Trends, Correlates, and Contexts of Robbery-Homicide in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa has amongst the highest rates of homicide in the world, yet little is known about the contexts that shape fatal violence. One frequently feared context is robbery. We examine 68,801 robberies reported between 2003 and 2014 to predict risk factors for cases resulting in victim death. Robbery-homicide is rare in South Africa and its risk factors differ from the country’s overall homicide profile. Significant correlates include day of the week, time of the day and the victim’s race. These findings demonstrate how context-sensitive understandings of violence are crucial to advancing research on homicide in low- and middle-income countries.