Untangling Familicide: A Comparison of Three Definitions - CANCELLED

• In Event: Violent Offender Research: Lethal and Non-Lethal Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Familicide is generally defined as the killing of multiple family members by a relative. However, there is no generally accepted definition of familicide, and different studies use varying definitions with different inclusion criteria. In some cases, very restrictive definitions are used that exclude many similar cases (i.e., father kills spouse and children). In contrast, broader definitions sometimes overlap with other phenomena, such as mass murder. Only a handful of studies have focused on this phenomenon, mainly from an exploratory perspective. This research aims to determine how the contextual characteristics of familicidal events vary depending on the definition of familicide, utilizing conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC) to compare three different definitions. CACC is a technique that looks at the composite profile of a particular unit of analysis and allows us to understand the complex causal relationships that occur when combinations of variables are present or absent when examining a particular outcome. CACC will be applied to a dataset of familicide cases compiled using the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), an online repository of shooting incidents in the United States. Results are presented, and future avenues for research will be discussed.

Author

• Lesley Vega, California State University, San Bernardino