Murder rates keep falling
Australian, Page: 3. Wednesday, 3 December, 2008
Homicide rates have fallen by a third in the past six years, putting the rate for 2006-07 among the lowest for a century.
There were 266 victims of homicide in Australia in the year - 185 male and 81 female a total decrease of 45 from the previous year, according to the 2006-07 National Homicide Monitoring Program annual report to be released today.
The report says a significant factor has been a decrease since the late 1990s in the number of males, especially indigenous males, killing friends and acquaintances.
Firearm homicides continued a decade-long downward trend.
Eleven per cent of homicide victims were killed by a firearm in 200 6-07, a 4 per cent fall.
“The vast majority of firearms used in homicide were unregistered and unlicensed,” the report says. Rates of “intimate-partner” homicide remained constant Patricia Karvetas.
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