Exploration of crime-scene characteristics in juvenile homicide in the French-speaking part of Belgium

This study explores modeling crime-scene characteristics of juvenile homicide in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Multidimensional scaling analysis was carried out on crime-scene characteristics derived from the court files of 67 individuals under 22 years old, who had been charged with murder or attempted murder (1995-2009). Three thematic regions (Expressive: multiple offenders; Instrumental: theft; Instrumental: sex/forensic awareness) distinguished types of aggression displayed during the offense. These themes reaffirm that the expressive-instrumental differentiation found in general homicide studies is valuable when attempting to discriminate juvenile homicides. The proposed framework was found useful to classify the offenses, as 84% of homicides were assigned to a dominant theme. Additionally, associations between crime-scene characteristics and offenders' characteristics were analyzed, but no associations were found, therefore failing to provide empirical support for the homology assumption. Cultural comparisons, as well as the influence of age on the thematic structure are discussed

An exploration of the current knowledge on young people who kill: a systematic review

This exploratory systematic review assessed the quality of primary studies on young people who kill and synthesised the findings regarding the characteristics of these offenders. An electronic search yielded 12,717 hits of papers published between 1989 and 2012. Of these, 8,395 duplicates, 3,787 irrelevant hits, and 527 publications not meeting the inclusion criteria of the review were excluded (15 publications were added after searching the grey literature), leaving 23 good quality studies. From these, a further seven were removed due to their small sample size (i.e., n < 30), leaving a total of 16 studies reviewed in detail. A search update was carried out on 2 February 2014 and no further studies meeting the inclusion criteria were found. The results indicate that juvenile homicide offenders are a heterogeneous group and the risk factors for juvenile homicide are cumulative and evolve through life. The findings are mixed, but ten risk factors are identified which appear to be consistent for offenders across the studies reviewed. The limitations of the current review are highlighted and recommendations for future research are outlined, with particular consideration given to improving the quality of the literature in this field

Carrying weapons and intent to harm among Victorian secondary school students in 1999 and 2009

Objective:&nbsp;To examine comparable survey data across 10 years to assess whether rates of self-reported weapon carrying and intent to harm others have increased as suggested in reported trends in violent offences. Design, setting and participants: Population-based surveys administered to Victorian secondary school students in 1999 (8984 students) and 2009 (10 273 students) attending government, Catholic and independent schools. Main outcome measures: Student self-reports of carrying a weapon and attacking someone with the intent to harm in the past 12 months. Results: In both surveys, about 15.0% of students reported carrying a weapon and about 7.0% reported attacking someone with intent to harm in the past 12 months, with higher rates among boys than girls. There was no change over time in the rates of students carrying weapons or attacking someone with the intent to harm, after controlling for demographic variables. Conclusions: In contrast to media portrayals and reported trends in violent offences, rates of students carrying weapons and attacking others with intent to harm have not changed between 1999 and 2009. These findings underline the importance of having national population-based data to regularly monitor the rates of these and related behaviours among young Australians.</div

Temporal clustering of child homicide: contagion or illusion?

Data available on the characteristics of all Australian homicides over ten years since mid 1989 provide an opportunity to investigate whether child homicide is subject to temporal clustering. If this were found to be the case, then contagion resulting from media publicity might be a possible explanation. This follows from studies indicating some influence from media publicity given to suicides. No temporal clustering could be detected and results indicate that any given child homicide in Australia has no effect on the subsequent rate of child homicides. The study suggests that caution is needed before assuming that proximate events are necessarily related. It remains a possibility that child homicide may be the product of contagion over a longer time frame, as a consequence of intense media publicity given to high profile events. The media should respect community sensibilities in reporting such events and avoid sensational coverage in an ethical and balanced way. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/articles/200108_carcach.htm