Who commits patricide?

Patricide and overkill: a review of the literature and case report of a murder with Capgras delusion

Despite being an infrequent crime, parental homicide has been associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in adult perpetrators and a history of child abuse and family violence in adolescent perpetrators. Among severe psychiatric disorders there is initial evidence that delusional misidentification might also play a role in parricide. Parricides are often committed with undue violence and may result in overkill. The authors present the case of an adult male affected by schizoaffective disorder and Capgras syndrome who committed patricide. Forensic pathologists classify such cases as overkill by multiple fatal means comprising stabbing, blunt trauma and choking. Accurate crime scene investigations coupled with psychiatric examinations of perpetrator allow reconstruction of the murder stages. This overkill case is discussed in the context of a broad review of the literature.

Is parricide a stable phenomenon? An analysis of parricide offenders in a forensic hospital

Introducción. Estudios anteriores demuestran que la enfermedad mental severa es frecuente entre los parricidas.Objetivo. Investigar las características psiquiátricas y sociodemográficas, los métodos de asesinato y los antecedentes penales de criminales acusados de parricidio remitidos a un centro de salud mental forense en Brasil.Materiales y métodos. La muestra estuvo constituida por todos los pacientes acusados de parricidio que contaban con asistencia psiquiátrica en el Instituto Psiquiátrico Forense Dr. Maurício Cardoso. Se realizó un análisis transversal de las variables sociodemográficas de los parricidas y sus víctimas, las características del crimen y el diagnóstico psiquiátrico.Resultados. La mayoría de parricidas eran jóvenes (29.2±9.4) con bajo nivel de educación (5.4±3.9); 100% eran varones adultos, 94.4% solteros y 77.8% no tenía antecedentes penales. Todos los delincuentes actuaron solos, en su mayoría en contra de personas mayores (63.3±13.2) y en casa de sus padres (83.3%). Solo uno utilizó arma de fuego; 10 eran patricidas y 6 matricidas, 1 asesinó a su padrastro y 1 cometió doble parricidio. Tras cometer el asesinato, 27.8% trató de escapar de la escena del crimen. La mayoría de los condenados sufrían esquizofrenia (61.1%) o personalidad antisocial (16.7%).Conclusiones. El patrón observado en relación con las características de uso de armas, víctima y asesino es consistente con investigaciones previas, lo que permite concluir que este fenómeno es relativamente estable y homogéneo. Se debe garantizar evaluación psiquiátrica forense a quienes hayan cometido parricidio, dada la alta prevalencia de enfermedad mental en estos individuos.

A descriptive and follow-up study of 40 parricidal patients hospitalized in a French secure unit over a 15-year period

Parricide is rare and represents 3% of all homicides in France, and 4% of resolved homicides in North America. Consequently, related international literature is sparse, especially concerning the evolution of offenders, and most studies concern small samples or anecdotal cases. We wished to identify the main characteristics of parricidal subjects and their victims, and to assess the socioclinical evolution of the offenders after the assault. To this end, we first studied the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic characteristics of all parricidal patients admitted to France's Henri Colin secure unit between 1996 and 2010 (40 patients). We also assessed the evolution of the 36 patients who had left the secure unit, using questionnaires sent to the psychiatric hospitals where the patients were transferred. We found most offenders to be men (97.5%), with a mean age of 28 years, who were mostly single, unemployed, living with the victim prior to the assault (77.5%), and with a history of psychiatric disorder (72.5%). The population of offenders also displayed an overrepresentation of schizophrenia (87.5%), significant toxic exposure and criminal or violent history. Some patients had attempted suicide before or right after the offense. The assault was mostly committed in the parent's house with an edged weapon, and was characterized by brutality and lack of premeditation. Precipitating factors included substance use and cessation of psychotropic medication. Matricide was more frequent than patricide. At the time of this study, half of the parricidal patients were working or attending therapeutic activities, and most were actively keeping in contact with their family, living as compliant outpatients with no signs of violent behavior. The results of our study on 40 parricidal patients are consistent with data in the literature. With regard to sample evolution, family and community reintegration was relatively effective considering the seriousness of the offense. Several biases in our study disallow the generalization of these findings, and further studies are needed.

Patricide and steppatricide victims and offenders: an empirical analysis of U.S. arrest data

Almost all of the literature on male parricide victims focuses on fathers killed with only little information available on stepparents killed. This study is the first to compare the victim, offender, and case correlates in incidents when fathers and stepfathers were killed. Supplementary Homicide Report data were used for the period 1976 to 2007 to investigate similarities and differences between the two male victim parricide types in the United States. Similarities between fathers and stepfathers included more than 80% of fathers and stepfathers were killed in single victim, single offender homicides. Their killers were adult sons and stepsons in more than 70% of the cases. Juvenile offenders were significantly less likely to be involved in the killings of fathers and stepfathers in more recent years. Significant differences emerged with respect to age and weapon use in the killings of fathers and stepfathers. Stepfathers and stepchildren, relative to fathers and their offspring, were significantly younger. Juvenile offenders were significantly more likely than their adult counterparts to use firearms to kill fathers (79% vs. 54%) and stepfathers (72% vs. 58%). Significant gender differences in weapons used to kill fathers were found among juvenile and adult offenders, with males more likely to use firearms than females. Reasons for the possible differences are discussed in the conclusion.

