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PubMed1992

Firearm homicide among black teenage males in metropolitan counties. Comparison of death rates in two periods, 1983 through 1985 and 1987 through 1989.

OBJECTIVE: To identify US counties (1) that had either significantly high or significantly low firearm homicide rates among black males 15 through 19 years of age in 1983 through 1985 and in 1987 through 1989, and/or (2) that experienced a significant increase in the firearm homicide rate between 1983 through 1985 and 1987 through 1989. DESIGN: Using the Compressed Mortality File, a county-level mortality and population database maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, Hyattsville, Md, county-level firearm homicide rates are analyzed. SETTING: Eighty counties with a population of at least 10,000 black males 15 through 19 years of age in 1987 through 1989. SUBJECTS: Black males 15 through 19 years of age whose underlying cause of death was classified as firearm homicide (E965.0 through E965.4, or E970) in the ICD-9 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death, Ninth Revision). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: County-specific firearm homicide rate. RESULTS: In 1983 through 1985 and in 1987 through 1989, seven and 13 counties, respectively, were identified that had significantly high firearm homicide rates. Firearm homicide rates were significantly high in both time periods in the following counties: Los Angeles, California; Wayne, Michigan; Kings, New York; St Louis City, Missouri; and Baltimore City, Maryland. Firearm homicide rates increased significantly between 1983 through 1985 and 1987 through 1989 in 34 of the 80 counties. Twenty counties had significantly low rates in both time periods. Several counties with low rates in 1983 through 1985 experienced significant increases and by 1987 through 1989 were among those with high rates. CONCLUSIONS: Surveillance of firearm homicide rates at the county levels in counties with high and with low rates is a necessary first step in the development of successful violence prevention programs. Those counties where rates are high and increasing are the counties that are in greatest need for intervention strategies. Knowledge of the incidence of nonfatal firearm injuries is also needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Trends in California homicide, 1970 to 1993.

In addition to the need to identify homicide trends among well-documented risk groups, this investigation was conducted to expand the limited existing knowledge about the risk of homicide according to educational attainment and among 2 growing ethnic groups, Hispanics and Asians. We examined the death certificates of the 69,621 persons who died of homicide in California from 1970 through 1993. Age, sex, race and ethnicity, and education level of the victim, along with the homicide method, were abstracted from each record. Frequencies, rates, and relative risk were calculated. Substantial increases in the homicide rates occurred for 15- to 19-year-olds (4.0-fold), men (1.9-fold), Hispanics (2.5-fold), and Asians or others (1.7-fold) from 1970 to 1993. The use of firearms consistently accounted for a growing proportion of all homicides, reaching a high in 1993 of 75% for all persons and 90% for 15- to 19-year-olds. High school dropouts have the highest homicide risk of all education groups. Homicide risk differentials by ethnicity, sex, and age all increased during the study period. Persons of color and youth have been disproportionately affected by homicide for many years, and these data indicate that things are getting worse. Redoubled collaborative prevention and intervention efforts are needed to reverse this trend.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Homicide in Newfoundland: a nine-year review.

Newfoundland has one of the lowest homicide rates in North America. The following study examined homicides in the province of Newfoundland for a nine-year period from 1985 to 1993. During this time there were 45 homicides, 25 male and 20 female victims with an average homicide rate of 0.74 per 100,000 persons. Sharp-force either by stabbing or incised wounds was the most common method followed by blunt-force and firearms. For sharp-force homicides the most frequent victim was a male between the ages of 31-40, while for firearm homicide the most frequent victim was female. A positive blood alcohol was found in almost 54% of victims tested but varied with the sex of the victim and the method of homicide used. Illicit drug use was not detected in any victim. The majority of victims knew their assailant, and the most frequent location for a homicide to occur were the victims home. There were two justifiable homicides during the study period.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Homicide followed by suicide: remorse or revenge?

Homicide is followed by the suicide of the assailant in around 4% of homicide-suicide episodes in England and Wales. The assailant is invariably a man who most commonly kills his spouse and/or children. Shooting is the most common method of suicide and homicide in these cases. It has been asserted that the low rate of homicide and relatively high rate of suicide in killers is a result of English killers internalizing their culture's abhorrence of killing. However, examination of homicide-suicide episodes indicate that in most episodes the decision to commit suicide has been taken before the decision to kill and that only a minority of suicides in assailants are out of remorse. Homicide followed by suicide is a distinct category of homicide which has features that differ from other forms of killing. These episodes are complex and do not reflect simple remorse following the killing. Homicide-suicide episodes in England are similar to those in countries with higher homicide rates.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Effect of a ban on carrying firearms on homicide rates in 2 Colombian cities.

