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Youthful Familicidal Offenders: Targeted Victims, Planned Attacks

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Abstract

A nonrandom national sample of 16 familicides, which involved 19 offenders (ages 14 to 21 years) who either killed or made a serious attempt to kill their families, was studied. The majority of offenders were Caucasian (78.91 %) males (84.21 %) with interpersonal family conflicts due to parental control, substance use, or physical violence. Prior to the murders, 50 % of the offenders reported to others their intent to kill their families. All of the 42 reported victims were specifically targeted and most of the homicides were planned shooting attacks (75 %) rather than spontaneous eruptions. Immediately following the homicides, 75 % of the offenders stole money from their families, and in 50 % of the cases they either called their friends to report the murders or to plan leisure activities. All offenders were immediate suspects and 81.25 % confessed to the homicides. Implications for furthering our understanding of this group of young offenders are offered.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit for coordinating access to the data used in this paper. Authors’ opinion, statements and conclusions should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI for any policy, program or service.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1028 H St., Apt, 307, Lincoln, NE, 68508, USA

    Rosa Viñas-Racionero & Mario J. Scalora

  2. Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, 10019, USA

    Louis B. Schlesinger

  3. Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, DC, United States

    John P. Jarvis

Authors
  1. Rosa Viñas-Racionero
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  2. Louis B. Schlesinger
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  3. Mario J. Scalora
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Correspondence to Rosa Viñas-Racionero.

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Viñas-Racionero, R., Schlesinger, L.B., Scalora, M.J. et al. Youthful Familicidal Offenders: Targeted Victims, Planned Attacks. J Fam Viol 32, 535–542 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-016-9836-9

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