Detroit Teen Charged With Stabbing Newborn Girl to Death

A police car in a file photo. (Pixabay)

Authorities will charge a 16-year-old girl as an adult for the murder of her infant child, who was found stabbed to death in a Detroit home in February.

Angel McKing faces a charge of first-degree murder as an adult designated, Fox2 reported, which means that if she is found guilty, she can be sentenced as an adult.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy was cited by WWJ News Radio as explaining that during sentencing, the judge can opt to sentence McKing as either a juvenile or an adult, or come up with a sentence that is a hybrid of the two.

Emergency medical services were called out to a home at 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 to assist with an “unknown medical condition,” according to The Detroit News, and they took McKing to a hospital. It was later revealed that earlier that day, McKing had given birth.

Authorities cited in the report accuse McKing of stabbing the baby girl sometime after giving birth to her in a toilet. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office said the baby died of multiple wounds to the neck.

It is alleged that McKing then wrapped the baby’s body in a towel, put her in a purse, and hid her body in a closet.

Police found the baby’s body the next day.

WWJ reported that McKing is due to appear at the Juvenile Detention Center on Oct. 25 for a pretrial hearing.

Violent Crime in the United States

Violent crime in the United States fell by just over 3 percent between 2017 and 2018, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which is based on crimes reported to the police.

However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) (pdf), which is based on self-reported victim surveys administered annually, the rate of violent crime in the United States remained essentially unchanged between 2017 and 2018.

BJS Figures

According to the NCVS, the number of U.S. residents age 12 or older who were victims of violent crime increased between 2015 and 2018.

“The increase from 2015 to 2018 in the number of violent-crime victims age 12 or older, from 2.7 million to 3.3 million, was driven by increases in the number of victims of rape or sexual assault, aggravated assault, and simple assault,” the BJS said.

Percent of U.S. residents age 12 or older who were victims of violent crime, 1993-2018. (BJS)

Further, BJS figures show that while more people have reported being victims of violent crimes in recent years, the portion of those who report having been victims of serious crimes overall has fallen. The BJS defines serious crimes are those that are generally prosecuted as felonies, including the majority of completed or attempted violent crimes with the exception of simple assault. Also classified as serious crimes are completed burglaries and motor vehicle thefts.

Between 2014 to 2018, the portion of U.S. residents age 12 or older who reported being victims of serious crimes fell from 1.89 percent to 1.68 percent. According to BJS, this drop was driven by a decline in completed burglaries.

Percent of U.S. residents age 12 or older who were victims of total serious, serious violent, and serious property crime, 1993-2018. (BJS)

FBI Stats

In 2018, an estimated 1,206,836 violent crimes occurred nationwide, FBI figures show, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 3.3 percent. Violent crimes are defined within the UCR Program as offenses that involve force or threat of force. They consist of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

When considering longer-term trends across 5- and 10-year periods, violent crime in 2018 was 4.7 percent higher than in 2014, but 9.0 percent lower than in 2009.

Violent crime figures for the period 2014-2018, based on crimes reported to the police. (FBI UCR)

Further, FBI data shows that in 2018, the estimated number of murders in the United States was 16,214, which was a 6.2 percent drop from 2017 but a 14.5 percent rise from 2014.

The FBI figures also found there were 5.0 murders per 100,000 people in the U.S. in 2018. By comparison, according to United Nations homicide statistics, the murder rate per 100,000 in Japan last year was 0.28, in Canada 1.68, and in Russia 10.82. The highest murder rate was in El Salvador (82.84), followed by Honduras (56.52), and the United States Virgin Islands (49.26).

Considering violent crime rates over a longer time span, the FBI data shows (pdf) that the rate of offenses that involve force or threat of force fell by 49 percent between 1993 and 2017.