Child Maltreatment and Parricide: A Clinician's View

• NCJ Number: 140511
• Author(s): K M Heide
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 42 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the 44th annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology held in New Orleans, La., in November 1992.

Annotation

This study examines the relationship between child maltreatment and parricide committed by adolescents.

Abstract

The author discusses four types of child maltreatment (physical, sexual, verbal, and psychological abuse) and four types of neglect (physical, medical, and emotional neglect and emotional incest) often found in adolescent parricide cases. The concepts are illustrated with cases of adolescent parricide offenders examined by the author. An examination of 10 other studies of adolescent parricide offenders published prior to the author's study indicates that various forms of child abuse and neglect were present in these cases. These studies thus agree that child maltreatment is important to understanding adolescent parricide. Two other findings are also noteworthy. Evidence of covert sexual abuse and emotional incest was present in 10 and 8 studies, respectively. These findings indicate the need for education about the parameters of abuse and neglect. Parents who are informed about good parenting are less likely to abuse or neglect their children, because much child maltreatment is due to ignorance about effective parenting. 1 table and 51 references