[marktwain]

The numbers I have seen show that the Australian murder rate was going down and has continued to do so, though in a very small amount.

http://www.aic.gov.au/statistics/homicide.html

There is a fair amount of fluctuation due to the relaively low numbers (about 250-300) per year.

[SampleMan]

I looked at that again, and there does appear to be statistical disagreement. All I’ve put my finger on so far is that the declining stats say “homicide” and the increasing stats say “murder”.

I’ll keep investigating.