Problem/Condition: Homicide is a leading cause of death for American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs). Intimate partner violence (IPV) contributes to many homicides, particularly among AI/AN females. This report summarizes data from CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on AI/AN homicides. Results include victim and suspect sex, age group, and race/ethnicity; method of injury; type of location where the homicide occurred; precipitating circumstances (i.e., events that contributed to the homicide); and other selected characteristics.

Period Covered: 2003–2018.

Description of System: NVDRS collects data regarding violent deaths obtained from death Certificates, coroner/medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports and links related deaths (e.g., multiple homicides and homicide followed by suicide) into a single incident. This report includes data on AI/AN homicides that were collected from 34 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia.

Results: NVDRS collected data on 2,226 homicides of AI/ANs in 34 states and the District of Columbia during 2003–2018. The age-adjusted AI/AN homicide rate was 8.0 per 100,000 population. The homicide rate was three times higher in AI/AN males than females (12.0 versus 3.9), and the median age of AI/AN victims was 32 years (interquartile range: 23–44 years). Approximately half of AI/AN homicide victims lived or were killed in metropolitan areas (48.2% and 52.7%, respectively). A firearm was used in nearly half (48.4%) of homicides and in a higher percentage of homicides of AI/AN males than females (51.5% versus 39.1%). More AI/AN females than males were killed in a house or apartment (61.8% versus 53.7%) or in their own home (47.7% versus 29.0%). Suspects were identified in 82.8% of AI/AN homicides. Most suspects were male (80.1%), and nearly one third (32.1%) of suspects were AI/ANs. For AI/AN male victims, the suspect was most often an acquaintance or friend (26.3%), a person known to the victim but the exact nature of the relationship was unclear (12.3%), or a relative (excluding intimate partners) (10.5%). For AI/AN female victims, the suspect was most often a current or former intimate partner (38.4%), an acquaintance or friend (11.5%), or a person known to the victim but the exact nature of the relationship was unclear (7.9%). A crime precipitated 24.6% of AI/AN homicides (i.e., the homicide occurred as the result of another serious crime). More AI/AN males were victims of homicides due to an argument or conflict than females (54.7% versus 37.3%), whereas more AI/AN females were victims of homicides due to IPV than males (45.0% versus 12.1%). For homicides related to IPV, 87.2% of AI/AN female victims were killed by a current or former intimate partner, whereas approximately half (51.5%) of AI/AN male victims were corollary victims (i.e., victims killed during an IPV-related incident who were not the intimate partners themselves).

Interpretation

This report provides a detailed summary of NVDRS data on AI/AN homicides during 2003–2018. Interpersonal conflict was a predominant circumstance, with nearly half of all AI/AN homicides precipitated by an argument and for female victims, 45.0% precipitated by IPV.

Public Health Action: NVDRS provides critical and ongoing data on AI/AN homicides that can be used to identify effective and early intervention strategies for preventing these deaths. When possible, violence Prevention efforts should include community-developed, culturally relevant, and evidence-based strategies. These efforts should incorporate traditional native knowledge and solutions, implement and possibly adapt evidence-based IPV and other violence Prevention strategies, and consider the influence of Historyical and larger societal factors that increase the likelihood of violence in AI/AN communities.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP)* is an issue that has gained federal attention (1–3). In 2019, homicide was the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) males and the seventh leading cause of death for AI/AN females aged 1–54 years (4). The Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, also known as Operation Lady Justice, was established in 2019 to enhance the operation of the criminal justice system and to address the concerns of AI/AN communities regarding MMIP (1). In 2020, Savanna’s Act (2) was passed to increase U.S. governmental agency coordination to reduce violent crimes within tribal lands and against AI/ANs, and the Not Invisible Act (3) directed the U.S. Department of Justice to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols to address MMIP. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the rate of violent crime against AI/ANs (101 violent crimes per 1,000 AI/ANs) was more than twice the rate of the general U.S. resident population (41 per 1,000 persons) during 1992–2002 (5). AI/ANs also experience higher rates of adverse childhood experiences, including child abuse and neglect and family and community violence, than other racial/ethnic groups (6–8), which increase their risk for other forms of violence, such as homicide. The risk factors for violence among AI/ANs are compounded by multiple and multilayered traumas, including Historyical (e.g., war and loss of land, language, access to traditional ways, and cultural identity), intergenerational (e.g., child and elder abuse and neglect), and ongoing (e.g., racism and structural inequities) traumas (9–12).