An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Australia’s National Homicide Monitoring Program

The National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) was established in 1990 following a recommendation from the National Committee on Violence for a national homicide monitoring system to be administered by the Australian Institute of Criminology. The NHMP collates data on all homicides (murder and manslaughter) recorded by Australian state and territory police, supplemented by information from the National Coronial Information System, court transcripts and media reports. At 30 June 2003 the NHMP had collated 13 years of data spanning the period 1989–90 to 2002–03. This thesis evaluated whether the NHMP had met its contribution by reviewing its content (77 variables relating to the homicide incident, victims and offenders). Since 1989–90 homicide numbers were in decline however males continue to be over represented as both offenders and victims of homicide except in intimate partner homicides, where females are over represented as victims. The majority of victims die from a knife wound and most homicides occur in the private residence of the victim or the offender. The NHMP succeeded in meeting it’s mandate.