NCJ Number
177659
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Patterns and trends in firearm homicide incidents in Australia were studied to determine the extent to which these incidents differed from other homicides.
Abstract
The analysis revealed that 21.1 percent of the 2,224 homicide incidents recorded from July 1989 through June 1996 involved firearms, a decline from the 40 percent of 20 years earlier. The offender was a male in 94 percent of the firearm incidents; two-thirds of the victims were males. Thirty-five percent of the firearms incidents involved intimate partners. In addition, the suicide of the offender followed the homicide in one in five of all firearm homicides. Forty-six percent of the firearms incidents involved a weapon that is now prohibited or restricted in Australia; these incidents accounted for 55 percent of the victims of firearm homicide. Homicides in rural areas were more likely to involve firearms than were those in urban areas. In addition, perpetrators of firearm homicides were most likely to be separated or divorced or to be involved in a de facto relationship, whereas murderers in general were most likely to never have been married. Indigenous people had a homicide rate that was six times that of non-indigenous people, but their use of firearms was rare. Findings suggested the desirability of a variety of policies and programs to reduce firearm homicide. Figures, tables, and 4 references