Violence in America: a survey of suicide linked to homicides

J Forensic Sci. 1997 Jul;42(4):662-5.

Abstract

This paper describes murder-suicide in the United States from 1990 through 1995, using the cases reported in six major newspapers. Spousal murder-suicide was the predominant type with a range of 42%-57%; familicide-suicide was the second predominant type with a range of 22%-47%. The perpetrators were predominantly males; the victims were female sexual partners or consanguineous relatives. Firearms (guns) were used in 90% of the cases. The author concludes that a national surveillance system that specifically identifies and codes this phenomenon, and multi disciplinary studies are necessary to hinder this phenomenon.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Homicide / psychology
  • Homicide / statistics & numerical data
  • Homicide / trends*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Newspapers as Topic / statistics & numerical data
  • Suicide / psychology
  • Suicide / statistics & numerical data
  • Suicide / trends*
  • United States