Homicide in Britain: Risk Factors, Situational Contexts and Lethal Intentions


Background

Violence disrupts social order and homicide is uniquely harmful, resulting in significant personal, social and economic costs. Recent cases have highlighted the intensity of public concern about this form of violent behaviour and pointed to the need for more systematic research in Britain. To date, homicide research in Britain has been rather sparse. Although a few studies have resulted in the production of important knowledge, the current level of homicides in England/Wales and Scotland and public concern point to the need for a more comprehensive, comparative approach that will improve upon and extend existing knowledge.


Aims and Objectives

The principal aims of the research are to investigate the factors associated with homicide and to use this information to improve current understanding of and responses to this, the most serious, form of interpersonal violence. The study will investigate all types of homicide, including those committed against children, intimate partners and acquaintances as well as strangers. The research aims to examine these types of homicides with respect to the differing patterns of behaviour, motives, situational contexts and perceptions of the violent event. The study has three main objectives 1) to develop a theoretically and empirically informed multi-dimensional typology of homicide, 2) to investigate the motivational, interactional and situational contexts associated with different types of lethal violence, and 3) to consider the risk factors and 'pathways' to homicide.


Study Design

The research will be conducted in England, Wales and Scotland and employ a unique 'context-specific' methodology. Three related methods will be used: secondary analysis of existing homicide Indices for England/Wales and Scotland, investigation of individual case files of convicted homicide offenders and in-depth interviews with a sample of 175 convicted perpetrators.

The Homicide Indices hold a great deal of information regarding the basic elements of incidents of homicide. Using this information it will be possible, for example, to obtain a better understanding of the locations commonly associated with violent events and the characteristics of victims and offenders. Of considerable importance to this investigation is the possibility of using the Homicide Indices to investigate the nature of the relationships between victims and offenders. As useful as these indices will be for the investigation, they do not hold other information that might be pertinent to the study. For example, they provide very little information about the social and criminal backgrounds of offenders. Case files of men and women convicted of murder and manslaughter will be used to gather information on offenders backgrounds and to build a picture of the different pathways to lethal violence. Statistical analysis of the homicide indices and case file analysis will be augmented by in-depth interviews with 175 men and women who have been convicted of murder. The interviews will use a life history approach to collect information on backgrounds of offenders and 'event' analysis to consider the motivational and situational factors associated with lethal violence.


Implications

The economic, social and personal costs of homicide are extraordinary. The cost of human misery to victims and the families concerned is impossible to measure. The cost to public institutions, not only the entire justice system but also health care and social services, is high and recurring. The cost to the public is felt as a sense of unease and a loss of a sense of wider social integration and a general fear of crime by those most distant from such events and in terms of heightened sense of anxiety, personal loss and social disintegration by those directly touched.

National research into the causes of homicide will improve understanding and contribute to the creation of policies and practices that might reduce this form of violence and its consequent costs. The team of researchers intend to disseminate the results of the study to a number of audiences, particularly, professionals directly involved in dealing with violent offenders but also to the wider community who must cope with the heightened anxiety and general fear associated with the reporting of homicide. Improved knowledge of the 'pathways' to homicide will assist professionals in identifying potential risk factors and help develop specific responses where relevant. This is particularly important in circumstances where there has been a history of violent behaviour, such as cases involving the killing of children and spouses.

Publications

Russell P. Dobash, R. Emerson Dobash, Kate Cavanagh, Ruth Lewis, 'A Research Evaluation of British Programmes for Violent Men' [in] Journal of Social Policy, Cambridge University Press, 1999, Volume 28, No. 2, pp. 205-233

R. Emerson Dobash, Russell P. Dobash 'Evaluating Criminal Justice Interventions for Domestic Violence' [in] Crime & Delinquency , Sage Publications, Vol. 46 No. 2, April 2000, pp. 252-270

Ruth Lewis, Russell P. Dobash, Rebecca Emerson Dobash, Kate Cavanagh, ' Protection, Prevention, Rehabilitation or Justice? Women's Use of the Law to Challenge Domestic Violence' [in] Domestic Violence: Global Responses, AB Academic Publishers, 2000, pp. 179-205

Russell P. Dobash, R. Emerson Dobash, Kate Cavanagh, Ruth Lewis, 'Confronting Violence Men' [in] K. Itzin, J. Hanmer and S. Quaid (eds.), Home Truths about Domestic Violence: Feminist Influences on Policy and Practice, Routledge, London, (still to be published)

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