Decade-high number of people killed by homicide in Avon and Somerset last year
A decade-high number of people were killed by homicide in Avon and Somerset last year, new figures show.
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Hide AdBut across England and Wales, police logged the lowest number of homicide victims since 2016-17, excluding 2020-21, which was affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Office for National Statistics figures show Avon and Somerset Constabulary recorded 22 people dying because of a homicide incident in the year to March – up from 13 the year before, and the highest figure since comparable records began a decade ago.
It meant there were 9.8 victims per million residents over the last three years.
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Hide AdNationally, the number of victims fell by 14% from 684 to 590, with 10.2 homicides logged per million people.
Homicide figures are a total of murder, manslaughter and infanticide incidents, where one incident can have more than one victim.
The figures also show a black person is more than four times more likely to be killed by homicide than a white person, with 39.8 victims per million people, compared with 8.7 victims per million white people.
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Hide AdA Home Office spokesperson said: "Everybody has the right to be safe in their neighbourhoods and communities and we are pleased to see overall homicides down year on year by 14%, but we are not complacent.
"Differences in rates between ethnic groups are likely to reflect a range of factors, including differing age profiles, geographical distributions and socioeconomic differences.
"Our programme of activity and interventions, such as Violence Reduction Units, are targeted in hot-spot areas based on the prevalence of crime and are designed to help address homicide and drug misuse among other crimes."