Study finds too many indigenous murders

Indigenous Australians are murdered and murder at a rate far higher than the non-indigenous community and there's no clear explanation why.

Alcohol appears to play a role, featuring in about 70 per cent of incidents.

But even so, a new study by the Australian Institute of Criminology says indigenous people are disproportionately represented as both victims and offenders.

In 2011-12, they comprised three per cent of the population but 13 per cent of homicide victims and 11 per cent of offenders - five times the rate of the non-indigenous population.

Using data from the AIC's National Homicide Monitoring Program for the period 1989-2012, the AIC identified 6744 homicide incidents, with 1096 involving at least one indigenous person.

There were 7217 victims, 951 of them indigenous. A total of 7599 offenders were identified, 1234 of them indigenous.

Of the 765 incidents with an indigenous victim and offender or offenders, 532 involved alcohol and 511 occurred in a domestic setting.

The AIC said there was currently limited research to explain the difference between the rates of indigenous and non-indigenous homicide.

Different studies cite a range of factors that may increase the likelihood of involvement in violence for indigenous people.

They include substance abuse, personal abuse such as sexual abuse as a child, housing mobility and social stressors such as witnessing violence, gambling addiction and mental illness.