NCJ Number
204002
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2004 Pages: 150-154
Date Published
January 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study of victim-offender relationships in one of Florida's medical examiner districts examined the correlations between victim-offender relationship and three variables: motive, weapon choice, and number of injuries inflicted.
Abstract
The relationship categories used in this study were primary and secondary. Primary relationships consisted of intimates, relatives, and friends. Secondary relationships included acquaintances and strangers. The four motive categories were romantic dispute, argument/conflict, revenge, and felony type. Weapons were defined as firearm, contact (hands, feet, knives, bludgeons, etc.), or combination. Number of injuries inflicted was rated as either single or multiple. The location of injuries was also examined, being categorized as head/trunk, extremities, and breast/groin. The final sample consisted of 57 homicide cases. The findings show that romantic dispute and argument/conflict combined were the most frequent motives for homicide in primary relationships; whereas, felony type and revenge homicides occurred with greater frequency in secondary relationships; however, the study did not find any correlations between victim-offender relationship and either weapon choice or number of injuries inflicted. Firearm, either alone or in combination with another weapon, was the weapon of choice in 61.4 percent of the homicides in the study. Contact weapons were used over twice as often in secondary relationships than in primary relationships. Future research could examine additional factors that contribute to weapon choice and availability. 4 tables and 25 references