The Child Who Murders

Abstract

Moist people are aware of the existence of the child murderer from newspaper headlines; yet, little scientific study has been done on this category of offenders. Much previous research involves the study and diagnosis of children and their case histories and hypothesizes an element or elements common to all the cases in that particular study. Thus far, however, theorists have not agreed upon a single underlying cause or group of causes which could explain and be used to predict all instances of homicide committed by children.It .is not surprising that little attention has been given to the problem when one considers the small percentage of total crime that the very young commit. In 1925, there were .8% murderers per 100 male delinquents (Burt, 1965). A study done in the . Greater Cleveland area from 1947-1953 found only .9% of all people charged with felonious homicide were between 11-15 years of age. Only two other age groups (76 years and older and 66-70 years old) had lower rates (Bensing and Schrader, 1960).In a 1960-1963 study in Philadelphia, only 2, or 1.4%, of 145 offenses causing bodily harm were murder. The subjects were youths of the city ranging from 7-18 years of age (Sellin and Wolfgang, 1964).

Juvenile homicide: Prior adjustment and a proposed typology.

“…Still another view is that these adolescents are products of severely disturbed and chaotic families, and act in response to intense interpersonal or intrapsychic conflict. 1, 4, 18, 20, 28 Some have focused attention on those adolescents who appear to act out covert family pressures to murder an abusive parent or stepparent. 8, 9, 22, 23…”