Interesting review of the age of killers and those killed in Alabama
from the Birmingham News, which is headlined “The killing years: Accused killers in the Birmingham area, and victims, often under age 25,” provides an interesting review of the chronological dynamics surrounding those killed and those who are killers in one of Alabama’s major urban regions. Here is how the piece starts:
When people are murdered in Jefferson County, chances are the killer was a male under 25 using a gun. More than half of the accused killers in the county were 24 or younger, according to a Birmingham News analysis of homicides from 2006 through 2009. Nine times out of 10, the victims were shot to death.
The percentage of homicides with defendants under age 25 who used guns in Jefferson County substantially exceeds the national average, statistics show. In Birmingham, where nearly three-quarters of the county’s murders occurred, the disparity was even worse from 2006-2009.
Ages 16 through 24 are the killing years here. That age group comprised 56 percent of the accused killers in Birmingham and 54 percent across the county those four years.
Nationally, 42 percent of the homicide defendants were 17 through 24, according to FBI statistics, which do not break out separate numbers for 16-year-olds. The 17-24 age group made up 52 percent of the homicide defendants in Birmingham and 50 percent across Jefferson County.
“We’re seeing more violence from that age group, more kids with cold hearts,” said A.C. Roper, Birmingham’s police chief. “Quite often we’ve heard kids say, ‘Well, the victim went to a better place,’ and chalk it up as if they were doing God’s will or something.”
Ages 16 through 24 also are the dying years. About 16 percent of Birmingham’s population is in that age group, but 33 percent of its homicide victims die that young.
“The one issue that has caused me the greatest concern is seeing young men gunned down in the streets by other young men,” said Roper, whose 19-year-old brother was murdered while holding his infant son during a 1992 robbery attempt.