Homicide-suicide in police families: an analysis of cases from 2007-2014
| Published date | 11 May 2015 |
| Pages | 101-116 |
| Date | 11 May 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-07-2014-0019 |
| Author | Vera A. Klinoff,Vincent B. Van Hasselt,Ryan A. Black |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Forensic practice |
Invited paper
Homicide-suicide in police families:
an analysis of cases from 2007-2014
Vera A. Klinoff, Vincent B. Van Hasselt and Ryan A. Black
Vera A. Klinoff is a Doctoral
Candidate, Dr Vincent B.
Van Hasselt is Professor and
Dr Ryan A. Black is Assistant
Professor, all at Center for
Psychological Studies, Nova
Southeastern University, Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
Abstract
Purpose –There is a burgeoning body of evidence showing that police officers are at a higher risk of
committing homicide-suicide than civilian counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to provide an update
and expansion of previous work by Violanti (2007) on homicide-suicide in law enforcement families.
Design/methodology/approach –Police-perpetrated homicide-suicide cases were obtained through an
online forum dedicated to topics related to domestic violence in police families. A total of 43 police-
perpetrated homicide-suicides was identified and reviewed for presence/absence of variables similar to those
examined by Violanti (2007), with the addition of new factors. χ
2
analyses were performed to test for inter-
study differences in proportions on variables of interest.
Findings –Results indicated a significantly smaller proportion of homicide-suicide incidents perpetrated by
State officers. The remainder of the variable frequencies remained relatively consistent between studies. Of
particular importance, domestic violence and divorce/estrangement were salient precursors in these cases.
Research limitations/implications –Data were obtained from an online forum and media publications,
which may not be regulated for accuracy and may contain biased data.
Practical implications –The current results, combined with the prior research, underscore the need for
prevention programs and departmental policies that: increase the accessibility of mental health services,
increase the availability of services for victims of police-involved intimate partner violence, and stress the
enforcement of current domestic violence laws.
Social implications –Results indicate that domestic violence is still a significant problem in law enforcement
personnel, with the potential for lethal consequences.
Originality/value –To the authors knowledge, this is only the second study involving a formal analysis of
police-involved homicide-suicide cases.
Keywords Domestic violence, Intimate partner violence, Homicide-suicide, Murder-suicide,
Police mental health, Police suicide
Paper type Research paper
Homicide-suicide is a category of interpersonal violence, whereby a person commits suicide after
perpetrating a homicide of one or more persons (Barraclough and Harris, 2002). The estimated
prevalence of homicide-suicide in the USA is between 1,000 and 1,500 per year, comprising
5 percent of all homicides committed. (Violence Policy Center, 2008). However, statistics
regarding this event are difficult to establish and are likely underreported, as they are often
classified as homicide or suicide alone by many police departments (Palermo, 2009).
To date, no tracking systems exist that document the number of homicide-suicide-related
deaths in the USA or abroad. Although The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)
has initiated efforts to collect data on homicide-suicide nationwide, it currently obtains
information only from 18 participating states, limiting generalizability. According to the Violence
Policy Center (2008), at least ten homicide-suicide incidents occur in the USA per week.
Received 22 July 2014
Revised 14 November 2014
Accepted 15 November 2014
DOI 10.1108/JFP-07-2014-0019 VOL. 17 NO. 2 2015, pp. 101-116, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8794
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Although their incidence is low relative to other violent acts, such as homicides and/or suicides,
homicide-suicides are considered a public health concern, as they typically involve more
than one member of a family and usually leave children parentless; in some cases, children
have been targeted as well (Adinkrah, 2003; Violence Policy Center, 2012). Consequently, further
investigation in this area is warranted to determine antecedents and risk factors, and identify
heuristic prevention strategies.
