Citation

Kondo H. Jpn. J. Sociol. Criminol. 2009; (34): 134-150.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Japanese Association of Sociological Criminology)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The aim of this study is to classify the different types of male juveniles who committed homicides and the different circumstances leading up to the homicides. The subjects were 73 male juveniles admitted to juvenile classification homes in the five years from 2001 to 2006 for committing homicide. Juvenile homicide typing was performed by surveying areas such as family dysfunction, school adjustment, and criminal activity to determine what risk factors were present in what periods in their development and then applying a latent class analysis to this data. The analysis produced three types - externalizing types, internalizing types and late-onset types-and the characteristics of each of these were revealed based on attributes such as their developmental path. The externalizing type group engaged in repeated theft and violence from an early stage and there were many incidents of homicide by members with a background of delinquent friendship associations. The internalizing type group experienced chronic failure to adapt to home and school life with many incidents of homicides committed without accomplices and of homicides committed against relatives. The late-onset type group was able somehow to superficially cope up to the point of the homicide, but there were many incidents of homicides committed due to an inability to conform to group or situational pressure.