Citation

Dawson M. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2005; 35(1): 76-90.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. mdawson@uoguelph.ca

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1521/suli.35.1.76.59261

PMID

15843325

Abstract

People who kill others rarely kill themselves afterwards. When they do, they are more likely to have killed someone with whom they were intimate. Two broad types of suicidal killers have been identified in research that presumes varying degrees of premeditation. Using data on over 700 intimate femicides, the role of premeditation in cases of intimate femicide-suicide compared to killings that do not culminate in a suicide was examined. My results show that premeditation is more likely to occur in cases involving the offenders' suicide, but that evidence of premeditation varies depending upon the type of suicidal killer.