My brother's keeper or my brother's killer: An in-depth investigation into the phenomenon of sibling homicide.

摘要

Since the 1970's sibling violence has been recognized as the most common form of domestic violence. Sibling abuse has also been shown to have higher incident rates than spousal violence. However, the research regarding sibling violence has been relatively slow to develop. Moreover, the notion of sibling violence escalated to homicide is essentially non-existent in the literature. Only two studies to date have been published with sibling homicide as a focus of inquiry: Marleau and Saucier (1998) and Underwood and Patch (1999). This dissertation was designed to expand and replicate Underwood and Patch's (1999) study and to provide a working database for future scientific investigations into sibling homicide, or siblicide.;The methodology for this investigation was archival, utilizing the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR), a reputed national database derived from the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). This study examined 1,236 cases of single victim/single offender siblicide between 1990 and 1996. The siblicide cases in this study were compared to the data for both the total homicides and the intrafamilial homicides during this same time period.;Approximately 200 cases of siblicide occur each year, equaling approximately 1.0% of the nation's homicides. Results of this descriptive study indicated that males were more likely to be both offenders and victims, whereas females were more likely to be victims than offenders. Contrary to reasoned expectations, siblicide occurred far more often in early- to middle-adulthood and not in the juvenile stage. Racial/ethnic disparities were apparent, with African Americans being over-represented. Likewise, regional demographic disparities were shown, with the South being over-represented. Firearms, followed by knives, were the weapons of choice in the majority of cases. However, there appeared to be a greater preference for knives among female offenders. A distinct hierarchy was shown in the victim-offender relationship. For example, brother killing brother was the most common, followed by brother killing sister, sister killing brother, and sister killing sister, respectively. Some form of interpersonal argument was reported as the precipitant circumstance in most cases. However, the data did not define the nature of those arguments.