Murders dropped to a record low in 2017
Stuff reports:
The murder rate has hit a 40-year-low, police say.
Figures to June 2018, put the number of murders in New Zealand in 2017 at 35 – a rate of seven for every million people. Police said, however, that as investigations were on-going in some of those cases, the data would continue to change.
It was likely to take up to two years before figures stabilise.
Murder rates peaked in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, with the worst year being 1986 when there were 24 murders for every million people, with 79 murders in total.
The rate of 7 and absolute number of 35 is the lowest since 1977. While murders are a sub-set of violent crime, they are by far the worst.
1959 is the last year in which there were no murders.
I thought it would be interesting to look at what the murder rate was for each recent Government. Not because the Government are in any way responsible, but to give an idea of how rare homicides were during each era.
- Muldoon Government 12.7 murders/million
- Lange/Palmer Government 21.2
- Bolger/Shipley Government 16.4
- Clark Government 13.2
- Key/English Government 10.3
So a big increase in the late 80s, and a good downward pattern since.