Psychosocial Sequelae Of Homicide Among Murder Victims' Family Members: An Appraisal Of Depression, Grief, And Posttraumatic Stress

PSYCHOSOCIAL SEQUELAE OF HOMICIDE AMONG MURDER VICTIMS’ FAMILY MEMBERS: AN APPRAISAL OF DEPRESSION, GRIEF, AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS by Sarah L. Kopelovich Adviser: Professor L. Thomas Kucharski The current investigation explored what is known regarding the psychological sequelae of the post-homicide experience for murder victims’ family members and friends (MVFM). Participants were also asked about whether they felt they had attained closure, a term which populates anecdotal and theoretical accounts of MVFM’s experience. Previous literature guided a theoretical definition of closure as a dimensional construct that represents adaptive functioning following a murder, and includes (1) absence of disabling symptomatology, (2) absence of ruminations about the event or murder victim, and (3) subjective return to baseline functioning. This quasi-experiment consisted of a between-subjects cross-sectional design. The dependent variable (DV) was the post-homicide psychological functioning of the participant, consisting of (1) depressive, posttraumatic stress, and complicated grief symptomatology as well as (2) selfreports of closure. The independent variable (IV) is the perpetrators’ case disposition. Participants (N = 92) were recruited via organizations that serve MVFM as well as a sample of MVFM selected from a random sample of death row inmates. All participants were administered a structured interview and standardized psychodiagnostic measures by telephone. Of the total sample, 33% of the participants’ offenders were sentenced to LWOP, 25% to death (25.0%), 14.1% to a sentence less than LWOP, and 2.2% were found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity. Twenty-three (25.0%) participants’ offenders did not qualify for a penal sentence, as the case