Citation

Shon PC, Roberts MA. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2010; 54(1): 43-60.

Affiliation

Indiana State University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X08324472

PMID

18974260

Abstract

There has been little attempt to integrate contemporary studies of suicide and mass murder to homicide-suicides. The current research attempts to do so in the context of 19th-century parricides in America. This project uses archival records from The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, 1851-1899, resulting in a total of 231 incidents. Our results indicate that parricides, mass murders, and suicides tended to originate as spontaneous acts, usually during the course of an argument, gathering momentum as the interaction unfolded. We contend that suicide is one way of alleviating threats to offender's loss of self-identity.

Language: en