by Abdul-Hakim Shabazz

Although Indianapolis saw an overall drop in its criminal homicide rate in 2019, the number of juvenile murder victims doubled. 

That’s just one of several noticeable, and disturbing trends, in this past year’s criminal homicide data.

The city saw 152 murders, according to information unveiled by IMPD.*  That was one murder every 2.4 days. Last year the city recorded 158 murders, or one murder every 2.3 days.  However, the number of juvenile murder victims increased from seven in 2018 to 15 in 2020 and the age of the average murder suspect dropped from 33 to 28.  The number percentage of African-American murder victims dropped slightly from 80 to 75 percent; blacks make up about 30 percent of the city’s population.

Below are the comparative stats for 2019 and 2018

2019 Criminal Homicide Stats

  • 82-percent of the victims had criminal histories and accounted for 617 adult felony arrests.
  • 78-percent of the suspects had criminal histories and accounted for 243 adult felony arrests
  • Seventy-five percent of the murders involved a black victim, even though blacks are less than 30 percent of the population.
  • Fifteen of the victims and five of the suspects were under age 18.
  • 66 percent of the murders occur on the city’s north/northeast/northwest side.
  • The combined average age of victims is 30.  The combined average age of the suspects was 28.
  • In 73 percent of the cases, the relationship between the victim and the suspect was unknown.
  • Only 25 of the murders were known to motivated by a fight or domestic dispute.
  • 78 percent of the deaths were caused by gunshots.
  • Nearly 30 percent of the city’s murders occurred after September. 
  • Mondays and Tuesdays were the days murders were most likely to take place.  
  • And murders were likely to take place between 9 p.m. and midnight.

2018 Criminal Homicide Stats…

  •  82-percent of the victims had criminal histories and accounted for a combined 729 adult felony arrests
  • 75-percent of the suspects had criminal histories and accounted for a combined 230 adult felony arrests/
  • Seven of the victims and five of the suspects were under age 18.
  • Eighty-percent of the murders involved a black victim, even though blacks are less than 30 percent of the population.
  • 70 percent of the murders occur on the city’s north/northeast/northwest side.
  • The combined average age of victims is 31.  The combined average age of the suspects was 33.
  • In 66 percent of the cases, the relationship between the victim and the suspect was unknown.
  • Only 59 of the murders were known to motivated by a fight or domestic dispute.
  • 82 percent of the deaths were caused by gunshots.
  • Nearly half the homicides occurred in January, May, August, and September and November.
  • Saturday was the day most murders occurred.
  • And murders were likely to take place between 9 p.m. and midnight.

 *In some calculations, the murder number was 154.  We used the latest official data provided by IMPD.

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is the editor and publisher of IndyPolitics.Org.  He is also a licensed attorney in both Indiana and Illinois.  His opinions are his own, but you are free to adopt them as you wish.