How to Reduce the Global Homicide Rate to 2 per 100,000 by 2060

Abstract

This chapter examines the intriguing prospect of how to lower the global homicide rate to 2 per 100,000 in the next fifty years. It shows that this would require a 75 percent reduction in homicides worldwide, an ambitious goal but one that is plausible based on historical patterns. It is argued that to achieve this global violence reduction plan will require advances in knowledge on three main topics: a need for a greater cross-cultural understanding of causal risk factors for violence; a need to expand the evidence base on effective prevention and intervention programs beyond its current focus on developed countries; and a need to understand the pacification of societies.