Trauma, Violence, & Abuse http://tva.sagepub.com Matricide: A Critique of the Literature Kathleen M. Heide and Autumn Frei Trauma Violence Abuse 2010; 11; 3 originally published online Oct 28, 2009; DOI: 10.1177/1524838009349517 The online version of this article can be found at: http://tva.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/1/3 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com Additional services and information for Trauma, Violence, & Abuse can be found at: Email Alerts: http://tva.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://tva.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations http://tva.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/11/1/3 Downloaded from http://tva.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on April 7, 2010 Articles TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE 11(1) 3-17 ª The Author(s) 2010 Matricide: A Critique of the Literature Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1524838009349517 http://tva.sagepub.com Kathleen M. Heide1 and Autumn Frei1 Abstract Matricide, the killing of mothers by their biological children, is a very rare event, comprising less that 2% of all U.S. homicides in which the victim-offender relationship is known. This manuscript examines more than 20 years of U.S. homicides to determine the age and gender characteristics of matricide offenders. These data reveal that most mothers are killed by their adult sons. Daughters younger than 18 years are the most infrequent killers of mothers. This article examines the incidence of parricide, the involvement of sons and daughters in matricidal incidents, and synthesizes the literature in terms of offender gender. Special atten- tion is given to female matricide offenders, given the lack of research currently available with respect to this population. Implica- tions for practice, policy, and research are discussed. Keywords matricide, parricide, murder, female murderers, juvenile murderers, girls who kill parents The killing of parents by their children garners intense media comprises less than 4% of all homicides in Canada coverage in countries worldwide (Boots & Heide, 2006). When (Fedorowycz, 1999) and about 2% to 3% of all homicides and adolescent girls are the perpetrators and mothers the victims, attempted homicides in France (Fontaine & Gue´rard des the cases often make headline news for years afterward (see, for Lauriers, 1994; Stoessel & Bornstein, 1988). e.g., Tufts divided on freshman who killed mother, 1995; A mother, a daughter, a murder, 2000). Matricide is the term used to refer to the killing of one’s mother, whereas, patricide is used Female-Perpetrated Parricide to denote the slaying of one’s father. Both are types of parri- Female-perpetrated parricide has been reported as particularly cide that technically refers to the killing of a close relative but rare. Studies spanning more than 40 years have continuously has become increasingly synonymous with a child killing his or concluded that when fathers and mothers are killed, their sons her parents (Heide, 1992). This phenomenon both fascinates are typically the perpetrators (see, e.g., Bourget, Gagne’, & and horrifies the public, as evidenced by books in the popular Labelle, 2007; Chiswick, 1981; Heide, 1993b, Heide & Petee, crime genre area particularly profiling the lives of teens who 2003, Heide & Petee, 2007a; Hillbrand & Cipriano, 2007; killed their mothers and fathers (Davis, 2003; Kleiman, 1988; McKnight, Mohr, Quinsey, & Erochko, 1966; Walsh et al., Lang, 1995; Leyton, 1990; McGinnis, 1991; McMurray, 2008; Wick, Mitchell, Gilbert, & Byard, 2008). In their review 2006; Morris, 1985; Mones, 1991). of the literature, D’Orba´n and O’Connor (1989) cited several studies indicating that the killings of mothers, as well as PARRICIDE UNMASKED fathers, by daughters was very rare in England (Morris & Despite the coverage and interest parricide events generate, Blom-Cooper, 1964; Green, 1981), Scotland (Gillies, 1976), murders of parents are rare events in the United States, typi- Finland (Va¨isa¨nen & Va¨isa¨nen, 1983), France (Devaux, Petit, cally comprising less than 2% of all homicides in which the Perol, & Porot, 1974), and Japan (Hirose, 1970). victim-offender relationship is known (Heide, 1989; Heide & Studies of parricide incidents in the United States have Boots, 2007; Walsh, Krienert, & Crowder, 2008). In 2005, of found that in the majority of cases fathers and mothers are slain 14,680 total homicide victims, 123 were identified as mothers by sons. Nonetheless, the involvement of daughters in the kill- and 118 as fathers slain by their biological children, together ings of their parents is quite substantial. Using Supplementary representing less than 2% of all homicide victims and approximately 3% of homicides in which the victim-offender relationship was known (Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 1 Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 2005). Studies that have addressed this phenomenon outside Corresponding Author: the United States have concluded that parricide is also a rare Kathleen Heide, Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 event in other countries (Marleau, Millaud, & Auclair, 2003; E. Fowler Avenue, Social Sciences Room 107, Tampa, Florida 33620. Email: Millaud, Auclair, & Meunier, 1996). For example, parricide [email protected] 3s Downloaded from http://tva.