ABSTRACT
A review of long-term historical rates of homicide almost inevitably leads to several questions. The chronology of homicide includes not only the broad, macrolevel approach entailed in historical incident research, but also the micro-level analysis of the actual time of the homicide act. This chapter summarizes the research of Eva Osterberg on Scandinavian murder rates and Pieter Spierenburg’s study of homicide in Holland, clearly confirming the view that homicide rates in the past clearly exceed those of later eras. It presents the annual homicide rates from 1940–2003. These data indicate that the low point in the post World War II era occurred in the 1950s and the high point in the 1980s. The US rate at the beginning of the twenty-first century indicates a return to the less violent trend of forty years ago. The data on who kills whom are quite unambiguous: the vast majority or victims are murdered by people whom they know, sometimes very well.
