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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Aggression homicide and rejection homicide: a communicative classification of homicide].

Based on a 10-year sample of homicides (n = 50), the hypothesis was tested that it is possible to differentiate between aggression and rejection homicide. The aggression homicide results from the offender/victim relationship, which is no longer accepted for some reason. In contrast, in the rejection homicide the offender radically strives for a goal which can only be reached if the victim is eliminated. Based on forensic-psychiatric expert opinions (n = 50), the case analyses yielded 31 aggression homicides and 18 rejection homicides, one case could not be classified. Aggression homicides differed significantly from the rejection homicides with regard to their main motives. Hate in quarrel (n = 8), violent occupation of the victim (n = 7), delusions (n = 5), revenge (n = 3), self-defence (n = 2), and jealousy (n = 1) characterized the aggression homicides, whereas rejection homicides were dominated by economic motives (n = 14). Two offenders intended to get rid of the victim and one offender wanted to rescue a third person. From a forensic-psychiatric point of view, the pertinent statistical data (social data, diagnosis, criminal responsibility) are reported and the significance of the differentiation between aggression homicide and rejection homicide for medico-legal or criminological case profiling and for the prognosis of the risk potential is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Factors associated with homicide recidivism in a 13-year sample of homicide offenders in Finland.

OBJECTIVE: Data on persons known to have committed homicide during a 13-year period were studied to determine factors associated with increased risk of repeating homicide. METHODS: Between 1981 and 1993, a total of 1,649 homicides were committed in Finland. In 1,089 cases (66 percent), the offenders received an exhaustive forensic psychiatric examination. Data from reports of these examinations were analyzed to determine whether mental disorder and other factors were associated with homicide recidivism. RESULTS: Thirty-six homicide recidivists were identified. Twenty-four were alcoholics, 23 had a personality disorder, in most cases combined with alcoholism, four had schizophrenia, and two had major depression. Homicidal behavior was ten times more likely in men who had committed a previous homicide than in the general male population. Alcoholism increased the odds ratio of additional homicidal behavior in male homicide offenders about 13 times, and schizophrenia increased the odds ratio more than 25 times. During their first year after release from prison, male homicide offenders were about 250 times more likely to commit homicide than members of the general male population. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that mentally abnormal offenders are overrepresented among homicide recidivists in Finland. The risk of repeat homicide appears to be very high during the first year after release from prison.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Homicide-suicide - an event hard to prevent and separate from homicide or suicide.

Suicide preceded by homicide is a rare but tragic event that often shocks the whole community. Annual rates show considerable variation, though not as great as the incidence of homicides. Within the industrialized nations, Finland's prevalence rates for homicide-suicide have been mid-range. The National Suicide Prevention Project recorded and carefully analysed all suicides committed in Finland during a 12-month period. In this material of almost 1400 suicides, 10 verified homicide-suicide cases were found. The perpetrator was male in all but one case, and all the victims were family, 9/10 being spouses and/or children. The most typical homicide-suicide seemed to be a man shooting a family member during a separation process. No perpetrator was found suffering from a psychotic disorder but three had major depression. The homicide-suicides were compared with the suicides and statistically significant differences emerged in two variables: shooting was more often the method used in the homicide-suicide cases, which, furthermore, were more likely to involve a divorce or recent rupture in another long-term intimate relationship. Sharing few common variables with either homicide or suicide, homicide-suicide appears to be a distinct phenomenon whose prevention would seem to be extremely difficult on the individual level. Since shooting is the most common method of homicide-suicide, firearm licenses should be more restricted.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Characteristics of spousal homicide perpetrators: a study of all cases of spousal homicide in Sweden 1990-1999.

