By Dr Samara McPhedran, Senior Research Fellow, Violence Research and Prevention Program and Dr Li Eriksson, Lecturer, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University.
The recent murder of Queensland policeman Brett Forte rightly received considerable public attention. But unless a man’s death occurs in extremely tragic and unusual circumstances, male victims of homicide often seem to receive less attention from policymakers, the media, and the wider public than female victims.
When we think about prevention, we tend to focus on trying to tackle uncommon situations – such as “one-punch” deaths – rather than looking at the bigger picture.
Discussions of men and homicide (murder and manslaughter) usually centre on men as perpetrators, rather than victims. But even though males represent around half the population, they account for about two-thirds of Australian homicide victims.
This over-representation of male victims occurs across many countries.
Source: Australian Institute of Criminology Get the data
Who is a ‘typical’ male homicide victim?
A “typical” Australian male