The number of homicides attributed to mental disorders has fallen in England and Wales over the past 30 years, while that of other homicides has risen, a new analysis of official statistics shows.

The study looked at four sets of homicide statistics from 1946 to 2004. Researchers compared the numbers of homicides that were due to mental disorder—categorised by legal outcome (not guilty by reason of insanity or diminished responsibility, defendant unfit to plead, infanticides, and cases where the offender committed suicide at the same time as or after the homicide)—with homicides that were not considered to be due to mental disorder (British Journal of Psychiatry …