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on April 7, 2010 4 TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE 11(1) TABLE 1. Number and Percent of Juvenile and Adult Matricide Offenders by Year (1976–1999), United States Male Female offenders Total offenders Male Female Total offenders Year offenders younger than younger than offenders older offenders older older than of younger than 18 years, 18 years, than 18 years, than 18 years, 18 years, offense 18 years, N (%) N (%) N (100%) N (100%) N (100%) N (100%) 1976 13 (93%)1(7%) 14 62 (84%) 12 (16%)74 1977 14 (78%) 4 (22%) 18 59 (81%) 14 (19%)73 1978 17 (94%)1(6%) 18 67 (90%) 7 (10%)74 1979 15 (79%) 4 (21%) 19 72 (86%) 12 (14%)84 1980 20 (91%)2(9%) 22 71 (89%) 9 (11%)80 1981 7 (88%) 1 (12%) 8 77 (90%) 9 (10%)86 1982 14 (93%)1(7%) 15 81 (84%) 16 (16%)97 1983 16 (80%) 4 (20%) 20 84 (84%) 16 (16%) 100 1984 13 (72%) 5 (28%) 18 84 (87%) 13 (13%)97 1985 12 (67%) 6 (33%) 18 81 (84%) 15 (16%)96 1986 14 (82%) 3 (18%) 17 70 (86%) 11 (14%)81 1987 13 (87%) 2 (13%) 15 73 (83%) 15 (17%)88 1988 18 (82%) 4 (18%) 22 76 (87%) 11 (13%)87 1989 16 (80%) 4 (20%) 20 76 (85%) 13 (15%)89 1990 11 (79%) 3 (21%) 14 60 (82%) 13 (18%)73 1991 15 (94%)1(6%) 16 90 (86%) 14 (14%) 104 1992 15 (75%) 5 (25%) 20 78 (84%) 15 (16%)93 1993 16 (76%) 5 (24%) 21 74 (80%) 18 (20%)92 1994 13 (72%) 5 (28%) 18 69 (82%) 15 (18%)84 1995 10 (59%) 7 (41%) 17 76 (84%) 14 (16%)90 1996 19 (79%) 5 (21%) 24 54 (77%) 16 (23%)70 1997 8 (89%) 1 (11%) 9 48 (79%) 13 (21%)61 1998 16 (76%) 5 (24%) 21 59 (83%) 12 (17%)71 1999 7 (64%) 4 (36%) 11 61 (79%) 16 (21%)77 Total (%) 332 (80%) 83 (20%) 415 (100%) 1702 (84%) 319 (16%) 2,021 (100%) Homicide Report (SHR), Heide and Petee (2007a) found that (Heide & Petee, 2007a), 17% of offenders arrested for killing from 1976 to 1999, 5,588 individuals were arrested in U.S. their mothers were younger than 18 years of age. incidents involving the killing of mothers (n ¼ 2,436) Using Heide and Petee’s data set (see, Heide & Petee, and fathers (n ¼ 3,122). Daughters were the killers in 16% of 2007a), the authors tabulated the number of sons and daughters the matricide incidents and 13% of the patricide incidents arrested for killing mothers from 1976 through 1999 by juve- over the 24-year-period. nile and adult status. As depicted in Table 1, the number of The involvement of females in parent killings appears to be adults arrested for killing mothers ranged from 61 to 104 and a relatively stable phenomenon. A similar analysis restricted to averaged 84 per year during this 24-year period. Adult daugh- single-victim, single-offender incidents involving parents slain ters were the killers in 16% of these cases overall; the number during the 10-year period 1977–1986 revealed the same level of mothers they killed per year ranged from 7 to 18 and of female involvement in the killings of fathers (13%) and averaged 13. slightly lower participation in the killing of mothers at 14% The number of mothers killed by male and female juveniles (Heide, 1993b). These analyses suggest that the involvement was substantially lower than their adult counterparts. The num- of females in killing parents is fairly comparable to their pro- ber of offenders younger than 18 years arrested for matricide portionate involvement in homicide arrests during this period ranged from 8 to 24 and averaged 17 per year. Girls younger (Heide & Petee, 2007a). than 18 years were the killers in 20% of the matricide incidents committed by juveniles; the number of mothers they killed ranged from 1 to 7 and averaged less than 4 per year. Youth Involvement in Parricide The overwhelming majority of individuals arrested for killing REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE parents in both of these U.S. studies were adults (Heide, Examining the professional literature on matricide with the aim 1993b; Heide & Petee, 2007a). In both periods, approximately of comparing the motivations of different offender types (male 25% of those arrested for killing fathers were younger than adults, male juveniles, female adults, and female juveniles) is a 18 years.