Fatal child neglect in East Germany 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990. Results of a multicenter study

No reliable data are available on cases of lethal child neglect in the area of the former German Democratic Republic. In a multicenter study we therefore examined the police and court records for such cases occurring in the period 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990 in the entire area of the former German Democratic Republic. RESULTS: A total of 9 cases were reported to the study center. This does not include undetected cases, whose number, though indeterminate, is probably small due to the general obligation to perform autopsies on all children dying before their 16 birthday. Just over half of all victims were less than one year old, the oldest was 3 1/2 years old. Starvation and severe dehydration were by far the most common causes of death; in half of cases these occurred in combination with hypothermia. Most often mother killed their children by neglect, either alone or together with the victim's father. In the majority of cases no close bond existed between the parents and the child. Seventy percent of the perpetrators were chronic alcoholics. All 10 of the perpetrators were sentenced to imprisonment for periods ranging from one year to life long. Mitigating circumstances were presented at the sentencing phase of the trial on behalf of 20% of those convicted. The experience of legal medical and pathological institutes in the former German Democratic Republic underscores the need to perform an autopsy on all deceased infants and young children. Only this can ensure that no cases of lethal child neglect are overlooked.     

Fatal child neglect in West Germany 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990. Results of a multicenter study]

Up to now reliable data were available on cases of lethal child neglect in the area of the Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification (the former West Germany). In a multicenter study we therefore examined the police and court records for such cases occurring in the period from 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990 in nearly the entire area of Federal Republic of Germany. RESULTS: The study center received information on 19 cases of lethal child neglect. Extrapolated to all institutes of legal medicine, this corresponds to 20 cases and thus 3.5 cases a year in the whole of West Germany in the period studied. There is to be added a dark-field which cannot be limited more precisely. However, the cases of fatal child neglect might have occurred much more seldom than fatal child abuse caused by use of physical violence. Slightly more than half the victims were younger than 1 year, the oldest one was 7 10/12 years old. Most frequently the children died of starvation and thirst. Mostly the mothers/nursing mothers killed the child alone or together with the victim's father/stepfather. In the majority of the cases there was not a close affection between parents and child. Nearly 30% female/male perpetrators suffered from chronic alcohol abuse. Only 15 (= 56%) of 27 female/male perpetrators were sentenced to imprisonment (period between 7 months on probation and 10 years). Mitigation circumstances existed for nearly half the persons sentenced to imprisonment. It is true that child neglect is a rarer crime, but the experts of legal medicine always have to indicate errors made during the external inspection of the corpse (among others failures to see indications of neglect).     

Fatal child abuse (caused by physical violence) in Germany during 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990. Results of a multicenter study]

No reliable data are available on cases of lethal child abuse (by active force) in the area of Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification (the former West Germany). In a multicenter study we therefore examined the police and court records for such cases occurring in the period 1 January 1985 to 2 October 1990 in nearly the entire area of Federal Republic of Germany. RESULTS: The study center received information on 58 cases of lethal child abuse. Extrapolated to all institutes of legal medicine, this corresponds to 62 cases in all of West Germany in the period studied. An approximately equal number of unreported cases should be added to this figure. Including unreported cases, at least 20 cases of lethal child abuse occurred per year; thus only one in every two cases ever came to light. Almost two thirds of the victims were younger than one year old. At autopsy 59% exhibited signs of repeated abuse at autopsy. By far the most common cause of death was direct impact from a blunt object, usually to the head. Mostly, the male person to whom the victim relates most closely (father, stepfather, partner of the mother) has killed the child. Twenty-one of the 74 persons charged saw the charges against them dropped or were acquitted due to lack of evidence; 51 received sentences ranging from one year probation to life. In the remaining two cases the outcome of the trial was unknown. Signs of abuse were readily apparent at autopsy in almost all cases. The high number of unreported cases underscores the need to educate medical students and practicing physicians to be on the look-out for signs of abuse and argues for an increase in the rate of autopsy.     

Offender Characteristics and Behaviors in NonSexual Child Maltreatment

Data on 552 child maltreatment cases in South Korea involving convictions, including child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect, were analyzed in order to compare 259 offenses committed by male offenders with 293 offenses committed by female offenders. Relative to cases involving female offenders, male offenders both had a higher number of criminal convictions and were more likely to have previously abused their victims. By contrast, female offenders were more likely to have had financial difficulties, while their victims were significantly younger compared to male offenders. Male offenders were more likely to strike the victim, either manually or with an instrument, particularly a blunt instrument, whereas female offenders were more likely to pinch or bite their victims. The findings can aid social workers and medical personnel in recognizing the signs of child maltreatment and identifying at-risk children more effectively, helping to employ timely interventions and prevent the reoccurrence of child maltreatment.     

