Reducing Homicide: a review of the possibilities

proportion of the parents who exhibit risk factors will actually kill an infant, so targeting
interventions at the most vulnerable babies is extremely difficult. The most promising
strategies to reduce infant homicide appear to be parental education programmes,
improvements in diagnoses and identification of infant abuse, more co-ordinated responses to
suspected abuse cases, and improved services to parents both before and after childbirth.
Alcohol-related homicide
Evidence suggests that significant numbers of alcohol-related homicides are initially the
unintended result of impulsive assaults arising from (often trivial) quarrels involving
intoxicated people. Whilst the precise contributory role of alcohol to violence is complex, there
is growing consensus that reductions in violence (and consequently in homicide) can be
achieved by measures centred on licensed premises in which such ‘heavy’ drinking often
occurs. Several of these initiatives have been tried in recent years, some of which appear to
be promising from early local evaluations, although little fully reliable evidence is available.
These include manipulation of the physical and social environments of licensed premises to
discourage violence; measures to reduce intoxication; staggered closing times; improved late
night transportation; and co-operation between landlords, door-staff, the police and licensing
authorities, especially in relation to regular violent ‘hotspots’.
A second general approach, specifically to homicide reduction, concerns attempts to reduce
the ‘lethality’ of those assaults which do take place. Possible measures include
improvements in the responses of emergency services to street assaults, and the universal
introduction of toughened (or non-glass) glassware. While not extensively researched, these
also appear to have some promise. Over the longer term serious attention needs to be given
to ways of eroding the association between masculine bravado and the consumption of large
volumes of alcohol.
Homicide with knives or guns
Sharp instruments, particularly knives, are the most often used weapons in homicide in the
UK. About 40 per cent of homicides involving knives occur ‘outdoors’, and these may be
amenable to reduction through a focus on the weapons themselves. More focused use of
police stop and search powers, harsher penalties for possession of offensive weapons, and
campaigns to educate people about the dangers of carrying knives, are all potentially effective
strategies. Homicides involving firearms declined in number in the UK during the late 1990s,
although they have increased in the three most recent years. A preventive strategy requires
attention to both supply and demand factors. These include enhancing controls over the
availability of firearms and stronger penalties for illegal possession. Targeting criminal groups
known to own or use guns is another important preventive strategy for which success has
been claimed in both the USA and UK.
High risk occupational groups
Certain occupations appear to be associated with above average risks of homicide
victimisation, especially security staff, medical staff, and social workers. Security procedures
have been improved in relation to all these groups, although these could be improved further.
However, one group which has been largely neglected in this respect, despite facing
exceptionally high risks of both violence and homicide, is that of prostitutes.
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