Families Bereaved by Homicide: Trauma, Grief and the Justice Process

Homicide kills hundreds of thousands of people a year worldwide, and each death leaves a family behind. We found no country that counts those families. Where researchers have looked, being bereaved by homicide is common in some communities, it is linked with high levels of post-traumatic stress and long-lasting grief, and families meet a justice process that support services are often not built around.

A death by homicide is sudden, violent and caused deliberately by another person. For the family, grief runs alongside a police investigation, a court case that may last years and public attention they did not ask for. This study brings together research from several countries on how many people are bereaved this way, their mental health, work and family life, and how services respond. Following the organisations that support them, it speaks of families "bereaved by homicide"; some research says "homicide survivors".

Homicide reaches hundreds of thousands of families a year, but no one counts the bereaved

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that 458,000 people were killed by homicide in 2021, a global rate of 5.8 per 100,000 people. Over 2019–2021 the average was about 440,000 a year^[1]. These are estimates from national data of varying quality. Most victims are men: 81% in 2021. But the pattern for women is different. UNODC puts the share of female victims killed by an intimate partner or another family member at 56%, against 11% of male victims^[1].

In England and Wales, where the rate was the lowest since 1977, 40% of adult women killed were killed by a partner or ex-partner^[4]. None of these sources records how many parents, partners, children, brothers and sisters each death leaves. Every figure about bereaved families below comes from surveys and research samples, not official statistics.

Surveys suggest homicide bereavement is common, and unequally shared

The best estimates of how many people have been bereaved by homicide come from US national surveys. A national telephone survey of 12,500 adults, published in 1991, found that 9.3% had had a family member or friend killed by homicide, a definition that included deaths caused by drunk drivers^[2]. In a national sample of 1,753 young adults, 15% had had a family member or close friend killed by criminal or vehicular homicide^[5]. Among 3,614 US adolescents aged 12–17 in 2005, 9% had had a loved one killed by criminal homicide, 7% by vehicular homicide and 2% by both; the authors estimate that roughly 1 in 5 American adolescents may be affected, if the results generalise^[6].

These surveys used different definitions, ages and years, so they are not a trend. We found no comparable national survey from any other country: a gap, not evidence that the experience is rare elsewhere.

The US surveys show that this experience is not shared equally. In the young-adult survey, African Americans were overrepresented among people bereaved by criminal homicide^[5]. In a pooled national sample of 11,771 children and young people aged 2–17, about 8% had experienced the homicide of a family member or friend. Black young people, those from lower-income households, those living with one parent or none, and those in large cities were overrepresented^[7]. In a county-wide survey of 1,609 young people aged 14–19 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 13% were homicide survivors, and Black young people carried a disproportionate share^[8]. One research team concluded that a family member's or friend's murder "is often just one relatively small part of a more complicated life of adversity"^[7]. That argues for support that looks at a family's whole situation.

Trauma and grief often arrive together, and can last for years

Grief is a normal response, not an illness. After a homicide, it comes alongside trauma from how the person died. Researchers measure two conditions: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and prolonged grief disorder (PGD, earlier called complicated grief), in which intense longing and distress persist and disrupt daily life. Both are diagnosable conditions, distinct from ordinary grief, however painful.

In the 1991 US national survey, 23.3% of immediate family members had developed homicide-related PTSD at some point, and 4.8% met full criteria in the previous six months^[2]. In the young-adult survey, people bereaved by homicide had 1.88 times the odds of past-year PTSD, 1.64 times the odds of a major depressive episode and 1.77 times the odds of drug abuse or dependence^[5]. A second analysis found that 268 homicide survivors had 1.91 times the odds of meeting criteria for all three PTSD symptom clusters compared with people who had experienced other violence (functional impairment was not assessed)^[9].

Estimates vary widely with sample and measure. A systematic review of eight studies found lifetime homicide-related PTSD ranging from 19.1% to 71%, and current PTSD from 5.2% to 6%. It found the evidence inconclusive on whether symptoms are more severe than after other kinds of death^[10]. A review of violent deaths (homicide, suicide and accidents) put the prevalence of complicated grief at between 12.5% and 78.0%^[11]. In the Netherlands, among 312 spouses, relatives and friends recruited through support organisations and a government case-management service, between 30.9% and 37.5% rated their symptoms above the threshold for PTSD, and over 80% for complicated grief. Parents of the person killed were at greater risk, and symptoms were lower the longer ago the death had been^[12]. People already in contact with services are likely to score higher than other bereaved families.

