Published April 2017

Each month New Zealand Police releases Official Statistics on crime victimisation and offending at www.policedata.nz.
Homicide statistics are not included in the monthly release of statistics on victims because homicide investigations typically take many months to investigate and finalise. Accordingly, data in Police systems on homicides does not stabilise for many months. So, rather than include homicide statistics in the regular monthly releases, homicide data are collated annually into this Homicide Victims Report. Usually this report is published mid-year. However, this edition has been produced later than usual, due to major system changes that occurred in 2016. This report is not intended as a comprehensive study on the various contexts in which homicides occur. Rather, it provides some descriptive statistics that complement other sources of information such as:
 Recorded Crime Victims Statistics,
 Recorded Crime Offenders Statistics,
 The New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey, and
 Relevant research publications and government reports.
Specifically, this report presents simple descriptive statistics about:
 Who has been killed,
 The relationship between the victim and offender,
 What type of location people were killed in, and
 What type of weapon (if any) was used.
The report does not include descriptions of offenders. Such information is provided in Recorded Crime Offenders Statistics published on policedata.nz. Neither does it describe either the contexts in which homicides occur or the policy implications for Police or other agencies. Such information is beyond the scope of this report. (From the Introduction). Record #5399