Familial and Other Relationships in Criminal Homicide in North Carolina

Abstract

Analyses of 985 criminal homicide offenders and their victims in North Carolina are presented. Typical patterns of intrafamilial homicide are compared with extrafamilial killings. The most usual victims of intrafamilial murder and their offenders are identified, and the relationships between offenders and victims are analyzed by age, sex, and race. Data were obtained from two main sources: the North Carolina Department of Corrections' files on all first and second degree homicide and first degree manslaughter offenders incarcerated since 1972, and the North Carolina Office of Chief Medical Examiner. The findings indicate that while the rate of criminal homicide is decreasing in North Carolina, the proportion of homicides involving offenders and victims who are members of the same family is increasing, and the proportion involving strangers is decreasing. When females kill, they are especially likely to victimize members of their families, particularly their husbands; this pattern is increasing. When younger offenders commit homicide, they are increasingly prone to kill family members. Blacks are also showing a considerably greater tendency to victimize homicidally members of their own families than are whites.