NCJ Number
223807
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 285-297
Date Published
August 2008
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined circumstances associated with homicide-suicide incidents.
Abstract
The study found that among homicide incidents, less than 5 percent were followed by the perpetrator's suicide, and 1 percent by a nonfatal suicide attempt. However, among men who killed their female intimate partner with a firearm, 59 percent also took their own life. Homicide/suicide perpetrators did not test positive for an antidepressant more often than other male suicide decedents. Over 50 percent of the perpetrators of nonfirearm homicides who attempted suicide lived and nearly all firearm perpetrators who attempted suicide died. Among men who killed their female intimate partner with a firearm, homicide/suicide was the norm. The study used data from the pilot of the National Violent Death Reporting System to examine if there were specific subtypes of homicides that were more predictably followed by the perpetrators’ suicide; whether the lethality of the perpetrators’ suicide attempts varied by weapon type used; and whether perpetrators of homicide/suicide were more likely to have tested positive for an antidepressant than those dying by suicide only. The study suggests that better enforcement of existing laws designed to protect abuse victims by removing firearms from domestic abusers may also prevent abusers' suicides. This study used linked official data for population-based surveillance of homicides, suicides, and homicide/suicides in 4 counties within 4 different States, and included data from 1,503 homicide incidents. Tables, references