Juvenile Murderers

Abstract

ADOLESCENCE is a violent period of emotional development.Intra-psychic upheavals must be contained through the mustering of all available defence mechanisms, lest the ego in its search for identity destroys itself or disastrously acts out. Statistics show the commonest causes of death in the twelve to 20 age group to be auto or gun accidents, suicide and homicide. Criminal behavior and the onset of schizophrenia are not uncommon in adolescence.Some of the findings of our recent study of 100 &dquo;assaultive&dquo; juveniles' 1 are worth noting here. Though legally charged with assaultive types of crime many of these were not really &dquo;assaultive&dquo; and most of these youths were not really &dquo;violent&dquo; characters. Nearly all of them came from seriously deprived and depressed environments where delinquent acts were sociosyntonic. The infliction of serious injury upon victims was not common and homicide was rare.My earlier study of juvenile murderer, which included some 15 cases collected over a period of eight years, indicated that murder is a very special crime, and that it usually involved special predisposing psychological factors, stressful preparatory psychologically pertinent events, and particular situational factorsfindings that were cited recently by Mack et al.1 In this article a further series of cases is presented that may throw more light upon the complex determinants precipitating murder.Case No. 1 Terry, aged 16, a non-delinquent boy from a marginal neighborhood, had been having much inner conflict in relation to his mother during adolescence. A deprived woman, given to fits of anger and of depression, she'd driven her husband away some years before, but was hardworking and sought to maintain good standards in the home. Terry left school at 16 because he felt that the women teachers picked on him. He gave up two subsequent jobs because of friction with women employees who were interfering with his relationship with the foreman. Unemployed and loafing about, he borrowed money from a companion-some of it perhaps for the purchase of minor drugs. When pressured by threats to repay the loan, his &dquo;friend&dquo; described handbag snatching as an easy way to get the money. Accordingly Terry grabbed the bag of an elderly woman near the market. He did not actually touch her, but in turning quickly she lost her balance and fell, striking her head on the kerb-

Lethal outcome in elderly sexual violence: Escalation or different intent?

“…Only a few studies have examined sexual homicides perpetrated by juvenile offenders and most of these studies are based on case reports (5,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). In fact, a review of the literature shows that most of the empirical work on juvenile SHOs has been published by Myers and colleagues (3,10,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”

Juvenile Sexual Murderers: Examination and Classification of the Crime‐Commission Process

“…Only a few studies have examined sexual homicides perpetrated by juvenile offenders and most of these studies are based on case reports (5,17–23). In fact, a review of the literature shows that most of the empirical work on juvenile SHOs has been published by Myers and colleagues (3,10,12–16).…”

Schizophrenia and Matricide: An Integrative Review

“…Within these, prevalence rates of psychotic disorders among matricidal offenders vary from 25%-100% among case studies, 33.3%-100% among descriptive studies, and 46.5%-100% among comparison studies. Of the 49 matricidal offenders reported across the 34 case studies of matricide, 34 (69.4%) were described with psychotic disorder diagnoses or symptomatology (though one case, "Luis," was reported in three separate publications; Russell, 1965Russell, , 1984Mack, Scherl, & Macht, 1973). In half of the comparison studies identified for this review, all (100%) of the matricidal offenders were diagnosed with schizophrenia or were psychotic at the time of the offense.…”

“…Some studies mentioned or described matricidal offenders without matricide necessarily being the main focus of the publication (Tables 1-4). Russell, 1965Russell, , 1984 (4) Post-offense paranoid psychosis (1) Lifelong highly eroticized sadomasochistic relationship with mother. Shot mother to death.…”