Child murders rose sharply in the first year of the pandemic, becoming the leading cause of death among under-18s.
The US is an outlier among other developed nations, as firearms are a major contributor to the homicide rate, which has steadily increased by an average of more than four percent since 2013.
Homicides saw a particularly “steep” rise from 2019 to 2020 – from around 1,600 to more than 2,050, a 28 percent increase. This was fueled by a sharp rise in firearm-related homicides of minors, which increased by nearly 50 percent between 2019 and 2020.
The steepest increases were among black children and almost half among children living in southern states. The latest study comes days after the anniversary of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.
Homicides increased overall, but particularly among boys, while homicides among girls declined
The study’s authors, from the federal government and Georgia State University, wrote: “The study results highlight child homicide as a public health concern that deserves immediate attention… The recent increase may in part reflect the overall trend in homicide-related crimes firearms.”
The other leading causes of death among minors are car accidents and suicide. In fact, as of 2020, car accidents were the leading cause of premature death in children.
That was the year that guns became the leading cause of death among children.
The researchers used data from the National Violent Death Reporting System to describe the circumstances of the violent deaths. They published their findings in JAMA Pediatrics.
The homicide rate among black boys ages 16 to 17 is nearly 74 per 100,000 children, which is 18 times higher than white children and almost five times higher than hispanic boys of the same age.
According to the study, “Residential segregation exposes children of color disproportionately to poverty, segregated and underfunded education systems, environmental hazards, lack of safe spaces and limited opportunities, all conditions that could increase the risk of experiencing violence.”
Homicides also disproportionately affected older children, with over half occurring in 11- to 17-year-olds.
Meanwhile, homicides of infants and children under the age of five were most commonly committed by a parent’s or mother’s male companion as a result of abuse or neglect, with the home being the most common place where young children were killed.
Children aged 6 to 11 were most often killed with a gun. Murder rates were also higher among boys than girls.
Murder rates have fallen among girls and infants ages 1 to 5, white children, children of Asian or Pacific Islander origin, and children in the Northeast.
Infant and young child deaths were most commonly associated with abuse. Most deaths among six to ten year olds were caused by firearms, most commonly carried out by caregivers.
The majority of the homicides involved black children, while nearly half occurred among children in the southern United States. These children were also responsible for most of the hospitalizations involving firearms.
“While these losses and their consequences are inherently avoidable, despite numerous advances in other aspects of child safety, they are becoming more frequent, not less frequent. Indeed, gunshot injuries have overtaken motor vehicle accidents to become the leading cause of death among children,” the authors wrote in an accompanying editorial.
The report’s authors found an increase in violent gun crime during the Covid-19 pandemic as an indirect effect of widespread social isolation, which exacerbated racial and economic disparities.
2020 was the first year that gun violence overtook vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death – due to both a rise in firearm deaths and a rapid decline in vehicle-related deaths over the past two decades.
A separate study, also published this week in JAMA Pediatrics, found that the number of children attending hospitals with gunshot wounds rose 52 percent between April 2020 and December 2021, compared to that rate from April 2018 to December 2019