Post‐incarceration Recidivism of Lone versus Group Juvenile Homicide Offenders

Killings by juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) who use accomplices have been increasing since the 1980s and currently represent approximately half of juvenile arrests for murder in the United States. Nevertheless, prior research has not compared JHOs who kill alone with JHOs who kill in groups. The present research followed up 30 years later on a sample of 59 male murderers and attempted murderers sentenced to adult prison. This study was designed to analyze whether lone and group JHOs differed on pre‐incarceration, incarceration, and post‐incarceration variables. Significant findings indicated that compared with lone offenders, group JHOs had a higher mean of pre‐homicide arrests and were more likely to be Black, have a pre‐homicide delinquent record, commit a crime‐related homicide offense, and target a stranger. With respect to post‐homicide variables, group JHOs were more likely to be released from prison and more likely to be rearrested. The two types of JHOs did not differ significantly in relation to the number of post‐release violent offenses. Preliminary implications of the findings and avenues for future investigation are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing Existing Classifications of Serial Murder Considering Gender: An Exploratory Analysis of Solo Female Serial Murderers

Serial murder is a genre of crime that has received a great deal of media and academic attention, yet, serial murder committed by women has only begun to garner a portion of this attention within the last 15 years. This study examines the reliability of Kelleher and Kelleher's classification rubric, the only classification system developed for female serial murderers, as well as considering Hickey's classification of serial offenders by location. Other variables associated with homicide research have also been examined to determine their roles in both these crimes and classifying offenders. The current research will demonstrate that offender motivation is not an ideal basis for the classification of female serial murderers, who tend to defy simple or singular classification within existing typologies. The other variables analysed indicate that victim–offender relationship and victim approach are important to understanding these female offenders and their crimes, as well as the possible development of more accurate classification systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distance patterns and disposal sites in rural area homicides committed in Finland

The present study examined offender characteristics, distance patterns, and the nature of disposal sites in rural area homicides. Pre‐trial investigation files of cases where victims' bodies were found in rural areas in 1994–2005 (n = 46) and forensic psychiatric examination reports of the offenders were content‐analysed. Psychopathy Check List‐Revised was used to assess psychopathy. Investigators of these homicides filled out a questionnaire on the offender's familiarity with the body disposal area, and MapInfo was used to measure offender/victim‐residence‐to‐crime‐to‐body‐disposal‐site distances. Rural area homicides more frequently involved multiple offenders who were significantly younger than offenders in other homicides. Of the victims, 73% were found in woods and 27% in water. Offenders were familiar with disposal sites in over half of the cases. The victim's gender, close relationship with the offender, and the offender's violent crime history were associated with longer homicide‐scene‐to‐body‐disposal‐site distances. The number of inhabitants and offender's violent crime history were related to longer offender‐residence‐to‐body‐disposal‐site distances. Offender's age, intelligence, or psychopathology bore no significant association with the distance patterns. The results can be applied when searching missing persons in homicide investigations and in prioritising suspects in rural area homicides. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Juvenile homosexual homicide

Limited information exists on juvenile homosexual homicide (JHH), that is, youths who perpetrate sexual homicides against same-sex victims. Only a handful of cases from the United States and internationally have been described in the literature. This study, the first of its kind, examines the epidemiology, victimology, victim-offender relationship, and weapon-use patterns in JHH offenders using a large U.S. database on homicide spanning three decades. The data for this study were derived from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHRs) for the years 1976 through 2005. A total of 93 cases of JHH were identified. On average, three of these crimes occurred annually in the U.S., and there was a marked decline in its incidence over the study period. Ninety-five percent were male offender-male victim cases and 5% were female offender-female victim cases. JHH offenders were over-represented amongst all juvenile sexual murderers, similar to their adult counterparts. The majority of these boys were aged 16 or 17 and killed adult victims. They were significantly more likely to kill adult victims than other age groups, to be friends or acquaintances of the victims, and to use contact/edged weapons or firearms. Most offenders killed same-race victims, although Black offenders were significantly more likely than White offenders to kill interracially. A case report is provided to illustrate JHH. Further research is needed to promote our understanding of the pathogenesis, etiology, and associated risk factors for this aberrant form of murder by children.     

