NCJ Number
200097
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 45 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2003 Pages: 1-18
Date Published
January 2003
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper argues that the conventional homicide rate in Canada is not an accurate reflection of the nature of homicide and proposes a new way of calculating the homicide rate that incorporates offender characteristics.
Abstract
Homicide rates have an important impact on social policy and public opinion, and should therefore take care to critically and accurately measure the true rate of homicide. The authors argue that the published Canadian homicide rate, which shows a steady downward trend for the past 30 years, inaccurately reflects the nature of homicide in Canada. They present a new method of calculating the homicide rate by factoring in demographic information about offender characteristics. The outcome of this approach is an age-adjusted homicide rate that shows a different trend than the conventional rate. According to the authors’ model the homicide rate was actually increasing until the late 1980’s and, although the homicide rate has been decreasing since the mid-1990’s, there is no statistically significant evidence to suggest that this is a meaningful downward trend. The study has demonstrated that demographics and a time series analysis help to more accurately assess the homicide rate of an area. The authors note that cooperation between academic disciplines bring together theoretically relevant techniques and models that can be used to develop better ways of studying and understanding social phenomena. Notes, references, appendix