A homicide survivors pain for the death of their loved one is complicated and burdened with the police investigation, criminal justice system, news media, reactions of family and friends, and society as a whole. A homicide survivor's grief process is different due to these other complications. The Aftermath of Murder Over 20,000 men, women and children are victims of homicide in the United States each year. Over a million survivors are left behind, whose lives are tragically changed forever. Nothing in life can prepare us for the murder of a loved one.
Murder involves more than a death.
For most victims, it cuts short a healthy, young life, and for all victims, it is committed through a senseless act of violence. The added dimension of intentional violence compounds the sense of sorrow and loss with acute feelings of injustice, distrust and helplessness. Survivors face a long period of emotional struggle to reconstruct a devastated life. Murder is unquestionably the worst thing that one person can do to another. For its survivors, murder is a terrible tragedy.