Parricide
Parricide, as per US Legal refers to the intentional killing of one’s father and/or mother. However, the term is sometimes used more generally; to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to acts of matricide and patricide. Matricide refers to the intentional killing of one’s mother. Patricide refers to the intentional killing of one’s father. The term parricide is also used to refer to many familicides (i.e. family annihilations wherein at least one parent is murdered along with other family members). Societies consider  parricide a serious crime and parricide offenders are subject to criminal prosecution under the homicide laws which are established in places (i.e. countries, states, etc.) in which parricides occur. According to the law, in most countries, an adult who is convicted of parricide faces a long-term prison sentence, a life sentence, or even capital punishment. Youthful parricide offenders who are younger than the age of majority (e.g. 18 year olds in the United States) may be prosecuted under less stringent laws which are designed to take their special needs and development into account but these laws are usually waived  and as a result, most youthful parricide offenders are transferred into the Adult Judicial System. Parricide offenders are typically divided into 2 categories, 1) youthful parricide offenders (i.e. ages 8–24) and 2) adult parricide offenders (i.e. ages 25 and older) because the motivations and situations surrounding parricide events change as a child matures. Prevalence of parricide. As per the Parricide Prevention Institute, approximately 2–3% of all U.S. murders were parricides each year since 2010. Although this is a small percentage, it is not a rare occurrence. The more than 300 parricides occurring in just the U.S. each year means there  are 6 or more parricide events, on average, each week. This estimate does not include the murders of grandparents or stepparents by a child – only the murders of their natal or legally adoptive parents. Youthful parricide motives. Youthful parricide is motivated by a variety of factors. Current research conducted by the Parricide Prevention Institute indicates the top 5 motives causing a child (aged 8–24 years old) to commit parricide are: issues of control - 38% (e.g. put on restriction, phone taken away, etc.); issues of money - 10% (access to life insurance, wants money for a party, etc.); stop abuse of self  or family - 8%; fit of anger - 8%; wants a different life - 7% (e.g. wants to live with non-custodial parent, etc.). Youthful parricide and child abuse. It is a common misconception that youthful parricide offenders murdered their parent/s to escape egregious child abuse. This is actually not the case. In fact, this notion was challenged beginning in 1999 when Hillbrand "et al." suggested that child abuse is simply only one variable among myriad variables that lead to adolescent parricide, rather than the primary reason for youthful parricide occurrences. In a study published by Weisman "et al." (2002), they noted  there was a remarkable absence of child abuse and emphatically stated that their research did not statistically validate the generalization that prior child abuse had prompted the majority of these crimes. In 2006 Marleau "et al." noted that in their study only 25% of all study participants had been subjected to any kind of family violence; refuting the generalization that child abuse is the primary motivator for parricide by youthful offenders. They called for more research on the alleged connection between child abuse and parricidal acts. Bourget "et al." (2007) noted many shortcomings in the extant literature and suggested alternative  causes of parricide rather than accepting a general notion that child abuse was the primary cause of parricide by youthful offenders. In their commentary on methodological problems plaguing parricide research, Hillbrand and Cipriano (2007) noted the challenges posed by studies on parricide; acknowledging that most studies utilized very small sample sizes that should not have been generalized. This call for more research was answered by a study in 2019 when the study by Thompson and Thompson statistically invalidated the general theory that most adolescent parricides were the result of abuse of the child at the hands of the parents who  had been murdered. Their research (N = 754) revealed that only 15% of youthful parricide offenders alleged abuse at the hands of the parent/s they had killed. A full 66% were not abused, did not allege abuse and were not perpetrators of abuse. Of the remaining population, 13% of the offenders had alleged abuse that was not substantiated (some of these children had lied about abuse and it could not be proven that abuse had occurred in other cases). Additionally, 6% of the youthful parricide offenders had been found to have actually abused their parent/s prior to the  murder/s. Child abuse, while a factor present in some youthful parricide occurrences, is not the primary motivator for these murders. As noted above, issues of control are the most typical motive behind the murder. Some ask why 15% of the youthful parricide offenders were subjected to child abuse when only 8% of the parricide events carried a motive of abuse. Not all children who experienced child abuse decided to murder their parents because of the abuse. Some of them had other motives. For example, Billy Gilley was an incorrigible child who was subjected to abuse by his father who  became overexuberant in his efforts to discipline his child who did not respond to traditional forms of discipline. Billy murdered his mother, father, and youngest sister because he was in love with his other sister and hoped the murders would clear a path in which he and his sister could be together romantically. His sister, who was not complicit in the murders, had been sexually abused by Billy over the years. You can learn more about the Billy Gilley case by listening to episode 13 of the Parricide Podcast. Legal definition in Roman times. In the sixth century AD collection  of earlier juristical sayings, the "Digest", a precise enumeration of the victims' possible relations to the parricide is given by the 3rd century AD lawyer Modestinus: