Parricide cases of adult offenders from Turkey: A descriptive study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine and compare similarities and differences among types of parricide committed by adult offenders. The forensic psychiatric evaluation reports of the 4th Specialization Board of the Council of Forensic Medicine from 2009 to 2011 in Turkey were screened retrospectively. One hundred thirty-five adult perpetrators of parricide (125 male, 10 female) were detected, 51.9% of whom committed patricide, 40% of whom matricide and 8.1% of the perpetrators committed double parricide. Most of the perpetrators used sharp instruments as the killing method. No mental disorders were detected in 58.5% of the perpetrators, while psychotic disorders were identified in 30.4% of the cases. This study supported the predominance of sharp instruments as the killing method and a preponderance of matricide among the offenders with psychotic disorders. Although psychotic disorders were the most commonly detected mental disorders in the parricide offenders, most of them did not suffer from mental disorders.

Keywords: Criminal responsibility; Matricide; Mental disorders; Parricide; Patricide.