The annual Violence Policy Center study on black homicide victimization ranks Nebraska #1 in the country.
Josh Sugarmann, Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center, says the data analyzed for and used in the report is obtained from the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report.
He says 9 out of 10 victims were shot and killed. Sugarmann calls the numbers in Nebraska shocking.
"The black homicide victimization rate in the state was 34.43 per 100,000 and of those, 9 out of 10 victims were killed with guns. To put it into perspective, that’s essentially twice the national black homicide victimization rate. If you compare it to the national overall victimization rate, which is only 4.4 per 100,000, it’s really a shocking figure.”
Sugarmann says one goal of the study, which looks at these issues state by state, is to raise awareness within each state and across the U-S.
He says the VPC hopes to see policy makers move to take action and start talking about the issue of gun violence.