Big city murders reduced by half

For the third year in a row, the number of murders committed in the Netherlands decreased. Last year, 160 persons in the Netherlands fell victim to murder or manslaughter, the lowest number since 1996. The reduction mainly occurred in the four largest cities.

Murders in the Netherlands

Reduction by half in big cities

Last year’s decrease is entirely due to a reduction by half in the four largest Dutch cities where most murders are committed. In Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the murder rate averaged 2.2 and 2.1 respectively per 100 thousand inhabitants, more than twice the nationwide average.

Big city murders

Often around midnight

Over the period 1996–2006, the number of murders totalled 2.5 thousand. Most murders were committed in weekends late at night and early in the morning.

In weekends, the risk of being murdered is one quarter higher than on weekdays. The risk is even 2.5 times higher for boys aged between 15 and 20. Apparently, lethal violence is more common in weekends in the midnight hours.

Murders by day of the week and time of occurrence, 1996–2006

Half of women killed by (ex-) partners

Female victims are relatively often stabbed to death or strangled; half of them are killed by their partners or ex-partners.

Four in every five murdered women were killed in or around the house. Half of female victims were in the 20-40 age bracket. The number of murdered men in the same age category was 2.5 times as high.

The perpetrator much more often remained unidentified when the victim was a man than when the victim was a woman. In the period 1996–2006, four in every ten male victims were shot, three in ten were stabbed to death. Men were killed in the street three times as often as women.

Murders in the Netherlands by age of the victim, 1996–2006

Wim van den Berg