U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Towards a Typology of Homicides on the Basis of Personality

NCJ Number
138501
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1992) Pages: 361-371
Author(s)
M Biro; N Vuckovic; V Djuric
Date Published
1992
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A standardized interview, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and Situation-Reaction (S-R) scales were used to examine 112 males convicted of homicide, imprisoned in a penitentiary.
Abstract
The subjects were classified into four groups on the basis of uniform MMPI profiles: psychoses, hypersensitive-aggressive personalities, psychopaths, and "normal" subjects. Within the normal group, a subgroup of "overcontrolled" persons could be differentiated. Factor analysis was conducted using the personality variables and others that relate to criminality. Six factors were interpretable, and each described more closely the types suggested. A discriminant function analysis yielded results that were slight modifications of the factor analysis. The fact that 72 percent of cases classified on the MMPI profile fitted well into the hypothetical classification performed using the multivariate procedure provides proof that the typology has a solid base. 4 figures, 1 table, and 6 references