BACKGROUND: In Sweden 20 000 cases of assault against women are reported to the police every year. METHOD: All data on the perpetrators of spousal homicide in Sweden between 1990 and 1999 were investigated (n = 164). A control group of all other perpetrators of homicide in Sweden during the same period, i.e. cases of homicide not committed in the context of spouse violence (n = 690) was used. All verdicts, as well as all material in the police investigations, including interviews with all of the police investigators, were analysed. Copies of police examinations of the suspects, and forensic reports from the autopsies, were also examined. Data on all registered criminality were collected from the National Police Register, and in cases where the perpetrators had been subject to forensic psychiatric examinations, those reports were obtained from the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine. In addition, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version scores were rated from the forensic psychiatric examinations. RESULTS: There was a four times higher suicide rate among the spousal homicide perpetrators (24%, n = 40) compared with the perpetrators in the control-group (6%, n = 39, chi-squared = 55,42 df = 1, p < 0.001). Consequently, suicidal ideation must be considered as an important risk factor for spousal homicide. In 79% of the cases the spousal homicide perpetrators were subject to forensic psychiatric examinations. All except 5% were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric diagnosis, and 34% were sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment. If it is assumed that the psychiatric morbidity was high in the 24% of the perpetrators who committed suicide, then 80% of all perpetrators of spouse homicide during the study period can be characterized as mentally disordered. 'Psychopathic' perpetrators, who generally are over-represented in most violent criminality, were comparatively uncommon. Only seven (4%) in the study group met the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy as measured with the PCL:SV. DISCUSSION: The group of spouse killers studied here fits the dysphoric/borderline group of spouse assaulters. This is a group that may benefit from treatment. Perhaps police officers could help identify this kind of spouse assaulter before a fatality occurs.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The future of homicide offenders. Results from a homicide project in Copenhagen.

As a part of a Copenhagen homicide project, 52 released homicide offenders were followed during a mean period of 9 years. Pessimistic expectations were confirmed as post-release rates of criminality, psychiatric admission, and suicide were all very high. By logistic regression analyses, young age by release, and long stay in prison were found to increase the risk of further criminality, and previous psychiatric admission was found predictive of future admission. The problems in using logistic regression analysis on variables--all of whom may be viewed as "parallel" indicators of a common tendency to adverse behaviors--are discussed. In conclusion, the results have been used for a tentative division of homicide according to the offender-victim relationship into intra-family homicide and extra-family homicide. In intra-family homicide the most important dimension seems to be the psychic state of the offender, in extra-family homicide more impact should be attributed to the social dimension.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Violent death among intimate partners: a comparison of homicide and homicide followed by suicide in California.

This study examines all intimate partner homicides in California during 1996 (N=186), and differences between intimate partner homicides with and without perpetrator suicide are compared. The study found that 40 percent of perpetrators committed suicide subsequent to the homicide. Variables examined in the analysis include type of weapon used, race, age, sex of perpetrators and victims, and location of the homicide. Significant differences were found between homicides with perpetrator suicide and those without. The results lend support to previous research suggesting that intimate partner homicide and homicide followed by suicide have different characteristics and possibly distinct etiologies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Partner homicide-suicide involving female homicide victims: a population-based study in North Carolina, 1988-1992.

Homicide-suicide is a form of fatal violence in which an individual commits homicide and subsequently kills him- or herself. One hundred and sixteen homicide-suicide events involving 119 female homicide victims in North Carolina from 1988-1992 were identified through state medical examiner files. Case files were reviewed retrospectively to identify event characteristics, precursors, and typologies. In 86% of cases the perpetrator was the current or former partner of the victim. During the study period, 24% of men who killed their female partners in North Carolina subsequently committed suicide and another 3% attempted suicide but survived. Victim separation from the perpetrator was the most prevalent precursor (41%), followed by a history of domestic violence (29%). In nearly half of the cases with a history of domestic violence, the victim had previously sought protection from the perpetrator in the form of an arrest warrant, restraining order, or intervention by a law enforcement officer. Children of the victim (and/or perpetrator) witnessed the homicide-suicide, were in the immediate vicinity, found their parents' bodies, or were killed, in 43% of cases. The prevalence of separation and domestic violence suggests several potential points of intervention, including stronger domestic violence legislation. Future research should place priority on assessing the impact of partner homicide-suicides on the families in which they occur. Such studies are essential for the informed development of preventive and therapeutic interventions for the families of both the victims and perpetrators of these fatal events. In addition, research focused on assisting men in coping with issues of control and separation is needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Risk of homicidal behaviour among persons convicted of homicide.

We studied the risk of homicidal behaviour among persons convicted of homicide using an epidemiological method. The results showed that male homicide offenders are at least 10 times more likely to commit a homicide when compared with general male population. This odds ratio was about 150-fold among offenders who had committed at least four previous aggravated violent crimes as well as homicide.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Variations in age-specific homicide death rates: a cohort explanation for charges in the age distribution of homicide deaths.

