Intimate Partner Homicide in Australia
Graph of the Week
This week’s graphs illustrate sex-segregated data on the number of intimate partner homicide victims and offenders in Australia between 2017 and 2023.
Victims
Each year, approximately 40 residents of Australia are killed by their intimate partners, amounting to about one intimate partner homicide every 1-2 weeks.
Women are more likely than men to be victims of intimate partner homicide. Each year, about 30 women and 5-10 men in Australia are killed by their intimate partners. A total of 185 women and 58 men were killed by their intimate partners between 2017 and 2023. Thus, three of every four victims of intimate partner homicide in Australia are female (76%), and one of every four victims of intimate partner homicide in Australia is male (24%).
Offenders
Each year, more men than women commit intimate partner homicide. Between 2017 and 2023, men and women committed 190 and 53 intimate partner homicides, respectively. Thus, roughly three of every four offenders of intimate partner homicide in Australia are male (78%), and roughly one of every four offenders of intimate partner homicide in Australia is female (22%).
Relationship Type
Between 2017 and 2023, the greatest number of intimate partner homicides occurred in relationships that involved a female victim and male offender (183 homicides), followed by a male victim and female offender (51 homicides), a male victim and male offender (7 homicides), and a female victim and female offender (2 homicides).
Source: Data acquired from annual reports published by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
Bonus Commentary
Homicide victimization and offending warrant attention in both sexes. When “gendered” violence is discussed in academia, politics, and the media, the male offender - female victim paradigm is typically what is highlighted. Examples include observation of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and emphases placed on femicide and “gender-based violence.” The above data show both that men are also victims of intimate partner homicide (roughly one of every four victims), and women are also offenders of intimate partner homicide (roughly one of every four offenders). These results, considered alongside data outside of intimate partner contexts, where men in Australia and the United States are more likely to be both the offenders and victims of homicide, illustrate that initiatives that highlight only the male offender - female victim paradigm need to be widened to consider scenarios of male victimization due to either male or female offending.
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Not to mention that females kill more kids
Thanks Jim, interesting stuff. I would love to see the stats for 1950-2024. I have heard that one of the results from the focus on DV and female victims has been the reduced rates of death of men being killed by their female partners. One theory is that by giving the "victim" ladies a safe place, it resulted in fewer men being killed by their partner. If this is true, then if we want to have fewer women killed we need to give men a safe space. right?