From Victim to Offender: Female Offenders of Child Sexual Abuse

Historically, women have been seen to have a much lower recorded rate of crime than men. In the area of child sexual abuse, women have figured prominently in official statistics as victims but have had virtually no official recognition as offenders. It is difficult for many people to accept that women do sexually abuse children and this can result in discounting by personnel in child protection services and police. This article discusses female offenders of child sexual abuse and the way in which these cases are processed by the criminal justice system.     

The violent female perpetrator and her victim

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between violent female offenders and their victims as well as the putative differences in the motives and specific psychological factors among three groups of female offenders: women who have victimised someone closely related to them, those who have victimised an acquaintance and lastly women who have victimised a stranger. More than half (N=61) of all violent female offenders hospitalised or incarcerated in Finland during the year of study were interviewed and assessed by Structured Clinical Interview II for DSM-IV (SCID-II) and Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). In 34% of the cases the victims were persons close to the offender, in 41% the victims were acquaintances and in 25% strangers. The victims in homicide offences were more often both male and closer to the perpetrator than in assault offences. Although motives were related to interpersonal problems, self-defence and long-term physical or psychological abuse were reported by only a few women, even for the small proportion of women whose victims were intimate partners. The most frequent reason for offences stemmed from confrontational situations in connection with alcohol use. Women who victimised acquaintances and strangers were also more likely to have a history of criminality and substance abuse than women who victimised those in close personal relationships. The latter were also more likely to have an antisocial personality disorder (PD) and psychopathic characteristics. There were, however, no significant differences found between those who had experienced physical or psychological abuse in childhood or adulthood and those who had no adverse experiences. These findings suggest that the violent behaviour by females leads more often to the death of the victim, when the victim is closely related to the perpetrator. The commonly-held view that violent female offending occurs primarily as a consequence of precipitation by the victim was not supported.     

Comparing male and female juveniles charged with homicide: child maltreatment, substance abuse, and crime details

This study examines a sample of 136 male and female juveniles charged with attempted homicide or homicide. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences between nondirect file male and female juvenile homicide offenders regarding individual, family, and crime circumstances. Findings suggest that compared to male juvenile offenders, female juvenile homicide offenders have higher rates of reported childhood abuse, more serious substance abuse, and mental health problems including suicidal ideations, depression, anxiety, anger, and irritability. Male juvenile homicide offenders reported higher rates of substance use than their female counterparts but the females had more serious substance abuse problems. Female juveniles were found to more often kill a person known to them and male homicide offenders were found to more often kill a stranger. These findings suggest strongly that male and female juvenile homicide offenders are dissimilar and require unique assessment and treatment.     

Inflammation in the lungs of infants dying suddenly. A comparative study from two countries

An investigation of lung tissue samples from sudden unexpected infant deaths from the German Democratic Republic (G.D.R.) (n = 106) and Finland (n = 94) shows the German material to contain 54 cases (51%) with advanced inflammatory changes allowing a definite pathologico-anatomical diagnosis and explanation for the death, whereas there were only 19 such cases (20%) in the Finnish material. Slight changes indicating an inflammatory process but not allowing a definite diagnosis ("borderline cases") were seen in one fifth of the cases in both countries. Thus a greater proportion of the child deaths below the age of 1 year in Finland are real cot deaths than in the G.D.R. where signs of respiratory infection can be found more often.     

“Undoing” (or Symbolic Reversal) at Homicide Crime Scenes

A closed case file review of a nonrandom national sample of 975 homicides disclosed 11 cases (1.13%) of undoing, wherein offenders engaged in crime scene behavior that has been considered an attempt to symbolically reverse the murder. The frequency of the various methods of undoing involved the use of blankets to cover the victim's body (55%), positioning the body (55%), use of a bed or couch (42%), washing the body (36%), using pillows (36%), as well as removing clothing and adding other types of adornments (27%). Ten of the 11 offenders were male, and one was female; all 12 victims were female. Ten of the 12 victims were family members or relationship intimates. These findings are consistent with prior reports which concluded that the motivation for undoing behavior is an attempt to compensate for guilt or remorse for having committed the homicide.     