CONTEXT: Homicide is a leading cause of death in Colombia, with much of the fatal interpersonal violence concentrated in the country's largest cities. Firearms are involved in as much as 80% of homicides in Colombia. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of an intermittent police-enforced ban on carrying firearms on the incidence of homicide in urban Colombia. DESIGN: Interrupted time-series study with multiple replications. SETTING: Cali, Colombia, during 1993 and 1994 and Bogotá, Colombia, from 1995 through August 1997. PARTICIPANTS: The populations of Cali and Bogotá. INTERVENTION: Carrying of firearms was banned on weekends after paydays, on holidays, and on election days. Enforcement included establishment of police checkpoints and searching of individuals during traffic stops and other routine law enforcement activity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Homicide rates during intervention days were compared with rates during similar days without the intervention; estimates were based on comparisons within the same month, day of week, and time of day. RESULTS: There were 4078 homicides in Cali during 1993 and 1994 (114.6 per 100,000 person-years). In Bogotá, 9106 homicides occurred from 1995 through August 1997 (61 per 100,000 person-years). The incidence of homicide was lower during periods when the firearm-carrying ban was in effect compared with other periods (multivariate-adjusted rate ratio, 0.86 [95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76-0.97] for Cali, and 0.87 [95% CI, 0.77-0.98] for Bogotá). CONCLUSION: An intermittent citywide ban on the carrying of firearms in 2 Colombian cities was associated with a reduction in homicide rates for both cities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Comparing single and serial homicide offenses.

Serial homicide has attracted much attention, but little empirical scientific investigation. This exploratory study reports demographic information on a large sample of serial homicide offenders (157 offenders, 608 victims), and compares a subsample of serial homicide offenses with a control group of single homicide offenses. Results show that serial homicide offenders target more women than men, and kill more strangers than family or friends. Single homicide offenders kill men and women in equal frequency, but kill family and friends more often than strangers. Serial homicide offenders kill for apparent sexual motivation more often than for any other reason, while single homicide offenders kill most often out of anger.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Homicide death rates in childhood in 23 developed countries: U.S. rates atypically high.

World Health Organization vital statistics data were used to compare U.S. homicide death rates with those in 23 other developed countries. Using rank ordering and comparison with mean and median rates for the other countries, U.S. homicide rates for the general population were found to be exceptionally high among developed countries. Similarly, U.S. homicide death rates for infants and for 1-4-year-olds were atypically high. The U.S. infant homicide rates were also unusual because of a male predominance. After infancy, high female homicide rates in the U.S. were more unusual than the male rates. The atypically high homicide risk in the U.S. apparently begins in early childhood, affecting particularly male infants and females after infancy. The data and other cited information suggest that features of U.S. society may promote homicide in childhood. The scope and nature of the U.S. childhood homicide problem warrants a focused effort to develop specific preventive approaches.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Women, homicide and alcohol in Cape Town, South Africa.

Little is known about the complex circumstances culminating in the homicidal death of a woman. The records of 248 female homicides and suicides admitted to the Salt River State Mortuary between January 1990 and July 1991 were reviewed with specific attention to mode of death and blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Female homicide levels reflected the intensity of violence in specific residential areas. White females were far more likely to die a suicidal, as opposed to homicidal, death (Odds Ratio = 31.94; 95% Confidence Interval, 11.63-90.24). Blunt homicide predominated amongst White females, who were substantially older than the Coloured and African subjects. A BAC greater than 0.1 g per 100 ml was found in 56% of all female homicides studied. An association was found between increasing BAC and sharp homicide amongst women. A high BAC may represent a self-destructive element in a risk-taking situation amongst female homicide victims.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Homicide by mentally ill: clinical and criminological analysis].

