Homicide trends in the U.S.
Victim/offender relationship

Most homicides with known victim/offender relationships involved people who knew each other

• The number of homicides where the victim/offender relationship was undetermined has been increasing since 1999 but has not reached the levels experienced in the early 1990s.
  
  

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Note: Intimate includes spouses, ex-spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and same-sex        
relationships. Friend/Acquaintance includes neighbor, employee, employer, and other known.

These data are grouped from the original categories. For the detailed categories see the following tables:
Weighted | Unweighted

In 14% of all murders, the victim and the offender were strangers.

• Spouses and family members made up about 15% of all victims.
  
  
• About one-third of the victims were acquaintances of the assailant.
  
  
• The victim/offender relationship was undetermined in over one-third of homicides.

Victim/Offender Relationship, 1976-2005

			All homicides, 1976-2005
			Percent	Number
Total			100.0%	594,276
	Stranger		13.9%	82,428
	Nonstranger
		Spouse	7.0%	41,700
		Other family	8.0%	47,358
		Boyfriend/Girlfriend	3.8%	22,829
		Other Acquaintance	32.1%	190,767
	Relationship undetermined		35.2%	209,194

Homicides committed by friends/acquaintances and strangers are more likely to involve guns than those committed by initmates or family members

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Source: FBI, Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1976-2005.
     See also Additional information about the data.

Note: The victims of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks are not included in this analysis.