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Characterization of mentally ill maternal perpetrators of filicide assigned to a single psychiatric-forensic facility, including previous access to mental health services. A cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of medical records and legal documentation of maternal filicide patients at a single psychiatric-forensic facility (1990–2021) was performed. Socio-demographic, relationship, psychopathological, and criminological characteristics were collected. Data were compared according to previous perpetrators' access to mental health services or not and access within 1 year prior to filicide or not. All 55 detainees (mean age 34.8 ± 6.2 years) were included. There were 64 victims; 15 (23%) were ≤ 1 year old and most (77%) were single victims. Some mothers had history of violence/abuse (29%), an aggressive parent (45%), and violent relationships with their intimate partner (46%) and were socially isolated (49%). Most crimes were motivated by altruism (53%). Women had attempted suicide in 39% of filicide cases. Previous psychiatric diagnoses were available for 56%; 71% had accessed services for ≤ 1 year. Patients unknown to mental health services were less likely Italian, with children below preschool age and with no history of physical abuse/violence, aggressive parent, or suicide attempts. Patients lost to mental health services (> 1 year) were less likely Italian or assuming psychopharmacological therapy, were in shorter relationships, and were mostly diagnosed with personality disorders. Female perpetrators of filicide are often unknown/lost to mental health services prior to the crime. Multifactorial historical and current characteristics aid in identifying mothers at risk. Communication of the availability of mental health services must be multi-lingual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Despite being relatively rare in our country, murder-suicide phenomena have garnered increasing media attention over the years. However, actual data on their prevalence and characteristics remain limited. This study aims to describe and characterize all murder/suicide events reported at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the Province of Messina, with a particular focus on distinguishing between cases of filicide/suicide and dyadic deaths., Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational analysis of judicial cases from 2018 to 2023 was conducted. Injuries were primarily localized to the head, neck, and chest for women, and to the head for men. In the case of filicides, death occurred through an asphyxiation mechanism, followed by the mother's suicide by hanging or falling., Conclusion: Within the scope of the medical examiner's activities, it is clear that acquiring more information through a standardized technical investigation and adopting a uniform approach could enhance the quality of the forensic service provided daily. This improvement, which would be in the interest of institutions and civil society, could be achieved through the sharing of procedures at both national and international levels.

This article adds to the literature on familicide by providing specific insights from the Italian experience. It presents results of an exploratory investigation into male-perpetrated familicides in Italy between 1992 and 2015. Familicide is defined as the killing of the spouse or intimate partner, and at least one child, at the hand of the other spouse/partner. Incidents of familicide were collated from newspaper reports. We identified 90 cases, resulting in 207 deaths. On average, perpetrators were middle aged (M = 46.8; age ranging from 25 to 76), and most (n = 66; 73%) committed, or attempted to commit, suicide. While significant contributory roles were played by health problems and financial worries, the origin of the primary emotional upset for the killers tended to be interpersonal conflicts involving their partners. For those cases with available information (n = 56; 62%), six types of familicide were also identified on the basis of the murderer's homicidal motivations. Most frequent were three circumstances. Fifteen cases concerned the "doubly-protective familicide" (which corresponds to the "suicide-by-proxy"), characterized by the preservation of the family in the face of a presumed catastrophic event. Triggers included the killer's financial distress, health troubles, or anxiety associated with other personal problems. Thirteen cases referred to "doubly-punitive familicide," whose distinctive feature, in addition to punishing the partner because of her estrangement, her infidelity, or other disputes, is to directly involve the child(ren) in the punitive homicidal act. The children are viewed as contributory factors to the killer's stress, or are considered to be in league with the mother. Twelve cases exemplified "indirectly-punitive familicide" (also termed "murder-by-proxy"), in which the victimized child(ren) are killed as an extension of the partner. Overall, this typology provides a more nuanced conceptualization of familicide occurrences than those examined in previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: At an international level, the risk assessment and management process of violent offenders follows a standard method that implies well-defined theoretical models and the use of scientifically validated tools. In Italy, this process is still highly discretionary. The aim of this study is to highlight the advantages deriving from the use of risk assessment tools within the framework of a single case study; Methods: Recidivism risk and social dangerousness of an Italian woman perpetrator of filicide were assessed through the administration of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) instrument supported by Historical Clinical Risk-20 Version 3 (HCR-20 V3); Results: The administration of LS/CMI showed that, in this single case, the subcomponents represent a criminogenic risk/need factor are: Family/Marital, Companions, Alcohol and Drug Problem and Leisure; while constituting strengths: employment and the absence of a Pro-criminal Orientation and an Antisocial Pattern; Conclusions: Data collected through LS/CMI indicated life areas of a single case, which should be emphasised not only to assess the risk of re-offending and social dangerousness but also for a social rehabilitation programme more suited to the subject. This study demonstrates that the LS/CMI assessment tool is suitable for the Italian context.

Abstract: Homicide–suicide is an event in which the murderer commits suicide after the homicide. There are at least 14 epidemiological studies on the topic, and all have found that homicide–suicide is more common among family members. The murderers are most often males and the victims females. There is no recent research on this phenomenon in Italy. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the incidence of homicide–suicide in Italy over a period of 24yrs and to compare Italian data with published international data. We used information gathered by press agencies and from the four major Italian newspapers. Between 1985 and 2008, 662 cases of homicide–suicide were identified, with 1776 deaths. The murderer was male in 84.6% of the cases, typically using a firearm. The most common motivation was romantic jealousy, followed by socio-economic stress. The rate of homicide–suicide was 0.04%. Comparison with international studies is not always possible due to the lack of information for certain categories. The common factors identified may be helpful for prevention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The international literature shows that in 40-50% of the cases, homicides-suicides involving children under the age of 10 are committed by mothers. Here, we report some results on homicides-suicides, in the mother-child relationship, occurred in Italy between 1992 and 2010. We examined 36 cases of filicide-suicide mothers by consulting the archives of RAI, daily newspapers, and the ANSA news agency. We focused on: mothers and children's age, place of residence, date and place of the murder, number and sex of the murdered children, and modality of the homicide-suicide. At the time of the homicide-suicide, the average age of mothers was 35.4. The number of children killed by each mother was one, except in seven cases. All the women had underestimated psychopathological disorders and only six women were regularly treated. The dynamics and characteristics of the events were much more similar to suicides than homicides, so we can consider them as "extensive suicides.", (© 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)