Aging and homicide rates

There are no published studies concerning the effect of mortality rate on t he rate of homicide by habitually violent offenders. On the basis of nation -wide statistics in Finland, the frequency of homicide is 61% lower among 5 0-year old males than among 30-year old males. However, when the 4.9-fold m ortality of habitually violent offenders is taken into account, the homicid e rate is only 43% lower among 50-year old males than among 30-year old mal es. This is an important issue in forensic psychiatry and that requires fur ther attention, as age is used a predictive factor when assessing the risk of violent behavior.