender kills a Black victim might be evidence
of “racial disparities,” and these “disparities” could be amplified by self-defense laws—known
collectively as “stand your ground” (SYG) laws1—that have been passed in over half the states since
2005.2 Similarly, others have suggested that these laws arguably lower the consequences for shooting a
person and have resulted or could possibly result in an increase in homicides (justifiable or not).3

This memorandum does not evaluate these studies, nor does it examine SYG laws. Rather, this
memorandum presents raw data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its
Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHRs)4 related to incidents of justifiable homicide for the years 2001
through 2010. The SHR data were analyzed to compare Black and White inter-racial justifiable homicide

1
Under the common law “Castle Doctrine,” depending on state law, a resident might be under little or no obligation to retreat if a
stranger forcibly enters his or her residence and threatens him or her with bodily harm. Although SYG laws differ considerably
from state-to-state, they basically extend the Castle Doctrine to places, other than one’s home, where a person might have a legal
right to be.
2
See John K. Norman, Race, Justifiable Homicide, and Stand Your Ground Laws: Analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide
Report Data, Urban Institute, July 2013, 14 pp., available at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412873-stand-your-ground.pdf.
3
Cheng Cheng and Mark Hoekstra, Does Strengthening Self-Defense Law Deter Crime or Escalate Violence? Evidence from
Expansions to Castle Doctrine, 42 pp, presented in the Testimony of Mark Hoekstra, Associate Professor of Economics, Texas
A&M University, Before the American Bar Association National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws, February 8, 2013,
available at
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/racial_ethnic_justice/corej_syg_program_book.authcheckdam.pdf.
4
As part of the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) program, local law enforcement agencies are asked to record and report monthly
to the FBI for their jurisdictions the total number or murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies, motor
vehicle thefts, and arsons. Through the SHR program, which is part of the UCR program, states are asked to collect and report
additional information on homicides with regard to victim-offender relationships and event circumstances. The form that local
officials fill out as part of this program is available at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/reporting-forms/supplementary-
homicide-report-pdf.

Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov

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rates5 with national homicide rates.6 The SHR data were disaggregated to include single victim/single
offender (one-on-one) homicides that were firearms-related (see Table 1). For those one-on-one, firearms-
related homicide cases, the SHR were further disaggregated to include homicides, classified as justifiable,
where the victim and offender were strangers (see Table 2).7 Before proceeding, it is significant to note
several data limitations.

 First, the data do not include crime data reported by the state of Florida to the FBI,
because of formatting problems associated with computer systems development in
that state.8
 Second, the data only reflect cases that are initially categorized by law enforcement
agencies and they do not reflect any subsequent determination by the criminal justice
system (i.e., final case dispositions).
 Third, with regard to race, the data presented in this memorandum make no
allowance for the proportion of the population that Blacks and Whites comprise,
respectively, within the United States.
 Fourth, the analysis in this memorandum only includes incidents in which both
parties are known to be Black and White, which does not include unsolved homicides
in which the offender’s race is unknown.
In addition, justifiable homicides by private citizens historically might have been under-reported (before
2006), but law enforcement nationally might have been prompted to pay greater attention to justifiable
homicide incidents in more recent years because of the controversial nature of SYG laws.9 Also, it is
noteworthy that justifiable homicides, even between strangers, could have occurred under circumstances
that have little to do with SYG laws. For example, a private citizen could have killed an armed robber in a
bank or convenience store. Alternatively, these cases could include justifiable homicides carried out in
private residences and could possibly fall under the “Castle Doctrine.”

Notwithstanding data limitations, the SHR data presented in this memorandum show that there is a
difference in the percentage of homicides that were classified as justifiable for Black-on-White compared
to White-on-Black cases. And, for White-on-Black justifiable homicides, the number of incidents and
percentages increased for 2006-2010, the time period in which several states enacted SYG laws,
compared to 2001-2005.

5
In this memorandum, the justifiable homicide data do not include justifiable homicides by law enforcement. The SHR data were
sorted to include private citizen justifiable homicides only. The FBI defines “private citizen justifiable homicides” as the killing
of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen.
6
In this memorandum, the national homicide data include private citizen justifiable homicide cases, as well as murder and
nonnegligent manslaughter cases. The FBI defines “murder and nonnegligent manslaughter” as the willful (nonnegligent) killing
of one human being by another.
7
At the end of this memorandum, there are two tables (Tables 3 and 4) with annual data used to compile Table 1 and 2. In
addition, Tables 3 and 4 include data for Black-on-Black and White-on-White justifiable homicides under the conditions outlined
in this memorandum.
8
CRS conversation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division on August 29,
2013.
9
CRS conversation with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) at the Department of Justice. BJS also noted that an assessment of
the quality of private citizen justifiable homicide data has not been conducted.
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Table 1. Black and White Inter-Racial, Single Victim/Single Offender, Firearms-Related

Justifiable Homicides (2001-2010)
Black-on- White-on-
White Black
Justifiable Justifiable
Homicides Homicides
Black-on- as a % of White-on- as a % of
Black-on- White Black-on- White-on- Black White-on-
White Justifiable White Black Justifiable Black
Homicides Homicides Homicides Homicides Homicides Homicides

2001- 1,484 25 1.7% 802 134 16.7%

2005
2006- 1,529 28 1.8% 817 169 20.7%
2010
2001- 3,013 53 1.8% 1,619 303 18.7%
2010

Source: Supplementary Homicide Reports.

Under the conditions described above, Table 1 shows that, for 2001-2005 and 2006-2010, less than 2% of
Black-on-White homicides were classified as justifiable. By comparison, nearly 19% of White-on-Black
homicides were classified as justifiable. For those time periods, White-on-Black justifiable homicides
increased from 134 to 169, or 26.1%. On average, for the entire decade (2001-2010), there were 5.3 cases
of Black-on-White justifiable homicides compared to 30.3 White-on-Black justifiable homicide cases, a
ratio of one-to-six.

Table 2. Black and White Inter-Racial, Stranger-on-Stranger, Single Victim/Single Offender,

Firearms-Related Justifiable Homicides (2001-2010)
Black-on- White-on-
White Black
Justifiable Justifiable
Homicides Homicides
Black-on- as a % of White-on- as a % of
Black-on- White Black-on- White-on- Black White-on-
White Justifiable White Black Justifiable Black
Homicides Homicides Homicides Homicides Homicides Homicides

2001- 609 19 3.1% 333 108 32.4%

2005
2006- 571 18 3.2% 360 132 36.7%
2010
2001- 1,180 37 3.1% 693 240 34.6%
2010

Source: Supplementary Homicide Reports.

Under the conditions described above, Table 2 shows that, for 2001-2005 and 2006-2010, about 3% of
Black-on-White, stranger-on-stranger homicides were classified as justifiable. By comparison, nearly
35% of White-on-Black, stranger-on-stranger homicides were classified as justifiable for those same time
periods. Again, for those time periods, the number of White-on-Black, stranger-on-stranger justifiable
homicides increased from 108 to 132, or by 22.2%. On average, for the years 2001-through 2010, there
were 3.7 cases of Black-on-White justifiable homicides compared to 24.0 White-on-Black justifiable
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homicide cases, a ratio of one-to-six. At the same time, Blacks killed Whites (1,180) more often than
Whites killed Blacks (693).
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