Homicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

Abstract

This study uses 34 years of data from the National Homicide Monitoring Program to describe the prevalence and characteristics of homicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. <br><br> Between 1 July 1989 and 30 June 2023, 476 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were the victim of a homicide. Indigenous women experienced a homicide victimisation rate up to seven times the national average. Ninety-six percent (n=455) of the 473 homicide incidents involving an Indigenous woman were cleared by police. <br><br>Almost all victims from cleared incidents were killed by someone they knew (97%, n=446), most by an Indigenous male intimate partner (66%, n=301). <br><br> Findings highlight the over-representation of Indigenous women as victims of homicide in Australia and provide baseline data to measure Closing the Gap targets to reduce homicide and other violent victimisation among these women.