Why is it necessary to control for the percentage of the population between the ages of 15 and 24 in cross-national homicide studies? While it seems like a simple question, the answer is elusive. The theoretical arguments most often cited or alluded to in previous literature are compositional and contextual effects. Each theoretical argument indicates that having a larger portion of the population that is young should increase homicide rates within nations. To explore these propositions, I ask two research questions. First, are the 15- to 24-year age-specific homicide rates consistently the highest age-specific homicide rates across nations and over time? Second, is there a correlation between the percentage of the population that is young and overall or age-specific homicide rates within nations? I use exploratory data analysis (EDA) to address these questions. EDA is an important tool that can both answer research questions and provide a crucial initial step to address more sophisticated research questions. The results of EDA indicated that (1) age-specific homicide rates for the young population are not the highest age-specific homicide victimization rates across nations or time and (2) there is reason to question the theoretical arguments for an association between the percentage of the population that is young and homicide victimization rates across nations.
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