The strongest population evidence comes from Denmark. A study of national registers from 1995 to 2013 followed 1,445,378 bereaved adults, each matched with five people who had not been bereaved. The raised risk of suicide, self-harm and psychiatric illness, which lasted for at least 10 years, after a close relative's death was generally highest after a sudden death by suicide, homicide or accident^[13]. A meta-analysis of 37 studies of people bereaved by violent death found that prolonged grief was associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviour (correlation 0.41), and recommended that clinicians ask about suicidal thoughts^[14]. These are associations, not a forecast for any person; support and treatment can help.

See also our studies of adults bereaved by suicide and of road-death bereavement.

The justice process becomes part of the bereavement

Few other bereavements bring families into contact with police, prosecutors and courts. A 2026 systematic review of 35 studies on what affects bereaved adults' mental health after a homicide found that criminal justice factors were the most often studied, in 18 papers, ahead of social factors (17) and coping (13)^[15].

Waiting is part of it. In England and Wales, no suspect had yet been charged, as at December 2025, in 29% of adult male homicides and 23% of adult female homicides recorded in the year to March 2025; the ONS notes that this figure includes cases where suspects were acquitted and falls as investigations continue^[4]. In Israel, 13 relatives in unsolved "cold case" homicides linked their declining physical health partly to the continuing absence of justice^[16].

Information is another. In US focus groups with 27 relatives from 24 murder cases, the court's requirements to notify families were met infrequently, and when information came, it was often felt to be highly technical. The same families also described positive contact with prosecutors and victim advocates^[17]. In Taiwan, a 2011 national survey of victims of violent crime and their families found that the service users least satisfied with victim support were homicidally bereaved, in financial difficulty after the crime and still waiting for a court verdict^[18].

In England and Wales, a 2023 survey of 278 bereaved people, run by university researchers with the charity Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM), repeated the survey behind a 2011 government-commissioned review of the needs of families bereaved by homicide, known as the Casey review. The researchers found that families' experiences and needs "did not differ significantly" from those found in 2011, and that their needs "aren't effectively being met by current support provisions"^[19]. Respondents were reached through a charity, so may not reflect all families.

On current evidence, taking part in a trial neither simply helps nor harms. Research with Dutch people bereaved by the MH17 plane disaster, whose case went to a criminal trial, is one of the few long-term studies. Among 84 bereaved people, those who chose to give a victim personal statement in court had higher grief, PTSD and depression scores before and after the hearing than those who did not, and their scores did not change over time^[20]. In 237 bereaved people surveyed four times, between 67 and 103 months after the deaths, none of the aspects of involvement in the justice process measured was related to prolonged grief or anger^[21]. A mass killing is not typical, so these findings may not generalise.

Work, money and the care of children change too

The practical aftermath is less studied, and most evidence is from the UK. Among families who took part in research for the 2011 Casey review, as summarised by Victim Support in 2019, 70% of bereaved family members stopped working for a period after the homicide, from under a month to over a year, and 24% stopped working permanently^[22]. An earlier UK study of relatives seeking help from Victim Support found high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, more prescribed psychotropic medication and loss of employment^[23]; Victim Support's summary puts the share who lost or left work at 27%^[22]. Both are self-selected samples of families who sought support.

Children are often part of the picture. In the Casey survey, 66% of families said children were directly affected, and 28% said family members had been left responsible for caring for children. Only 29% received financial support for that care, and 51% of those who took on the children were grandparents^[22].

When one parent kills the other, a child can in effect lose both parents at once. In the Netherlands, researchers combined eight national data sources and identified 256 children whose parent was killed in 137 intimate partner homicides between 2003 and 2012. The children were 7.4 years old on average, and 87.1% were bereaved of their mother. Of those for whom information was available, 67.7% had certainly been exposed to violence at home beforehand^[24]. Dutch caregivers raising children bereaved this way described having to bring children into the family, deal with the perpetrator and relatives, and manage "underprepared services"^[25]. An international group of researchers concluded in 2026 that support for children bereaved by family violence remains "fragmented, inconsistent and largely dependent on local service availability rather than individual needs"^[26]. See also our studies of children bereaved by homicide and bereaved parents.

