150 partner homicides have been committed in Norway since 2000

PolicePolice .Photo: Norway Today Media

The total number of killings in Norway has been reduced, but the proportion partner homicide is still high. A new list shows that 150 partner murders have been committed since 2000.

According to VG, on average we have seen 9.6 committed partner homicides annually in Norway since year 2000. This year, 39 percent of all murders were committed by the victim’s partner or ex-partner. The figures show a larger porportion of partner homicides in Finnmark, and the fewest in Nord-Trondelag.

– Any murder is a murder too many. There has been a clear decline in murders in Norway in recent years, but when it comes to partner homicide, we are higher than countries we like to compare ourselves with, says NCIS chief Ketil Haukaas.

An international survey from 2013 with figures from 169 countries , shows an average percentage of partner homicide of 13.5 generally. In Norway the average is on 27 percent from 2000 until today.

52 percent of murders in Norway are conducted by people born in the country and 90 percent of victims of partner homicide are women. Most of the murders committed are in the context of divorce.

A partner homicide study led by researcher Solveig K. B. Vatnar at Oslo University, showed that the threshold for reporting of domestic violence is higher than anticipated.

In addition, police and health services tend to not understand the urgency when a person first contact them, according to the study.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

 

————