An age-period-cohort characteristic model previously used to explain age-period-specific rates of homicide arrests for those 15 to 49 from 1960 to 1995 is applied to measures of age-period-specific homicide deaths. The extension of this model to the examination of homicide victimization is significant because we are able to test the utility of the model across a longer time span (1930 to 1995) and a wider range of ages (10 to 79) and disaggregated by sex and race (Whites and non-Whites). Although the results indicate that past and recent shifts in age-period-specific rates of homicide deaths are associated with specific characteristics of cohorts, there are some important differences across race and sex groupings in the effects of these characteristics. The effects of the cohort variables examined in our model are independent of age and period, often substantively large, and last throughout the life course. The results are consistent with Durkheimian explanations of lethal violence, hypotheses from victimization theory, and basic tenets of cohort theory.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Homicide by gunshot. An evaluation of 50 homicides with reference to gunshot wound site].

In this paper the homicides committed in the region of Ulm with firearms over a period of 17 years were studied. These included 50 deaths caused by gunshot wounds, 33 males and 17 females. Homicides by firearms accounted for 44 percent, which was slightly higher than in other German regions. Homicide victims were found in all age groups with a markedly higher number up to the 20th year and in the fourth decade of life. In most cases small arms were used, and in many cases multiple shots were fired primarily hitting the head and the left side of the trunk: but injuries in the region of the extremities were also seen.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Juvenile perpetrators of homicides and attempted homicides--a case control study.

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of certain aspects of family dynamics, as well as some behavior and psychological development disorders on the occurrence of homicides and attempted homicides among juveniles in the Split Dalmatian County over a period of 10 years (1989-1998). A retrospective case-control study was performed to compare juvenile murderers and attempted murderers with minors who committed other offences, i.e. property crimes. The subjects were paired according to demographic and socio-economic background. The data obtained from County Court's files included social anamnesis, specialists' observation and psychiatric expertise results. There was a significant difference between the study group and their controls in the frequency of physical violence and parental rejection during childhood. Neuropsychological and neurophysiological abnormalities were more frequent in the experimental than in the control group. Stealing occurred more often in the control group. No significant differences were found for other studied risk factors. There is no unique type of juvenile murderer. A juvenile homicide is committed under the influence of various developmental characteristics, family milieu, and constitution combined with environmental factors and perpetrator's perception of the victim.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Homicide in the elderly. A study of homicide in the aged based on an Aachen autopsy sample of the 10-year period 1976-1985].

Investigations on the peculiarities of homicides of the elderly are missing in the German literature up to the present date. Therefore we undertook an evaluation of the case files collected at the Aachen Institute of Forensic Medicine from the ten-year-period 1976-1985. Among 3736 autopsies we found 183 cases of homicide with 35 victims of 60 years and older. We collected peculiarities of modus operandi related to victim, suspect and offence and compared the data with such from police criminal statistics and partially with German population statistics. Two types of homicide of the elderly can be differentiated: One is independent of the victim's age whereas the other exploits the living conditions in the higher age (living alone, socially isolated, ailing, helpless etc.) For these latter cases the name "Gerontocide" is proposed. The paper deals with the peculiar difficulties of criminal investigation and clarification in such cases, resulting on the one hand from the lack of suspicion if elderly people die, on the other hand from the more difficult detection of causal relationship between offence and death--especially in the presence of severe illness of the victim.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Spousal homicide and the subsequent staging of a sexual homicide at a distant location.

The case of a 63-year-old man who killed his 52-year-old wife and then staged a sexual homicide at a distant location is reported. A review of all evidence, a forensic psychological interview, and psychological testing indicated that the murder was the result of a narcissistic rage reaction during which the subject beat his wife to death with a paint can, a clothing iron, and a rock. He then drove her body to a field 87.3 miles away, and positioned it in a manner that exposed her breasts and her underwear. He turned himself into the police two days later. There is no controlled empirical research on staging, although this single case supports the criminal investigative theory that staging exists, and is done to deliberately mislead homicide investigations (Douglas et al., 1992).

Craniocerebral Trauma↗