Criminologists largely rely on national deidentified data sources to study homicide in the United States. The National Death Index (NDI), a comprehensive and well-established database compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics, is an untapped source of homicide data that offers identifiable linkages to other data sources while retaining national coverage. This study’s five aims follow. First, we review the data sources in articles published in Homicide Studies over the past decade. Second, we describe the NDI, including its origins, procedures, and uses. Third, we outline the procedures for linking a police gang intelligence database to the NDI. Fourth, we introduce the St. Louis Gang Member-Linked Mortality Files database, which is composed of 3,120 police-identified male gang members in the St. Louis area linked to NDI records. Finally, we report on preliminary cause-of-death findings. We conclude by outlining the benefits and drawbacks of the NDI as a source of homicide data for criminologists.

犯罪学家在很大程度上依靠国家身份不明的数据源来研究美国的凶杀案。国家死亡指数（NDI）是由国家卫生统计中心汇编的一个全面且建立良好的数据库，是凶手数据的未开发来源，可提供与其他数据源的可识别链接，同时保留全国范围。这项研究的五个目标如下。首先，我们回顾了《凶杀研究》中发表的文章中的数据来源在过去的十年。其次，我们描述NDI，包括其起源，程序和用途。第三，我们概述了将警察团伙情报数据库链接到NDI的过程。第四，我们介绍了“圣路易斯帮派成员死亡档案”数据库，该数据库由圣路易斯地区3120名警察识别的男性帮派成员组成，这些成员与NDI记录相关联。最后，我们报告了初步的死亡原因调查结果。最后，我们概述了NDI作为犯罪学家凶杀数据来源的利弊。