Victim Offender

Abstract:

Much has been made about the increase in the proportion of “unknown” victim-offender relationship homicides over the past twenty years. The relative frequency of the reporting of unknown victim-offender relationships in homicide has increased precipitously so that it now constitutes more than one third of all cases. This has implications for clearance rates, as unknown relationship cases are highly likely to be unsolved. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for the years 1996 through 2002, the present paper compares unknown relationship cases to other known relationship categories (i.e., family, acquaintance and stranger) to determine how similar/dissimilar they are based upon selected characteristics and circumstances.