Data challenges
Policies and prevention strategies like those mentioned above benefit from the collection of reliable data and the analysis of homicide and other crime statistics, which deepen the understanding of the drivers of violence and can inform policymakers about how best to direct limited resources towards tackling violent crime. The progress made over the last decade in producing and collecting data on homicide has made it possible for such data to be widely used to monitor security and crime at the global, regional and national levels. Further and focused efforts, especially in parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania, are now necessary to fill remaining gaps.
In this chapter:
- What are the gaps in data availability?
- What are the issues of data quality for homicide statistics?
- How can data quality and availability be improved?
- What is being done to improve homicide data?