Murder rate hits 40-year low

The murder rate has hit a 40-year-low, police say.

Figures to June 2018 put the number of murders 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. 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 II.

In those years the rate only edged into double figures.

In 1959, no murders were recorded while the next lowest year was 1928, when there were two. Police cautioned that counting rules for murder statistics have changed so the trend – specially before 2007 – should be interpreted with caution.

Yesterday, 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 as 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.

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 expartner, 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 5 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.

Murder rates peaked in the mid-1980s and early 1990s.