Abstract
In this article familicide and homicide-suicide acts in South Africa and elsewhere are discussed. Issues that are considered include the following: the definition of familicide, the incidence of cases, population groups involved, the role of suicide, the role of psychopathology, familial versus nonfamilial murderers, the influence of stress, male proprietariness in combination with an exaggerated sense of responsibility, age and gender, and sociopolitical influences. A n attempt is made to integrate the personal and societal factors of familicide from a clinical-community psychology perspective, relying specifically on the theories of Frantz Fanon and Hussein Bulhan. It is proposed that an understanding of the oppressor-oppressed relationship, as well as threats to that relationship, may shed light on the current high rate of familicide that occurs mostly among white Afrikaner, South African males, and their families.
Highlights
In this article fam ilicide and homicide-suicide acts in South Africa and elsewhere are discussed
Th at instances sim ilar to the South African type of familicide are indicated, but that they differ in that they often manifest in familicide between adults (USA) or betw een the m other and child(ren) (Japan)
It is sug g ested th a t fam ilicid e may be a n o th e r behavioural outcom e of this elevated level of general psychopathology among white South A fricans (P reto riu s, 1989b: 12). It should be b o rn e in mind, that P erd u e and L e ste r’s (1973) and A llen ’s (1983:164) findings indicate th at fam ilial m urderers have less obvious pathology. This seems to hold true for South African familicide offenders, who are generally described as relatively quiet, usually leading lives that do not direct the kind of attention to them that one would have expected of someone contemplating such a serious act
Summary
The world has known of homicide-suicide acts in the family for many centuries: family murders were recorded as early as the Ming dynasty and in the time of G reek mytholo gy (Berm an, 1979:15). Familicide (as intrafamilial homicide-suicide) remains a perplexing phenomenon and has been part of South African life for at least the past 20 years. Information on incidents of familicide in South Africa has mostly been gained from newspaper reports. P ienaar refers to a horrific familicide in 1977 and states that familicide has become quite common. It seems as if the increase in familicide coincided with the intensification of the political uprising since 1976. As this paper will assume a clinical-community psychology perspective, the link between the psychological characteristics of individuals who commit familicide, and their socio-psychological environment will be an im portant focus
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