The annual study, “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2005 Homicide Data,” uses 2005 data — the most recent data available from the FBI — and ranks the 50 states according to their black homicide victimization rates.

The top 10 states with each state’s corresponding black homicide victimization rate are:

1) Missouri, 32.79 per 100,000
2) Pennsylvania, 32.14 per 100,000
3) Wisconsin, 30.49 per 100,000
4) Indiana, 28.70 per 100,000
5) Michigan, 28.06 per 100,000
6) California, 27.05 per 100,000
7) Arkansas, 25.34 per 100,000
8) Alaska, 24.87 per 100,000
9) Nevada, 24.42 per 100,000
10) Maryland, 24.16 per 100,000.

The study warns of the devastation homicide inflicts on black teens and adults.

For Nevada, researchers found that there were 50 black homicide victims in 2005. Of these, 42 were male and 8 were female.

For homicides where a weapon was found, 69-percent of the victims were killed with guns. Of these, 73-percent were known to be killed with handguns. There were 8 victims killed with knives or other cutting instruments, and 4 victims killed by a blunt object.

In 2005, there were 6,874 black homicide victims in the United States. Of these, 5,850 were male, and 1,023 were female. Gender was not recorded for 1 victim.