MURDER TRENDS: New study sheds light on Spain’s violent crimes

A THIRD of male murder victims killed between 2010 and 2012 died in fights while four out of 10 female victims died in gender violence-related attacks, a study has found.
The Interior Ministry’s study of the 632 murders which took place in Spain during those two years also found the number of male victims was twice that of females. The study is the first of its kind for the country.
Spain’s murder rate per head was 0.66 homicides per 100,000, below the European ratio of 0.9 per 100,000. Europe has the lowest proportional murder rate in the world, the study found.
There were an average 18 murders a month between 2010 and 2012, according to the study.
The rate increased from June to September and was also high in April and October. Weekends saw the highest number of killings.
Victims were killed with either a knife or a gun in almost 60 per cent of cases. Knives were the most used weapon followed by firearms, the study showed.