Female Sex Offenders: A Controlled Comparison of Offender and Victim/Crime Characteristics

The current study was a chart review of 31 female sex offenders (FSO), 31 male sex offenders (MSO), 31 female violent offenders (FO), and 31 male violent offenders (MO) using a 2 (female or male) by 2 (sex or violent offender) design. This is the first known study to employ three control groups when researching female sex offenders. Multiple variables appeared related to gender and crime. However, some variables emerged as FSO specific. They reported the least alcohol abuse history and had fewer admissions of guilt to the crime than the two violent offender samples. More FSOs knew their victim and were biologically related to their victim than MSOs. Lastly, the FSO sample was the least discriminating as to their victim’s gender and had the highest overall rate of sexual victimization.     

Sexual and violent recidivism by offender type and actuarial risk: reoffending rates for rapists,child molesters and mixed-victim offenders

Abstract

The current study examines sexual and violent reoffence rates for a sample of 2474 sexual offenders over an average of 15 years following release from prison. Reoffence rates are reported as a function of the offenders' victim type and level of risk as assessed by the Automated Sexual Recidivism Scale, a computer scored measure of relevant historical risk factors. Observed sexual recidivism rates for offenders with child victims, adult victims, and mixed victims were quite similar. Results indicate that offenders with exclusively female child victims not only showed a lower rate of sexual reoffending, but that the reoffence rates were relatively low across all levels of actuarial risk. In contrast, those with male child victims and adult victims showed a pronounced escalation of reoffence rates as actuarial risk increased. Results also indicated that adult victim offenders are less consistent in the victim type of their reoffences, with 37% sexually reoffending against child victims. Finally, combined rates of sexual and violent reoffending were particularly high for those with adult victim sexual offence histories. Risk assessment and public policy implications are discussed.     

The use of pornography during the commission of sexual offenses

The goal of this study was to examine the use of pornographic materials by sex offenders during the commission of their crimes. A sample of 561 sex offenders was examined. There were 181 offenders against children, 144 offenders against adults, 223 incest offenders, 8 exhibitionists, and 5 miscellaneous cases. All but four cases were men. A total of 96 (17%) offenders had used pornography at the time of their offenses. More offenders against children than against adults used pornography in the offenses. Of the users, 55% showed pornographic materials to their victims and 36% took pictures, mostly of child victims. Nine cases were involved in the distribution of pornography. Results showed that pornography plays only a minor role in the commission of sexual offenses, however the current findings raise a major concern that pornography use in the commission of sexual crimes primarily involved child victims.     

FAMILY MATTERS: EFFECTS OF FAMILY MEMBERS’ RESIDENTIAL AREAS ON CRIME LOCATION CHOICE*

According to crime pattern theory, offenders are likely to select crime locations within their awareness space. Previous studies have shown that offenders often commit crimes within their current and former residential areas and in areas they previously targeted. However, offenders’ awareness spaces obviously consist of more locations that potentially influence their crime location choices. This study examines the importance of the residential areas of offenders’ family members. Most offenders visit their families at least occasionally and consequently get familiar with the areas in which their families live. It is hypothesized that family members’ residential areas are at increased risk of being targeted. Unique data were used to reconstruct residential histories of the parents, siblings, and children of 7,910 offenders who committed 19,420 offenses. The results of discrete spatial choice models showed that residential areas of family members are indeed at increased risk of being targeted. Current familial residential areas had stronger and more consistent effects than had former familial residential areas. Effects were strongest for the residential areas of offenders’ children compared with those of their parents and siblings. The residential areas of male and female family members affected the crime location choices of male and female offenders equally.     

