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A Reexamination of the Concept of Victim-Precipitated Homicide

University of Melbourne

This article draws on a qualitative analysis of homicide in Victoria, Australia, to examine the concept of "victim precipitated homicide." Despite the enduring popularity of the term, there are many problems in its use for the present-day study of homicide, including the lack of adequate detail in files for the determination of the role of the victim for a large number of cases, as well as the fact that inevitably, the various actors in a homicide scene have different views of what happened, so it may be difficult to establish the facts of the case (especially given that the voice of the victim will not be present). Understanding the nature of the interactions that link victims, offenders, and bystanders in unfolding homicide scenarios may prove theoretically richer than focusing on what may be the unanswerable question of "who started it?"

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