New DOJ homicide stats: Murders at 50-year low; blacks 6x more likely to be victims; mass shootings rare

Check out these highlights and lowlights from the new DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Homicides in the U.S. Known to Law Enforcement, 2011:

• The U.S. homicide rate declined by nearly half (49%), from 9.3 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1992 to 4.7 in 2011, falling to the lowest level since 1963. From 2002 to 2011, the average homicide rate for males was 3.6 times higher than the rate for females. The average homicide rate for blacks was 6.3 times higher than the rate for whites.
• From 2002 to 2011, young adults ages 18 to 24 had the highest homicide rate of any age group and experienced the greatest rate decline (down 22%) over the 10-year period, from 15.2 per 100,000 in 2002 to 11.9 in 2011.
• The rate of homicides involving a firearm decreased by 49% from 1992 to 2011, while the percentage of homicide victims killed by a firearm (67%) remained stable.
• Large cities of 100,000 or more residents experienced the largest decline (23%) in homicide rates from 2002 to 2011, compared to communities with less than 100,000 residents.
• From 2002 to 2011, the majority (95%) of homicide incidents involved a single victim. In 2011, 66% of homicides with a single victim involved a firearm, compared to 79% of homicide incidents with multiple victims.

Not only was the 4.7 per 100K homicide rate in 2011 the lowest since 1963, it was "54% below its peak of 10.2 per 100,000 persons in 1980." Further, despite all the publicity surrounding high-profile mass shootings, "Since 2002, the percentage of homicide incidents involving two or more victims has remained relatively stable." According to the report, "In 2011, about 110 homicide incidents involved three victims, or less than 1% of all homicides that year. Homicide incidents involving four or more victims were even less frequent. In 2011, of an estimated 13,750 reported homicide incidents, about 25 involved four or more victims."