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Familicide: A Comparison with Spousal and Child Homicide by Mentally Disordered Perpetrators

NCJ Number
225677
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Dated: 2008 Pages: 306-318
Author(s)
Marieke Liem; Frans Koenraadt
Date Published
2008
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study compared the sociodemographic, contextual, and psychopathological factors of familicide (killing of multiple family members) perpetrators with filicide (parent that murders their child) and uxoricide (intimate partner homicide) perpetrators under assessment in the Pieter Baan Center between 1953 and 2006.
Abstract
Familicide (killing of multiple family members) perpetrators were more likely than filicide perpetrators (parent that murders their child) to be male, to be older, to be more educated, and to commit the offense with physical violence. They were more likely than uxoricide (intimate partner homicide) perpetrators to be married, less likely to have committed a previous violent offense but more likely to suffer from a personality disorder and more likely to attempt suicide following the homicide. Although similarities exist between the three groups under study, those accused of familicide cannot be equated with those accused of filicide or uxoricide. Familicide, the killing of multiple family members, is believed to constitute an overlap between filicide and uxoricide. Given the extreme nature of multiple family homicides, many researchers point towards psychopathological factors underlying these acts. Through extraction of data from files in a forensic psychiatric observation hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands, for the years 1953-2006, this study examined and compared the sociodemographic, contextual, and psychopathological factors of familicide perpetrators with factors of filicide and uxoricide perpetrators. Tables and references

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