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This study provides an overview of homicide clearance in four West European countries: Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Using data from the European Homicide Monitor, employing similar definitions and uniform coding schemes, this study allowed for unique cross-country comparisons in factors influencing differences in homicide clearance rates. Findings based on homicides occurring in the period 2009–14 revealed overall low homicide rates in all countries, with a wide variety in homicide clearance rates, ranging from 77 percent in the Netherlands to 98 percent in Finland. Results further showed that both event-based as well as victim-based characteristics significantly influenced the likelihood of homicide clearance, suggesting that homicide clearance rates can, for a large part, be attributed to the prevalent types of homicide in each of these European countries.

Research on homicides followed by suicides has largely relied on very localized samples and relatively short time spans of data. As a result, little is known about the extent to which patterns within cases of homicide-suicides are geographically specific. The current study seeks to help fill this gap by comparing twenty years of homicide-suicide data for Sweden and a large U.S. county. Although some of the underlying patterns in the two countries are similar (e.g., decreasing rates), a number of important differences emerge, particularly with respect to incidence, weapons used, perpetrator age, and relationship of the perpetrator to the victim.

Homicide committed by female offenders is an understudied phenomenon. This study examines whether incidence rates of male-perpetrated and female-perpetrated homicide have changed from 1990 to 2010, and investigates similarities and differences between male and female homicide offenders, by examining a dataset comprising all cases of homicide in Sweden (N = 1,570). The results indicate a decline in the incidence of both male-perpetrated and female-perpetrated homicide during the observed period, as well as stable proportions of female offenders. There were also pronounced differences between male and female homicide offenders with adult victims: victims of female offenders were more often male, intimate partners, intoxicated at the time of the offense, and killed by sharp force injuries. Previous violence between victim and offender was also more common in cases with female offenders, and they committed homicide-suicide less often. There were less pronounced differences between male and female homi...

The chapter describes the trends and basic structure of homicides in Sweden known to the police in 2002–2008, as well as 1990–1996. The analyses are based on a code scheme that all police reports (around 100 annually) and court decisions (around 70 annually) on homicides are put into, as well as data on homicides based on death causes coded in the ICD ten system by the health department. Since the time span consists of 7 plus 7 years, there are around 1,200 cases analyzed. The main question for the analysis is if there have been any changes in the level and the structure of homicides in Sweden over the last two decades, in the matter of for example age and sex of the individuals involved, motives, methods of attack, crime scenes and clearance rates. The phenomena of homicide in Sweden is since the mid-1970s characterized by a quite stable overall level (a little less than 1 per year and 100,000 pop.), a relatively high clearance rate and a large proportion of knife- and alcohol-related cases in comparison with other countries around the world. Hypotheses have been raised, though, that the number of gun-related homicides, as well as the proportion of unsolved cases, has increased in Sweden in the last decade, due to an overall raise in organized and gang-related crime. On the other hand, there are theories that the number of homicides has decreased as a result of improvements in emergency health care and the presence of cell phones.