The present study analysed the characteristics of homicide in internees according to the Social Defence system in Belgium. The Social Defence system was inaugurated in 1930, following the ideas of Adolphe Prins, a Belgian specialist in the criminal law. The Social Defence system concerns those offenders who are considered as mentally ill at large. The concept of mental illness encompasses the classical notion of "dementia" but also those people with mental unbalance as personality disordered offenders and mentally retarded persons. In the present study, we considered all those internees who committed a homicide or a homicide attempt and whose cases were examined by the review board between September 1998 and June 2000. We collected 99 cases and studied the age at the time of the offence (mean: 32.2 years), their diagnoses, the status of victims. These 99 murderers committed 111 "facts", a fact being a murder or murder attempt on one or several person(s) without arrest between the different phases of the commitment. These facts provoked 132 victims (72 men and 60 women); 61.36 % deceased. There was no significant difference in the characteristics of homicide versus homicide attempt. The results showed that, in our population, 59.6 % of the patients endorsed a diagnosis of psychosis (37 cases of paranoid schizophrenia, 2 schizophrenias of other types, 7 schizo-affective disorders, 1 autistic disorder, and 12 delusional disorders). Other axis I disorders were 3 intermittent explosive disorders, 2 major depressive disorders, 2 paraphilias and 1 bipolar disorder. The 32 offenders with no axis I major mental diseases presented such diagnoses, alone or comorbid, as antisocial personality disorder (n = 17), borderline personality disorder (n = 8), paranoid personality disorder (n = 4), and schizoid personality disorder (n = 2), 14 were mentally retarded and 5 presented a cerebral damage or an epilepsy. The age of the offender at the first homicide was not significantly different between the different diagnoses: group 1 : schizophrenia-type group (29.63 years) ; group 2 : comorbid diagnoses of schizophrenia and cluster B personality disorder (31.64 years) ; group 3 : cluster B personality disordered people (without psychosis) (27.90 years) ; and group 4 : the mixed group of residual diagnoses (32.63 years). Only the persons with a delusional disorder (group 5) significantly committed their homicide at an older age (47,06 year). We found no significant differences between group 2 (54.55 %), 3 (69.23 %), and 4 (50 %) in the proportion of offenders having substance problems. The group 1 (schizophrenia-type without comorbid personality disorder) presented significantly less problems with substances (13.83 %) than the three former groups. The group 5 (20.0 % prevalence) exhibited only a significant difference with group 3. We distinguished instrumental and emotional violence. Instrumental violence was more represented in the facts committed by group 2, 3 and 4 versus group 5. Group 1 differed also significantly from groups 2 and 3. The status of the victim(s) was divided in: 1) members of the family; 2) specifically known persons (outside the family); 3) specifically chosen victims (chosen, searched or followed because of their status, gender, profession, social role); 4) opportunity victims (victims present at the time and having sufficient characteristics to be attacked, e.g. being a woman, suspected to have some money); and 5) accidental victims. We demonstrated in our sample that victims of murderers in their family or specifically known were more frequently victims of pure psychotic offenders (groups 1 + 5) than of offenders of the mixed group (groups 2, 3 and 4) (21.97% vs 10.61%; 16,67% vs 13.64 %, respectively). On the contrary, specifically chosen (2.27 % vs 8.33 %) and opportunity victims (3.03 % vs 11.36 %) were more frequently attacked by the "mixed group". Accidental murders were almost only committed by psychotics (10.61 % vs 0.76 %), often in the context of a spree murder. In conclusion, we discuss that, from such a biased sample, the interest resides in the study of the comparison of the homicidal behaviour between psychotics (schizophrenia-type or delusional disordered), "mixed" and non-psychotics in terms of age at murder (older in delusional disorder), substance problems (more problems in non-psychotics), motivation (more emotional offences in psychotics) and statutes of victims (more family and known victims in psychotics). We are encouraged to precise our data on a larger sample and a longer period in future studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Increasing homicide rate in Finland accompanied by decreasing seasonality over the period 1957-95.

Homicide is recognized as a global public health problem. Finland has the highest overall homicide rate of the Nordic countries in comparisons over short time periods. Using the 39-year time series of homicide incidents in Finland from 1957-95, we analyzed the trend in homicide rate. In addition, we explored for the first time over the time trend in the seasonal variation of homicide and compared seasonal statistics over eight successive time periods. The present study revealed that there has been steadily increasing trend in homicides in Finland since 1950s. At the same time, the seasonality of homicide has decreased markedly. The peaks in homicide rates occurred commonly during summer and the troughs during winter.

Finland↗
PubMed1998

Multivariate analysis ('forensiometrics')--a new tool in forensic medicine. Differentiation between sharp force homicide and suicide.

Multivariate projective statistical methods (PCA, PLS-DA) and logistic regression analysis were used to create models to make predictions regarding whether a certain fatality shows similarities to homicide or suicide. The 'model set' consisted of 174 deaths due to sharp force injuries that in previous medicolegal investigation had been judged as homicides and 105 as suicides. The models were then validated on a new set of 40 homicides and 27 suicides that had not been used to create the models (test set validation). The model based on the PLS-DA technique had regarding its ability to identify homicides a sensitivity of 40/40 = 100% and a specificity of 25/27 = 93%. The model's predictions agreed with previously performed medicolegal investigations except in two suicides which according to the model were likely to be homicides. The reliability of this model was somewhat better than predictions achieved by means of logistic regression analysis, where six otherwise proven homicides were wrongly classified as suicides and two actual suicides were misclassified as homicides. The technique not only identifies variables but also ranks their importance. Ranked according to falling positive correlation (falling 'importance' of a finding) to the dependent variable 'death caused by homicide', the predictors were: Injuries to clothing, blood alcohol level, presence of defence injuries, injuries due to other type of violence than sharp force, chest stabs with vertical axis of the entrance wound, sharp force injuries to the upper extremity (except wrist and crook of the arm), sharp force injuries to the head and back. Ranked in increasing positive correlation to 'death caused by suicide' were the predictors: sharp force injuries to the crook of the arm, venue being the victim's home, presence of farewell letter, victim's age, sharp force injuries to the wrist, known suicidal ideation and presence of tentative injuries.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1977

