Archival Exploration of Homicide-Suicide and Mass Murder in the Context of 19th-Century American Parricides

• NCJ Number: 229446
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 54 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2010 Pages: 43-60
• Author(s): Phillip Chong Ho Shon; Michael A. Roberts
• Date Published: February 2010
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

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.

Abstract

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. (Publisher Abstract)