Violent crime is an issue that every modern society has to deal with. Thus, it is not surprising that criminal statistics and violence prevention programmes are omnipresent in media and in public discourse. There is a consensus that the level of violence in a society should be as low as possible. Indeed, any increase of the rate of violent crime is considered a regression since historical evidence suggests that violent crime rates have overall decreased since the late medieval period. Although it is difficult to measure levels of interpersonal violence, homicide rates can be used as an indicator, at least for lethal and serious violence. Killings are among those crimes that have been criminalised and prosecuted rigorously in almost every society. In addition, the prosecution of these cases is usually well documented.
The reliability of historical homicide rates, however, depends on the availability of records on violent crime and on population figures both of which are needed for the...