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Method
6.1 The most common method of killing in 1998, as in previous years, was a sharp instrument, which gave rise to 44 victims, including 42 males. This was an increase from the 35 stabbing victims in 1997, the lowest recorded figure since 1991. Sharp instruments were used in 44 per cent of homicides in the period 1989-98. Males aged 16 to 49 made up 75 per cent of these victims, amounting to one third of all victims of homicide.
6.2 Among the other methods of killing, hitting and kicking was the next most common in 1998, accounting for 14 male deaths and 2 female deaths. The most common method of killing of females was with a blunt instrument, accounting for 6 victims in 1998. In the ten year period 1989-1998 overall, however, a sharp instrument was the most common method of killing of both males and females. As can be seen in chart 8, the overall pattern was slightly different for males and females.
Chart 8: Method of killing by sex, 1989-1998
Relationship of main accused to victim
6.3 For 77 per cent of the victims of homicide recorded in 1998, the main accused person was known to the victim (Table 11). For half of the victims the main accused person was an acquaintance. Less than a quarter of victims were killed by a stranger. The number of victims who were allegedly killed by an acquaintance in 1998 was, at 50, less than the figure recorded in each year between 1992 and 1996, but still more than in years before 1992. The number of victims whose partner was the main accused was 15 (9 males and 6 females), an increase on the 1997 figure of 9, but still less than in most of the previous 10 years, and much less than the peak in 1989 of 27. The higher number of male partner victims in 1998 contrasted with the position in most previous years, when there were more female partner victims than male partner victims.
6.4 Chart 9 illustrates the trends over the last 10 years in homicide rates for male and female victims by their relationship to the main accused. The highest rate for males was consistently killing by an acquaintance. For females the highest rate was generally killing by a partner. The most striking aspect of these trends is the large increase in the rate for males killed by acquaintances in 1992, which remained high until its peak in 1995. This type of killing was largely responsible for the overall increase in the homicide rate recorded during this period. The rates for all other types of homicides remained relatively stable, and low, throughout 1989-98.
Chart 9: Homicide rates by sex of victim and relationship of main accused to victim(1)
1. Currently (as at 12 November
1999) recorded as homicide victims
2. Includes the 17 victims (5 male and 12 female)
of the Dunblane incident in 1996.
6.5 Over the last 10 years, a total of 97 children under the age of 16 were victims of homicide. Of these, 60 per cent were killed by one of their parents (Table 12). Excluding the victims of the Dunblane incident, this proportion was 72 per cent. The total includes 19 boys and 9 girls under a year old who were killed by a parent.
6.6 For homicides recorded in the last ten years, over half (57 per cent) of the female victims aged between 16 and 69 were killed by their partner and a further 7 per cent were killed by a parent, off-spring or other relative. Only 15 per cent of female adults in this age group were killed by someone unknown to them. For male victims aged 16 to 69, only 8 per cent were killed by their partner, and a further 8 per cent by a relative. The majority (60 per cent) of male adult victims in the past 10 years were killed by an acquaintance, and 24 per cent were killed by a stranger.
6.7 Of the 52 older people (aged 70 and over) who were victims of homicide in the 10 years from 1989 to 1998, 24 were female and 28 male. Over one third of these (18 victims) were killed by a stranger, a higher rate than among younger adults. A total of 10 older people were killed by their son or daughter, 5 by a partner and 19 by someone else known to them.
Motive
6.8 The most common reason recorded for homicide in 1998 was a rage or quarrel, with 45 per cent of victims killed in such circumstances. Only two homicides, both with female victims, were attributed to the mental state of the accused.
6.9 The pattern of motives for homicides has generally changed little overall in the last 10 years. The main exception was a marked increase in the period 1992-96 in the number of males whose deaths were attributed to feuds. In 1992, there was also a particularly high number of homicides motivated by theft or gain (19 deaths compared with 7 in 1998).
6.10 Overall in 1989-98, 576 homicides (54 per cent) were attributed to a rage or quarrel. Of these victims, 81 per cent were male; of these males, 58 per cent were killed by an acquaintance. Where females were killed due to a rage or quarrel, the accused was most often their partner (65 per cent of such incidents).
6.11 The most common set of circumstances in which females become victims of homicide are in a dwelling, in an argument with a partner (Table 14). Males are more commonly victims in some other location, resulting from a fight with an acquaintance. Only 26 per cent of all female victims in the period 1989-96 were killed outwith a dwelling, compared with 56 per cent of males.
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