Matricide and Stepmatricide Victims and Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrest Data

Almost all of the clinical and empirical literature on female parricide victims focuses on mothers killed, with only little information available on stepmothers murdered. This study is the first to compare the victim, offender, and case correlates in incidents when mothers and stepmothers were killed. Supplementary Homicide Report Data for 1976–2007 were used to investigate similarities and differences between the two female victim types in the United States. Similarities between stepmothers and mothers included that more than 70% were White and killed in single victim, single offender incidents. Their killers were adult sons in between 67% and 87% of incidents. Several significant differences emerged with respect to age, involvement in multiple offender incidents, and weapon use. Stepmothers and their stepchildren, relative to mothers and their offspring, were significantly younger. Sixty‐four percent of stepchildren, compared with 35% of biological children, were under age 25 at the time of their arrest for murder. A higher percentage of juveniles than adult killers was involved in multiple offender (MO) incidents involving mothers. Relative to their male counterparts, higher percentages of female juveniles were involved in MO incidents involving the deaths of mothers and stepmothers. A higher proportion of female adults, relative to their male counterparts, were involved in MO matricide incidents. Offenders who killed stepmothers, relative to those who killed mothers, were significantly more likely to use guns. Juvenile matricide offenders were significantly more likely to use firearms than their adult counterparts. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed in the conclusion. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differentiating stranger murders: profiling offender characteristics from behavioral styles.

The literature on "offender profiling" suggests that different "styles" of homicide will reflect differences in the background characteristics of the offender. To test this suggestion, hypotheses were drawn from studies of aggression to propose that murder crime scenes would reveal stylistic distinctions in the role of the aggression in the offense. It was further hypothesized that these distinctions would be clearest for those crime scene indicators that reflect the instrument (cognitive) actions that shape the offense rather than the more expressive (impulsive and emotional) components. Hypotheses about associated offender characteristics were also deduced on the assumption that the murder scene theme revealed the killers' typical styles of interpersonal transaction. To test these hypotheses MDS analyses were carried out on the crime scene and offender characteristics derived from 82 single offender, single victim stranger homicides. A multivariate structure resulted, including all three hypothesized styles, allowing 65% of the cases to be assigned to unique styles and a further 36% to be assigned to appropriate hybrids. Offender characteristics related in the anticipated way to the different crime scene styles, providing a basis for law enforcement inferences about offenders in stranger murders.     

Victimologic-oriented study of perpetrator groups--a possibility for synthesis of various crime determinants

An example of a group of offenders of sexual motivated criminal homicides is the relationship of as well social- sexual developments of offenders, victim properties, preacted interactions between perpetrator and victim as the crime discussed. At this dominate following facts of offender: an undifferentiated aggressive sexuality with a decreasing intelligence, social outstanding and disturbed social adaptability and great portion of sexual preactivities. The childlike victim is the compensation for adult women. The attack takes place with sexual excitation and by the situation opportune facts, an escalation of defence and increasing of excitation of the offender up to the homicide.     

Double Parricide: An In-Depth Look at Two Victim Homicides Involving Parents as Victims

The majority of studies examining the killing of parents and step-parents by biological and stepchildren involve a single victim and single offender. Little is known when parricide incidents involve multiple victims or multiple offenders. Using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), this study examined double parricide incidents involving single or multiple offenders over the 20-year period 1991–2010 with the aim of investigating juvenile and adult involvement. Forty-five incidents of double parricide were identified and verified; in 35 of these cases, the offenders acted alone. Frequencies reported include offender, victim, and incident characteristics. The results indicated that the typical double parricide offender who acted alone was a White male approximately 30 years of age. When multiple offenders were involved, the offenders tended to be younger and were more likely to include a female accomplice. Newspapers were utilized to augment available case information. Study limitations, implications, and directions for future research are also discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychopathy in Italian female murderers

