Citation

Palermo GB, Mastronardi V. Riv. Psichiatr. 2012; 47(4): 1-10.

Vernacular Title

L'omicidio. Profili comparatistici Italia-USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore)

DOI

10.1708/1140.12564

PMID

23023117

Abstract

This paper, through illustrative cases of homicidal typologies, examines the generally accepted theories on the subject: 1) sociological ones by Lorenz to Sutherland and Cressey, by Berkowitz to Wolfgang and Ferracuti and others; 2) neurobiological ones, which include the involvement of the limbic, hippocampal and parietal lobes of the brain; 3) the psychological (psychodynamic) ones which are not disjoint from the types of individual criminal homicide and related aspects. In the discussion of the types of murders, family and extrafamilial murders are then taken into consideration, with the various meanings of revenge, challenge, other reasons linked to robbery, theft, settling scores leading to youth gangs and drive-by-shootings of marginalized adolescents, crimes related to drugs and to mental disorders. Infanticide and multiple murder, including mass murder and serial killer, conclude the work together with the statistics of murders and family murders in Italy compared to USA, specifically to the crime clock.

Language: it