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Juvenile Involvement in Fratricide and Sororicide: An Empirical Analysis of 32 Years of U.S. Arrest Data

Journal of Family Violence volume 27, pages 749–760 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Despite the interest in juvenile homicide offenders, few studies have systematically examined their involvement in incidents involving specific victims. This study focused on one victim type, the killings of siblings. To date, siblicide research has been based primarily on case studies. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were used to systematically investigate offender, victim, and incident characteristics associated with fratricides and sororicides committed by juvenile homicide offenders in single victim, single offender incidents over a 32-year period (1976–2007), as recorded in the Supplementary Homicide Report data base. Juvenile sororicide offenders, relative to juvenile fratricide offenders, were significantly more likely to be female and to kill younger victims. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings in terms of past research, their implications for intervention and prevention, and directions for future research.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was presented at the American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, November 7, 2010. The authors would like to thank Dr. Wesley Jennings, University of South Florida, for his review and assistance with the regression analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Social Sciences Room 107, Tampa, FL, 33620-8100, USA

    Jennifer H. Peck & Kathleen M. Heide

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  1. Jennifer H. Peck
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  2. Kathleen M. Heide
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Correspondence to Kathleen M. Heide.

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Peck, J.H., Heide, K.M. Juvenile Involvement in Fratricide and Sororicide: An Empirical Analysis of 32 Years of U.S. Arrest Data. J Fam Viol 27, 749–760 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-012-9456-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-012-9456-y

Keywords

  • Juvenile homicide
  • Siblicide
  • Sororicide
  • Fratricide
  • Female juvenile homicide offenders
  • Juvenile murderers