The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program's annual publication, Crime in the United States, 2003, compiles crime statistics from more than 17,000 city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies.

Here is a summary of the murder and manslaughter statistics for 2003:

• The UCR Program estimated that 16,503 murders occurred in the United States in 2003. This figure represents a 1.7-percent increase from the 2002 estimate.

• Law enforcement agencies provided the UCR Program with supplementary data for 14,408 murders in 2003. These data showed that most murder victims (90.6 percent) were adults and most were males (77.6 percent). Of the male murder victims, 8.2 percent were juveniles (persons under the age of 18). Juvenile females comprised 13.5 percent of female murder victims nationwide. By race, 48.7 percent of murder victims were white, 48.5 percent were black, and the remainder were of other races.
• In 44.5 percent of murders, the relationship of the murder victim to the offender was unknown. Of the 55.5 percent of murders in which the victim/offender relationship was known, 77.6 percent of the victims knew their assailants.
• In those murders for which law enforcement personnel reported victim and offender relationship data, 32.3 percent of females were killed by their husbands or boyfriends, and 2.5 percent of males were killed by their wives or girlfriends.
• Of the murders involving a single victim and a single offender, 92.4 percent of black victims were killed by black offenders; 84.7 percent of white victims were killed by white offenders.

• Of the murders in 2003 for which law enforcement identified the type of weapon, nearly 71 percent (70.9) involved firearms. Offenders used knives or cutting instruments in 13.4 percent of murders; personal weapons such as hands, fists, and feet in 7.0 percent of murders; and blunt objects in 4.8 percent of murders. Four percent of murders were committed with other types of weapons.
• In 2003, law enforcement investigation was unable to determine the circumstance in 33.9 percent of murders in the Nation. The supplementary data also showed that more than 16 percent (16.4) of murders were committed during the commission of another felony such as during a robbery or a violation of a narcotic drug law.

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