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The family is viewed by most people as providing a nurturing and loving environment. But for some, the family environment can be deadly. In Australia, almost two in five homicides occur between family members, with an average of 129 family homicides each year. The majority of family homicides occur between intimate partners (60 per cent), and three-quarters of intimate partner homicides involve males killing their female partners. On average, 25 children are killed each year by a parent, with children under the age of one at the highest risk of victimisation. The less common types of family homicide include children killing their parents (12 incidents per year), homicide between siblings (six incidents per year), and homicides between other family members (11 incidents per year). This paper explores the differences in the characteristics of the various types of family homicides in Australia and highlights the need for specific prevention strategies to target these homicides. Adam Graycar
Director
Contrary to public perceptions that we are most at risk of being murdered by a stranger, homicides in Australia and elsewhere are most likely to involve persons who are known to each other, such as friends, acquaintances and family members. As Wolfgang (1958, p. 203) noted almost half a century ago:
Criminal homicide is probably the most personalised crime in our society...[it involves] a dynamic relationship between two or more persons caught up in a life drama where they operate in a direct, interactional relationship. More so than in any other violation of conduct norms, the relationship the victim bears to the offender plays a role in explaining the reasons for such flagrant violation.
Many subsequent authors have also noted the importance of the victim-offender relationship, and how the characteristics of the homicide itself will vary depending on who gets killed and who does the killing (Silverman & Kennedy 1987; Polk 1994; Saltzman & Mercy 1993). This is particularly important in the context of family homicides, which can encompass various types of victim-offender relationship, such as intimate partners, parents killing children, children killing parents, siblings killing each other, and so on.
Most international research to date has focused predominantly on examining "family homicide" as a single entity. Few studies have explored, compared and contrasted the various types of...