Abstract
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Global study on homicide. Booklet 1: executive summary. https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet1.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2022, 2019; Victims of intentional homicide. https://dataunodc.un.org/dp-intentional-homicide-victims. Accessed 5 June 2022, 2020), Italy has the second lowest homicide rate among all European countries, despite being home to mafia organizations such as the Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, and Camorra. This chapter provides an up-to-date overview of homicide in the Italian context, describing its legal, historical, and epidemiological aspects. Femicide, infanticide, and filicide are also reviewed as specific classes of homicide, with a focus on their psychological, psychopathological, and sociocultural risk factors. Furthermore, the homicide-suicide phenomenon – which, in Italy, tends to be intrafamilial, involving an older man killing a younger woman (typically his current or former partner) – is discussed in depth.
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Abbreviations
- CEGS:
-
Center of Excellence on Gender Statistics
- DIA:
-
Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate
- DMS:
-
Delusional misidentification syndromes
- EU:
-
European Union
- EURES:
-
European Economic and Social Research
- EURISPES:
-
Institute for Political, Economic and Social Studies
- EUROSTAT:
-
Statistical Office of the European Union
- FRA:
-
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
- HLCB:
-
Higher-level coordination bodies
- HS:
-
Homicide-suicide
- IPF:
-
Intimate partner femicide
- ISTAT:
-
Italian National Institute of Statistics
- LEA:
-
Law enforcement agency
- UNODC:
-
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
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Roma, P., Colasanti, M., Ricci, E., Biondi, S., Mazza, C. (2023). Extreme Violence. In: Martin, C., Preedy, V.R., Patel, V.B. (eds) Handbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98711-4_154-1
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