Homicide in Australia: 2005-06 National Homicide Monitoring Program Annual Report

• NCJ Number: 219842
• Author(s): Megan Davies; Jenny Mouzos
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 79 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Annual/Periodic)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: AIC Research and Public Policy Series No. 77

Annotation

This report presents the 2005-2006 results of the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) in Australia, providing data on the characteristics of homicide incidents, victims, and offenders in Australia during the fiscal year.

Abstract

During fiscal year 2005-2006, a total of 283 homicide incidents were recorded that involved 336 offenders and 301 victims. The rate of homicide increased 14 percent from the previous year, breaking the downward trend that began in fiscal year 2002-2003. However, time series analysis of homicide incidents over the past 17 years indicates that the current increase in homicides is statistically insignificant. The following factors may have caused the slight increase in homicides: (1) the rate of female victimization increased from 0.9 per 100,000 females in the population in 2004-2005 to 1.1 per 100,000 females in 2005-2006; (2) the percentage of females killed by a stranger has increased to just over 1 in 10 female murder victims; (3) and stranger homicide for both genders increased from 19 percent in 2004-2005 to 26 percent in 2005-2006. Firearm violence accounted for only 14 percent of homicides in 2005-2006. Other homicide trends for 2005-2006 indicated an increase in male victims who had consumed alcohol prior to the incident and a decrease in homicides committed during the commission of another crime. The majority of homicide incidents in Australia during fiscal year 2005-2006 were classified as murder (90 percent) while 9 percent were classified as manslaughter and less than 1 percent were classified as infanticide. An offender was identified in all but 8 percent of these incidents. Of the 260 solved homicide incidents, 78 percent involved one-on-one interactions between the victim and the offender, 16 percent involved a single victim and multiple offenders, and 6 percent involved multiple victims. The NHMP methodology is described, which includes the examination of two key sources of data: (1) police offense records from all jurisdictions, and (2) State coronial records. Footnotes, figures, tables, references