Men Who Murder Their Families: What the Research Tells Us by Bernie Auchter
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Men Who Murder Their Families: What the Research Tells Us by Bernie Auchter NIJ hosts a forum to discuss the problem and the warning signs that foreshadow these events. ases where people kill their Hopkins University, author David families and then commit Adams, and Richard Gelles of the C suicide are mercifully rare. University of Pennsylvania. Less extreme forms of domestic Campbell, Anna D. Wolf Chair violence and child abuse are more and professor at JHU’s School of common. Acts of partner conflict Nursing, discussed the Centers for can fall on a broad spectrum, rang- Disease Control and Prevention’s ing from verbal criticisms to cases National Violent Death Reporting of a family homicide followed by System. Of the 408 homicide- suicide. The research identifies suicide cases, most perpetrators several risk factors that may indeed were men (91 percent) and most predict more severe domestic used a gun (88 percent). A 12-city violence cases. study that Campbell conducted of these cases found that intimate- In a seminar titled Men Who Murder partner violence had previously Their Families: What the Research occurred in 70 percent of them. Tells Us, an expert panel discussed Interestingly, only 25 percent of a recent spike in news reports of prior domestic violence appeared “familicide” cases. Panelists included in the arrest records, according to Jacquelyn C. Campbell of Johns Campbell. Researchers uncovered 10 NIJ JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 266 Ninety percent of the much of the prior domestic violence poverty, unemployment and family through interviews with family and time the best predictor stressors, which include disagree- friends of the homicide victims. ments over money, sex and children. “Prior domestic violence is by far of domestic violence is The economy always is a distal factor the number-one risk factor in these that is translated into family relations cases,” Campbell said. past behavior. through poverty or employment or self-image or stressors. She also explained that most people who commit murder-suicide are compared high rates of intimate- Recent economic problems may non-Hispanic white males who kill partner homicide in the United States produce increases in child abuse their mates or former mates. Prior with the considerably lower rates in and neglect and domestic violence. domestic violence is the greatest other wealthy countries. He noted In the subset of men who kill their risk factor in these cases. Access to that America has the most permis- entire families, there is a small a gun is a significant risk factor, as sive gun laws of any industrialized increase in atypical familicide. These are threats with a weapon, a step- nation. He made a similar compar- atypical cases are not the posses- child in the home or estrangement. ison among U.S. states that have sive, controlling husbands with guns. However, a past criminal history is restrictive versus permissive gun The familicides that are represented not a reliable or significant predictor laws and lower versus higher homi- by men who kill their wives, their in murder-suicide. cide and suicide rates. Three reasons children and themselves are what guns are used frequently is that they the famous French sociologist In the aftermath of a family murder are more efficient than other weap- Emile Durkheim called “anomic followed by a suicide, communities, ons, can be used impulsively, and suicides.” These occur when there police, researchers and others search can be used to terrorize and threaten. are radical and significant changes for explanations. In difficult finan- in the person’s social and economic cial times, it may be natural to look In the research for his book, Adams environment. for economic influences, especially asked those who killed with guns when the killer has recently lost a if they would have used another The United States experienced job or has enormous financial weapon if a gun were not available; economic disruptions in 2001 and problems. Campbell found that most said no. in the recession of 1990. However, unemployment was a significant they did not produce huge waves risk factor for murder-suicide but “The most common type of killer of violence, either in child abuse only when combined with a history was a possessively jealous type, and or domestic violence, Gelles said. of domestic violence. In other words, I found that many of the men who Anomic suicide “is not suicide it was not a risk factor in and of itself … commit murder-suicide, as well because you’ve lost all your money but was something that tipped the as those who kill their children, also but suicide because the rules of the scale following previous abuse. seem to fit that profile,” Adams said. game have changed — because “A jealous substance abuser with a what you thought would be true Adams, author of Why Do They Kill? gun poses a particularly deadly com- about your life and your family and Men Who Murder Their Intimate bination of factors; one that was your 401(k) and the loyalty of your Partners, offered his perspective present in about 40 percent of the company has suddenly been dis- based on years of research and killers I interviewed,” he added. rupted,” he said. Gelles suggested experience working with domes- that this difficult disruption mixed tic violence cases. His comments Gelles, professor and dean of the with an “overenmeshment” in focused mostly on guns and jealousy School of Social Policy & Practice one’s family could underlie these in these violent crimes. When we at the University of Pennsylvania, familicides. consider prevention, guns are essen- said that 90 percent of the time the tially the “low-hanging fruit,” he best predictor of domestic violence Overenmeshment is a condition suggested. He cited research, similar is past behavior. He said the proxi- in which perpetrators either view to Campbell’s data, showing that 92 mate social and demographic factors “their family members as posses- percent of murder-suicides involved a that are related to all forms of fam- sions that they control or [they] gun in a sample of 591 cases. Adams ily violence except sexual abuse are don’t see any boundaries between Men Who Murder Their Families: What the Research Tells Us | 11 NIJ JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 266 their identity, their wife and their The discussion also touched on new children. And so these are suicides of concerns, such as how abusers use the entire family, where the anomic, threats to intimidate. The panelists overly enmeshed individual can’t focused on the point of separation bear to leave the pain behind and as a vulnerable period. so takes his wife and children with him,” he said. If the familicide cases signal a more Bernie Auchter is a senior social general increase in domestic vio- science analyst with the Violence and lence, one result could be a dramatic Victimization Research Division at NIJ. increase in child abuse and a sub- sequent burden on the foster care NCJ 230412 system, Gelles said. Visit the NIJ Web page, “Murder-Suicide in Families,” to watch or listen to the seminar or to read the transcript: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/ crime/intimate-partner-violence/murder-suicide.htm. 12 | Men Who Murder Their Families: What the Research Tells Us.