African-Americans—particularly males—commit a higher number of offenses as a proportion of the population than other groups. Between 1976 and 2002, 52.1% of FIGURE 7.3 Percentage of students in grades 9-12 who reported drugs were made available to them on school property during the previous 12 months, by race/ethnicity, 2003 "Figure 10.2. Percentage of Students in Grades 9-12 Who Reported Drugs Were Made Available to Them on School Property during the Previous 12 Months, by Race/Ethnicity: 2003," in Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2005, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006001.pdf (accessed February 3, 2006) FIGURE 7.4 Percentage of students ages 12-18 who reported being targets of hate-related words and seeing hate-related graffiti at school during the previous 6 months, by selected student and school characteristics, 2003 "Figure 11.1. Percentage of Students Ages 12-18 Who Reported Being Targets of Hate-Related Words and Seeing Hate-Related Graffiti at School during the Previous 6 Months, by Selected Student and School Characteristics: 2003," in Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2005, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006001.pdf (accessed February 3, 2006) TABLE 7.7 Percentage of students ages 12-18 who reported being targets of hate-related words at school during the previous 6 months, by selected student and school characteristics, 2003 "Table 11.2. Percentage of Students Ages 12-18 Who Reported Being Targets of Hate-Related Words at School during the Previous 6 Months, by Selected Student and School Characteristics: 2003," in Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2005, http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006001.pdf (accessed February 3, 2006)murders were perpetrated by African-Americans. (See Table 7.4.) African-American males between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four made up a growing proportion of homicide offenders between 1976 and 2002. In 1994 African- American males between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four made up more than 30% of homicide offenders, but that number dropped somewhat by 2002. (See Figure 7.5.)

The circumstances under which African-American and white homicide offenders committed their crimes varied by race. African-American offenders were most likely to commit homicides related to illegal drug activity. Between 1976 and 2002, 65.5% of homicide offenders who had committed their crimes under drug-related circumstances were African-American. A high proportion of felony murders (deaths that occur during such violent crimes as burglary, sexual assault, or robbery) between those years were committed by African-Americans (59.2%) as well. By contrast, whites committed a disproportionate number of workplace murders (69.7%), sex-related murders (55.2%), and gang-related murders (54.3%). (See Table 7.4.)

Whites were more likely than African-Americans to commit homicide in the context of an intimate victim-offender relationship or family relationship. Between 1976 and 2002 whites committed 54% of homicides of intimate partners, while African-Americans committed 43.9%. During the same period, whites committed 58.8% of homicides of family members, while African-Americans committed 38.9% of those murders. (See Table 7.4.)