No sun has shone: child homicide in New Zealand: an analysis of a small scale sample of cases 1980-2003

Abstract

This study is an analysis of a small scale sample of child homicides in New Zealand from 1980-2003. In total, the details of eighty-six children's deaths were obtained, primarily, from New Zealand Coroner's inquest files. The details were entered into two relational databases: one for sixty-nine of the children where the cases had information about an identified child-victim, an identified offender, and an identified crime event - the 'solved' database, and a second database for the remaining seventeen children, where there was no identified offender the 'unsolved' database. The information-gathering was focused on the victims and their situations at the time of their deaths, rather than, as with other studies, the offenders and their stated or supposed motivations. In addition, Murder-suicide events were separated out into: 'true' Murder-suicides - where the offender died at the scene; attempted suicides - where the offender allegedly attempted a suicide at the scene but survived, and delayed suicides - where the suicide was separated in time and place from the original murder. The results have produced a more detailed picture of the children and the situations within which they were killed than is normally found in studies into child homicide. An unexpected result of this approach was that the children's familial situation at the time of their deaths appeared to have an effect on a number of features of these homicides. Because the data gathered only relates to a sample of child homicides within the relevant period, the findings have to be treated with some caution. However, the study has suggested themes and issues around child homicide in New Zealand and generally which can usefully be explored in further research projects.