Missouri tops nation in homicide rate of Blacks

According to a study by the Violence Policy Center, Missouri beats every other state in the homicide rate of Black people, reports St. Louis Today. The national murder rate of Black men and women is a 18.68 percent per 100,000, but the rate for Missouri is 46.24 percent. The numbers are based on FBI figures from 2015. Second is the state of Wisconsin at a rate of 36.77 percent. Black men and women are killed at higher rates than the general population, says the report. Black men in particular are at risk with 88 percent of Black homicides in the analysis were male. Black men are killed at a rate of 34.21 per 100,000, compared to 7.52 per 100,000 for the general male population, and 3.9 per 100,000 for white men. Black women were also murdered at a higher rate than the national average — 4.41 per 100,000, compared to 1.79 per 100,000 for the general population and 1.45 per 100,000 for white women. The average age of Black homicide victims nationwide is 31, but the average age of Black victims in Missouri is 29. Most Black victims were killed with guns, according to the policy center, and of those victims whose relationship to the killer could be identified, most Black victims knew their killers.