Relationship Between Child Abuse and Parricide - An Overview (From Unhappy Families, P 31-38, 1985, Eli H Newberger and Richard Bourne, ed. See NCJ-98986)

• NCJ Number: 98988
• Author(s): P Mones
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: PSG Publishing Co, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines intrafamily homicide statistics and profiles seven youths who killed their parents.

Abstract

Of the 19,485 murders and nonnegligent homicides committed in the United States in 1982, patricides accounted for .7 percent, matricides for .6 percent. An analysis of seven cases of parricide -- six patricides and one matricide -- reveals common factors. In all of the cases, there existed varying degrees of serious parental physical and psychological abuse of the juvenile offender. Public authorities knew about the abuse in only two of the cases. In all but one of the cases, the child had no history of delinquency. In all the cases, the murder weapon was a handgun or rifle. The offenders were convicted in the cases which have gone to trial; in none of the cases was self-defense or insanity successfully used as a defense. A preliminary analysis of the cases indicates that the abused youths do not have the characteristics of the classic status offender or the classic violently aggressive delinquent and that they apparently are not significant threats to the public. These conclusions suggest a legal defense strategy based upon the long-term effects of child abuse on the defendant's consciousness within the framework of either self-defense or a diminished capacity defense. A six-item bibliography is provided.