Matricide by Mentally Disordered Sons: Gaining a Criminological Understanding Beyond Mental Illness--A Descriptive Study

Victim-perpetrator relationship, age and method of homicide in intimate and non-intimate cases of femicide from the republic of Ireland

This study presents a review of femicides over 31 years (1991-2021) from the Republic of Ireland. A total of 253 cases were located and reviewed, of those 125 were intimate partner homicides (IPH) and 128 non-intimate homicides (NIH). One hundred and ninety-nine (78%) girls and women were killed by a male known to them - intimate partner (husband, partner, boyfriend, ex-partner, ex-boyfriend) (n = 125; 48%), family members (son, grandson, brother, cousin) (n = 25; 10%) and/or acquaintances (n = 49; 19%) from adolescence to old age. Thirty-one (12%) were killed by a stranger and 23 cases remain unsolved at this time. The method of killing depended on the relationship and age of the victim and perpetrator. The majority of IPH victims were less than 45 years of age (n = 101). Twenty-four were over 45 years of which six were over 60 years of age. The leading method of killing in IPHs was stabbing and strangulation and this was more prevalent in those aged between 26 and 45 years. As age increases, IPH decreases with the exception of cases of IP homicide-suicide. Adolescents (13-19 years) and young women (20-25 years) were more often killed by strangulation. Strangulation was also the leading cause of death in stranger killings particularly with sexual violence. There were 20 cases of matricide, with 17 perpetrators suffering from a mental illness at the time of the killing. The leading method of homicide in non-intimate homicides was blunt force trauma.

Murder-suicides in Milan: case history from 1990 to 2018. Criminological and medico-legal considerations

This study reviews autopsies performed by the Legal Medicine department of the University of Milan from 1990 to 2018. In particular, the characteristics of the perpetrator, the victim and the type of existing relationship, the means used, and the place and time of the crime. A retrospective analysis was conducted, extracting data from the Milan Institute of Legal Medicine database, selecting cases of murder-suicide from the archive between 1990 and 2018 (a total of 75 cases with 84 murder victims). Available data was processed statistically. Univariate and bivariate analysis techniques were mainly used. Significance tests (Chi-square) and correlation studies (Pearson's R) were also conducted, the results of which were then examined and discussed in light of legal, medical and criminological expertise.In almost all cases, suicide followed immediately after the murder, at home and in the context of an emotional relationship. The murderer and person committing suicide is almost always male and the victim female. A firearm was the most common weapon in cases of both murder and suicide.The results indicate that the issue of gender is relevant in murder-suicides as indicated by international and national literature on homicides. Furthermore, the use of firearms endorses the importance of limiting their availability through more restrictive laws.

Matricide and schizophrenia- psychopathological, psychodynamic, and forensic aspects: a case report

Matricide is the murder of a mother by her son or daughter, a form of homicide rarely seen in psychiatric practice. A narrative review was conducted on the relationship between matricide and schizophrenia, followed by a case report in Brazil of a schizophrenic patient who murdered his mother and was submitted to forensic psychiatric assessment for criminal liability. The article discusses psychopathological, psychodynamic, and forensic aspects related to the case. The observation of ambivalent and conflictive relations between schizophrenic individuals and their mothers suggests the need for family-level interventions to resolve the understandable occurrence of emotional conflicts, which can serve as stimuli that trigger the murder.

Matricide and psychiatric evaluation: An update

Matricide is an infrequent crime that has often raised to the suspicion that the offender could suffer from a pathological mental status. Although it is hard to establish a relationship between mental disorders and specific forms of homicide, several studies suggest that matricide offender frequently suffers from schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. Aim of the study was to review the literature in order to explore epidemiologic and psychiatric characteristics of matricide offenders with a focus on the cause of death and crime circumstances. According to the PRISMA statement, 16 out of 225 studies were included. Main findings were the following: 80 victims were reported in total, killed by 81 offenders. In one case two brothers were responsible for the matricide. 81.5% of the offenders were young males. The most represented psychiatric pattern of the offenders was schizophrenia and psychotic disorders (43.2%). 6.2% of victims had also psychiatric disorders. Sharp force injuries were the first cause of death (55%), followed by blunt trauma (15%) and asphyxia (15%). In 12% of cases overkilling was also reported. 13.6% of offenders were considered not guilty for reason of insanity while 25.9% of the offenders had diminished criminal responsibility. A case study of a young homicide offender suffering from personality disorder is reported. In this case the victim also suffered from psychiatric disorders and an overkilling occurred as she was stabbed multiple times post-mortem. In a second case of matricide, the victim was dismembered and the human remains were concealed in several plastic bags.

Parricide, Mental Illness, and Parental Proximity: The Gendered Contexts of Parricide in England and Wales

Parricide is underresearched in the UK, and the contexts of this gendered form of violence are poorly understood. Heide's typology provides an advanced understanding of parricide in the United States, where the majority of parent-killings involve firearms. This article develops a UK-based analysis of the contexts of parricide, combining national statistics with police case study data (n = 57) and case review data (n = 21). Our findings indicate that mental illness plays a key role, combined with a gendered context of "parental proximity" and the simultaneous responsibilization and marginalization of parent-victims (particularly mothers), supporting the need for feminist analyses of parricide.

From overkill to beheading: A case report of a schizophrenic matricide

Initial evidence exists on a subtype of matricide committed by subjects suffering from severe mental disorders. Matricide perpetrators often undergo a forensic psychiatric evaluation during the subsequent criminal trial because of supposed legal insanity. The few studies on matricide by mentally disordered perpetrators suggested a possible association between such extreme form of violence and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, especially in case of active delusions or hallucinations.

