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This paper seeks to reconcile society's need to apply strong sanctions to parents who are responsible for the murder of a disabled adult while also recognising the stresses present in their lives.

The paper reviews six cases in which seven disabled adults were killed by a parent in the UK between 1999 and 2009.

The review found that these were no ordinary crimes and nor were they motivated by malice, but occurred against a backdrop of significant mental illness and distress. In addition, two of the parents killed themselves as well as their adult child and another attempted suicide. The explanations offered in court to account for the murders included a combination of caregiver stress and mercy killing and the courts struggled to find a consistent approach.

The review is limited to cases reported in the press and only considers information in the public domain. The portrayal of the issues in the media is integral to the study. The cases reported in this paper are a sub‐set of a larger sample of children and adults murdered by caregivers during this period.

The paper compares and contrasts some features of these high‐profile cases, commenting on the way they were addressed in the courts and making recommendations as to how the backdrop of significant mental ill‐health could be taken into account in the way families are offered support with a view to preventing further tragedies.

The purpose of this paper is to share nascent theory, suggesting there are five types of parricide offenders. The old theories are not valid: child abuse is not the primary motivator for parricide events.

This research draws on archival data derived from public sources (i.e. court records, offender statements, newspapers, etc.).

Child abuse is not the primary motivator for youthful parricide events. However, it appears to remain a factor in the parricide equation. The Good Child Postulate romanticizes youthful parricide offenders and could introduce potentially harmful positive bias into investigations, trials and treatment. The nascent theory suggests the five fatal personality clusters for youthful parricide offenders.

The identified clusters are still being developed and statistically validated. More research and analysis is needed to delimit, refine and verify the five fatal personality types of parricide offenders and to create a clear, cohesive theory.

Murder in general has decreased over the past decade, parricides have not. A better understanding of the phenomena may help to slow the rate of parricide events. Law enforcement, natal families and the courts can help to improve rehabilitative outcomes if children could be recognized as the type of killer they are and treated differently during the investigative and defense phases of their cases. For example, if parents are placed on trial (i.e. are used by defense to mitigate/excuse the murders), some types of children will adopt the defense arguments laid out in court and feel no need for rehabilitation at all. Families of the murdered parents can come to a better understanding of what has happened – allowing them to grieve without being forced to defend the murder of their love one. This research serves as further correction for the promulgation of the notion that all parents who are victims of youthful parricide abused the perpetrator, thereby causing their own deaths. This does occur on occasion, but is not a complete picture of the phenomenon.

Although murder, in general, has decreased over the past decade, parricides have not. The standing typology stymies fresh research and researcher’s abilities to explore models that may help to teach parents, law enforcement and other caring members of society how to prevent parricides in the future. Additionally, the Good Child Postulate works to create positive bias in the courtroom as attorneys for well-off, white children can easily build an imperfect defense for a population that is not actually the abused population. This has many social justice implications.

This information can be utilized by law enforcement, attorneys, the courts, parents and the prisons/therapeutic settings to better meet the needs of the youthful parricide offender.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted concerns about an increased risk for psychological distress, broadly and suicide mortality, specifically; it is, as yet, unclear if these concerns will be realized, but they are plausible.

The authors demonstrate why researchers, clinicians, policymakers and other public health stakeholders should be vigilant to the potential increases in murder-suicide in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been reports of increased gun sales, alcohol sales, intimate partner violence and child neglect/abuse. These factors give one serious pause regarding the potential for murder-suicide, especially in the context of other pandemic-related stressors (e.g. loneliness, economic stress, health anxiety).

This paper highlights pandemic-related factors that might spur increased murder-suicide and encourages murder-suicide prevention efforts to take place alongside other pandemic-related public health interventions.

The use of the media in live cases has been explored in terms of its use and value to an investigation. However, it is unclear as to whether engaging with the media in cold-case investigations results in a positive or negative reception, and what impact this can have on a case’s possibility for progression. Because of the passage of time and a lack of, or a failed, prosecution means that the approach to media use needs to be different. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the media could be used as an investigative resource for cold cases.

