The Swiss Homicide Database (SHD) is part of a research project realized by the Universities of Lausanne, Zurich and St. Gallen and sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF. The first part of this project started in 2001 and was limited to four cantons in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (Vaud, Neuchâtel, Valais and Fribourg). After completion of this first SNF-project, the SNF sponsored an extension of the project to all Swiss cantons. The extended Swiss project differs only slightly from the original project. To shorten the already complex data collection process, only completed homicides were included in the data collection, excluding attempts that were previously considered. Data are based on autopsy registries from legal medicine institutes and completed by police and court files. The following research project conducted by the University of St. Gallen and again sponsored by the SNF allowed to update data on homicide for all cantons until the year 2014. The most recent project, still in preparation, will update the Swiss Homicide Monitor (SHM) with completed homicides from 2015 until present.
Marcelo Aebi
Marcelo F. Aebi is Professor of Criminology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. He directs the annual penal statistics project for the Council of Europe and is an editor of the European Sourcebook on Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. He has published several articles comparing falling crime rates in Europe and North America, including homicide.
Giulia Cinaglia
Giulia Cinaglia is a graduate in forensic science (BSc) and in Criminal Justice (MLaw), subject area criminology, from the School of Criminal Justice of the University of Lausanne. Interested in both the criminological and the forensic aspects of crime, she worked on the concept of frame in forensic science and particularly in the investigation process. Later on, she had the opportunity to work with the Police of Vaud and the Federal Office of Police for her master thesis, which subject was the deletion of the DNA profiles of convicted people from the national database (EDNA-CODIS). Currently a PhD student at the School of Criminal Justice, her research focuses on “cold cases” – criminal cases that have not been resolved. The study aims at finding the reasons preventing the cases to be solved and the way "cold cases" investigations are managed. The ultimate goal is to develop a general and transversal model for crime investigations, suitable both for cold and standard cases.
Martin Killias
Professor Martin Killias is Permanent Visiting Professor for Criminal Law, Criminal Procedural Law and Criminology at the University of St.Gallen. He has been a visiting professor at twelve universities in Europe, North America and Asia. Martin Killias sits on the editorial boards of some of the world’s leading criminological journals and is not only one of the best-known criminologists in Europe, but also in the USA. In 2001, he was awarded the Sellin-Glueck Award of the American Society of Criminology, and in 2008 the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences honoured him with the G.O.W. Mueller Award for outstanding research in international criminal law. Besides a variety of criminological fields such as the International Crime Victimization Survey, the International Self-Reported Juvenile Delinquency Project, the International Violence against Women Survey and the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice, his teaching and research focuses on Swiss criminal law, including commercial criminal law, penitentiary law and criminal policy.
Nora Markwalder
Nora Markwalder studied law at the University of Lausanne. In addition to her law degree she completed a second degree in criminology and criminal justice (MLaw) at the institute of criminology and criminal law of the University of Lausanne and the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas (USA). After obtaining her J.S.D. in 2012, she was admitted to the Zurich bar in 2014. Subsequently, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Criminal Law, Law of Criminal Procedure and Criminology with particular emphasis on Economic Crime at the University of St.Gallen. Her research interest includes the area of economic and violent crime. Furthermore, she is working as criminal defence attorney at a law firm in Zurich.
Simone Walser
Simone Walser has a PhD in Psychology/Criminology. She participated in the construction of a Swiss homicide and suicide database with cases from 1980 till 2004 (for publications see here). Currently, she works at the University of St. Gallen, where she conducts a study on homicide in Switzerland from 2005 till 2014 funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Marcelo Aebi
Marcelo F. Aebi is Professor of Criminology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. He directs the annual penal statistics project for the Council of Europe and is an editor of the European Sourcebook on Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. He has published several articles comparing falling crime rates in Europe and North America, including homicide.
Giulia Cinaglia
Giulia Cinaglia is a graduate in forensic science (BSc) and in Criminal Justice (MLaw), subject area criminology, from the School of Criminal Justice of the University of Lausanne. Interested in both the criminological and the forensic aspects of crime, she worked on the concept of frame in forensic science and particularly in the investigation process. Later on, she had the opportunity to work with the Police of Vaud and the Federal Office of Police for her master thesis, which subject was the deletion of the DNA profiles of convicted people from the national database (EDNA-CODIS). Currently a PhD student at the School of Criminal Justice, her research focuses on “cold cases” – criminal cases that have not been resolved. The study aims at finding the reasons preventing the cases to be solved and the way "cold cases" investigations are managed. The ultimate goal is to develop a general and transversal model for crime investigations, suitable both for cold and standard cases.
Martin Killias
Professor Martin Killias is Permanent Visiting Professor for Criminal Law, Criminal Procedural Law and Criminology at the University of St.Gallen. He has been a visiting professor at twelve universities in Europe, North America and Asia. Martin Killias sits on the editorial boards of some of the world’s leading criminological journals and is not only one of the best-known criminologists in Europe, but also in the USA. In 2001, he was awarded the Sellin-Glueck Award of the American Society of Criminology, and in 2008 the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences honoured him with the G.O.W. Mueller Award for outstanding research in international criminal law. Besides a variety of criminological fields such as the International Crime Victimization Survey, the International Self-Reported Juvenile Delinquency Project, the International Violence against Women Survey and the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice, his teaching and research focuses on Swiss criminal law, including commercial criminal law, penitentiary law and criminal policy.
Nora Markwalder
Nora Markwalder studied law at the University of Lausanne. In addition to her law degree she completed a second degree in criminology and criminal justice (MLaw) at the institute of criminology and criminal law of the University of Lausanne and the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas (USA). After obtaining her J.S.D. in 2012, she was admitted to the Zurich bar in 2014. Subsequently, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Criminal Law, Law of Criminal Procedure and Criminology with particular emphasis on Economic Crime at the University of St.Gallen. Her research interest includes the area of economic and violent crime. Furthermore, she is working as criminal defence attorney at a law firm in Zurich.
Simone Walser
Simone Walser has a PhD in Psychology/Criminology. She participated in the construction of a Swiss homicide and suicide database with cases from 1980 till 2004 (for publications see here). Currently, she works at the University of St. Gallen, where she conducts a study on homicide in Switzerland from 2005 till 2014 funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.