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MURDERERS: A PERSONAL SERIES
Author(s) -
Parker Neville
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1979.tb111966.x
Subject(s) - homicide , criminology , psychology , suicide prevention , injury prevention , poison control , psychiatry , medical emergency , medicine
One hundred people who were accused either of murder (70 persons) or of attempted murder (30 persons) in Queensland were personally examined by the writer. The methods, motives, and ways of prevention of homicide are discussed. A considerable proportion of murderers in this series were either mentally ill or severely emotionally disturbed at the time the crime was committed, and at least one in 10 of these murders could have been prevented. It is recommended that the treatment and assessment of potentially violent psychotic patients should be undertaken more carefully, and that the antipsychiatrist campaigns for the freedom of the individual should be tempered with a consideration for public safety.