There was a big decrease in Hispanic homicide victimization rates starting in 2005, although, because of the Ferguson Effect, the decrease has been reversed somewhat.
To simplify things I refer to Non-Hispanic Blacks as Black, Non-Hispanic Whites as White, and Whites of Hispanic origin as simply Hispanics. I also use the term race and Hispanic ethnic origin interchangeably. Because the CDC’s estimates of legal intervention deaths are unreliable I include them in the homicide totals.
The CDC suppresses data from states that report fewer than 10 deaths, so I’m not able to show all states.
Because Hispanics tend to be younger than the general population, it’s probably a good idea to compare the age-adjusted homicide rates. Keep in mind that just because the age-adjusted rate is lower doesn’t mean that when you move to a Hispanic neighborhood you won’t experience the raw homicide rate.
Hispanics are more violent than Whites when adjusting for age, this is even more evident when plotting the single age-group homicide rates
The sometimes lower homicide rate for Hispanics younger than 12 may be due to Hispanics being less crazy in general. I checked the data for 1997-2011 and during those years Hispanics had a higher homicide rate. Since we’re talking about homicide victimization it’s important to note that the vast majority of the killers of children are adults.
Turns out the CDC has special codes for homicides that were the consequence of terrorism, so I can exclude those deaths and show the rates since 1999 (the charts above started from 2002 because I wanted to exclude the 9/11 spike)
It’s pretty sad that New Mexico, with little immigration and a long-standing Hispanic population, has the highest Hispanic homicide rate in the nation. They also have really low test scores. Hopefully, it doesn’t reflect the future (but it probably will).
Not surprisingly, Hispanics in Pennsylvania, the majority of whom are Puerto Rican, are the most violent relative to Whites. And what’s up with South Carolina? If Nisbett is to be believed it’s because of its culture of honor.
