Psychosocial Sequelae of Homicide among Murder Victims’ Family Members

• In Event: Victimization

Abstract

The current investigation explored the psychological sequelae of homicide among murder victims’ family members (MVFM) and tested the adage that the death penalty facilitates closure for MVFM. This quasi-experiment consisted of a between-subjects cross-sectional design. The dependent variables (DV) included depressive, posttraumatic stress, and complicated grief symptomatology as well as self-reports of closure. The independent variable (IV) was the case disposition of the perpetrator. All participants (N = 92) were administered a structured interview and standardized psychodiagnostic measures by telephone. Of the total sample, 33% of the participants’ offenders were sentenced to LWOP, 25% to death, and 14% to a sentence less than LWOP (other disposition = 28%). Results indicated that participants were highly symptomatic, with particularly elevated rates of PTSD and Complicated Grief. Few MVFM endorsed closure regardless of penal sentence. Sentence of the offender was correlated with PTSD scores and was uncorrelated with scores of depression, complicated grief, or quality of life. The results suggest a conceptual distinction between these often conflated diagnoses for MVFM and impart empirical insight into the largely untested assumption that the DP serves a restorative, if not psychologically rehabilitative, function for survivors.

Authors

• Sarah L. Kopelovich, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

• L. Thomas Kucharski, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY