scrubbedexpat020

Murder and mayhem in the western suburbs: St Albans has highest rate of homicide

May help you to decide which suburb.

Buzzy--Bee

I suspect the vast majority of homicides in Melbourne are of people who live outside of / on the edge of the law.

Other murders are phenomenally rare to the point where cases like Jill Meaghers make the papers for weeks on end.

BB

Dorothy

No, Jill Meagher's murder made the news for weeks on end because she was pretty, white and worked for the media. If she had been a middle aged aboriginal woman who lived on the streets nobody would have ever heard of her; alive or dead.

Brian Clough down under

Good point.

Beoz

That's right. People who are the furthest away from the edge tend to capture the public attention. Pretty much what BB said.

jad n rich

Sadly that is the truth.

Buzzy--Bee

err that's just a different way of saying the same as what I said.

BB

ozzieeagle

Or.......Stay of the Ice

spouse of scouse

The quote was [I]I suspect the vast majority of homicides in Melbourne are of people who live outside of / on the edge of the law.[/I]

I think Dorothy was talking about the media's selection/bias in reporting homicides, rather than which demographic is most likely to be a victim or perpetrator of homicide.

While a middle aged, homeless Aboriginal woman is almost certainly on the fringes/edge of society, it doesn't follow that she is living 'outside of/on the edge of the law' - she might be charged with vagrancy (does that charge still exist? Is being homeless still against the law?), but I'm thinking Buzzy's example relates to illegal motorcycle gangs, drug rings etc. Would reporting of this woman's rape and murder receive the same prominence, for the same duration? If not, why not? Would the amount and duration of media coverage increase if the Aboriginal woman wasn't homeless? If not, why not?

How about the middle aged, middle class Aboriginal/Anglo/Chinese woman, whose partner kills her in their nice, middle class home. She's just as dead as Ms Meagher. How much media time and attention does she get? If it's less that Ms Meagher's case - why is it less?

A murdered woman is not 'phenomenally rare' in Melbourne, or in Australia as a whole. In fact, it's not rare at all. It's frequent. It's common. On average, one woman dies every week at the hands of her current or former partner. One. Woman. Dies. Every. Week. To date, 2014 has been an 'above average' year. 57 dead women so far. How many headlines on this have you seen? Yeah, me too.

The media and its consumers determine whose death deserves the most prominence. Being outside the law is not a disqualifier. Bikie shootings and trials are lovely media fodder. So is the murder of the rich, the beautiful and the famous. But that other thing, the dreary, common, boring old 'domestic violence' thing - no gain for the media in reporting that. People aren't interested. Unless there's an Oscar involved.

Beoz

Are you asking me why? Or making a statement? If you are making a statement - totally agree.

Is the population more fascinated with those who are less likely to be murdered by the social bracket? Well yes. Are channel 9 and the other bogan outlets the cause of this or are they just responding to the populations demand for bogan excitement?

Buzzy--Bee

The population is most likely to be fascinated with murder victims that resemble themselves.

If you are a white young lady, and another white young lady is murdered in your suburb, you're going to be a damn sight more interested in the news reports than if a gang member is murdered on the other side of town!

BB

Beoz

Unless of course you are a gang member, then you might discriminate and have no interest in the white lady across town.

spouse of scouse

I wasn't asking you or anyone in particular, Beoz, just hopefully providing some food for thought from the lofty heights of my soapbox.

I reciprocate your agreement, by agreeing with your last paragraph (except perhaps for the 'bogan' bit, as there are so many interpretations of that word and I'm not sure which one you work with ). As I said, the media and its consumers determine whose death deserves the most prominence.

GarryP

Be very careful on those stats, they tend to be used to make political points.

While men are more likely to kill than women (and yes, 1 murder of an 'intimate' by a man per week is the rough level), it only amounts to 18% of all murders committed by men. Men are much more likely to murder friends or strangers than wives.

On the other hand, of the murders committed by women, 36%, twice the percentage, are of 'intimates'. That's the single biggest victim type. Family comes in second.

For some reason that viewpoint on the subject tends not to get the same coverage...

Here's the report if you want to read up on the stats : http://aic.gov.au/documents/F/F/B/%7...AFD%7Dmr01.pdf

Oh, and despite having 25% of the population of Australia, Victoria has 19% of the murders. NSW on the other hand has 32% of the population and 34% of the murders; and the Northern Territory has 1% of the population, but 7% of the murders ...

spouse of scouse

Thanks Garry, but I have sufficient nouse and networks to separate the fact from the fiction.

And yes, I know that women also kill men. If you would like to start an awareness campaign about that, I'd be happy to support it, providing it's a campaign without qualifiers, excuses and obfuscation.