Violent death in a metropolitan county. Changing patterns in homicide (1958-74).

Analysis of homicide patterns in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (metropolitan Cleveland), for 1958-1974 discloses the following major trends: a dramatic rise in overall homicide rates in the city (320 per cent) and suburbs (200 per cent); an increase in justifiable homicide; a doubling of the percentage of homicides incident to other felonies; a markedly increased incidence of homicide among younger persons; a conspicuous rise in firearm killings (now 81 per cent of all homicides); and a continued preponderance of intraracial homicide, with the highest rates among nonwhite males in the city. The trends in Cuyahoga County are consistent with those in other United States metropolitan counties. Homicide is responsible for a major part of the decreased life expectancy among young, urban, non-white men. The factor most consistently associated with these trends is the increased use of handguns.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home.

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether keeping a firearm in the home confers protection against crime or, instead, increases the risk of violent crime in the home. To study risk factors for homicide in the home, we identified homicides occurring in the homes of victims in three metropolitan counties. METHODS: After each homicide, we obtained data from the police or medical examiner and interviewed a proxy for the victim. The proxies' answers were compared with those of control subjects who were matched to the victims according to neighborhood, sex, race, and age range. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were calculated with matched-pairs methods. RESULTS: During the study period, 1860 homicides occurred in the three counties, 444 of them (23.9 percent) in the home of the victim. After excluding 24 cases for various reasons, we interviewed proxy respondents for 93 percent of the victims. Controls were identified for 99 percent of these, yielding 388 matched pairs. As compared with the controls, the victims more often lived alone or rented their residence. Also, case households more commonly contained an illicit-drug user, a person with prior arrests, or someone who had been hit or hurt in a fight in the home. After controlling for these characteristics, we found that keeping a gun in the home was strongly and independently associated with an increased risk of homicide (adjusted odds ratio, 2.7; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 4.4). Virtually all of this risk involved homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance. CONCLUSIONS: The use of illicit drugs and a history of physical fights in the home are important risk factors for homicide in the home. Rather than confer protection, guns kept in the home are associated with an increase in the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Mentally abnormal homicide in New Zealand as defined by legal and clinical criteria: a national study.

BACKGROUND: Homicides by people with mental illness have been studied using either clinical or legal categorization of the homicide as abnormal. No previous study has employed both definitions in the same population. METHOD: A retrospective study of all homicides in New Zealand between 1988 and 2000 considered mentally abnormal homicide using a legal definition (when the courts deemed a contribution of mental illness was present) and a clinical definition (defined as the presence of a discharge diagnosis from inpatient mental health treatment) of 'mentally abnormal'. Rates, characteristics and time trends were investigated. RESULTS: Of the 844 cases, 7.1% met legal criteria for being mentally abnormal, while 7.7% had ever received a diagnosis for a psychotic illness, and a further 14.5% had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital for any other reason. The majority (60%) of perpetrators with a psychotic diagnosis received a mental health disposition from the court. Of these, 60% were first diagnosed with their psychotic illness prior to the homicide, while 28% were first diagnosed at the time of the offence and a further 12% after imprisonment. Of all those who received a psychotic diagnosis, 89% had post-conviction admissions or a mental health disposition. CONCLUSION: Legal and clinical definitions of mentally abnormal homicide detect similar rates of mentally abnormal homicide, but illustrate somewhat different dimensions of the relationship between mental illness and homicide.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Correlating homicide and suicide.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between homicide and suicide has been studied extensively, but with conflicting results. The primary objective of this study was to examine the correlation between homicide and suicide rates in a large cross-sectional sample of UN member states. METHODS: The study used age-standardized data on homicide and suicide for 65 international locales compiled by the World Health Organization. Weighted correlation coefficients between homicide and suicide rates were computed by sex, income level, and geographic region. RESULTS: The overall correlation between homicide and suicide rates was weak and statistically insignificant (rho = -0.08, P = 0.5178). However, when analysed by geographic region the data revealed two distinct patterns: homicide and suicide rates were positively correlated in European countries (rho = 0.89, P < 0.0001), but negatively correlated in the Asia Pacific Region (rho = -0.97, P < 0.0001), and the Americas (rho = -0.62, P < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The strength and direction of the relationship between homicide and suicide vary significantly with geographic region. The divergent geographic patterns in the relationship between homicide and suicide might be due to regional differences in social and cultural variables.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed1999

A decade of pediatric homicide: a retrospective study at the Medical University of South Carolina.

