Number, percentage and rate (per 100,000 population) of homicide victims, by racialized identity group (total, by racialized identity group; racialized identity group; South Asian; Chinese; Black; Filipino; Arab; Latin American; Southeast Asian; West Asian; Korean; Japanese; other racialized identity group; multiple racialized identity; racialized identity, but racialized identity group is unknown; rest of the population; unknown racialized identity group), gender (all genders; male; female; gender unknown) and region (Canada; Atlantic region; Quebec; Ontario; Prairies region; British Columbia; territories), 2019 to 2023.

There has been little research on United States homicide rates from a long-term perspective, primarily because there has been no consistent data series on a particular place preceding the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which began its first full year in 1931. To fill this research gap, this project created a data series on homicides per capita for New York City that spans two centuries. The goal was to create a site-specific, individual-based data series that could be used to examine major social shifts related to homicide, such as mass immigration, urban growth, war, demographic changes, and changes in laws. Data were also gathered on various other sites, particularly in England, to allow for comparisons on important issues, such as the post-World War II wave of violence. The basic approach to the data collection was to obtain the best possible estimate of annual counts and the most complete information on individual homicides. The annual count data (Parts 1 and 3) were derived from multiple sources, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports and Supplementary Homicide Reports, as well as other official counts from the New York City Police Department and the City Inspector in the early 19th century. The data include a combined count of murder and manslaughter because charge bargaining often blurs this legal distinction. The individual-level data (Part 2) were drawn from coroners' indictments held by the New York City Municipal Archives, and from daily newspapers. Duplication was avoided by keeping a record for each victim. The estimation technique known as "capture-recapture" was used to estimate homicides not listed in either source. Part 1 variables include counts of New York City homicides, arrests, and convictions, as well as the homicide rate, race or ethnicity and gender of victims, type of weapon used, and source of data. Part 2 includes the date of the murder, the age, sex, and race of the offender and victim, and whether the case led to an arrest, trial, conviction, execution, or pardon. Part 3 contains annual homicide counts and rates for various comparison sites including Liverpool, London, Kent, Canada, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco.

Number and rate (per 100,000 population) of homicide victims, Canada and Census Metropolitan Areas, 1981 to 2023.

Number and percentage of homicide victims, by type of firearm used to commit the homicide (total firearms; handgun; rifle or shotgun; fully automatic firearm; sawed-off rifle or shotgun; firearm-like weapons; other firearms, type unknown), Canada, 1974 to 2018.

The rate of incidents of violent criminal code violations in Canada increased by 51.1 incidents (+3.71 percent) in 2023 in comparison to the previous year. In total, the rate of incidents amounted to 1,427.94 incidents in 2023.

Victims of gang-related homicides (total number of homicide victims; number of homicide victims - unknown gang-relation; number of homicide victims - known gang relation; number of gang-related homicide victims; percentage of gang-related homicide victims; rate (per 100,000 population) of gang-related homicide victims), Canada and regions, 1999 to 2023.

Crime severity index (violent, non-violent, youth) and weighted clearance rates (violent, non-violent), police services in the Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), 1998 to 2017.

Number of homicide victims, by method used to commit the homicide (total methods used; shooting; stabbing; beating; strangulation; fire (burns or suffocation); other methods used; methods used unknown), Canada, 1974 to 2023.

This infographic was created for internal briefing purposes by the Policy Research Group, Department of Canadian Heritage as it is a clear, effective and artistic way of presenting complex data, while keeping the attention of the viewer. It is a visual representation of data from Police-reported hate crime, 2016 released by Statistics Canada on November 28, 2017. Canadian Heritage is committed to sharing its internal research products as a commitment to open research, one of the pillars of its Open Government Strategy. The Policy Research Group would appreciate your comments and feedback on this product. Please contact us.

Background [Extract from Related publication]:

Homicide numbers are relatively low in Queensland, less than one incident per week, and in most cases the victim has been located at the scene of the crime. However, there are approximately 2.5% of victims that have never been located. This has flow on consequences such as difficulty in proving death and then murder by the prosecution, difficulty in gathering forensic evidence when a victim cannot be located and the grief experienced by the co-victims, family and friends who have no closure. There have been limited studies on the disposal of homicide victims, mostly related to sexual serial or familial killings in the United States of America, Canada and Finland (Beauregard & Field, 2008; Beauregard & Martineau, 2014; DiBiase, 2015; Ferguson & Pooley, 2019; Häkkänen, Hurme & Liukkonen, 2007; Lundrigan & Canter, 2001; Nethery, 2004)

Methods [Extract]:

There was a single source of Queensland homicide data, the Queensland Police Records and Information Exchange (QPRIME). QPRIME is the sole repository of all information pertaining to crime within the state. Permission was obtained from the Queensland Police Service to access the demographic data of all homicide incidents between 2004 and 2020. Within the data it was identified that 149 homicide victims had been moved (disposed) from where they were murdered, and of this number seventeen had never been located. The data relates to the demographics of both the victim and offender in those incidents where a homicide victim has been moved from where they were murdered. This includes the sex, height and weight of both victim and offender, method of homicide, distances moved from scene, method of transport, method of concealment and how these victims had been found in the past. No Queensland homicide incidents were excluded from this study.

The data for the non Queensland homicide victims was located in the National Missing Person Register and The Red Heart Campaign. The collection of the demographics was identical to the initial Queensland data and was stored in a parallel MS Excel sheet. Of the non Queensland homicide cases, 149 disposed homicide victim incidents were located, although all of these victims had been located.

A statistical analysis, using IBM SPSS v26, of the data was undertaken, leading to the development of the Disposed Homicide Victim Matrix (DHVM).

The DHVM has provided police search coordinators with the statistical information on victim disposal directions, distances, locations, concealment methods and type of searching required. This has contributed to seven victims being located from the eight times it has been utilised.

Data sources acknowledgement:

There had been no known previous whole of jurisdiction disposed homicide victim analysis previously undertaken.

This dataset consists of:

• 2 MS Excel files (2 worksheets) containing input data [also available in Open Document Format (.ods)]

Software/equipment used to collect and analyse the data: IBM SSPS Statistics v26 Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet.

This infographic was created for internal briefing purposes by the Policy Research Group, Department of Canadian Heritage as it is a clear, effective and artistic way of presenting complex data, while keeping the attention of the viewer. It is a visual representation of data from Police-reported hate crime, 2016 released by Statistics Canada on November 28, 2017. Canadian Heritage is committed to sharing its internal research products as a commitment to open research, one of the pillars of its Open Government Strategy. The Policy Research Group would appreciate your comments and feedback on this product. Please contact us.