YOUTHFUL MURDERERS - A STUDY BASED ON 80 COMPLETED OR ATTEMPTED KILLINGS COMMITTED BY JUVENILES AND YOUNG ADULTS - WEST GERMANY

• NCJ Number: 67344
• Author(s): R LEMPP
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 227 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: German
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

WEST GERMAN COURT RECORDS OF YOUTHFUL MURDERERS ARE ANALYZED, AND THE CHARACTER AND SOCIAL BACKROUND OF THE TYPICAL JUVENILE KILLER ARE DETERMINED.

Abstract

THE STUDY IS BASED ON THE RECORDS OF 80 JUVENILES AND YOUNG ADULTS WHO HAD BEEN CONVICTED FOR ATTEMPTING OR COMMITTING HOMICIDE (INCLUDING MURDER IN A BROAD SENSE AND MANSLAUGHTER) AND SUPPLEMENTED BY THE RECORDS OF 44 MURDERERS CONVICTED IN A STUTTGART COURT DISTRICT FROM 1961 TO 1971. THE STUDY FOCUSES NOT ONLY ON THE OFFENDERS' SOCIETY BACKROUND BUT ALSO ON RECONSTRUCTING THEIR STATE OF MIND AND THE CHAIN OF EVENTS CULMINATING IN THE MURDER. THE GOAL IS TO DETERMINE WHY THE OFFENDER CHOSE HIS COURSE OF ACTION RATHER THAN A DIFFERENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR. RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE CLASSICAL, COLD-BLOODED MURDER IS EXTREMELY RARE AMONG JUVENILE OFFENDERS (ACCOUNTING FOR ONLY 5 PERCENT OF THE STUDY GROUP). INSTEAD MOST KILLINGS RESULTED FROM ACCIDENTS IN HUMAN RELATIONS; THEY DEVELOPED FROM A UNIQUE AND COMPLICATED CONSTELLATION OF FACTORS WHICH WERE AS MUCH IN THE OFFENDER'S PERSONALITY AS IN THE OUTSIDE CIRCUMSTANCES. IN THREE-QUARTERS OF THE OFFENSES, THE SLAYING HAD NOT BEEN PART OF THE ORIGINAL PLAN BUT WAS A PANIC REACTION SUBSEQUENT TO A SEXUAL ASSAULT OR A ROBBERY. NEXT TO THE SEXUAL ASSAULT RESULTING IN MURDER, PATRICIDE IS THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC FORM OF JUVENILE MURDER, BUT WITH A STRANGE DISCREPANCY. WHILE THE JUVENILES INSISTED THAT THEY HAD INTENDED TO KILL THE FATHER, A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE OFFENSE SHOWS THAT THEY MERELY INTENDED TO HURT, WEAKEN, OR HUMILIATE HIM. MOST OF THE OFFENDERS HAD A TROUBLED FAMILY BACKGROUND IN THE LOWER-CLASS OR LOWER MIDDLE-CLASS; MORE THAN HALF HAD PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS FOR MINOR OFFENSES. IN GENERAL, MANY NONOFFENDERS MIGHT HAVE ACTED AS THE JUVENILES DID IF PLACED IN A SIMILAR SITUATION. MOREOVER, JUVENILE KILLERS DIFFER FROM OTHER OFFENDERS NOT IN ANY ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTIC BUT MERELY IN THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE OFFENSE. THE STUDY CONTAINS AN INDEX, STATISTICAL CHARTS, AND A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY. --IN GERMAN. (SAJ)