Homicide–suicide in Hong Kong, 1989–1998

Abstract

This study provides the first systematic research of homicide-suicide (HS) in a Chinese society. Data were drawn from the HK Homicide Monitoring Data-base computer file derived from investigation and death reports held by the HK Police Force and the Coroner's Court. During the 10-year study period, 56 events involving 133 deaths were identified. The majority of offenders were males (75%) and most victims were female (64%). The mean age of offenders and victims were 41.9 and 32.3 years, respectively. Spouses and lovers comprised the majority of victims (46.4%) followed by child victims (36%). Most HS events were motivated by separation or termination of marital or sexual relations (39%), economic reasons (25%) and other domestic disputes (20%). The most frequent modes of killing were strangulation/suffocation (26%), stabbing/chopping (24%), followed by gassing/poisoning (14%) and falling from a height (14%). The commonest method of suicide was falling from a height (48%). It was followed by gassing/poisoning (22%) and strangulation/suffocation (13%). Depression (18.3%) was found to be the commonest mental disorder. Most offenders were from low-socio-economic background. Two-third were unemployed and 76.6% had 9 or less years of education. HS in HK were distinguished from those reported in the western literature in respect to the high relevance of economic factors, the absence of mercy killing between old couples, a higher percentage of pedicide-suicides and the infrequent use of firearms.

A unique trend of murder–suicide in the Jamnagar region of Gujarat, India (A retrospective study of 5 years)

“…1,2,6 As opposed to the other western countries, the present study shows family dispute to be the prime motive for murder-suicide. Family disputes involve multiple inter-related problems.…”

“…During their study Milroy, 1,13 Chan et al, 2 Cohen et al, 3 Carcach et al, 4 Saleva et al, 6 Campanelli and Gilson, 8 Hannah et al, 9 Lecomte and Fornes, 10 Barraclough and Harris, 11 Stack, 12 Hanzlick and Koponen, 15 Marzuk et al 16 and Gowitt and Hanzlick, 20 observed that males were the most common offenders in the murder-suicide cases. Milroy 1 reported the father to be the common perpetrator.…”

Comparing Homicide‐Suicides in the United States and Sweden

“…They report a rate of 0.2-0.3 per 100,000 persons in the United States. Several researchers have found similar rates in the United States (2,(4)(5)(6) and outside the United States (7). Malphurs and Cohen (8) searched the prevalence of homicide-suicide in the United States using newspaper surveillance over a three-year period.…”

“…The vast majority of homicide-suicide perpetrators are males (1,(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Of all the studies reviewed, West (20) found the lowest percentage of male perpetrators at 59.5% of perpetrators.…”

Criminality in Greece during the years of financial crisis: 2008–2014

“…A study in Hong Kong found that roughly one out of three violent offenders were under financial pressure when committing homicide, and more than one out of four offenders appeared directly motivated by economic distress. 18 Economic stress is also a major source of family tension and a leading cause of family breakup. 17 A survey of 630 domestic violence shelters in the USA reported a 75% increase in the number of requests for services since the onset of the crisis.…”