Over the years, the number of homicides in Italy has progressively decreased, ultimately becoming one of the lowest rates in Europe (357 = 0.7 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017, according to ISTAT 1 ISTAT: Italian Institute of Statistics.
). The number of homicides committed by women was about 9% of the total number of homicides during our study period. The percentage has increased in recent years because the total number of homicides has decreased without a proportionate decrease in the number of female homicides. Indeed, murder is an unusual type of crime for a woman and is often associated with a mental disorder, so when a woman committed a homicide, a psychiatric assessment was often performed. A forensic psychiatry expert was assigned to investigate the offender's psychopathology and mental state at the time of the offense. The root causes of the crime remained unexplained, however, due to the lack of a psychiatric precedent to justify this kind of assessment. The role of psychopathy in homicide has seldom been studied in female offenders, even though psychopathy has an important role in violent crimes. The investigators examined, clinically and historically, a sample of women who committed murder with different levels of criminal responsibility (female homicide offenders found not guilty by reason of insanity, having partial criminal responsibility, and convicted as criminally responsible and sentenced to prison) to identify the prevalence of the psychopathic dimension and its possible role in this sample. Prevalence and degree of psychopathic traits were examined in these female offenders using the Psychopathy Checklist‐Revised. This study showed that females who had committed homicide were likely to suffer from mental illness; most of the homicidal acts were committed impulsively; and most female homicides occurred within the family, especially among women who were psychotic, but less so if they were psychopathic. Psychopathy tended to co‐occur more with personality disorders than with psychotic psychopathology. Psychopathy was more evident among female homicide offenders who had been abused or traumatized. Psychopathic women who killed had high factor F1 scores and low antisocial component of factor F2.     

Elderly homicide in Chicago: a research note

There is a body of knowledge about elderly crime victims, but we know little about the characteristics of elderly perpetrators, especially of homicide. The few studies that have been published are based on small samples and are somewhat dated. In an examination of homicides committed in Chicago over a 31-year period, we compared cases involving perpetrators aged over 60 years (n = 443) with those involving younger perpetrators (n = 24,066). There were a number of significant differences. Elderly killers were more likely to be White and to commit suicide afterwards. Their victims were more likely to be spouses, females, and aged over 60 years. Inter-racial homicide was more common for younger offenders. The low number of homicides involving the elderly is explained by reference to routine activity theory.     

Comparing serial homicides to single homicides: A study of prevalence,offender, and offence characteristics in Sweden

Multiple and serial homicides constitute around 1.6% of all homicides but have unusually tragic outcomes. The aims of this study were to report the prevalence serial‐homicide offences and the characteristics of serial‐homicide offenders in a non‐North American context. The study included all convicted serial‐homicide offenders in Sweden from 1973 to 2012 (n = 25), as well as a population‐based control sample of single‐homicide offenders collected during 2007 and 2009 (n = 201). Similar to U.S. findings, approximately 1.6% of homicides could be attributed to serial‐homicide offenders. Serial offenders were more often diagnosed with personality disorders and autism‐spectrum disorders compared with single offenders; and serial offences more often involved victims who were female and unacquainted with the offender, as well as planning, sexual motives, and asphyxia as method of violence. One third of serial offences involved actions aimed at disguising the manner of death; such actions were considerably less common in single‐homicide offences. Few offenders displayed the traditional profile of a serial‐homicide offender; however, one third displayed sexual motives, a rate roughly 10 times higher than that in the single‐homicide group. The study concludes that serial‐homicide offenders should be subjected to forensic‐psychiatric examinations and that research involving cross‐contextual differences and similarities in serial‐homicide offenders is needed.     

