CHILD MURDER AND THE MEDIA - A STUDY OF THE REPORTING OF CHILD MURDERIN THE TIMES 1887-1990

This study of The Times over a 103-year period (1887-1990) identified reports of 2,274 cases of murder of which 485 (or 21 per cent) involve d miners as victims. The reports suggest that up to the First World Wa r fathers killed the most, claiming nearly twice as many victims as mo thers. In the interwar years the reported numbers were few, but mother s outnumbered fathers as killers. After the Second World War, the majo r shift (particularly since the mid-1960s) has been the dramatic rise in the number of homicides of children and young persons committed by persons outside the family. It is suggested that this may be part of a trend that is now appearing in the overall homicide statistics.