Murder–suicide

(Redirected from Murder/suicide) Committing murder and suicide

Suicide
Social aspects ACEs Altruistic Bullying Copycat Dysfunctional family Emotional isolation Epidemic Identity performance Legislation Philosophy Religious views Right to die School bullying Shame Social alienation Social exclusion Social isolation Social rejection Social media and suicide Social rejection Social support Toxic workplace Voluntary euthanasia Workplace bullying
Crisis Assessment of risk Crisis hotline (list) Intervention Prevention Suicide attempt Suicide watch
Types and methods Assisted Bullying and suicide (list) Cop Copycat Familicide Forced Hanging Honor Jauhar Jumping Mass Murder–suicide Pact Internet Pilot Prayopavesa Prisoner suicide Rail Sallekhana Sati Self-sacrifice Senicide Seppuku Sokushinbutsu Suicide attack Vatakkiruttal
Epidemiology Gender differences LGBT-related suicides Methods Rate by country Seasonal effects Suicidal person Youth suicide among LGBTQ people
History List of suicides Suicide in antiquity List of suicides in the 21st century
In warfare Banzai charge Kamikaze Suicide mission
Related phenomena Anguish Alcoholism Anhedonia Animal loss Anxiety disorder Asperger syndrome Autism spectrum Biology of depression Epigenetics of depression Causes of mental disorders Chronic condition Chronic pain Coping Coping planning Depression (mood) Diseases of despair Diseases of poverty Echo chamber Existential crisis Financial crisis Grief suicide bereavement Ideation Interpersonal relationships Locations Major depressive disorder Mental disorder Mental health first aid Neurodevelopmental disorder Non-suicidal self-injury Perfectionism Personal finance Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Poverty Psychological stress Psychological trauma Schizophrenia Self-harm Self-hatred Substance abuse Suffering Suicidal ambivalence Suicide and the Internet Suicide and trauma Suicide awareness Suicide in colleges in the United States Suicide in music subcultures Suicide note Suicide survivor Suicide terminology Suicide tourism Suicidology Warning signs of suicide
By country Rate by country Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Cameroon Canada China France Greenland India Iran Ireland Japan Lithuania Nepal Pakistan Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom United States
Organizations Compassion & Choices Death with Dignity National Center Dignitas Exit International Final Exit Network Hemlock Society
v t e

Homicide
Part of a series on
Murder
Note: Varies by jurisdiction Assassination Attempted murder Child murder Consensual homicide Contract killing Crime of passion Depraved-heart murder Felony murder rule Foeticide Honor killing Human cannibalism Child cannibalism Human sacrifice Child sacrifice Internet homicide Lonely hearts killer Lust murder Lynching Mass murder Mass shooting Mass stabbing Misdemeanor murder Murder for body parts Murder–suicide Poisoning Proxy murder Pseudocommando Serial killer Angel of mercy Spree killer Thrill killing Torture murder Vehicle-ramming attack Wrongful execution Judicial murder
Manslaughter
In English law Voluntary manslaughter Negligent homicide Vehicular homicide
Non-criminal homicide
Note: Varies by jurisdiction War Assisted suicide Capital punishment Euthanasia Foeticide Justifiable homicide "License to kill"
Family
Avunculicide/Nepoticide Familicide Mariticide Uxoricide Prolicide Filicide Infanticide Neonaticide Siblicide Fratricide Sororicide Parricide Matricide Patricide Senicide
Other
Crucifixion Deicide Democide Friendly fire Gendercide Femicide Androcide Genocide Omnicide Regicide Stoning Suspicious death Tyrannicide War crime
v t e

A murder–suicide is an act where an individual intentionally kills one or more people before killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms:

Suicide after or during murder inflicted on others
- Suicide after murder to escape criminal punishment(s)
- Suicide after murder as a form of self-punishment due to guilt
Murder that entails suicide, such as suicide bombing
- Suicide by pilot, or the deliberate crash of a vehicle carrying the perpetrator and others
Murder of an officer or bystander during the act of suicide by cop
Suicide before or after murder by proxy
Murder linked with a person with suicidal ideation
- Joint suicide in the form of killing the other with consent, and then killing oneself

Suicide-lawful killing has three conceivable forms:

To kill one's assailant through proportionate self-defense, killing oneself in the process
Lawful killing to prevent an individual from causing harm to others, in so doing killing oneself
Lawful killing indirectly resulting in or contributing to suicide

Many spree killings have ended in suicide, such as in several school shootings. Some cases of religiously motivated suicides may also involve murder. All categorization amounts to forming somewhat arbitrary distinctions where relating to intention in the case of psychosis, where the intention(s) is/are more likely than not to be irrational. Ascertaining the legal intention (mens rea) is inapplicable to cases properly categorized as insanity.

Some use the term murder–suicide to refer to homicide–suicide, which can include manslaughter and is therefore more encompassing.

According to an analysis of the London Times' reports of murder (1887-1990) by Danson and Soothill (1996), there is a much higher proportion of British male murder-suicides, in general, than female. Overwhelmingly the women committing murder-suicide tend to kill their children and then themselves. Men, on the other hand, tend to kill their spouses or partners and then themselves.