More than 3 million children are abused and/or neglected each year in the United States. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of these cases result in homicide by child abuse or child neglect. Causes of death range from blunt force trauma and shaking to asphyxia to immolation. We retrospectively reviewed all pediatric forensic cases referred to the Medical University of South Carolina Forensic Pathology Section over the past 10 years, from January 1986 to December 1995. Of these, we looked only at children < or =5 years of age. The majority (342 cases, 69%) of these deaths were classified as natural, 96 (19%) as accident, and 60 (12%) as homicide. Of the homicides, we examined the cause of death; age, gender, and race of the victim; relationship to the perpetrator; time interval between injury and death; and the initial history given as to the cause of the injury. The cause of death fell into nine categories, the number one category being head trauma. Forty-five percent of the homicides were by head trauma, 12% by abdominal or body trauma, 25% by asphyxia (with half of these due to drowning), 10% by carbon monoxide poisoning or thermal injury, and the remaining 8% involving cases of neglect, stabbing, and poisoning. The majority of the homicide victims were male (67%) and black (67%). Forty-six percent were < or =1 year of age. Approximately 25% of the homicide cases were designated as shaken baby syndrome (SBS). In 97% of the cases, the assailant was known to the victim and was a family relative in 77%. Sixty-three percent of the assailants were female and 45% of the assailants were male; in 12%, the assailants were both parents, and in 1 case, the assailant remains unknown. Of the asphyxia deaths, 87% of the assailants were female. The time interval between injury and death ranged from minutes to hours in most cases to months in cases of repeated abuse and chronic injury and sequelae. The time interval between injury and the onset of symptoms remains unknown in most cases due to inconsistencies in the history and lack of credibility of the caretaker. The most common initial history given was "a fall" (20%). We report our findings of a decade of pediatric homicides to increase awareness of the common scenarios and case histories, demographics of the victims, causes of death, and perpetrators of pediatric homicide.

Asphyxia↗
PubMed2002

A newspaper surveillance study of homicide-suicide in the United States.

The objective of this study was to identify the number and subtypes of homicide-suicides in the United States by age group and state over a 3-year period from 1997 through 1999. A total of 673 homicide-suicides, including 674 perpetrators and 779 victims, were identified from Internet searches of 191 national newspapers, and they were classified according to a modified Hanzlick-Koponen typology. One quarter of the homicide-suicides were perpetrated by persons 55 years or older, and 77% were spousal/consortial, higher than the 57% observed in the younger age group; 11% of the older homicide-suicides were familial, compared with 16% in the younger age group. Whereas only 3% of older homicide-suicides were infanticide/pedicide, 16% of the younger homicide-suicides involved parents killing their children. Forty-five states, including the District of Columbia, reported a homicide-suicide during the 3-year period, and they occurred most frequently in Florida (163), California (98), Texas (36), and New York (35). Newspaper surveillance is useful to identify where homicide-suicides are occurring most frequently, but they are underestimates of the true prevalence. However, the number of incidents detected is large enough that the cases detected may be a fairly representative sample.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Epidemiology of homicide-suicide events: Oklahoma, 1994-2001.

In Oklahoma, all nonnatural deaths must be reported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (ME), whose trained investigators report cause of death using a centralized, statewide, standardized reporting system. The purpose of this study was to determine temporal trends of Oklahoma homicide-suicide events and characterize the epidemiology of these events. By reviewing all ME reports of homicides and suicides from 1994 through 2001, we identified 73 homicide-suicide events resulting in 73 suicides and 89 homicides. Suicidal perpetrators of homicide-suicide events were most often white men aged >or=30 years who killed a current or ex-spouse or intimate partner. Homicide victims tended to be younger women the same race as their killer. Firearms were the predominant method of death in both homicides and suicides, with handguns used most frequently. Divorce/estrangement was the main contributing factor to these events, and the most common relationship type was possessive. The existence of a statewide, centralized, and computerized ME system and the ability to access the detailed information in the ME narratives were critical to identifying homicide-suicide events and obtaining the type of detailed information necessary to fully investigate these events.

Adolescent↗