Murder rate hits a 40-year-low, police say
Thursday, 27 September 2018
The murder rate has hit a 40-year-low, police say.
Figures to June 2018, put the number of murders in New Zealand in 2017 at 35 - a rate of seven for every million people. Police said, however, that as investigations were on-going in some cases, the data would continue to change.
It was likely to take up to two years before figures stabilise.
Murder rates peaked in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, with the worst year being 1986 when there were 24 murders for every million people, 79 murders in total.
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The rate has not been at seven or below since 1975, when there were six murders for every million people. That year, 20 people were murdered.
Data back to 1926 shows the murder rate rarely rose out of single figures from then through to 1975. The exceptions were three years in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, and the last two years of World War 2. In those years the rate only edged into double figures.
In 1959, no murders were recorded in New Zealand, while the next lowest year was 1928, when there were two.
Police cautioned that counting rules for murder statistics have changed over time, so the trend - specially before 2007 - should be interpreted with caution.
On Thursday, police published their annual summary of statistics about victims of murder, manslaughter, and infanticide. Because of the time taken to finalise investigations into homicides, statistics on those cases are not published monthly in the way statistics on other crimes are.
The main body of the report covers the years 2007-2016, because most homicide investigations for those years will have been completed. During those 10 years, 686 people were killed by homicide. The report excludes road fatalities.
On average, there were 74 homicides a year between 2007 and 2011, dropping to 63 between 2012 and 2016. The lowest number was 58 in 2016, with the provisional number for 2017 even lower at 48, police said. About seven out of every 10 homicides were murders.
From 2007-2011, 63 people were killed by their current or ex-partner, dropping to 52 from 2012-2016. About three-quarters of those victims were female.
'We know that family harm is a serious issue that affects people of all ages and across all parts of society,' police national manager of criminal investigations Detective Superintendent Tim Anderson said.
'Disturbingly, children under the age of five made up 12 per cent of homicide victims. These children represent the most vulnerable members of society, who are too often killed by the people whose job it is to keep them safe,' he said.
Police were working with partner agencies to help at-risk families and individuals get the support they needed to improve their lives.
While the number of homicides was declining, it didn't change the fact that every statistic represented a grieving family, Anderson said. 'Victims are at the heart of everything Police does and we are committed to bringing a sense of closure to their families by holding those responsible to account.'
About a third of the 686 homicide victims from 2007-2016 were Māori, and 62 per cent were male. Of all family-linked homicide victims, 40 per cent were male and 60 per cent were female. Around one-in-five homicides was committed by a current or ex-partner.