SAN DIEGO — Guns were the most-used weapon in homicides in San Diego County last year, the assailant usually knew the victim, and arguments were the most common motive in the killings, newly released research found.
Released Tuesday, the data review by the Criminal Justice Clearinghouse looked at victims and suspects in violent and property crimes in the region in 2021. Clearinghouse is part of the San Diego Association of Governments.
The Clearinghouse report found racial disparities among both suspects and victims of violent crimes.
Black people make up 5% of the county population, but accounted for 14% of violent crime victims. They were more than five times as likely to be a victim of homicide and three times more likely to be a victim of aggravated assault, the report found.
Latinos make up about 34% of the population in the region, but accounted for 40% of violent crime victims.
White people were about 46%of the population, but accounted for 35% of violent crime victims.
Women and girls were three times more likely to be killed by a family member than were boys or men.
Black people four times more likely to be suspects in violent crimes when compared to their percent of the population. Latino people were also generally overrepresented, and White people were generally underrepresented as suspects.
"These differences could be reflective of racial inequities in society at large as well as differences in responses to crime," the Clearinghouse said in a two-page snapshot highlighting the report findings.
The Clearinghouse review showed guns were used in 59% of homicides. Those findings are generally in line with a Union-Tribune analysis published last month of local homicides in 2021.
The new report also found that guns were used in every gang-related killing in 2021, and in 60%of all homicides that happened during a robbery.
The study reviewed data from more than 13,000 violent crimes and 45,000 property crimes. It acknowledges that both types of crime are vastly underreported.
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