Drug-related homicide in Europe: a first review of the data and literature

Drugs can act as facilitators for all types of violence, including drugrelated homicide (DRH). Addressing this phenomenon is of importance not only given the severity of a homicide event and its high costs to society, but also because DRH has the potential to act as a valuable indicator of wider drug-related violent crime. Comparing DRH levels between countries can be a valuable tool for identifying trends and new threats. As part of its programme for developing and improving drug supply indicators, the EMCDDA has been expanding its monitoring to include measures of wider drug-related crime, including DRH. However, there appears to be a significant gap in the available European data on DRH. This Paper aims to identify relevant European data sources on DRH, to assess the role of drugs in national homicide data, and to assess these sources and data in terms of monitoring potential. A critical review was conducted of existing national and international homicide data sources.

Data on DRH is systematically prepared in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom (England, Wales, and Scotland). Available data suggests both between- and within-country variability in relation to the role of drugs in homicide events. Based on these findings, four key obstacles can be identified in terms of the current ability to monitor DRH: missing data, fragmented data, comparability issues and data quality reservations. To overcome these obstacles there is a need to define and operationalise concepts, based on common definitions and integrate them into the EMCDDA monitoring system.