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Attacks on German public figures, 1968–2004: Warning behaviors, potentially lethal and non‐lethal acts, psychiatric status, and motivations
Author(s) -
Hoffmann Jens,
Meloy J. Reid,
Guldimann Angela,
Ermer Anneliese
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.979
Subject(s) - typology , suicide prevention , poison control , psychiatry , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , terrorism , german , computer security , medicine , occupational safety and health , psychology , medical emergency , computer science , pathology , archaeology , history
Fourteen non‐terrorist attackers of public figures in Germany between 1968 and 2004 were intensively studied, with a particular focus on warning behaviors, attack behaviors, and the relationship between psychiatric diagnosis, symptoms, and motivations for the assault. A large proportion of the attackers were severely mentally ill, and most likely to be in the potentially lethal rather than the non‐lethal group. A new typology of seven warning behaviors was applied to the data, and all were present, most frequently fixation and pathway warning behavior, and least frequently a direct threat. Psychiatric diagnosis could be closely linked to motivation when analyzed at the level of symptom and content of thought, often delusional. Most of the attacks were directed at political figures, and the majority occurred after 1995. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.