NCJ Number
169215
Date Published
1996
Length
89 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on firearms deaths and violent deaths in Australia and examines trends covering a span of 80 years.
Abstract
The first section provides data and analysis on trends in violent deaths and firearms from 1915 through 1994, followed by a review of the Australian Institute of Criminology National Homicide Monitoring Program from 1989-90 to 1992-93. The third section presents data on homicide reported to the police for 1975-76 to 1994-95. Two other sections address deaths caused by firearms for 1983-94 and deaths caused by firearms in Australian states and territories for 1983-94. Another section provides data on deaths caused by firearms in Australian major regions for 1989 and 1994, with separate data for suicide and homicide. The concluding section reports data on violent deaths and firearms in the international context for 1974-94. There were 332 victims of homicide in the calendar year 1994, which corresponded to a rate of 1.86 victims per 100,000 total population; firearms were involved in nearly one-quarter of the homicide deaths recorded in 1994. Suicide, however, has accounted for the largest number of violent deaths in Australia; during 1994 there were 2,258 deaths caused by suicide, of which approximately one in five involved firearms. There were 24 known mass killings between 1987 and mid-1996, resulting in 128 deaths. On average, 13 persons have died in multiple firearm killings every year during this period. Extensive figures and tables