Parricide in England and Wales (1977–2012): An exploration of offenders, victims, incidents and outcomes

Abstract

The killing of one's parents is a neglected area in criminological scholarship, particularly in the UK, and this article presents the first national analysis of parricide in England and Wales. It draws on data from the Home Office Homicide Index to examine all recorded cases of parricide over a 36-year period and examines the characteristics of offenders, victims, incidents and court outcomes. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to two particular dominant theoretical ideas within the field: the role of mental illness in parricide, and the notion that there are distinct forms of violence against parents that can be organised along dimensions of chronological age (i.e. juvenile/adult offender) and whether the violence is fatal (i.e. parricide) or non-fatal. The article concludes with a discussion of its wider implications for future research.

The typology of parricide and the role of mental illness: Data‐driven approach

“…Most offenders in our sample were male, White, unmarried, and unemployed, a finding that is consistent with previous research (Baxter et al, 2001;Bourget et al, 2007;Fegadel & Heide, 2018). Similarly to previous findings, most offenders used blunt or sharp instrument as a method of homicide (Holt, 2017). A high prevalence of schizophrenia among the offenders was also found (Raymond et al, 2015).…”

“…A recent study by Holt (2017) presented the first national examination of parricide cases in England and Wales using data between 1977 and 2012. With a specific focus on the role that mental illness plays in parricide, the author concludes that one must be cautious about mental illness being an explanation for parricide (Holt, 2017).…”

“…A recent study by Holt (2017) presented the first national examination of parricide cases in England and Wales using data between 1977 and 2012. With a specific focus on the role that mental illness plays in parricide, the author concludes that one must be cautious about mental illness being an explanation for parricide (Holt, 2017). However, data analyzed in this study did not have a sufficient level of detail to explore the role of mental illness in depth; the proxy variable for mental illness was the notion of an "irrational act" with no analysis by diagnosis.…”

“…Parricide is defined as the killing of a parent by their child (Hillbrand, Alexandre, Young, & Spitz, 1999). Parricide accounts for 2–4% of all homicides worldwide (Holt, 2017; Sahin et al, 2016). Previous studies have identified the characteristics of victims and offenders, as well as the circumstances of the offense.…”

Domestic Homicide of Older People (2010–15): A Comparative Analysis of Intimate-Partner Homicide and Parricide Cases in the UK

“…In a recent analysis of 30 years of parricide data (n=693 cases), Holt (2017) reports that the mean age across male and female victim parricides was 60.5, although on average women were older than men. Across the 693 cases there was an even distribution of male/female victims, however Holt (2017) reports that this does not hold across the lifecycle; most men are killed by their son/daughter in their 50s whereas more women were killed in their 70s.…”