A gender geography of intentional homicide within and outside of the family: Male and female murders in Europe, the US and Canada (2003–15)

Using the most recent and unpublished international data provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, we discuss the geography of male and female homicides in Europe, the US and Canada during the period 2003–15. We observe declining trends in mortality for both male and female homicide in most of these countries. For within-family homicides, geographical differences are much less pronounced compared with those occurring outside the family, especially if the victim is a woman and the perpetrator is the partner or former partner. Only for men is the risk of being the victim of a homicide committed by a family member greater where the risk of being killed by someone outside the family is also higher.