This study is a result of a 7-month observation period with a 2-force collaborative cold-case team in England, and supplemented with interviews with 12 experienced cold-case detectives. Using inductive thematic analysis, the themes identified allow an exploration of detectives’ use of the media and the effect that this has on progressing cases. Further, there is discussion as to whether the media’s involvement is positive or negative.

The overarching theme is that when using the media, cold-case detectives are met with a positive reception and interest. The media can be used to obtain information, particularly in cases with minimal information, and it is important to use murder-anniversaries to obtain help from the public. However, this needs to be a carefully managed strategy as the media coverage can be negative, including inaccurate or inappropriate reporting which can be of detriment to the investigation.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to explore how cold-case detectives have used the media to progress cases, and the findings demonstrate that when the public are encouraged to come forward with information, there is a better chance of case progression. Further research is required to explore how all cold cases can receive appropriate coverage.

Reports from 2016 to 2017 suggest that approximately 870 cases of non-familial child abduction (NFA) are recorded in England and Wales per year. Yet, empirical knowledge of the victims, offenders and offence characteristics is limited in comparison to other forms of child victimisation. Furthermore, much of the available knowledge is constrained by a lack of clarity around the differences between acquaintance and stranger abductors. This systematic literature review aims to develop a comprehensive overview of acquaintance and stranger child abductions, focussing on the similarities and differences in offending behaviours.

Research databases (PsycArticles, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PsycINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, MEDLINE and ERIC) and the Grey Literature (ETHOS and EBSCO) were screened for peer-reviewed research published between 1995 and 2021. Sixteen articles met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised using a modified version of the Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist for Case Reports.

Six key areas within NFA offences and their characteristics were identified as offering potential for differentiating acquaintance and stranger abductors: victim–offender relationship, number of victims and offenders, motives, modus operandi, victim injury, sexual assault and mechanism of death (in fatal cases). The results of this review are discussed with consideration given to investigative implications, limitations and directions for future study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to systematically review the current NFA literature, from which pragmatic recommendations for practice and future academic enquiry are drawn.

This article reports on a study designed to review the media coverage of patients in a medium secure unit and to demonstrate the value to such units of having a media strategy. Most of the patients in the study had a history of sexually motivated offending, a significant proportion against children. The pattern of a typical media report and the organisational response is discussed, while broader political developments over the study period are noted.

This review collates the empirical evidence on the behavioural effects of media violence. It assesses the content of different forms of media to which patients in secure services could be exposed. Numerous explanations for behaving aggressively are examined, using a variety of theoretical backgrounds. The effect of viewing different forms of violence on individuals' behaviour is also examined. The review includes positive influences of exposure to media violence, though the main findings are that exposure to aggressive and violent material increases aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The review presents research on violence depicted in films, video games, comic books and song lyrics, and assesses its impact on aggressive and inappropriate behaviour; it also addresses exposure to weapons. We conclude by outlining how this research could influence policy on the resources made available to forensic populations, advocating assessment of the suitability of presenting a particular piece of media violence to the individual rather than a whole population, and the possibility that individual responses to media violence can be a useful assessment tool.

Residential college campuses remain dangerous – especially for women students who face a persistent threat of sexual violence, despite passage of the 1990 Campus Security Act and its multiple amendments. Campuses have developed new programming, yet recent research confirms one in five women will experience some form of sexual assault before graduating. Research on campus crime legislation does not describe in detail the context in which it developed. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the effects of early rhetorical frames on the ineffective policy.

The authors discuss the rhetorical construction of “campus crime,” and related “criminals” and “victims,” through content analysis and a close interpretive reading of related newspaper articles.

