Publications

Self-destruction

Published in:
Killing the beloved : homicide between adult sexual intimates
Patricia Weiser Easteal
ISBN 0 642 19305 3
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1993
(Australian studies in law, crime and justice)

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Abstract

Statistics indicate that there is a comparatively high frequency of suicide after the killing of a sexual intimate than occurs in other homicides. This chapter examines a range of factors to try to determine if domestic killings which are followed by the offenders' suicide are sufficiently distinct from the others of that genre to merit a different homicide prevention strategy. It presents statistics and case histories on jurisdiction, gender, number of victims, Aboriginality, overseas birth, age of offenders, employment, physical battering prehistory, alcohol abuse, separation and cohabitation patterns, weapons used and contributing factors in the homicide.