Premium
Homicide‐Suicide in Konya, Turkey Between 2000 and 2007 *
Author(s) -
Dogan Kamil Hakan,
Demirci Serafettin,
Gunaydin Gursel,
Buken Bora
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01239.x
Subject(s) - homicide , suicide prevention , medicine , poison control , depression (economics) , suicide methods , injury prevention , psychiatry , medical emergency , forensic science , occupational safety and health , psychology , suicide rates , veterinary medicine , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Homicide followed by the suicide of the murderer is a relatively rare lethal incident in which an individual kills another person and subsequently dies by suicide. Cases involving a homicide and a suicide in which death examinations and autopsies were performed at The Konya Branch of the Forensic Medicine Council between 2000 and 2007 were retrospectively investigated. During the studied time period, there were 10 homicide‐suicide cases identified with 10 perpetrators killing 12 victims. Nine of the perpetrators were men and eight of the victims were women. The precipitating motive was an impending divorce in four of the cases. Two perpetrators were described as severely depressed, one had a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, and one was a pedophile who had reactive depression. Firearms were used in eight of the homicide cases and seven of the suicides. Constricting the use of firearms may reduce/prevent future homicide‐suicide cases, as it is the most commonly used method to carry out homicide‐suicides.