The 1986 violent rape and murder of Jeanne Clery at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania became iconic in media descriptions of campus crime. Media drew attention to the racial and classed dimensions of the attack on Clery, but elided the misogyny central to all sexual assaults. This reinforced a stereotype that “insiders” on campuses, primarily white and middle class, were most vulnerable to “outsider” attacks by persons of color. Colleges and universities adopted rhetoric of “endangerment” and “unreason” and focused on what potential victims could do to protect themselves, ignoring the role of students in perpetrating crime.

This analysis does not link rhetoric in newspapers to legislative discussion. Further analysis is necessary to confirm the impact of particular claims and to understand why some claims may have superseded others.

This analysis focuses critical attention on how campus crime policy is shaped by cultural frames.

This study aims to uncover in-depth examples of how emergent media affects parents’ views and socialization efforts. The study examines these views and efforts in the context of violent commercials.

The authors collected data for this paper using two studies. In Study 1, they collected data from the internet. Comments related to “violent ads” or “violent commercials” were collated and analyzed. For Study 2, they conducted in-depth interviews with mothers on their views on parental mediation and impact of media on their children.

The internet data helped develop a parental definition of violent ads and identify that parents lie on a continuum regarding their concerns about violent commercials. Further in-depth questioning of parents on the above finding led to the identification of four clusters of parents. “Media managers” attempt to control and restrict their child’s media environment while educating their child about the effects of violent commercials. “Enablers” spend abundant time co-viewing primetime TV while engaging their child in conversations on violence, but not on violent ads. To maintain harmony in the household, “Harmonizers” merely restrict viewing of violent commercials without educating their child about its effects. Finally, “Agent evaluators” are likely to co-view violent commercials, without discussing them with their child.

First, several of the parental segments (media managers, enablers and harmonizers) tend to note some concerns with violence in advertising. Importantly, this concern for violence appears to be limited to gore and use of physical weapon. Second, while parents do not have homogenous views on violent ads, those who are concerned also have differing roots of concern. This influences their mediation efforts. Third, socialization is bi-directional at times.

Many parents do not approve are the use of physical violence, use of weapons and depiction of blood/gore even in ads for movies or videogames. Advertisers might be wise to avoid such content in ads directed to children. Second, if media and marketing managers could plan to sponsor TV shows (vs placing violent ads) that offer ad-free program time, parents might respond positively. Third, as socialization is bi-directional, advertisers could consider using ad scenarios where parents and children engage with the pros and cons of a certain product or content, thus enabling parent-child conversations to make an informed decision.

Many parents notice violence in ads; policymakers could consider developing ratings for ads that consider the amount and type of violence while rating an ad. Second, a focus on increasing parental awareness on the harms of constantly exposing children to violent commercials might change the views of some parents who currently believe that a few or no violent commercials are being aired during children’s programs. Finally, parents envisage a greater role for media in their lives, and policymakers will have to suggest ways to effectively integrate media content in one’s lives rather than just suggest bans or restrictions.

The contributions of this paper include viewers’ (vs researchers’) definition of violent commercials, showcasing that parents are likely to manage media using new media options such as Netflix, and some parents are likely to co-create rules with their children.

The phenomenon of murder-suicide (aka. homicide-suicide) makes a sizeable impact on current public perceptions and policies regarding mental illness and risk for violence. However, within the past 25 years, our understanding of murder-suicide has remained relatively stable, and so has our relative inability to reliably predict and prevent it. The purpose of this paper is to propose pathways for furthering a cogent understanding of murder-suicide that may inform specific predictive and preventative practices.

Research literature regarding empirical and theoretical positions in the fields of murder-suicide, homicide, and suicide are reviewed and discussed.

While murder-suicide has many similarities to both homicide and suicide, no current theories of either alone have been successful in fully incorporating the phenomenon of murder-suicide. Theories specific to murder-suicide as a unique form of violence are in need of further research.

Developing and empirically testing theories of murder-suicide may lead to a vast and needed improvement of our understanding, prediction, and prevention of these tragedies.