Elder Abuse and Neglect Versus Parricide

Violence in families and elder abuse can take many forms, which his sometimes difficult to recognize. In Russia, elder abuse is rarely discussed in professional literature and mass media. A border between elder abuse and parricide can be indistinct. Borderline cases can include involvement of older people in binge drinking, denial of help, and manipulation towards suicide. Three example cases are discussed in this report. A concluding point is that for prevention of parricide, it should be kept devoid of its reputation as an extraordinary crime, committed mainly by mentally ill individuals. The perpetrators can be mentally healthy or have a personality disorder. Parricide can have trivial appearance, not always recognized as such by victims and social environment.

["It was me or them!": the no exit escape of a future author of psychotic double parricide]

CASE-REPORT

H. had perceived his father as an evil persecutor ever since his adolescence. He developed paranoid schizophrenia of persecution in which his father occupied the main role. Little by little, in his desperate resistance against his father, perceived as his enemy, he acquired such a feeling of prejudice, of violation of his personality, and of impotence that the only way out was to escape in order to survive. At the age of 18, he decides to run away from home and from France to stop suffering. He goes to Canada and later to the USA where he would stay 9 years, during which his madness does not stop. Wherever he goes, he always feels the presence of his father in his head: "He orders me, he criticizes me from a distance, he steals all my thoughts, he is in charge of my actions, he takes away the bread from my mouth to humiliate me and kill me…" Thanks to his marginal lifestyle, he maintains a relative adaptation, a fragile equilibrium in his existential bubble in which he doesn't tolerate any breaking and entering. His delusion of prejudices and persecution, of which the main character had always been his father, extends to include society in general, cornering and leading the subject to commit an offense as a reaction of irrepressible pathological self-defense. He is questioned by the police, taken to prison and later taken to an American psychiatric hospital, after shooting at those whom he thinks are "CIA agents" (who are actually people forcing him to move the boat in which he lives). After being deported back to France, he returns to his parent's home, the source of all his madness. During the following months, he lives locked up in his room afraid of being near his father and tormented by his delirious ideas. In order to stop his suffering, he decides to buy a fire-arm to kill himself. One day, his father, accompanied by his mother, break into his room. He takes the rifle hidden under the mattress, and kills his father at point blank. "I thought that I had instantly killed my father, because he fell face down on the ground. On the other hand, my mother remained standing while my sister, screaming, escaped through the window of the living room. My mother, injured on her right side, moved back to the living room. Seeing that my mother hadn't fallen to the ground and not wanting to make her suffer, I reloaded my rifle. I took out the cartridge, and reloaded the rifle with a cartridge of buckshot. It seemed to me that she was still standing in front of the couch. I fired the gun a second time without looking and at that moment she falls on the couch… dead… She is the enemy because she is my father's wife".

DISCUSSION

The recounting and analysis of this double psychotic parricide case illustrate the psychopathologic constants and criminal dynamic that are most often present in this type of crime. The constants are the following: the perpetrator of the post-adolescence or adult parricide is often a psychotic young man; he/she lives a long, delusional story in which one or both parents have an important role; this insane delusion leads to suffering and/or to identifiable behavioral problems that together can constitute a criminal psychic state; The homicidal reaction takes place right after one or a group of factors (such as an argument, brawl, a fit of delusion, interruption of the therapeutic treatment…) that are set off in the criminal pathological state. These psychopathological constants, if they conjoin, are also the factors and indicators of danger. They should be considered as a warning sign to take preventive and remedial measures.

Parricides by mentally disordered offenders in Zimbabwe

AIM

The aim of this study was to examine the similarities and differences between matricide and patricide committed by mentally disordered offenders in Zimbabwe.

METHODS

A comprehensive, retrospective and national study was carried out of all individuals in Zimbabwe who, between 1980 and 1990 inclusive, were charged with homicide of their biological parents. The data were obtained from a hospital-wide survey, in a written semistructured format.

RESULTS

The sample size was 39 offenders (34 men, 5 women) and there were 39 victims (20 matricides and 19 patricides). Sons committed 18 patricides and 16 matricides, and daughters committed one patricide and four matricides. The mean age of the offenders was 35 years with a standard deviation of 9.8, and the mean age of the victims was 60 years with a standard deviation of 9.3. Ethnicity of all the offenders and their victims was African. About one-third of the offenders were known to the psychiatric services and the rest were found to be mentally ill at the time of the crime when they were tried in the court of law. Most of the offenders were suffering from a psychotic illness and one offender had a diagnosis of personality disorder. Half of the offenders had been to a traditional healer some time before committing the crime. Most of the offenders used a blunt instrument, 15 used sharp instruments and one woman used strangulation. Firearms were not used in committing parricide.

