Weapons used by juveniles and adults to kill parents

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The goal of this article by Heide was to analyze the weapons used in homicides committed by children against parents (parricide). METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental design was employed for this study. Secondary analysis of FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports from 1977-1986 was conducted. Both adult and children parricide offenders were included in the analysis. Biological parents were analyzed separately from stepparents. Single offender, single victim incidents were the concentration of the analysis. The dataset included 1368 fathers (92% of all fathers killed by children), 887 mothers (86% of all), 562 stepfathers (89%), and 54 stepmothers (73%). Age of offender and method of homicide were examined. Descriptive statistics and chi square were used to analyze the data. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Firearms, knives or cutting instruments, blunt instruments (e.g., hammers), or personal (i.e., bodily) weapons predominated in the slaying of parents and stepparents. 97% of the fathers and stepfathers were killed with one of these weapons; 91% of mothers and 87% of stepmothers were. Fathers were significantly more likely than mothers to be killed by firearms (p AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS: The author argued that access to firearms, particularly rifles and shotguns, should be severely restricted. It was also advocated that we try to get more information on the circumstances of the homicides including availability and source of weapons, threat of attack by victim, and possible self-defense. The author argued that the FBI needs to make changes in its data collection procedures including the coding of multiple victim and/or multiple offender homicides to permit linkages of victims with offenders and vice versa. EVALUATION: The data used for this study, Supplementary Homicide Reports, exist as the best comprehensive data source for this kind of study. The inability to include multiple victim/offender cases, a weakness mentioned by the author, could provide some weakness to the conclusions, though it is likely that the numbers that were excluded would have insignificant effects on the overall picture. This study provides a useful descriptive analysis of weapons involvement in parricide. Given the dearth in the literature on parricide, particularly that committed by children over 18, this study provides essential information. However, these findings can only be used in a limited way as there was no ability to complete depth analysis of the circumstances which led to the killings, as the author discussed. The availability of weapons, access, and circumstances are critical to an understanding of the role weapons play in parricide. This analysis provides description only due to the natural limitations of the data. Further investigation is desperately needed to connect weapons to the killing of parents. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) Domestic Violence Offender Domestic Homicide Parent Homicide Parent Abuse Offender Adult Parent Adult Offender Adult Violence Adult Victim Homicide Victim Elder Adult Victim Juvenile Violence Juvenile Offender Homicide Offender Offender Firearms Use Offender Weapons Use Firearms Violence Weapons Violence Adult Firearms Use Adult Weapons Use Juvenile Weapons Use Juvenile Firearms Use 05-05