Patterns of Death by Accident, Suicide and Homicide in New Zealand 1860-1960,: Interpretation and Comparisons

Abstract

The incidence of accidental death, suicide and homicide have been collated for New Zealand over the period 1860 to 1960, using official statistics, coronet's inquest reports and newspaper reports with the main object of establishing causal relationships. In addition, the research has provided another type of window through which to look at New Zealand, society and other similar societies. For accidental death, the pattern that emerged was a substantial fall in the total accident rates for both male and female between 1860 and 1880, with a subsequent gradual fall in the male rate up until 1960, but with very little change in the female rate over the same period. The nature of these accidents did, however, change considerably: drownings fell dramatically by the turn of the century but land transport accidents steadily increased, especially for females, and by 1930 the main contributor to accidental death was the motor car. For suicides, statistical analyses were conducted for five benchmark periods using official vital statistics. From them it was established that the standardised male suicide rate rose steadily up to the Great Depression years before falling to a new low in 1960. For females the change in standardised rate over the century was minimal, although always much lower than the male rate. There were changes also in the nature of the suicides and the ages of those most susceptible. For homicides a study was made of all cases in three benchmark periods, reveling that for non-accidental homicide, the standardised male rate fell sharply from 1860 to 1900 but changed little between 1900 and 1960. Nevertheless, the character of the homicides changed: increasing proportions of murder-suicides, and a lowering of the offender's median age were two such changes by 1960. For females the rate was minuscule when concealments of birth and infanticides were discounted. Interpretation of the long-term trends focussed largely on three possible global explanations. The first, that the observed patterns were the result of demographic and technical change, was supported by very high correlation coefficients relating both total violent deaths and homicide with rate of population increase, especially up to 1910, but offered little to explain suicide rates. The second, the frustration-aggression theories of Gold, Henry and Short, offered explanation of the falling homicide but rising suicide in the nineteenth century, but had more difficulty with subsequent trends. The third interpretation was made by adapting Norbert Elias' theory of the 'civilising process'. It gave meaning to the accident patterns in terms of the ever widening web of social interaction as society became more complex, and the homicides in terms of civilising and decivilising processes. Only some aspects of the suicide patterns could be explained by this or any of the theories.