Mass Murder and Consecutive Suicide in Switzerland: A Comparative Analysis

Andrea Ilic, A. Frei
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引用次数: 6

Abstract

Mass murder, the killing of three people in a timely and locally narrowly defined space, is a rare event with extensive consequences on society. In many cases, mass murders end with the offender’s suicide. We identified 49 cases of mass murder in Switzerland that had occurred between the years 1972 and 2015. We were granted access to official files of 33 cases. The aim of our study was to identify distinct risk factors for mass murderers who had committed suicide after the crime (MMS) and those who had not (MM) by analyzing differences in sociodemographic, psychological, and criminological features. We identified 16 MMS and 17 MM. The majority of MMS was familicides. Their motive was mainly a perverted sense of loyalty, as opposed to that of MM revenge. The aggression of MMS would mostly be instrumental, the one of MM also reactive. Threats were highly prevalent in both groups, with a higher rate of specific threats in MMS and more generalized threats in MM. They did not differ in the prevalence of mental disorders or rate of prior suicidal ideation. Both type of offenders mainly used firearms. Military weapons were of no importance, contrary to their role with suicide in Switzerland. Mass murder in Switzerland is an extremely rare event that makes the drawing of general conclusions somewhat difficult and the establishing of new laws futile. Our conclusion that the aggression of MMS is premeditated, however, could be helpful with the assessment of future putative offenders.
瑞士的大屠杀与连续自杀:比较分析
大规模谋杀,即在一个及时的、当地狭窄的空间内杀害三人,是一种罕见的事件,对社会产生广泛的影响。在许多情况下,大规模谋杀以罪犯自杀告终。我们确定了1972年至2015年间发生在瑞士的49起大规模谋杀案件。我们获准查阅33起案件的官方档案。我们研究的目的是通过分析社会人口学、心理学和犯罪学特征的差异,确定大屠杀凶手在犯罪后自杀(MMS)和未自杀(MM)的不同危险因素。我们鉴定出16例MMS和17例MM。MMS中大多数是弑亲者。他们的动机主要是一种变态的忠诚感,而不是MM的复仇。MMS的侵略主要是工具性的,而MM的侵略也是反应性的。威胁在两组中都非常普遍,MMS组的特定威胁率更高,而MM组的一般威胁率更高。他们在精神障碍的患病率或先前自杀意念的发生率方面没有差异。这两种类型的罪犯都主要使用枪支。军事武器并不重要,这与它们在瑞士自杀方面的作用相反。在瑞士,大规模谋杀是一种极其罕见的事件,这使得得出一般性结论有些困难,制定新的法律也显得徒劳。然而,我们的结论是,MMS的攻击是有预谋的,这可能有助于评估未来的推定罪犯。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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