Juvenile homicide: Prior adjustment and a proposed typology.

Abstract

Studies of juvenile homicide have been limited to small samples and have arrived at widely varying clinical formulations. The present study of 72 juvenile murderers uses a three-group typology based on the circumstances of the offense. Group differences in prior adjustment suggest distinct developmental pathways to adolescent violence. Implications for research and for legal decision-making are discussed.

Adolescent homicides in Finland: Offence and offender characteristics

“…The present results support partly the long-standing understanding that a large proportion of adolescent homicide offenders share a constellation of psychological, cognitive, educational and family system disturbance [9,17,27,28,36]. However, the present results suggest that this conception cannot be generalised to all homicidal adolescents.…”

“…This difference with regard to previous studies is probably partly due to the differences in data gathering: the present sample was not collected within the clinical context. Also, previous studies have been criticised for the general lack of control groups, confounding factors, small samples and dependence on retrospective self-reports of prior abuse [36,37,38]. However, it should be noted that the absence of physical abuse history in the present study does not exclude possible mental abuse or cruelty.…”

Who's in, who's out, and who's back: follow‐up data on 59 juveniles incarcerated in adult prison for murder or attempted murder in the early 1980s

“…Empirical studies of adolescent murderers, although few in number, have examined differences between juvenile murderers and other types of juvenile offenders (Lewis, Shanok, Grant, & Ritvo, 1983;Lewis, et al, 1985Lewis, et al, , 1988aLewis, et al, , 1988bSanttila & Haaspasalo, 1997;Zagar, Arbit, Sylvies, Busch, & Hughes, 1990). In addition, they have addressed distinguishing characteristics among types of youth who commit murder (Corder, Ball, Haizlip, Rollins, & Beaumont, 1976;Cornell, 1990;Cornell Benedek, & Benedek 1987;Cornell, Benedek, & Benedek, 1989;Cornell, Miller, & Benedek, 1988;Greco & Cornell, 1992;Heide, 1992;Heide, 1999;Myers, Scott, Burgess, & Burgess, 1995).…”

Psychopathy and behavioral correlates of victim injury in serious juvenile offenders

“…Despite this attention, few studies have systematically studied level of victim injury caused by juvenile offenders. The few studies that have been completed have largely been confined to perpetrators of homicide [Cornell et al, 1987a;Loeber et al, 2005a,b] and sexual assault [Brecklin and Ullman, 2002;Stermac et al, 2001]. This paper aims to improve the understanding of factors related to adolescents whose aggression produces high levels of victim injury by systematically studying how theories of juvenile violence relate to victim injury.…”