Investigating the nature of expressiveness in stranger,acquaintance and intrafamilial homicides

This study explores the role of the victim–offender relationship in the dynamics of homicide, by examining the crime scene behaviour of 25 intrafamilial, 30 acquaintance and 27 stranger homicide offenders (n = 82). Six crime scene variables were examined: ‘Weapon from the scene’, ‘Excessive wounding’, ‘Facial trauma’, ‘Multiple wounds to a single area’, ‘Post‐mortem activity’ and ‘Manual violence’. The first objective was to identify whether these variables could be combined to form a partially ordered scale of expressiveness. The second was to examine whether the nature of this expressive crime scene varied according to the victim and offender relationship. It was hypothesised that the intrafamilial homicides would be characterised by a more expressive crime scene. This was examined by Partial Order Scalogram Analysis which supported the hypothesised link between the level of expressed emotion evident in the crime scene and the nature of the victim–offender relationship. Further analysis on the individual variables revealed that the best single predictor of the relationship between victim and offender was the presence of multiple wounding. These findings are discussed both as contributing to a theoretical understanding of the emotional salience of crime scene actions when killing a family member, and in practical terms in relation to the significance of these variables for both police investigations and clinical interventions with homicide perpetrators. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Offender-Victim Relationships in Criminal Homicide Followed by Offender's Suicide,North Carolina, 1972–1977

ABSTRACT: An analysis of 90 cases of criminal homicide followed by suicide in North Carolina, 1972 to 1977. Homicidal victim-offender relationships were investigated in regard to age, sex, race and whether victim and offender were member of the same family, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. These results were compared with victim-offender relationships in 994 criminal homicide cases in North Carolina in which offenders did not commit suicide. Married white males over 30 years were much more involved in homicide-suicide than they were in homicide alone. In these homicide-suicide cases, the victim was usually the spouse. Except for marital status, characteristics of homicide offenders who killed themselves resembled those of suicide-only individuals much more than those of homicide-only offenders. In the homicide-suicide cases, the killing of someone in close relationship to the offender, often a wife, appeared to be part of the evolving process of suicide. This clearly has implications for intervention into marital strife and also for immediate treatment of homicide offenders who kill spouses and other family members.     

Characteristics of juvenile sex offending against strangers: Findings from a non‐clinical study

Previous studies of the characteristics of juvenile sex offending have been restricted to clinical samples (with convicted offenders undergoing treatment or assessment), which have several inherent limitations. To overcome these limitations victim allegations made to the London Metropolitan Police, UK, in 2001, of sexual assault by juvenile stranger perpetrators were sampled. The study aimed to determine more accurately the alleged nature of sex offending by this type of juvenile offender (aged less than 18 years) and to determine what factors were associated with the most serious cases of this type of aggressive behaviour. The most common offence characteristics were identified, and relationships between suspect and offence/victim characteristics were statistically tested. Offence seriousness, as indicated by physical violence and the occurrence of penetration, was significantly associated with an assault by a team of offenders, a young victim, and older juvenile offenders. The potential for predicting offender characteristics from offence characteristics was examined. Estimated offender age was significantly predicted by the absence/presence of penetration. An older juvenile offender was predicted by a penetrative attack. Aggr. Behav. 30:243–253, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Verläufe bei sexuellen Tötungen

This article summarizes main results of studies on forensic psychiatric court reports on 166 men who had been persecuted between 1963 and 1991 for a sexual offence leading to the death of the victim. Comparing perpetrators with a single victim and those with multiple victims we found similar results as in two previous studies with smaller samples: Multiple sexual homicide perpetrators showed more often sexual sadism and other paraphilias, as well as antisocial, schizoid and sadistic personality disorders. Follow-up data from the federal criminal records could be obtained for 139 offenders. Ninety perpetrators had been released after a mean detention of 12.2 years, whereas the 49 offenders who were still in prison or forensic psychiatric hospitals had been detained for a mean period of 20.6 years. The non-released offenders showed more often paraphilias as well as antisocial and sadistic personality disorders than the released perpetrators. Paraphilias and antisocial personality traits are empirically well proven risk factors for criminal recidivism with sexual reoffences. In addition, the non-released sexual homicide perpetrators had higher scores in all applied risk assessment instruments (PCL-R, HCR-20, SVR-20, Static-99). Among the released offenders only 1.1% (n=1) reoffended with a completed homicide and 2.2% (n=2) with attempted homicide. The recidivism rates with sexual and other violent reoffences in this sample of sexual homicide perpetrators were similar to those in a large meta-analysis on recidivism in sexual offenders by Hanson and Morton-Bourgon (4). Since well established risk factors had apparently been “used-up” for the decisions about release or non-release, in the follow-up data about the released offenders only age at the sexual homicide and age at the time of release were found as risk factors for recidivism with any violent (sexual or non-sexual) reoffence, i.e. the younger the offender at the time of the homicide and the younger at the time of release, the more likely is the risk of violent reoffending.     