CONCLUSION

The study showed that sons committed most parricides. However, daughters committed matricide more frequently than patricide. Male offenders were 10 years younger than female offenders. In all cases both the offender and victim were African, and lived in the same house in the rural areas of Zimbabwe. Psychosis among the offenders had substantially increased the risk of parricide.

Mental disorders of male parricidal offenders: a study of offenders in forensic psychiatric examination in Finland during 1973-2004

BACKGROUND

Information on parricidal offenders is mainly derived from selective samples of hospitalized patients. According to literature, a substantial proportion of parricidal offenders suffers from major mental disorders and is found to be not guilty by reason of insanity. The aim of this study was to examine and compare diagnoses and criminal responsibilities of matricidal and patricidal offenders in detail using a comprehensive national data set.

METHOD

Forensic psychiatric examination statements of 86 matricidal and 106 patricidal male offenders evaluated in a forensic psychiatric examination during 1973-2004 in Finland were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Matricidal offenders suffered more commonly from a psychotic disorder than did patricidal offenders, whereas a greater proportion of patricidal offenders had a personality disorder. Among schizophrenic offenders the paranoid subtype was more common in the group of matricidal offenders than in the group of patricidal offenders. Of personality disorders, borderline personality disorder was more frequently found among patricidal offenders than among matricidal offenders. Matricidal offenders were more commonly found not guilty by reason of insanity than patricidal offenders. For matricidal offences the most common motive was a mental disorder, whereas patricidal offences were most often motivated by a long-term conflict. In addition, patricidal acts were more likely to be preceded by threat by the victim than matricidal acts.

CONCLUSIONS

This study supports the hypothesis that matricidal offenders suffer from psychotic disorders more often than patricidal offenders, even though both groups seem to be characterized by a high level of psychopathology. Rarely reported in the literature, personality disorders show up frequently among parricidal offenders, particularly among patricidal offenders. Recognition and treatment of mental disorders underlying parricidal acts may prevent these offences, at least in some cases.

Parricide: Psychiatric morbidity

INTRODUCTION Parricide is defined as a murder of parents by their children; the patricide is murder of father, while matricide is murder of mother. This entity is classified as homicide, but it differs in the fact that victims are parents and the killers are their children. Mostly, it is associated with psychiatric morbidity. OBJECTIVE To describe sociodemographic and psychopathological characteristics of parricide committers and to analyze circumstances of parricide and psychiatric morbidity in order to achieve better recognition and prevention of risks. METHOD This retrospective study included all homicide autopsy records (1991-2005) performed at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical School, University of Belgrade. For further analyses, all parricide records were selected out. The study analyzed all available parameters, which concerned parricide committers, victims and the act itself. Methods of descriptive statistics were used. RESULTS Between 1991 and 2005, there were 948 cases of homicide; of these, 3.5% were parricides. The committers of parricide were on average 31.2?11.9 years old, 87.8% were males, 60.6% with psychiatric symptoms most commonly with schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, personality disorder etc. Victims were on average 63.7?11.9 years old, 54.5% males, and 21.2% had a diagnosed mental illness. CONCLUSION Parricide is a rare kind of homicide accounting for 3% of all homicides. Committers are mostly unemployed males in early adulthood who have mental disorder. The phenomenon of parricide deserves a detailed analysis of the committer (individual bio-psycho-social profile) and the environ- mental factors (family, closely related circumstances) to enable a precise prediction of the act and prevention of the fatal outcome, which logically imposes the need of further studies.

Le parricide psychotique. La prévention en question

LITERATURE FINDINGS

Parricide is a rare event. In France, statistics indicate that it accounts for 2 to 3% of all homicides. It also represents an appreciable part (up to 30%) of homicides committed by psychotic subjects. Many studies suggest a strong positive correlation between criminality and characterized mental illness. The correlation is better when there is a diagnosis of schizophrenia, an alcohol or drugs consumption and a past personal history of violence. Parricide is a crime mainly committed by males. The most frequent form of parricide is patricide committed by sons. However, considering only psychotic parricides, the number of mothers killed seems is equal or higher to the number of fathers killed.

CLINICAL FEATURES

The typical profile of an adult committing parricide could be described as follows: a young single unemployed male, living with his victim, suffering from schizophrenia with comorbidity of alcohol or drug abuse and consumption, who stops his medication, and having a past history of medicolegal behaviours. The parricide act can be divided into three stages; first, the contention of the emergence of parricide ideas; second, the violence and brutality of the act; third, following a transient appeasement suicidal thoughts or attempts are frequently observed.

DISCUSSION

Preventing parricides and homicides committed by psychotic subjects is a great challenge. Only a few studies aim to a better understanding of the underlying motivations of such criminals. According to theses studies, we can point out several warning signals. Psychiatrist should particularly increase their vigilance to persecutive delusions, history of a long lasting illness with history of violence during acute stages, threats against family or friends, suicidal thoughts, failures of help requests and attempt to escape.