The nature and extent of homicide in Bangladesh: A content analysis on reports of murder in daily newspapers

Abstract

As homicide is one of the most comparable and accurate indicators for measuring violence, the aim of this study is to improve understanding of criminal violence by providing a wealth of information about where homicide occurs and what is the current nature and trend, what are the socio-demographic characteristics of homicide offender and its victim, about who is most at risk, why they are at risk, what are the relationship between victim and offender and exactly how their lives are taken from them. Additionally, homicide patterns over time shed light on regional differences, especially when looking at long-term trends. The connection between violence, security and development, within the broader context of the rule of law, is an important factor to be considered. Since its impact goes beyond the loss of human life and can create a climate of fear and uncertainty, intentional homicide (and violent crime) is a threat to the population. Homicide data can therefore play an important role in monitoring security and justice. Likewise, homicide data can enable to gain a better understanding of the complexity of homicide and the different ways it affects the population, which is why this study delves deeply into the very nature of intentional homicide. The influence of crosscutting and enabling factors, such as killing mechanisms is also examined in order to gain a better understanding of the role they play in lethal violence. This study will help governments to develop strategies and policies for protecting those most at risk and addressing those most likely to offend. This study’s capacity to show variations, in the intensity of homicide within the regions of Bangladesh and to enable the identification of homicide “hot spots”, which warrant further monitoring, both within the country and sub-regions. Indeed, as this study shows, the study of intentional homicide is, to a large extent, the study of contrasts. For example: males also account for almost 8 out of every10 homicide victims; two thirds of the victims of homicides committed by intimate partners or family members mostly are female; and half of all homicide victims are under 30 years of age. The study found that, homicide is least common among women, the young and old, and those living in rural settings. Homicide patterns, including victims, motivation, and commission, differ across groups in some important ways. For example, men and women kill in ways that uniquely reflect their gender roles and opportunities. Thus, women’s aggression tends to be directed at those who are closest to them – intimate partners and children with whom these women spend much of their time. Only rarely do women kill strangers. When a woman kills, it is likely she was under extreme pressure and/or provoked by fear for her life or for the sake of someone close to her (e.g., children), though sometimes her motives are less altruistic. The occurrence of criminal homicide, of all sorts and for all groups, is higher in places with entrenched, concentrated poverty, inequalities, and more vulnerable family structures. Solutions often do not address the difficult to observe social forces that influence individual decision-making and situational characteristics regarding the use of violence in various circumstances. Perhaps the failure to address social-structural sources of homicide offending is, in part, attributable to the popular misperception that homicide is a random occurrence among strangers when, in fact, most real-world murder mysteries have a fairly predictable ending.