EXPLORATION OF JUVENILE SERIAL HOMICIDE OFFENDER CHARACTERISTICS

Date

2020-12

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Abstract

The current exploratory study of juvenile serial homicide offender characteristics identified possible risk factors for antisocial behavior and provided descriptions of the offenders and the crimes. Literature pertaining to psychopathy, clinical diagnoses, severe antisocial behavior risk factors, and serial homicide offenders were reviewed. The research involved an analysis of the 2004 United States Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities pre-coded data for all juvenile serial homicide offenders (n = 11) and juvenile homicide offenders who committed only one homicide (n = 174). Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted to compare juvenile serial homicide offenders (JSHOs) and juvenile single-time homicide offenders (JSTHOs). Prior violent offenses, the offender’s age at the time of their first homicide, education level, whether they had been fired in the last year due to substance use issues, and their victims’ sex showed significant differences between JSHOs and JSTHOs. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted, however no factors predicted JSHO group membership. These crimes are extremely rare and their perpetrators even more so; future research is encouraged.

Description

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology

Keywords

Criminology, Juvenile offender

Citation

DOI