Background: homicide-suicide
The majority of homicide-suicides fall into one of two categories: ill-health, hopelessness, and old
age, where a caretaker/spouse (usually a male perpetrator) kills his ailing loved one and then
commits suicide (Bourget et al., 2010; Cohen, 2003); or violence stemming from an intimate
relationshipwhere the perpetrator killsa recently estranged romanticpartner (Bossarte et al.,2006;
Eliason, 2009; Felthous and Hempel, 1995; Malphurs and Llorente, 2006; Marzuk et al., 1992).
Along these lines, a significant number of homicide-suicides have been initiated by an episode of
“rage, jealousy or paranoia,”triggered by real or perceived termination of the relationship (Brett,
2002, p. 15). Further,perpetrators who commit homicide-suicide have often been found to havea
preoccupationwith power and control overtheir intimate partners,along with significant dependent
tendencies and personality characteristics (Liem et al., 2009; Liem and Roberts, 2009).
Firearms are by far the most common weapons of choice in these incidents (Allen, 1983; Flynn
et al., 2009;Large et al., 2009). For example, Bossarteet al. (2006) found that firearms were usedin
82.7 percent of homicides and 80.4 percent of suicides in the 209 homicide-suicide cases they
examined. Also, homicide-suicides are usually perpetrated by older Caucasian males (Malphurs
and Llorente, 2006; Marzuk et al., 1992) with a history of major depression (Bourget et al.,2000;
Eliason, 2009;Liem et al., 2009; Rosembaum, 1990),and no arrest history (Berman, 1979;Palmer
and Humphrey, 1980). The victim is typically the offender’s wife or romantic partner, generally
youngerthan the perpetrator, and of Caucasiandescent (Byard et al., 2010; ViolencePolicy Center,
2012; Eliason,2009). The incident is generallycommitted in the context of intimatepartner violence
(IPV) (Harper and Voigt, 2007) in the home (Eliason, 2009; Felthous and Hempel, 1995; Malphurs
and Llorente, 2006; Marzuk et al., 1992; Palermo, 2010). Indeed, IPV has been identified as the
most salient precursor to homicide-suicide (Eliason, 2009; Violence Policy Center, 2008).
Homicide-suicides in law enforcement
It has been proposed that law enforcement officers are at a higher risk of committing
homicide-suicide than their civilian counterparts, due to a number of job-related risk factors, such
as “aggression, domestic violence, violence exposure, the availability of lethal weaponry, and
work-related attributes”(Violanti, 2007, p. 97). First, police officers have constant access to
their service-issued firearm, which, as mentioned above, is the most common method of
homicide-suicide perpetration in the USA (Allen, 1983; Flynn et al., 2009; Large et al., 2009).
Second, police officers exhibit higher rates of mental health and relationship problems, including
IPV (Anderson et al., 2011; Griffin and Bernard, 2003; Johnson et al., 2005), substance abuse
(Davey et al., 2000; Leenaars, 2010; McNeill, 1996; Violanti, 2003), post-traumatic stress
disorder (Carlier et al., 2000; West et al., 2008), job-related stress (Band and Sheehan, 1999;
Collins and Gibbs, 2003; Janik and Kravitz, 1994; Sheehan and Van Hasselt, 2003), and
depression (Chen et al., 2006) than the general population. Although findings regarding police
suicide rates are contradictory, many studies have found law enforcement levels to surpass
civilian counterparts (Charbonneau, 2000; Gershon et al., 2002; O’Hara and Violanti, 2009;
Slovenko, 1999; Smchmidtke et al., 1999; Violanti et al., 1996, 1998). Furher, there is evidence
that smaller police agencies have even higher suicide rates than large departments due to the
increased workload and lack of mental health resources (Violanti et al., 2012).
Moreover, earlier studies (Johnson, 1991; Neidig et al., 1992) found that 40 percent of police families
had experienced some form of IPV (e.g. verbal abuse and/or physical assault), also referred to as
officer involved domestic violence (OIDV). This rate is substantially higher than those found in civilian
samples (Johnson, 1991) which range from 10 (Straus and Gelles, 1990) to 16 percent (Johnson,
1991). However, this investigation by Johnson (1991) was conducted prior to the Lautenberg
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