METHODS

we analyze a case of a young male with a recent diagnosis of psychotic disorder who committed matricide by inflicting multiple injuries and beheading. Data emerging from the forensic pathological analysis of the victim, as well as the forensic psychiatric analysis of the matricide perpetrator are discussed within an interdisciplinary perspective.

RESULTS

the autopsy revealed multiple stab wounds in the regions of the upper limbs, abdomen, chest, and neck, the latter determining beheading. The forensic psychiatric evaluation yielded a diagnosis of schizophrenia and clarified the causal role in the homicidal behavioral of active psychotic symptoms.

CONCLUSION

the specific type of delusional content, and perpetrator-victim relationship might contribute explaining a subtype of extremely violent homicide in recent onset schizophrenia.

Forensic psychiatric evaluation of 187 homicidal assailants with and without a schizophrenia spectrum disorder: Clinical, criminological and behavioral characteristics

Intentional homicide, a declining phenomenon in Italy, represents one of the most extreme forms of violence. A specific subgroup of homicidal assailants is represented by those affected by mental disorders, where the relationship between psychopathology and characteristics of the homicidal attack is not yet fully understood. We analyzed the case files of 187 homicides or attempted homicides, in which the defendant had undergone a forensic psychiatric evaluation within the previous 10 years from a single forensic psychiatric center. We described and analyzed the perpetrator, victim and criminological characteristics of the study cases. A diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, a victim who was the perpetrator's biological child and absence of a personality disorder diagnosis were associated with an increased probability of having been adjudicated as lacking or having substantially diminished criminal responsibility due to a mental disorder. Homicidal assailants with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder showed some differences in criminological characteristics compared with murderers without a schizophrenic spectrum disorder, including a higher incidence of parricide, interruption of pharmacotherapy before the crime and disorganized post-crime behavior.

Psychosis and homicide

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The contribution of people with psychosis to homicide statistics is small, but there is a statistically significantly higher rate of homicide among them than in the general population. Legal authorities and the wider public call for more information. Our aim was a narrative synthesis of empirical literature generated by systematic searches for the five complete years 2013-2017.

RECENT FINDINGS

One article showed that people with psychosis are five times more likely to be homicide victims than those without, but focus remains on perpetrators. Consensus is that although psychotic symptoms contribute to homicidal acts, so do many of the variables that increase homicide risk more generally - including substance use, trauma histories and access to weapons; thus, both the epidemiology of homicide and some details, like method, may be country specific. In 2013-2017, variation in service provision as a risk factor for homicide has emerged more clearly but, overall, research made few homicide-specific advances.

SUMMARY

Criminal homicide is, fortunately, uncommon in most countries. Homicides by people with psychosis are so rare that they do not rate mention in the 2013 United Nations Global Survey of Homicide. This may account for the limitations to much research for this group. Despite some homicide-specific evidence of advantage for early intervention for psychosis, impact of improving treatment - the most promising way forward - will generally have to be inferred from the not entirely satisfactory surrogate of effects of treatment on violent offending more generally.

Matricide in Ghana: Victims, Offenders, and Offense Characteristics

At present, scholarship on matricide across many regions of the non-Western world is lacking. For instance, in Ghana, despite the intermittent, yet recurrent, availability of media reports describing matricidal acts over the past quarter century, no existing study has systematically analyzed matricidal killings in the West African nation. To contribute to the literature and extend knowledge about matricide and other forms of lethal violence in Ghana, this article presents the results of an analysis of 21 matricidal acts that occurred in Ghana from 1990 to 2016. Issues studied include demographic characteristics of assailants and victims, modus operandi, temporal and spatial aspects, as well as the motives and circumstances surrounding the crime. The results show that sons were substantially more likely than daughters to kill their mothers, matricide offenders were more likely to suffer from serious psychiatric disorders, matricide offenses generally occurred in the victim's home, and all cases of matricide were characterized by massive physical force and extreme violence. Matricide offenses in Ghana differed from matricides in Western nations in four important respects: (a) none of the 21 matricides was perpetrated with a firearm, (b) in none of the cases did the offender act with a co-offender (accomplice or accessory),

Is parricide a stable phenomenon? An analysis of parricide offenders in a forensic hospital

Introducción. Estudios anteriores demuestran que la enfermedad mental severa es frecuente entre los parricidas.Objetivo. Investigar las características psiquiátricas y sociodemográficas, los métodos de asesinato y los antecedentes penales de criminales acusados de parricidio remitidos a un centro de salud mental forense en Brasil.Materiales y métodos. La muestra estuvo constituida por todos los pacientes acusados de parricidio que contaban con asistencia psiquiátrica en el Instituto Psiquiátrico Forense Dr. Maurício Cardoso. Se realizó un análisis transversal de las variables sociodemográficas de los parricidas y sus víctimas, las características del crimen y el diagnóstico psiquiátrico.Resultados. La mayoría de parricidas eran jóvenes (29.2±9.4) con bajo nivel de educación (5.4±3.9); 100% eran varones adultos, 94.4% solteros y 77.8% no tenía antecedentes penales. Todos los delincuentes actuaron solos, en su mayoría en contra de personas mayores (63.3±13.2) y en casa de sus padres (83.3%). Solo uno utilizó arma de fuego; 10 eran patricidas y 6 matricidas, 1 asesinó a su padrastro y 1 cometió doble parricidio. Tras cometer el asesinato, 27.8% trató de escapar de la escena del crimen. La mayoría de los condenados sufrían esquizofrenia (61.1%) o personalidad antisocial (16.7%).Conclusiones. El patrón observado en relación con las características de uso de armas, víctima y asesino es consistente con investigaciones previas, lo que permite concluir que este fenómeno es relativamente estable y homogéneo. Se debe garantizar evaluación psiquiátrica forense a quienes hayan cometido parricidio, dada la alta prevalencia de enfermedad mental en estos individuos.