at United States have much higher murder rates than Canada and European Union countries, although all those countries have abolished death penalty. Gun control advocates could further point out that, unlike United States, many European countries disallow gun ownership by private citizens, etc. Overall, the global pattern is too complex and, on average, the influence of both these factors is probably insignificant.
It is also often claimed that murder rates are correlated with overall wealth of the population ( i.e. that murders happen more often in societies where larger percentage of people lives below the poverty level ). This claim is not supported by evidence. On the other hand, many researchers have observed significant correlation between murder rates and wealth distribution inequality, as measured by Gini coefficient.
In the Western World, nearly 90% of all murders are committed by males. There is a sharp peak in the age distribution of murderers between the ages of 17 and 30. People become increasingly uncommon to commit a murder as they age. Incidents of children and adolescents committing murders are extremely rare.
 Documentary Films
- Blind Spot: Murder by Women, A film by Irving Saraf, Allie Light and Julia Hilder, 2000
- Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, Director: Nick Broomfield, 2003
 See also
- Child murder
- Combination of murder and suicide
- Cult homicides
- Femicide Murder of women, see Deaths in Ciudad Juarez
- Human sacrifice
- List of massacres
- List of murdered people
- Lust murder
- Mass murder
- List of unsolved murders and deaths
- Serial killer
- Spree killer
- Thrill killing
- Torture murder
- Proxy murder
 External links
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control "Atlas of United States Mortality"
- Cezanne's depiction of 'The Murder'
- 1986 Seville Statement on Violence
- Introduction and Updated Information on the Seville Statement on Violence
- [http://www.mvfr.org Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation, Inc. - An Anti-Capital Punishment Group