Marieke Liem

Homicide–suicide and other violent deaths: An international comparison

Homicides followed by the suicide of the perpetrator constitute a serious form of interpersonal violence. Until now no study has directly compared homicide-suicides to other violent deaths from multiple countries, allowing for a better understanding of the nature of these violent acts. Using country-specific data, this study describes and compares the incidence and patterns of homicide-suicide as well as the relationship between homicide-suicide, homicide, suicide and domestic homicide in the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. The results indicate that cross-nationally, homicide-suicides are more likely than other types of lethal violence to involve a female victim, multiple victims, take place in a residential setting and to be committed by a firearm. Although homicide-suicides display many similarities across the different countries, differences exist regarding age and the use of firearms in the offence. This study indicates that homicides followed by suicides differ from both homicides and suicides in similar ways internationally. Cross-national differences in the availability of firearms may explain the international variation of homicide-suicide rates and patterns.

Homicide in Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden First Findings From the European Homicide Monitor

Due to differences in definitions, data sources and criminal justice procedures, comparing homicides between countries is not without problems. To overcome these limitations, we have constructed a joint European Homicide Monitor (EHM). So far, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden constitute the basis of the database. In this contribution, we give an overview of this new data set. In doing so, we elaborate on methodological issues that arose when constructing this data set and discuss the feasibility of constructing an international and comparable homicide data set. Preliminary results show that the EHM as a joint database provides unique opportunities to closely monitor homicide across Europe.

Homicide Followed by Suicide: A Comparison with Homicide and Suicide

Homicide-suicides are a rare yet very serious form of lethal violence which mainly occurs in partnerships and families. The extent to which homicide-suicide can be understood as being primarily a homicide or a suicide event, or rather a category of its own is examined. In total, 103 homicide-suicides were compared to 3,203 homicides and 17,751 suicides. These are all events that took place in the Netherlands in the period 1992 to 2006. Logistic regression analyses show that homicide-suicides significantly differ from both homicides and suicides with regard to sociodemographic and event characteristics. The findings suggest that homicide-suicide might be considered as a distinct phenomenon from both homicide and suicide.

Patterns of Multiple Family Homicide

Previous research has treated multiple family homicide, or familicide, as a uniform event. We sought to explore whether subtypes of familicide could be discerned, making use of a decade of Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) coupled with newspaper articles. The resulting 238 cases were analyzed through a two-step cluster analysis, showing that the familicides can be subgrouped into four categories based on the perpetrator’s age, relationship between perpetrator and victims, and perpetrator’s suicide. The empirically grouped categories were labeled Despondent Husbands, Spousal Revenge, Extended Parricide, and Diffuse Conflict. Familicide is thus a heterogeneous phenomenon and must be viewed in unique terms to appropriately determine prevention strategies.

“Ex-Imprisoned Homicide Offenders: Once Bitten, Twice Shy?” The Effect of the Length of Imprisonment on Recidivism for Homicide Offenders

This study aims to examine recidivism patterns and the influence of imprisonment length for all homicide offenders who have been convicted in the Netherlands between 1996 and 2004. In addition, we tested whether imprisonment effects differed between homicide offenders with different characteristics. Analyses on 621 homicide offenders indicate that longer imprisonment systematically increases recidivism frequency, not recidivism speed. We find some indications that imprisonment length increases recidivism to a greater extent for offenders with an intimate partner, with a Western ethnic background and for offenders with a relatively shorter detention history prior to the homicide.

The Influence of criminal history on the likelihood of committing lethal versus nonlethal violence

This study focuses on the criminal history of serious violent offenders. Our aim is to determine: (a) to what extent the criminal history of lethally violent offenders differs from nonlethally violent offenders and (b) to what extent one’s criminal history influences the likelihood that violence ends lethally. We use criminal record data of offenders convicted of lethal violence (i.e., homicide offenders, N = 2,049) and offenders convicted of nonlethal violence (i.e., attempted homicide offenders, N = 3,387). The results suggest that nonlethally violent offenders have a more severe criminal history and that offender’s criminal history can be influential in predicting lethal versus nonlethal outcomes.

Homicide clearance in Western Europe

This study provides an overview of homicide clearance in four West European countries: Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Using data from the European Homicide Monitor, employing similar definitions and uniform coding schemes, this study allowed for unique cross-country comparisons in factors influencing differences in homicide clearance rates. Findings based on homicides occurring in the period 2009–14 revealed overall low homicide rates in all countries, with a wide variety in homicide clearance rates, ranging from 77 percent in the Netherlands to 98 percent in Finland. Results further showed that both event-based as well as victim-based characteristics significantly influenced the likelihood of homicide clearance, suggesting that homicide clearance rates can, for a large part, be attributed to the prevalent types of homicide in each of these European countries.

Book Review: Understanding sexual homicide offenders: An integrated approach

Scholarly work on sexual homicides is scarce, which is potentially attributable to its generally low occurrence. Because of the small N’s in this area of research, previous work has mostly taken a qualitative, anecdotal approach. Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan should be applauded for taking on the challenge of studying such a rare phenomenon, and to approach the topic with a quantitative focus. In addition to a quantitative approach, the book offers an integrated theoretical framework in an effort to explain these crimes. Chan’s Understanding Sexual Homicide Offenders: An Integrated Approach provides a solid introduction to the topic of sexual homicides and would be especially useful to graduate students and those new to this area. The book also highlights the significant limitations in studying sexual homicide. One of the most fundamental concerns is the problem of defining the phenomenon. Here, the book falters in that it misses an opportunity to more fully explore this issue that arguably is inherent to the study of sexual homicide. Considering how to define these crimes also would have benefited the discussion of the findings obtained and offered alternative explanations. Given my critique and the need for common definitions of sexual homicide, I will first discuss this issue before proceeding to my review. Sexual homicide constitutes a specific and rare type of lethal violence, but is also hidden in other categories, such as serial killing, intimate partner homicide, the killing of prostitutes, or child killing by non-family members. This is but one facet that highlights the complexity and heterogeneity of sexual homicide. Some cases may present an overtly sexual element, such as penetration or assault of sexual organs, whereas other cases may show no such evidence but still be motivated by sexual drives or conversely, may show sexual elements while a sexual motivation for the crime was lacking (Koenraadt, 2010). Another difficulty may arise when a sexual assault culminates in the victim’s death, purely because the offender wants to eliminate a potential witness and not because the offender gains any sexual arousal from the killing itself (Salfati, James, & Ferguson, 2008). A limitation of the author’s current book is that this heterogeneity is ignored. 643827 HSXXXX10.1177/1088767916643827Homicide StudiesBook Review book-review2016

Recidive van jongeren betrokken bij moord en doodslag

Serious offences against persons perpetrated by juveniles raise fundamental questions about the background, causes, and prevention of future crime. The current study addresses the potential of future crime of juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) in The Netherlands who were incarcerated in the period 1992-2007. In contrast to merely descriptive former research on recidivism of this offender group, we provide an explanation for why some of the juveniles relapse into crime, while others do not. To this end, associations are investigated between recidivism behavior and risk factors. Results indicate that male JHOs and JHOs who maintain relationships with delinquents run a greater risk to reoffend.