This paper describes murder-suicide in the United States from 1990 through 1995, using the cases reported in six major newspapers. Spousal murder-suicide was the predominant type with a range of 42%-57%; familicide-suicide was the second predominant type with a range of 22%-47%. The perpetrators were predominantly males; the victims were female sexual partners or consanguineous relatives. Firea...

There are two groups of offences in this country in which the police have normally sought the help of the medical profession, namely, the various crimes involving violence-such as murder, attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, and the likeand the whole range of sexual offences. Since the establishment during the last decade of government-sponsored forensic science laboratories, help from these...

We draw on variations in the reach of capital punishment statutes between 1977 and 2004 to identify the deterrent effects associated with capital eligibility. Focusing on the most prevalent eligibility expansion, we estimate that the adoption of a child murder factor is associated with an approximately 20% reduction in the child murder rate. Eligibility expansions may enhance deterrence by (i) ...

This paper describes the experiences of a sociologist as a mitigation expert during the "typical" first degree murder case, from indictment through the penalty phase of the trial. The author, who has worked in death penalty cases (capital murder) since 1988, has served as a mitigation expert in over 40 such cases. Topics covered include: working with a death penalty mitigation team and what to ...

The current study is a partial replication of previous studies designed to estimate the level of risk posed by capital murder defendants. The study draws on data describing the behavior of nearly 2,000 incarcerated capital murderers to forecast violence propensity among defendants sentenced to life imprisonment. Logistic regression is used to model various violence outcomes, relying on the foll...

Doctors who hasten the termination of the lives of their patients by withholding or withdrawing treatment or prescribing a potentially fatal palliative dose of medication satisfy the elements of intention and causation of a charge of murder against them. However, the courts have held that, for policy reasons based on 'society's legal convictions', such conduct is not unlawful if the patient con...