A father is gunned down... a mother is bludgeoned to death... a
family of four-mother, father, and two small children-is butchered
alive... by a son... a daughter... a son and daughter acting
together.
While tabloid television has brought us closer to the everyday
horrors of our society, nothing still shocks as much as a child killing a
parent or step-parent. Such an act, though thought uncommon, is almost a
daily event in the United States. Between 1977 and 1986, more than 300
parents were killed each year by their own children.
Don't think that these children fit any of the classic
stereotypes--the kind we believe keeps murder at a comfortable remove.
This is not another example of angry inner-city teenagers doing anything
for drug money: An in-depth analysis of the FBI Supplementary Homicide
Report for this period shows that, in the great majority of cases, the
child who killed was a white male.
What kind of kid is capable of such an atrocity against a parent?
What kind of a situation would lead to such a violent end? Looking beyond
society's most alarming trend reveals society's most alarming
undercurrent: These are neglected and abused children whose options are
limited--children who honestly think they have no other way out.
Mean Teens
Almost invariably, the killers are adolescents. Why are the killers
teenagers? Preadolescents, those under 11, typically do not understand
the concept of death and have tremendous difficulty in accepting that
their actions lead to an irreversible result. Adolescents are more likely
to kill because the normal turbulence of adolescence runs up against
constraints they perceive have been placed upon them in a setting of
limited alternatives.
Unlike adults who kill their parents, teenagers become parricide
offenders when conditions in the home are intolerable but their
alternatives are limited. Unlike adults, kids cannot simply leave. The
law has made it a crime for young people to run away. Juveniles who
commit parricide usually do consider running away, but many do not know
any place where they can seek refuge. Those who do run are generally
picked up and returned home, or go back on their own: Surviving on the
streets is hardly a realistic alternative for youths with meager
financial resources, limited education, and few skills.
Even under the best of circumstances, adolescence is a stormy time.
Children going through it need the support of parents, who must give them
room to grow and help them confront tough issues. Those who commit
parricide have parents who have not been available to help them. In fact,
they are most often carrying adult responsibilities in their families.
Indeed, they often look exemplary on the surface, taking care of
themselves and often taking care of one or both parents as well as
running the entire household.
Who Kills Their Parents?
There are three types of individuals who commit parricide. One is
the severely abused child who is pushed beyond his or her limits. Another
is the severely mentally ill child. And the third is the darling of the
tabloids, the dangerously antisocial child.
By far, the severely abused child is the most frequently
encountered type of offender. According to Paul Mones, a Los Angeles
attorney who specializes in defending adolescent parricide offenders,
more than 90 percent have been abused by their parents. In-depth
portraits of such youths have frequently shown that they killed because
they could no longer tolerate conditions at home. These children were
psychologically abused by one or both parents and often suffered
physical, sexual, and verbal abuse as well--and witnessed it given to
others in the household. They did not typically have histories of severe
mental illness or of serious and extensive delinquent behavior. They were
not criminally sophisticated. For them, the killings represented an act
of desperation--the only way out of a family situation they could no
longer endure.
Only on occasion does a severely mentally ill child kill. These are
children who have lost contact with reality. Their cases are often well
documented with records of previous treatments that failed. Many of the
cases are never tried; the killer is declared unfit to stand
trial.
There are those few children who seem to kill without any remorse,
yet whose parents seem to be loving and kind. The dangerously antisocial
child is often the fodder of newspaper headlines. These juvenile
offenders typically exhibit a conduct disorder--severely disruptive
behavior that continues for over six months. These are the kids who kill
their parents merely for some sort of instrumental, selfish end--never
having to ask before borrowing the car again, for instance.
Portraits of Pain
I have conducted assessment interviews with approximately 75
adolescents charged with murder or attempted murder. Seven involved
youths who killed parents. Of the seven, six were male; all were white.
They ranged in age from 12 to 17. Two killed both parents. As a group,
they killed six fathers, three mothers, and one brother. The murder
weapon, in every case, was a gun, and it was readily available in the
house. Six out of the seven were severely abused children; the seventh
was diagnosed as having a paranoid disorder. Although seven may appear to
be a small number of cases from which to draw conclusions, it is valuable
for demonstrating the characteristics of kids who kill. Among the
findings:
Tags:
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constraints,
drug money,
everyday horrors,
family,
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inner city,
killers,
matricide,
mother father,
murder,
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son and daughter,
supplementary homicide report,
tabloid television,
turbulence,
undercurrent
