Schizophrenia and Matricide: An Integrative Review

Schug, Robert A.

doi:10.1177/1043986211405894

“…This database does not contain many variables that are important in understanding the factors that contribute to children and stepchildren killing their mothers and stepmothers. The motivational dynamics and legal issues involved in the killings of mothers by juvenile and adult offenders have been addressed by scholars and mental health professionals in many clinical reports and studies (see, e.g., Clark, ; Dogan, Demirci, Deniz, & Erkol, ; Ewing, ; Green, ; Heide, , ; Heide & Frei, ; Heide & Solomon, ; Holcomb, ; Lauerma, Voutilainen, & Tuominen, ; Liettu, Säävälä, Hakko, Räsänen, & Joukamaa, ; Mack, Scherl, & Macht, ; Russell, ; Scherl & Mack, ; Schlesinger, ; Schug, ; Singhal & Dutta, ; Wertham, ; Wick, Mitchell, Gilbert, & Byard, ). In sharp contrast, virtually no clinical studies of stepmothers killed exist.…”

Section: Summary and Concluding Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matricide and Stepmatricide Victims and Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrest Data

Heide

¹

2013

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Almost all of the clinical and empirical literature on female parricide victims focuses on mothers killed, with only little information available on stepmothers murdered. This study is the first to compare the victim, offender, and case correlates in incidents when mothers and stepmothers were killed. Supplementary Homicide Report Data for 1976-2007 were used to investigate similarities and differences between the two female victim types in the United States. Similarities between stepmothers and mothers included that more than 70% were White and killed in single victim, single offender incidents. Their killers were adult sons in between 67% and 87% of incidents. Several significant differences emerged with respect to age, involvement in multiple offender incidents, and weapon use. Stepmothers and their stepchildren, relative to mothers and their offspring, were significantly younger. Sixty-four percent of stepchildren, compared with 35% of biological children, were under age 25 at the time of their arrest for murder. A higher percentage of juveniles than adult killers was involved in multiple offender (MO) incidents involving mothers. Relative to their male counterparts, higher percentages of female juveniles were involved in MO incidents involving the deaths of mothers and stepmothers. A higher proportion of female adults, relative to their male counterparts, were involved in MO matricide incidents. Offenders who killed stepmothers, relative to those who killed mothers, were significantly more likely to use guns. Juvenile matricide offenders were significantly more likely to use firearms than their adult counterparts. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed in the conclusion.

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“…This database does not contain many variables that are important in understanding the factors that contribute to children and stepchildren killing their mothers and stepmothers. The motivational dynamics and legal issues involved in the killings of mothers by juvenile and adult offenders have been addressed by scholars and mental health professionals in many clinical reports and studies (see, e.g., Clark, 1993;Dogan, Demirci, Deniz, & Erkol, 2010;Ewing, 1997;Green, 1981;Heide, 1992Heide, , 2013Heide & Frei, 2010;Heide & Solomon, 2009;Holcomb, 2000;Lauerma, Voutilainen, & Tuominen, 2010;Liettu, Säävälä, Hakko, Räsänen, & Joukamaa, 2009;Mack, Scherl, & Macht, 1973;Russell, 1984;Scherl & Mack, 1966;Schlesinger, 1999;Schug, 2011;Singhal & Dutta, 1992;Wertham, 1941;Wick, Mitchell, Gilbert, & Byard, 2008). In sharp contrast, virtually no clinical studies of stepmothers killed exist.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male and Female Juvenile Homicide Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrests by Offender Age

Heide

¹

,

Solomon²,

Sellers

³

et al. 2010

Feminist Criminology

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Almost all of the clinical and empirical literature on female parricide victims focuses on mothers killed, with only little information available on stepmothers murdered. This study is the first to compare the victim, offender, and case correlates in incidents when mothers and stepmothers were killed. Supplementary Homicide Report Data for 1976-2007 were used to investigate similarities and differences between the two female victim types in the United States. Similarities between stepmothers and mothers included that more than 70% were White and killed in single victim, single offender incidents. Their killers were adult sons in between 67% and 87% of incidents. Several significant differences emerged with respect to age, involvement in multiple offender incidents, and weapon use. Stepmothers and their stepchildren, relative to mothers and their offspring, were significantly younger. Sixty-four percent of stepchildren, compared with 35% of biological children, were under age 25 at the time of their arrest for murder. A higher percentage of juveniles than adult killers was involved in multiple offender (MO) incidents involving mothers. Relative to their male counterparts, higher percentages of female juveniles were involved in MO incidents involving the deaths of mothers and stepmothers. A higher proportion of female adults, relative to their male counterparts, were involved in MO matricide incidents. Offenders who killed stepmothers, relative to those who killed mothers, were significantly more likely to use guns. Juvenile matricide offenders were significantly more likely to use firearms than their adult counterparts. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed in the conclusion.

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“…Unfortunately, extant homicide literature belies this expectation. While existing research on matricide has focused almost exclusively on matricidal acts in Western industrialized societies such as Australia, Canada, England, France, Italy, Scotland, the United States, and Wales (Bourget, Gagne, & Labelle, 2007; Catanesi et al, 2015; Chiswick, 1981; Clark, 1993; Heide & Frei, 2010; Kayrouz & Vrklevski, 2015; Schug, 2011; Singhal & Dutta, 1992), Africa is among the regions neglected in the literature. Although lethal violence acts in which a person slays his or her own mother are not unknown in Africa, systematic research focusing on matricide offenses or offenders in an African setting is exceedingly rare (for exceptions, see Ghajati, Ghezaiel, Berrahal, Chebbi, & Ridha, 2016; Ogunwale & Abayomi, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matricide in Ghana: Victims, Offenders, and Offense Characteristics

Adinkrah

¹

2017

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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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),

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Schizophrenia and Matricide: An Integrative Review

Cited by 32 publications

References 56 publications

Matricide and Stepmatricide Victims and Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrest Data

Matricide and Stepmatricide Victims and Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrest Data

Male and Female Juvenile Homicide Offenders: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Arrests by Offender Age

Matricide in Ghana: Victims, Offenders, and Offense Characteristics

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