percent of murder victims about 14,960 victims in 1998 were 18 years of age or older. Fewer
adults were murdered in the United States in 1998 than in any year since at least 1976. In 1998,
about 1,960 murder victims were under age 18. This level is substantially below that of the peak
year of 1993, when 2,880 juveniles were murdered. However, this decline only returned the level
to that of 1988. The number of juveniles murdered in the United States in 1998 was still nearly
300 more than in a typical year between 1980 and 1987. In 1998, about 920 persons under age 13
were murdered. The number of preadolescent murder victims fluctuated within