Specialist support exists in some places, and reaches only some families

In England and Wales, the Victim Support National Homicide Service was supporting 1,623 bereaved people in May 2019, on average for 18 months^[22]. The UK National Homicide Therapeutic Service, an outreaching, time-limited model focused on traumatic grief, has been evaluated using self-reported data from 929 bereaved adults. The researchers concluded that it is likely to be effective in reducing mental health problems. People with a history of mental illness, younger people, women and those whose child or partner had been killed had more severe symptoms at the start. The study had no control group, so it cannot show how much of the improvement was due to the service^[27].

Evidence on treatment is still small. A systematic review found only 7 eligible studies out of 77 records; in those, PTSD, complicated grief and depression symptoms fell after the interventions tested^[28]. One Dutch randomised trial of 85 bereaved adults found that an eight-session treatment reduced self-rated complicated grief and PTSD compared with a waiting list^[29].

Reaching families is a problem in itself. In the earlier UK study, few family members had been referred for professional treatment despite high levels of distress^[23]. In a US study of 47 homicide survivors, over half met criteria for a mental disorder, and the barriers they named most often were money, a lack of information and their own health problems. Those who used services were generally satisfied^[30]. We found no research on families in countries without specialist services.

What the evidence asks of us

The figures are uneven, but they point one way:

• Count the families, not only the deaths. Statistics agencies and specialist services could estimate this, so that support can be planned to the need.
• Offer trauma-informed support early, and keep it available. In Danish registers, the raised risk of suicide, self-harm and psychiatric illness after a close relative's death lasted at least 10 years, and was generally highest after sudden deaths, including homicide^[13]. Families in specialist services are supported for many months^[22]. Researchers recommend that clinicians ask people bereaved by violent death about suicidal thoughts^[14].
• Make the justice process part of the support plan. Families in several countries said clear, timely information about investigations and courts was missing^[17][18]. Unsolved cases need a route for families too^[16].
• Support the whole household. Help with work, money and childcare, including for grandparents and relatives who take children in, matters alongside therapy^[22][25].
• Reach the communities most affected. In the US surveys, Black young people and lower-income households carried the heaviest share of homicide bereavement^[7]. Support should be designed with them.
• Fund better research. Controlled trials, studies outside the US and Western Europe, and register studies that separate homicide from other sudden deaths are all still rare^[28][10].

Language: this piece uses plain words such as “died” rather than euphemisms, because they are clearer. Where it discusses suicide, it follows the Samaritans’ media guidelines.

Why we're publishing this

The organisations that support families bereaved by homicide, from national services to peer groups run by bereaved families, make their case with limited data. We have gathered the best evidence we could find, from any country, for them and for those who fund support to cite. The case is theirs: these families' needs go beyond ordinary bereavement support, and meeting them falls to health, justice and social services together.

How to read this data

Homicide counts come from official sources: UNODC estimates, US death registrations and police-recorded homicides in England and Wales. The prevalence estimates are from US national telephone surveys, some decades old, using definitions that include vehicular homicide; they do not apply to other countries. Many mental health figures come from people recruited through support services, who may be more distressed than all bereaved families, often using self-report questionnaires. The Danish register study is the strongest population evidence, but its summary groups homicide with other sudden deaths. Several UK figures on work and children are Victim Support's summary of the 2011 Casey review, whose original we could not reach; the 2023 replication is described from the university's account. Research comes overwhelmingly from the US, the UK and the Netherlands, with almost nothing from Africa, Latin America or Asia.

Use this data

Free to cite with attribution to Understanding Bereavement. Charities, specialist services, researchers and journalists are welcome to reuse these figures and charts. For the underlying figures as a spreadsheet, get in touch.

Important: This study summarises published research about groups of people for general information. It is not medical or legal advice or bereavement support, and it cannot describe or predict anything about an individual or family. If you are worried about yourself or someone close to you, please speak to a GP or another qualified professional, or contact a specialist homicide bereavement service where one exists.

Sources

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