Medico-Legal Evaluation of Adolescent Parricide Offenders: Thirty Nine Cases from Turkey

Parricide which is defined as the murder of one’s parents is a rare event. We describe a consecutive series of adolescent parricide offenders referred to the Council of Forensic Medicine for medico-legal evaluation. Majority of the adolescent parricide offenders were male with a frequency of 79.5%. Age of the offenders ranged from 12 to 18 years old with a median age of 15.13. The majority of the victims were the fathers of the offenders (27; 69.2%). Firearms and cutting devices were the most frequently used weapons. The history of abuse in the family as a motive for the murder was detected in 51.2% of the offenders. The major abuse type was physical abuse. There was no history of psychiatric disorders in the majority of the offenders (37; 94.9%). After the medico-legal evaluation of the adolescent parricide offenders in the Council of Forensic Medicine, psychiatric disorder was diagnosed only in 4 offenders. Schizophrenia was the final diagnosis in 3 cases and paranoid disorder (otherwise unclassified) in only 1 offender. Our study confirmed the frequency of mental illness among adolescent parricide offenders to be very low when compared to adult offenders. Adolescent parricide offenders differ from the other perpetrators particularly in terms of motives of the murder and psychiatric illnesses. Abuse in the family seems to play an important role in these murders. Therefore, it is extremely important that individuals in the legal, criminal justice, social work, psychology, educational and other professional communities be more conscious and informed of child maltreatment and family violence and more research is essential in understanding and preventing adolescent parricide offenders.     

Multiple homicides--forensic and criminologic aspects

The interpretation of medicolegal findings in homicide is an important tool of case profiling (so-called "operative case analysis"). In 17 cases of "multiple homicides" involving 22 offenders (21 males, 1 female; mean age 33 years) and 45 victims (21 males, 24 females; mean age 35 years; 41 fatalities, 4 survivors), the autopsy reports and the prosecution authorities' files were retrospectively analysed with regard to individual characteristics of perpetrators and victims, circumstances, and mode of commitment in order to comprehensively characterise relevant forensic and criminologic aspects. 31 victims were found to belong to the close social environment of the perpetrator, and 32 killings were committed in the victim's, perpetrator's or the joint flat. The main motives included greed (n = 7), personal conflicts (n = 5) and concealing of a crime (n = 9). The relevant injuries were attributable to gunshot wounds (n = 13), sharp force (n = 11), blunt force (n = 3), ligature strangulation (n = 3), smothering (n = 6), fire/carbon monoxide (n = 2) and combined impacts (n = 7). In 12 victims, defense injuries were found. The blood alcohol concentration exceeded 1.5 g/l in 5 victims. In 5 offenders, a psychiatric impairment of juridical responsibility was assessed (and 20 German criminal code, n = 1, psychosis; and 21 German criminal code, n = 4; acute alcohol intoxication). As far as data were available, 16 crimes were judged as murder, 12 as manslaughter and one as physical injury with fatal outcome.     

Homicide by sharp force in two Scandinavian capitals

In the Oslo and Copenhagen capital areas, 141 homicides by sharp force were committed in the ten-year period 1985-1994. This method accounted for 33% of the homicides in this period. Thirty-five percent of the victims were female, and most of the victims were between 20 and 50 years of age. The majority of the male victims were killed by an acquaintance, the females by their spouse. Sixty-five percent of the male and 37% of the female victims had alcohol in their blood. The majority of the female victims had lesions in 3-4 anatomical regions, while the males most often had lesions in only one anatomical region. Seventy-nine percent of the females and 36% of the males had self-defence injuries in the upper extremities. In 21 cases (15%) the offender was a woman, 19 of their victims being male; the weapon in these cases was most often a kitchen knife. Seventy-eight percent of the females and 49% of the males were killed in their own home. The most common circumstance was family row when the victim was female, while a fight was the most common circumstance when the victim was male. Three offenders committed suicide after having committed homicide(s) (seven victims; three offenders).     

Sex, race/ethnicity, and context in school-associated student homicides

This study assessed the importance of sex, race/ethnicity, and geographic context for incidents of school-associated student homicides between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 1999, covering 5 academic years. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention School Associated Violent Deaths Study (n = 125 incidents), we compared percentages and medians of victim, offender, motive, and school characteristics for incidents by geographic context and race/ethnicity of the offenders. Most incidents involved urban areas (53.6%), Black and Latino offenders and victims, moderately high youth poverty, and male on male violence (77.6%) driven by disputes and gang-related motives. Suburban area incidents (31.2%) often involved offenders and victims of a different race/ethnicity (51.3%). Multiple victims and White offenders were more common in rural areas (15.2%). More than 50% of the rural incidents involved male offenders and female victims. White offender incidents more often included multiple victims and female victims while Black and Latino offenders more often included single victims of the same sex. These results emphasize the utility of an incident-based analysis of school-associated student homicides in highlighting important variations by intersections of sex, race/ethnicity, and geographic context.