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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The intent of this article by Cormier and Markus was to describe the unique patterns of development among adolescent murderers after their initial act of homicide.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a non-experimental design by examining all adolescent murderers (41) in the Greater Montreal area from 1950 to 1974. All adolescents were male and ranged in age from 14 years old to 17 years old at the time of their offense. All were either followed through the 25 years, seen periodically, or contacted for the purpose of the research. The study focused primarily on the 29 subjects who were retained in the juvenile corrections system (14 cases) or adult corrections system (15 cases). Following a description of these cases, the authors explored the characteristics of repeat offenders, but because only one of the adolescents within the sample of 29 was a repeat offender, four cases outside of the initial sample of 29 were also described. The authors then identified four different cases for in-depth longitudinal description, three of which were among the original 29 cases.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
In 11 of the 29 cases, the adolescent knew the victim, with interpersonal conflict as a primary determinant in the violent act. Among the other 18, there was no personal conflictual relationship and the violent act was committed during the midst of another crime. Because only one of the 29 cases committed a second murder, an accurate recidivism rate for the general population of adolescent murderers was unavailable, but the finding pointed to the low rate of recidivism among adolescents, as compared to adults who committed similar violent acts. The patterns which emerged in two of the cases of repeat offenders included unresolved emotional difficulties which surfaced in the new life cycles of the middle years. Two other cases indicated a sadistic structure in which the second homicidal act occurred, and in the final case a suicide accompanied the second homicide; the authors indicated that suicide following a homicide was less common among adolescents than adults. Among the four adolescents selected for longitudinal study, the most prominent trend was a blocking or suppression affect, in which a protective mechanism against the invasion of guilt was employed by the perpetrators. This trend was especially notable because the adult response to similar types of murder was much more likely to include remorse or regret. The authors traced the blocking of affect to two factors: 1) The turmoil of adolescence, in which emotions were directed at other major tasks (e.g., the maturation of the ego) and could not attend to the immediate crisis and 2) a limited capacity among adolescents to bear depression and remorse due to their young emotional development; in many cases it took three to five years for the adolescents to acknowledge depression and guilt.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors concluded that because adolescent murderers demonstrated lack of affect, but also low rates of recidivism, they were best treated through the special delivery of services in the juvenile correctional system rather than the adult correctional system.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Canada
KW - 1950s
KW - 1960s
KW - 1970s
KW - Longitudinal Studies
KW - Male Violence
KW - Male Offender
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Homicide Offender
KW - Homicide Causes
KW - Violence Causes
KW - Juvenile Development
KW - Youth Development
KW - Late Adolescence
KW - Early Adolescence
KW - Offender Characteristics
KW - Offender Recidivism
Language: en |