Parricide, Abuse, and Emotional Processing

After attending this presentation, attendees will better understand the extremely rare phenomenon of parricide and many of its implications. This presentation will impact the forensic science community by demonstrating that further, well-designed studies are needed in order to confront this underestimated but very serious problem facing families. Parricide is a very rare phenomenon and represents only a small percentage of all homicides committed. In Europe and the United States, it is estimated that the occurrence of this crime makes up between 2% and 4% of all murders in those regions, with patricides outnumbering matricides.1-7 In Italy, the 2008 European Employment Services-Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (EURES-ANSA) Report observed that the rate of parricide in Italy makes up 3% of all homicides committed, with the rate of matricide being significantly higher (59%) than patricide. Homicide occurs more frequently in homes where the victim and perpetrator cohabitate.8,9 When a minor commits parricide, he or she does so in a cold and calculated manner and does so in such a way as to avoid confrontation with the victim; for example, when the parent is sleeping, watching television, or engaged in some other activity.10 Parricide is rarely committed during a violent altercation between parent and child. Males are much more likely to commit parricide.11-16 For example, when Marleau et al. investigated parricide cases committed in Canada between 1961 and 1989, they observed that males committed 90% of these killings.17 A vast majority of the literature regarding young perpetrators of parricide shows that minors kill in order to bring years of abuse to an end. Other factors that may influence this phenomenon have also been identified, in particular, the presence of psychiatric disorders and the antisocial tendencies of minors.18,19 These seem to be important aspects in the implementation of this crime. Based upon this, it is possible to identify three categories of juvenile perpetrators of patricide: (1) adolescents who suffer from serious mental pathologies; (2) antisocial adolescents; and, (3) adolescents who have endured severe abuse and who kill as a reaction to their circumstances.20 Minors who are systematically punished, criticized, treated with hostile rejection, or ignored by their primary caregivers tend to believe that they are at fault, unwanted, bad, or unlovable.21 Such global and negative beliefs about oneself elicit shame because, when shame is experienced, the sense of self is threatened and attention is focused internally.22 In this way, minors who have been or who are currently being treated in a punitive manner seem to develop a different disposition regarding the emotion of shame and their reactions to other life events when compared to those minors who have not been maltreated. For example, Alessandri and Lewis pointed out that maltreated minors (i.e., neglected; physically, sexually, and emotionally abused), from 4-5 years of age, exhibit much more shame when they make a mistake and show less pride when they do well with respect to their non-maltreated peers.23 Lack of affection, brutality, various forms of violence, and coercion coming from one or both parents may be elements that facilitate the formation of highly discordant and unrestrained personality structures. Furthermore, the presence of a generation gap may be unbridgeable in more serious situations. This is characterized by reciprocal incomprehension and an absence of clear and direct forms of communication regarding central aspects of relational life. In addition, one fact that this study would particularly like to underscore relates to the presence of emotional imbalances and alterations that may act to compromise the formation of a mature self that is endowed with healthy sensitivity and the capacity to foresee the consequences of one’s own actions as well as those of others. For this reason, it is necessary to view parricide as a process that is comprised of precipitating risk factors that need to be identified early on, both at the clinical level and at the criminological and forensic psychiatric level as well, in an attempt to avoid tragic and irreversible “acting out.” References: 1. Bourget, D., Gagne, P., & Labelle, M. E. (2007). Parricide: a comparative study of matricide versus patricide. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 35: 306–12. 2. Ewing, C. P. (1990). Kids who Kill. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books 3. Heide, K.M., & Petee, T.A. (2007). Parricide: an empirical analysis of 24 years of U.S. data. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22: 1382-99. 4. Hillbrand, M., Alexandre, J.W., Young, J.L., & Spitz, R.T. ( 1999). Parricide: characteristics of offenders and victims, legal factors, and treatment issues. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4: 172-190 5. Marleau, J. D., Millaud, F., & Auclair, N. (2001). Parricide commis par des femmes : Synthèse de la littérature. Revue québécoise de psychologie, 22 : 91-102 6. Marleau, J.D., Millaud, F., & Auclair, N. (2003). A comparison of parricide and attempted parricide: a study of 39 psychotic adults. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 26: 269-79. 7. Weisman, A.M., & Sharma, K.K. (1997). Forensic Analysis and Psycholegal Implications of Parricide and Attempted Parricide. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 42: 1107-1113. 8. Bourget, D., Gagne, P., & Labelle, M. E. (2007). Parricide: a comparative study of matricide versus patricide. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 35: 306–12. 9. Heide, K. M. (1993). Weapons used by juveniles and adults to kill parents. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 11: 397-405 10. Mones, P. (1991). When a child kills: Abused children who kill their parents. New York: Pocket Books. 11. Ewing, C. P. (2001). Parricide. In G. F. Pinard & L. Pagani (a cura di), Clinical assessment of dangerousness (181-194). New York: Cambridge University Press. 12. Hart, J.L., & Helms, J.L. (2003). Factors of parricide: allowance of the use of battered child syndrome as a defense. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 8: 671–83 13. Heide, K. M. (1993). Weapons used by juveniles and adults to kill parents. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 11: 397-405. 14. Heide, K.M., & Petee, T.A. (2007). Parricide: an empirical analysis of 24 years of U.S. data. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22: 1382-99 15. Hillbrand, M., Alexandre, J.W., Young, J.L., & Spitz, R.T. ( 1999). Parricide: characteristics of offenders and victims, legal factors, and treatment issues. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4: 172-190 16. Marleau, J.D., Millaud, F., & Auclair, N. (2003). A comparison of parricide and attempted parricide: a study of 39 psychotic adults. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 26: 269-79 17. Marleau, J.D., Millaud, F., & Auclair, N. (2003). A comparison of parricide and attempted parricide: a study of 39 psychotic adults. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 26: 269- 79 18. Ewing, C. P. (1990). Kids who Kill. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books 19. Heide, K. M. (1996). Why Kids Keep Killing: The Correlates, Causes, and Challenge of Juvenile Homicide. Stanford Law and Policy Review, 7: 43-49. 20. Hart, J.L., & Helms, J.L. (2002). Factors of parricide: allowance of the use of battered child syndrome as a defense. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 267: 1-13. 21. Burhans, K. K., & Dweck, C. S. (1995). Helplessness in early childhood: The role of contingent worth. Child Development, 66: 1719-1738. 22. Lewis, M. (1992). Shame: The exposed self. New York: The Free Press. 23. Alessandri, S.M., & Lewis, M. (1996). Differences in pride and shame in maltreated and nonmaltreated preschoolers. Child Development, 67: 1857–1869