(re)Conceptualising Homicide in England and Wales

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

Our panel will consider findings from four separate studies using data from the Homicide Index which is collated by the Home Office and pertains to England and Wales. The papers will illustrate trends spanning multiple decades, specific periods (the Covid-19 pandemic), and novel subgroups (non-intimate femicide, patricide, matricide and wider domestic). The panel will further explore how long-term homicide trends are shaped by, and interact with broader social, cultural, and economic forces, as well as patterns in non-lethal violence. Notably, homicide in England and Wales has not replicated the recent shifts in lethal violence observed elsewhere in the industrialized world and cannot be explained (as yet) by the same theoretical or empirical frameworks. While the Homicide Index is considered one of the most detailed and robust datasets on murder and manslaughter, the panel will critically explore the limitations of the data and the implications for theoretical specification and policy development.

Subtopic

• Topic 2: Types of Offending / Homicide and Violent Crime (Homicide Research WG and European Violence Monitor WG)

Chair

• Emily Gray, University of Warwick

Individual Presentations

• Conceptualising and measuring non-intimate femicide: Analysing the Homicide Index as a source of femicide data in England and Wales - Caroline Miles, University of Manchester; Elizabeth Cook, City, University of London; Merili Pullerits, City, University of London

• The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic homicide in England and Wales 2014-2024 - Valeria Abreu Minero, University College London

• Using Homicide Index data to examine the contexts of parricide in England and Wales - Rachel Condry, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford; Caroline Miles, University of Manchester

• Examining the long-term relationship between lethal and non-lethal violence, and socio-political processes in England and Wales 1977-2022 - Emily Gray, University of Warwick; Stephen Farrall, University of Nottingham; Andromachi Tseloni, Nottingham Trent University