Theories

According to psychiatrist Karl A. Menninger, murder and suicide are interchangeable acts – suicide sometimes forestalling murder, and vice versa. Following Freudian logic, severe repression of natural instincts due to early childhood abuse may lead the death instinct to emerge in a twisted form. The cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker, whose theories on the human notion of death are strongly influenced by Freud, views the fear of death as a universal phenomenon, a fear repressed in the unconscious and of which people are largely unaware.

This fear can move individuals toward heroism, but also to scapegoating. Failed attempts to achieve heroism, according to this view, can lead to mental illness and/or antisocial behavior.

In a study specifically related to murder–suicide, Milton Rosenbaum (1990) discovered the murder–suicide perpetrators to be vastly different from perpetrators of homicide alone. Whereas murderer–suicides were found to be highly depressed and overwhelmingly men, other murderers were not generally depressed and more likely to include women in their ranks. In the U.S. the overwhelming number of cases are male-on-female. Around one-third of partner homicides end in the suicide of the perpetrator. From national and international data and interviews with family members of murder–suicide perpetrators, the following are the key predictors of murder–suicide: a history of substance abuse, the male partner some years older than the female partner, a break-up or pending break-up, a history of battering, and suicidal contemplation by the perpetrator.

Though there is no national tracking system for murder–suicides in the United States, medical studies into the phenomenon estimate between 1,000 and 1,500 deaths per year in the US, with the majority occurring between spouses or intimate partners and the vast majority of the perpetrators being male. Depression, marital or/and financial problems, and other problems are generally motivators.

Homicides which are later followed by suicide often make headline news; national statistics indicate 5% of all homicidal deaths are caused by murder–suicides. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control reports that an estimated 1 million adults reported attempting suicide in 2011, and there were over 38,000 completed suicides in the same period. The estimate of 624 murder–suicide events per year indicates that around 1.6% of suicides involve murder.

In 18th-century Denmark, people wishing to die by suicide would sometimes commit murder in order to receive the death penalty. They believed murder followed by repentance would allow them to end their life while avoiding damnation.

References

Liem, Marieke (2010-05-01). "Homicide followed by suicide: A review". Aggression and Violent Behavior. 15 (3): 153–161. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2009.10.001. ISSN 1359-1789.
"Psychology of Murder Suicide". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
"Karl Menninger quote".
^ Van Wormer, K.; Odiah, C. (1999). "The psychology of suicide-murder and the death penalty". Journal of Criminal Justice. 27 (4): 361–370. doi:10.1016/S0047-2352(99)00008-2.
Warren-Gordon, K.; Byers, B. D.; Brodt, S. J.; Wartak, M.; Biskupski, B. (2010). "Murder Followed by Suicide: A Newspaper Surveillance Study Using the New York Times Index". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 55 (6): 1592–1597. doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01473.x. PMID 20533976. S2CID 205769141.
"American Roulette: Murder–Suicide in the United States. Violence Policy Center" (PDF).
"CDC Suicide, Facts At A Glance, 2012" (PDF).
"National Vital Statistics Reports Volume 61, Number 6 October 10, 2012" (PDF).
"Violence Policy Center, American Roulette, Murder-Suicide in The United States, Fourth Edition" (PDF).
^ Ebdrup, Niels (March 31, 2012). "Kill to be killed in 18th century Denmark". ScienceNordic. Past Horizons. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved April 1, 2012.

v t e Suicide
Suicide crisis	Assessment of suicide risk Crisis hotline list Suicidal ideation Suicide intervention Suicidology Suicide prevention Suicide watch Warning signs
Social aspects	Advocacy Altruistic Awareness Interpersonal theory Legislation Philosophy of suicide Religious views Euthanasia Right to die Social media and suicide Suicide survivor bereavement Literature Terminology Suicide and the Internet
Suicide types	Assisted suicide list Bullying and suicide list Charcoal-burning Copycat Epidemic Familicide Forced Gunshot Hanging Honor Immolation Jumping from height locations Mass Murder–suicide Vatakkiruttal Seppuku Sokushinbutsu Sallekhana Sati Prayopavesa By train London Underground Self-sacrifice Banzai charge Kamikaze Senicide Suicide attack By cop By pilot Pact Suicide pill Vehicular
Epidemiology	Sex differences List of countries by suicide rate Antidepressants and suicide risk
History	Suicide in antiquity List of suicides heads of state and government in the 21st century
Related	Animal suicide Caring letters Suicide attempt Consensual homicide Self-harm Suicide methods Suicide note Last words Tourism Suicide prevention contract
By subculture	Doctors LGBTQ people list Mormon Military Music subcultures Prisoners Youth
By country	Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Belarus Bhutan Cameroon Canada China France Denmark Greenland Greece Guyana Hong Kong student India youth farmers Iran Ireland Japan Kazakhstan Lithuania Mexico Mozambique Nepal Nigeria Pakistan Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea LGBT youth Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom Assisted suicide United States Assisted suicide college farmers military veteran Native American teenage Uruguay

Misplaced Pages

Theories

See also

References

Further reading