Homicide by juvenile girls

We investigated offense characteristics for a national sample of 38,749 homicide arrestees identified in the FBI Supplemental Homicide Reports for 1984 and 1993. Analyses indicated little change from 1984 to 1993 in the circumstances of homicides committed by adolescent girls; however, there were consistent offense differences between girls and boys, and between girls and women. Homicides by adolescent girls were more likely than those committed by boys to involve interpersonal conflict rather than a criminal motive such as robbery. Girls were more likely than boys to use a knife rather than a firearm and their victims were more likely to be under the age of 13 years. Compared to women (18 years or older), girls were more likely to act with an accomplice and their victims were more likely to be female and between 13 and 20 years of age. Results were inconsistent with a stereotypic masculinization theory of the increase in female violence, but provide indirect support for the importance of domestic stress and relational conflict experienced by adolescent girls. Overall, this study supports the need for differentiated study of violence by juvenile girls, and for preventive interventions which target domestic and interpersonal stress.     

Juvenile homicide: A growing national problem

Arrests for juvenile homicide more than doubled from 1984 to 1991. The present study examined offense characteristics for a national sample of 2,400 juvenile homicide offenders listed in the FBI Supplemental Homicide Reports for 1984 or 1991. Analyses indicate that the largest increases in juvenile homicide can be found among minority males using handguns to kill acquaintances. Juvenile homicides committed in the course of another crime (such as robbery or drug deal) have increased over 200%, while homicides precipitated by an interpersonal conflict with the victim have increased 83%. In comparison to adults, juvenile homicide offenders are much more likely to use a handgun and to act with an accomplice. These results highlight the association between handguns and juvenile homicide.     

Erscheinungsformen und Ursachen von Amoktaten aus kriminologischer,forensisch-psychiatrischer und forensisch-psychologischer Sicht

Cases of running amok are intentional, accomplished and attempted multiple homicides by which mass murder is generally carried out by a single offender, motivated by anger, hate and revenge, attacking defined or randomly selected victims. The offender intends to become famous and in many cases commits suicide after the attack. Young offenders up to the age of 24 years old differ from the heterogeneous group of adults. Within a core group of young offenders personality disorders and behavioral problems are the main cause of the attacks. A quiet, reclusive and always somewhat strange loner has a deep feeling of alienation, feels offended and disregarded, identifies with perpetrators and stages the crime as revenge for subjectively experienced insults. Schizotypal, paranoid and narcissistic aspects dominate. The offenders are not characterized by patterns of impulsive, aggressive or dissocial behavior.     

Healthcare Serial Killers as Confidence Men

Although there is adequate coverage of serial murder in the extant homicide literature, there is a lack of systematic examination of healthcare professionals who serially murder their patients. Using a sample of 58 healthcare serial killers located within North America, South America, and Europe between the years of 1970 and 2010, this study examines notable pre‐offense and post‐offense behaviours of healthcare serial killers. Patterns related to offender aetiology, victim cultivation, crime scene behaviour, and techniques of evasion were explored. The findings from this study suggest that the pre‐offense and post‐offense behaviours of healthcare serial killers can be conceptualised from the theoretical framework of confidence men or ‘con men’. The findings from this study also suggest that healthcare serial killings and offenders who perpetrate them continue to be elusive and warrant additional scholarly attention to reduce their likelihood of engaging in homicide undetected for extended time. Policy implications are also discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.