Socio – Demographic Profile of Criminals Who Committed Homicides: in Relation to Mahara Prison

Abstract

Homicide which is belongs to a grave crime category can be identified as a common crime to any society. Homicide is the killing of one human being by another (Adler, Muller and Laufer, 1991). Homicide can be explained simply as ‘the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought’ (Kornblum and Julian, 1974). Assassinate a person with purposively is a homicide (The encyclopedia Americana, 1959). According to the police records, In Sri Lanka, homicides have been recorded from different areas of the country. In 2017, homicide rate for Sri Lanka was 2.3 cases per 100,000 populations. It is fluctuated the number of recorded homicides cases with the time. Homicide is caused by mix of factors and socio - demographic structure can be a risk factor for homicide. According to these facts it is essential to identify the socio – demographic profile of homicide criminals